3i8 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



healthy. I fancy they do it for the sake of the salt 

 in the blood. Giraffe and antelope are hunted on 

 horseback, and are the only game eaten. 



Their shields are made of the hides of animals, or 

 of wicker work. The iron work on their spears, 

 knives, etc., is done for the most part by the smiths 

 in their villages ; but they prefer to purchase these 

 articles from the neighbouring tribes, as the work of 

 their own smiths is not of the best. 



Over each village a chief presides in the councils 

 of peace as well as of war. His office is elective, not 

 hereditary. A man of wealth and position is rarely 

 elected to the office of chief. Popularity, gift of lan- 

 guage, and skill in war are the three prime requisites ; 

 but after a man has once been made chief he soon 

 becomes rich ; for he levies a tax upon the flocks and 

 herds of his village, until his property at least equals 

 that of any other member of the small community. 



The number of strings of beads around a man's 

 neck indicates the number of men he has slain in 

 battle. The chief of the village gives the warrior a 

 goat and a quantity of milk for each slain enemy. 



My informant also told me that for the preceding 

 five or six years the relations of the Rendile and the 

 Borana had been strained. The Rendile appeared 

 greatly to dread the Borana, who in their opinion were 

 the most powerful tribe in their neighbourhood. 



The Borana people are said to be separated into 

 two divisions, the larger of which is called Rrapp. 

 The Rrapp, despite the recent plague, still had a great 

 number of cattle. They were reigned over by a chief 

 named Kalo, and have many horses ; but at the same 



