7-5 
EXPERIENCES IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 
neck, or ridge of hill, proceeding along this we came to more 
forest, though with many open glades, and presently fell in 
with a small native village, well hidden in the bush ; possibly 
it was not a real village, merely a collection of temporary 
habitations, as the huts were so very rudimentary, and more 
primitive human dwellings it would be hard to imagine; 
they consisted merely of withy boughs stuck round in a circle, 
their supple tops bent across to meet over the centre ; a few 
leafy branches served to cover in this frame and a small 
aperture was left at one side by way of a door. At our 
approach a party of natives retired shyly into the bushes, 
but on being induced to come out, were not very shy but full 
of curiosity, especially at our clothes, which they liked to touch, 
every now and then drawing back in sudden panic ; they were 
a fine well made set of savages, most of them over six feet 
high, the men were naked but the women had short skirts and 
innumerable necklaces, and brass and copper bracelets ; 
I gave a cigarette to one of them and it was amusing to see 
the others crowd round ; the woman I had given it to quite 
understood what it was for, but preferred to chew the tobacco 
to smoking it. I spent a long time with these charming, 
unsophisticated savages, so far quite unspoilt by any contact 
with white men, and then proceeded to go down the hill on the 
opposite side to which we had come up. We worked down 
the dry bed of a stream and here again the flowers and shrubs 
were of great beauty and variety, and I caught two new 
species of Butterflies that I had not seen before and found 
some of the small dwarf Chameleons, most curious creatures 
with bright orange throat ; further along we found the ravine 
turned sharply to the right so as we had to get back to our 
tents that night, we bore left-handed and after pushing our 
way through some thick bush, came out on to the level plain 
and were able to get back to camp before it got very dark. 
And so day after day this fascinating life went on : shooting, 
collecting, exploring, and one forgot that all too soon we 
should have to return to the civilities of life and leave this 
wonderful country. All through our journey I had to be 
constantly reminding myself that I really was in the centre 
3 B 2 
