16 
THE PEOPLE ON THE SOUTH-EASTEEN 
THE PEOPLE ON THE SOUTH-EASTEEN 
SLOPES OF ELGON 
(From the Kwiwa to the Muberi) 
By C. W. Woodhouse 
As is common near large isolated mountains which offer 
a certain amount of shelter and protection to fugitives, 
the volcanic mass known as Elgon presents a considerable 
variety of race and language among the residents on its slopes. 
On the south-eastern portion of the mountain and its 
lower foothills, which are being considered in these notes, 
the population may be conveniently placed into five divisions 
which comprise : — 
1. (a) The 4 El-geborit ’ dwelling at the foot of Elgon from 
the Kwiwa to the Kumelil. (b) The El-kabeywa, Dorobo-like 
people who are closely allied to the 4 El-geborit,’ many of this 
tribe being among them. 
2. The Kipsatok or Elakassissi’s people. 
8. The Kitosh settlers living among the El-geborit. 
4. A few Uasin-Gishu Masai settlers. 
5. The Esomek, comprising the cave-dwellers at the foot 
of Elgon. These, as far as their history and the settlements 
of the other tribes, were there as far back as tradition relates. 
On taking the other histories of these tribes in the above- 
mentioned order they appear to be as follows : — 
El-geborit 
The history of this tribe appears to go back for some 150 
years, but this may be overestimated. 
The number 150 was arrived at by allowing twenty-five 
years for each person in the genealogy of the tribe down to 
Tendet, who is now about twenty-five years old and has children 
of his own. 
The founder of the tribe (as stated by the present chief) was 
a man named Sangut, who fled from the Kamasia country 
somewhere within touch of the large river running into the lake 
near the El-keyo, probably the Kerio river. The cause of his 
