396 



ACROSS LEIKIPIA 



another Lare. I may here remark that the Masai dialect is 

 marvellously rich in descriptive terms, different words indicat- 

 ing the nature of vegetation, the characteristics of rivers, brooks, 

 springs, pools, the colour, size, and age of their cattle, and, as 

 has already been commented on, of members of their tribe. 



Here was to take place the contemplated division of the 

 caravan, and we at once set to work to put up a small but 

 very strong palisade to protect the men who were to be left 

 behind. Count Teleki had decided to go on himself with the 

 main body of the caravan to Lake Baringo, and to leave me, 

 Qualla, Jumbe Kimemeta, and the rest of the porters behind. 

 Whilst Kimemeta was bus}^ with his ivory buying, I was to 

 explore the course of the Guaso Nyiro as far as was possible 

 in the twenty days which were all I could have for the purpose. 



We pressed the w^ork of lading the oxen, &c., forward so 

 rapidly that we finished everything three days sooner than we 

 had expected. The natives disturbed us very little ; most of 

 the Masai had already left for fresh pastures, and the Wa- 

 ndorobbo, who also avoided the camp, told us with evident 

 relief that the rest were soon to follow. To make up for the 

 absence of visitors we were dreadfully worried with the in- 

 describable numbers of flies, which left us not one moment's 

 peace and drove us to take refuge as soon as possible in a 

 little wood a hundred paces further up on the mountain. 



After dark on the first evening here, we were honoured by 

 a visit from Lekibes, the Masai Leibon of Leikipia, who, strange 

 to say, is not a thorough-bred Masai, but a Mkwafi from Guaso 

 Ngishu, a former Wakwafi settlement in the highlands west of 

 Lake Baringo. Tall and strongly built, Lekibes' dignified and 

 self-reliant manner accords well with his imposing appearance, 

 and testify to the great esteem in which men of his stamp are 

 held in East Africa. Doubtless he owes something of his position 

 also to his shrewd intellect. He accounted for his arrival alone 



