V 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



157 



half-tanned cowhide, fastened with a loop over one 

 shoulder. Their heads were shaven. 



The young men presented a much more warlike ap- 

 pearance. In their right hands they carried spears 

 nearly seven feet in length, in shape similar to those 

 carried by the Masai. These spears had a blade three 

 feet long, about five inches wide at its base, from which 

 it tapered to a sharp point. Fitted into a socket at- 

 tached to the blade was a short piece of wood, which was 

 grasped by the hand. Joined to this latter was a heavy 

 iron rod, of sufficient weight to give impetus to a blow. 

 This, likewise, was sharpened to a point. While en- 

 gaged in conversation the warriors drove their spears 

 into the ground. Around the waist they wore a belt, 

 between which and the body was stuck a short sword in 

 a sheath, and a war-club. The latter are three feet in 

 length, very slender where grasped by the hand, but end- 

 ing in a round knob as large as a baseball. On their 

 left arms they bore large oval shields, upon which, 

 painted in three different colours (red, white, and black), 

 were curious decorative designs. 



The warriors were clad in short cloaks of untanned 

 goatskin, looped over the right shoulder by a strip of 

 hide, thus leaving the right arm free. These cloaks do 

 not fall lower than the stomach of the wearer. 



The Wamsara wear their hair dressed in the Masai 

 fashion. From their foreheads and down almost to the 

 eyes falls a thick mass of hair cut square like a bang. 

 This is trained in small cordlike ringlets, dyed with red 

 clay, and covered with grease. The hair at the back of 

 the head is twisted into a queue, which is bound about 

 by a strip of sheepskin. Many of the warriors painted 



