AN ATTACK. 



71 



spearmen, numbering some 800 braves, sweeping 

 like a whirlwind, with shout and yell and clash- 

 ing arms, passed the Mission House, which they 

 either did not see or which thev feared to enter: 

 dashed upon the scattered village in the vale be- 

 low, and strewed the ground with the corpses of 

 wretched fuo;itives. Thence dri^dnsr their loot thev 

 rushed down to the shore, and met a body of 148 

 matchlock-men, Arabs and Baloch, Wasawahili 

 and slaves, posted to oppose progress. The ban- 

 dits fled at the first volley. The soldiers, like 

 true Orientals, at once dispersed to secure the 

 plundered cattle, when the Wamasai rallying, fell 

 upon them, and drove them away in ignominious 

 flight, after losing 25 men, to the refuge of their 

 walls. The victors presently retired to the hill- 

 range, amused themselves with exterminating as 

 many Wanyika as they could catch, and, gorged 

 with blood and beef, returned triumphant to their 

 homes. The old Jemadar Tans^ai took from the 

 unfortunate Wanyika all their remaining cows; 

 they also retired into the interior, and the price of 

 provisions at Mombasah was at once doubled. 



The wild people of Eastern Africa are divided 

 by their mode of life into three orders. Most 

 primitive and savage are the fierce pastoral 

 nomades, Wamasai and Gallas, Somal, and cer- 



