Ill 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN A ERIC A 



lOI 



country would probably be interrupted by their warriors, 

 and perhaps it would be necessary to fight. This, above 

 all things, I desired to avoid, and so took the only steps 

 possible to such an end. With four of my men I crept 

 noiselessly forward, and then with a sudden rush we 

 dashed upon the natives, and in a trice we had two of 

 the old men bound. The women, as appears to be 

 the custom in Africa (and, I may add, elsewhere) looked 

 on with more interest than surprise at our approach. 

 I suppose this is to be accounted for by the fact that 

 from infancy they are brought up with the expectation 

 of being, at one time or another during their lives, 

 captured by some neighbouring tribe; and as they are 

 possessed of no very strong love of home, they look 

 forward, certainly with indifference, and perhaps with 

 pleasurable expectation, to a change of life and scene. 

 The men, however, acted in a different manner. The 

 two we had seized were struck dumb, while the three 

 we had left untouched made off with incredible speed, 

 making the forests ring with their wild shouts. 



Our purpose in seizing the two men was to hold 

 them as hostages for the good behaviour of the tribe ; 

 knowing it was unlikely we should be attacked as long 

 as they were bound and walking at the front of our 

 caravan. In a few moments the rest of my men came 

 up, and calling one of my Masai interpreters, I set him 

 to questioning our captives. They understood but a 

 few words of Masai, but when my interpreter (Mwinyi 

 Hadji) began speaking to them in Kikuyu, their faces 

 showed signs of intelligence, and they replied in a 

 dialect of that tongue. Kikuyu is the generic name 

 of the tribes inhabiting the slopes of Mount Kenya. 



