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ACROSS LEIKIPIA 



caravan, and Juma Mussa, who was in front, swerved aside as if 

 lie had seen a viper in the path and was going to run off, when 

 a loud ' Forward ! straight on ! ' from me made him resume his 

 course, but it was with pale cheeks and shaking limbs, for it 

 is well-known and has been remarked on by Joseph Thomson 

 that Masai warriors object strongly to being seen to eat. 

 Juma Mussa was a strange mixture of courage and cowardice ; 

 a Hercules in strength, he was yet terribly afraid of us Euro- 

 peans and of wild animals. He would tremble like an aspen leaf 

 if he had to sfo first throuoh thick bush or was summoned to 

 appear before either of us. Probably his evil conscience — he 

 was a terrible rascal — was the cause, and he had a perfect 

 horror of the corporal punishment he knew he deserved. In 

 the present instance his terrors were unfounded, for the 

 warriors, who had just cut up and divided an ox, were too busy 

 to honour us with more than a glance. 



Towards ten o'clock we at last reached the Guaso Nyiro, 

 and camped on its banks at a height of about 5,558 feet. It 

 was here a rapid stream some three and a half to six feet deep 

 and from ten to twenty yards wide, so that we could not have 

 crossed it had we wished to do so. As we might expect a 

 great many natives to visit us here, we at once began setting 

 up our fence, and thanks probably to the heavy rain which 

 soon began, we had finished it before any one appeared. 

 When at last forty or fifty warriors came to see us, Juma 

 Mussa showed that he knew the Masai language as well as the 

 country, and made a great impression on our visitors by the long 

 dignified speech with which he received them. He then told 

 their Lygonani to come into camp as the representative of the 

 party, handed him the tribute, and managed to bribe him on 

 the quiet by saying, ' If these hundred strings of beads are 

 accepted as hongo enough, you shall have two strings of 

 beautiful ukuta beads and a naibere for yourself.' This was 



