454 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
are greater barbarians than most. They are in this 
respect a great anomaly. Mandara has ah'eady been 
largely described. On the one hand, he is the most 
civilized man I have ever met with among the primi- 
tive tribes ; yet, on the other, he is a most debased, 
brutal, and cruel barbarian ; and he is the model 
upon which all the young men of Moche form their 
characters. He has sufficient intelligence to appre- 
ciate the advantage of such civilization as has been 
brought before his notice, yet such is the character of 
his mind that he cannot help admiring the free, wild, 
dashing, half-heroic life of the Masai, though it be 
associated with robbery and bloodshedding. One 
side of his character he is totally Masai, and as far 
as he can he imitates them in everything : in dress, 
in arms, and, I am sorry to say, in their marauding 
propensities. The Masai are his beau ideal of all that 
is great and heroic, and this is his bane. 
To the superiority of the Wachaga in general, their 
engineering works, the various branches of industry 
they follow, and the style in which everything is 
done by them, bear ample testimony. Look at their 
defensive works ; the deep, broad trenches by which 
the whole country is surrounded ; the high, thick, 
stone walls which are found in some places ; and the 
strong stockades which they build ; all these proclaim 
them to be a very clever people. As agriculturists 
they are far ahead of most Africans. Witness their 
gardens laid out into square beds, the artificial water- 
courses which traverse the hill-sides everywhere, the 
flourishing state of their plantations, and the perfec- 
tion which everything attains under their care. As 
cattle-keepers they pride themselves upon the superi- 
