376 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



famine, joined the people on the Jombeni range (not- 

 ably the Wamsara and Janjy), and some had merged 

 themselves with the inhabitants of Kikuyu and 

 Ukambani. I was struck by the fact that the vast 

 plains of the Leikipia plateau were deserted by all 

 but a few bands of Wanderobbo, who wandered over 

 them in search of game. Owing to the good pastur- 

 age afforded by this country, it seems probable to me 

 that when the Rendile learn that it is uninhabited, 

 they may be tempted to move thither with their 

 camels ; for the place they occupied at this time was 

 a mere desert in comparison with the Leikipia plateau. 



From the Wanderobbo whom I had seen I gath- 

 ered by a rough estimate that the total number of 

 their tribe inhabiting the country between the head- 

 waters of the Mackenzie River and the Lorian 

 Swamp and the Loroghi range could not exceed 500. 



From the reports of travellers who had visited the 

 Masai before the dispersal of that tribe, various esti- 

 mates of the total number of Masai had been made, 

 some stating, as the result of their information, that 

 there were at least 2,000,000. I very much doubt if, 

 even when they were most numerous, the total num- 

 ber of Masai ever exceeded 200,000 to 300,000; and 

 these figures do not seem to me a low estimate. 

 Now that the British occupy the Uganda, and a rail- 

 way is in course of construction between that coun- 

 try and the coast, which passes through Masai Land, 

 and will undoubtedly prove a great check upon the 

 marauding instincts of these people, I think it likely 

 that not many years will pass before they lose their 

 present characteristics and are forced to settle down 



