VILLAGES OF NGABOTO 



263 



berries and figs, and their joy can be imagined as they hastened 

 down to the dasturi camping-place. Their sense of humour, 

 long crushed by privation, awoke once more, and one of the 

 porters, Jibu wadi Kombo by name, was very amusing. ' Allah 

 akbar ! ' he exclaimed, ' I never thought we should ever see 

 dhurra again, and really lately the perpetual grass diet we've 

 had to put up with has made me think it really would have 

 been better to have been born an ass ! ' 



We camped opposite to a little village close to the river 

 beneath the shade of some big trees. We soon received a visit 

 from the natives, who belong to the Turkana tribe, and cultivate 

 dhurra, with gourds and tobacco, in fields alongside of the 

 river. Tobacco, however, seemed to be scarce just now, as we 

 were perpetually asked for tumbao. 



Ngaboto, like Ndorobbo and Elmolo, means poor fellows 

 without any cattle, and originally the name was appropriate 

 enough, but the natives here now own a few animals, chiefly 

 goats and sheep, which they have bought from their neighbours 

 in exchange for their own productions. There are five little 

 scattered villages in Ngaboto, all on the right bank of the 

 Trrawell. The huts are very primitive, being made of nothing 

 but dhurra stalks, and they present a very poverty-stricken, 

 dirty appearance, set down as they are in the thick bush 

 without any surrounding clearing. The inhabitants of the 

 whole district number but few, and it is wonderful how they 

 manage to resist the incursions of their stronger neighbours, 

 the Suk. 



It was easy to see that the natives had had previous 

 dealings with caravans, and also that those caravans had been 

 in distress, for, in spite of their own weakness and poverty, 

 they behaved from the first in an overbearing manner. 



We bought five sacks of corn the day we arrived, just 

 (mough for one day's rations. The dhurra was still unripe, but 



