WHERE ROOSEVELT WILL HUNT 



217 



same size as the rosy adults, but their 

 plumage when they are full grown is 

 first gray-white and then the color of a 

 pale tea-rose before it attains its full sun- 

 set glory. 



On the north coast of the lake the belt 

 of flamingoes must be nearly a mile 

 broad from the edge of the lake out- 

 wards. Seen from above, this mass of 

 birds on its shoreward side is gray- 

 white, then becomes white in the middle, 

 and has a lakeward ring of the most ex- 

 quisite rose-pink, the reason being that 

 the birds on the outer edge of the semi- 

 circle are the young ones, while those 

 farthest out into the lake are the oldest. 

 It is not easy to make the birds take to 

 flight. When they do so suddenly and 

 the shallow water is stirred, the stench 

 which arises is sickening. 



The noise of these birds can be heard 

 from nearly a mile distant. The kronk- 

 kronk-kronk of the million, mingled 

 with hissings and squitterings and 

 splashings and the swish-swish-swish of 

 those who are starting on flight, com- 

 bine to make a tumult of sound in the 

 presence of which one has to shout to 

 one's companions in order to be heard. 

 It is curious to watch the ungainly mo- 

 tions of these birds when they wish to 

 rise in the air. Their flight has to be 

 preceded by an absurd gallop through 

 the mud before they can lift themselves 

 on their wings. When I arrived at Lake 

 Hannington they were so tame that I 

 was able to go as far as I could wade in 

 the water with my camera and photo- 

 graph them at quite a short distance. 



QUEER HABITS OF THE NATIVES 



The human inhabitants of this part of 

 East Africa mainly belong to the fine, 

 handsome Masai race and the peoples of 

 Nandi and Suk stock (closely allied in 

 racial origin to the Masai), while in the 

 coast regions bordering the Victoria 

 Nyanza there are a few Nilotic and 

 Bantu negroes. 



The Suk natives of the northern part 

 of the Rift Valley, southwest of Lake 

 Rudolf, wear no clothes, but devote con- 

 siderable attention to their hair. It is 



thought an unwomanly thing for the 

 Suk women to have hair on the head. 

 The men, however, encourage the hair to 

 grow. When the father of a family dies 

 his head-hair is divided among his sons, 

 and each one weaves his portion into a 

 chignon. In this chignon is a hollow 

 bag in which is put all a man's portable 

 possessions that he prizes most — his 

 snuff box, ornaments, etc. 



The Karamojo people who dwell to 

 the west of Lake Rudolf do not go in so 

 much for chignons, but their favorite 

 ornament is to make a hole through the 

 lower lip and to wear in it the cone of 

 some crystal. 



Among the dense forests, the game- 

 haunted wildernesses, and unfrequented 

 plateaux, wanders a mongrel nomad 

 race, the Andorobo, who represent a mix- 

 ture of Nandi, Masai, and some ante- 

 cedent negro race of dwarfish, Bushman 

 stock. These Andorobo reproduce in a 

 most striking manner the life which we 

 may suppose to have been led by our far- 

 away ancestors or predecessors in the 

 earliest Stone Ages. They lead, in fact, 

 very much the life that the most primi- 

 tive types of man led in Great Britain 

 and France in the farback days of big 

 animals, possibly before the coming of 

 the glacial periods. They live entirely 

 by the chase, often consuming the flesh 

 of birds and beasts uncooked. Though 

 they commit considerable devastations 

 among the game of the province, they 

 are a picturesque feature when encoun- 

 tered, and a striking illustration, handed 

 down through the ages, of the life of 

 primitive man not long after he had at- 

 tained the status of humanity and had 

 acquired a knowledge of the simplest 

 weapons. 



THE MASAI PEOPLE 



Lake Naivasha, one of the lakes of the 

 Rift Valley, is probably the center of a 

 district where President Roosevelt will 

 spend some time, because there are some 

 very interesting things to be seen and 

 possibly some remarkable animals to be 

 obtained there. The western side of 

 Lake Naivasha has picturesque moun- 



