298 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
fell. The little cattle they had captured we took from 
them, and drove back to our own pinfolds. But the 
last time they came it was otherwise. That was only 
the other day, and they swept the country of all it 
contained. Look at these footprints and at these 
paths; they were made by the Masai and their cattle." 
At this point the men who were at the head of us 
were taking the wrong path, and were called back. 
''Not that way," cried the old man; "that is a Masai 
path. Look at it, it is as clean and as well beaten as 
the public one, yet the Masai made it by simply 
passing over it once, so you 'may guess what their 
numbers were. Well, it is Mulungu (God). There is 
no fighting against God (fate). What can we do.^ 
Aye, but the first time; they got it then, and no 
mistake !" and the old man chuckled with delight 
over that triumph, though they had been so utterly 
beaten since. 
As we approached the region of the Ndunguni, our 
old friend requested that when we should reach that 
place our guns should be fired. He said that the 
moment we arrived at its edge we should be seen 
by the Waduruma beyond; that we should be taken 
for Masai, and that the people would fly into the 
woods without waiting to ascertain who we really 
were. But if they heard our guns they would know 
that they had nothing to fear, and would remain at 
home, or wherever they might be. Reaching the spot, 
we accordingly gave the people a salute. 
Ndunguni is a depression of the elevated country 
over which we had travelled since we left Ribe, and 
is remarkable on account of its great extent. It 
stretches first north, then north-west, with of course 
