468 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
of small holes are made, are planted about their huts, 
a number of birds' nests are procured and attached to 
these poles, the owners of the nests following and 
taking possession of them ; other birds then come 
and build in the remaining holes, and in this way 
they are brought together in large flocks ; so that 
whenever the natives wish to dine on birds, they 
have them at hand. Of the people of Sumeki and 
other places it is said that they have no huts, but 
dwell in caves ; some of which are so large as to 
afford accommodation for hundreds of families. 
Unlike most East Africans, some of these clans, as 
those of Kavaras and Kavaren, do not circumcise. 
There are many things about these people — for 
instance, their musical proclivities — that suggest that 
they are allied to the tribes at the north of the 
Nyanza; but this is especially so of tieir language, 
which seems to belong to an entirely different family 
from that spoken by either the pastoral or agricultural 
races of this part of the continent. Captain Speke 
gives only a few words of the Gani dialect, two of 
them being *^ pi (water) and winge " (to know), and 
these are the very words which are used by the 
Wakavirondo for the same things. 
The country along the shores of the Nyanza is 
reported to be very fine, open, level tracts of meadow 
land, backed with forest, well watered with numerous 
streams, and richly stocked with wild animals of 
every description, the elephant being very numerous. 
It is on the latter account that the Kisuahili caravans 
go to Kavirondo, ivory being abundant and cheap. 
But of all the peoples living in this country, the 
Masai and Wakuavi are most remarkable. They 
