On ihe Tana. 
223 
you move forward I fire. Go back." Finding it was 
of no avail the would-be murderer returned. But he 
would doubtless proceed, return to his party and secure 
aid to do what he dared not attempt alone. Our men 
feared this, and fled into the mangrove swamp, where 
they knew the Masai would not be likely to follow 
them, that people having a great dread of woods and 
thickets, and never pursuing a foe into such places. 
Wuledi and his companion slept in the swamp 
that night, but continued their way early on the fol- 
lowing morning. Up to the point of meeting with 
the Masai they had tracked the donkeys, but after 
this they found no traces of them whatever. They 
suspected the animals had fallen into the hands of the 
marauders. In their search they came upon what had 
been the Masai camp. It is singular that these 
people, who live wholly on flesh, never eat the animals' 
heads. That day Wuledi counted fifty cows' heads 
upon the Masai camping-place. This will give us 
some idea of their numbers. How many will one 
bullock feed 1 Say twenty, at least. Then there 
must have been one thousand Masai up on that spot. 
But this fact suggests many other thoughts. If a 
body of meat hunters eat in one day fifty head of 
cattle, how many must be consumed in the course of 
twelve months by the whole nation, of whom that 
body is a mere tribe t Suppose, for the sake of 
illustration, we reckon the Masai population at one 
hundred thousand. Allowing fifty head of cattle for 
every thousand men per day, their requirements will 
amount to 1,825,000 per year ! One million, 
EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND 
HEAD OF CATTLE PER ANNUM ! ! Who can wonder 
