DESCEIPTION OF ELMOLO 



111 



five natives, who resembled in appearance the Burkeneji 

 (Wakwafi) and spoke their language. Their only ornaments 

 were made of bark, and worn on the neck, arms, and legs. Their 

 sole weapons were spears of an inferior quality, shaped like 

 those of the Wanyiro already described. They called them- 

 selves Elmolo, which is a name borrowed from the Gallas 

 dialect, and means, as does Ndorobbo in Masai, poor devil. We 

 learnt from them that all three islands are inhabited, the largest 

 by Eandile, the other two by Eeshiat and Burkeneji, so that 



LANDING THE HIPPOPOTAMI. 



within a very short distance of each other dwell three totally 

 different tribes. There are about 200 or 300 Elmolo altogether, 

 and they support themselves by fishing, which must be very 

 fruitful of results, for though they neither cultivate cereals 

 nor obtain them by barter, they did not look as if they 

 suffered from scanty diet. They were ignorant of the use of 

 tobacco. 



We were off again towards four o'clock, and a little before 

 five we camped in the north-eastern corner of the southern end 



