FROM ADEN TO MOMBASA. 
39 
gazelles and Grant gazelles, the latter an exquisite creature with a 
white band on its dappled sides. All scamper a little distance as the 
train steams along, then go quietly on with their grazing. If you 
come to some deserted stretch you may know that a wandering lion 
is not far away, hence, the dispersal of the tranquil herds, whose 
keen scent has warned them of the enemy. 
CHILDREN OF THE WILDERNESS. 
As water is very scarce in this country you do not see so many 
natives as you did the previous day or as you will beyond Nairobi. 
After leaving the coast you passed through a country inhabited by 
the Wa Nyika, ''children of the wilderness,’’ a wild-looking tribe, 
not so large or well formed as the Masai or Kavirondos or other 
tribes to be found farther inland. Almost all these tribes mutilate 
their ears by perforating and dragging the lobes so that they hang 
down over their shoulders. Also around the rims they insert blue, 
red and yellow disks, or wooden boses, containing charms. Some, 
like the Masai, further scarify their bodies or plaster themselves 
from head to foot with red clay. This is sometimes for warmth, 
but more often for adornment. Both men and women are fond of 
coiling copper wire around their arms and legs, and used to steal 
quantities of this from the telegraph lines until they were taught by 
summary methods the iniquity of this custom. 
Some of the important hats worn in the past year in our country 
look more like the nodding plumes and feathers worn by the savage 
warriors of East Africa than civilized headgear. The wild tribes 
that stolidly gaze at the passing train or wave spears and shields 
or bows and arrows at it are as wonderful and interesting as the im¬ 
mense herds of zebras, antelopes and gazelles, or the wild ostriches 
and vultures, or hyenas and jackals, or other strange sights one gets 
from the car windows. 
To return to our railway carriage. As the sun rises the land 
glows with exceeding light, and by noon we have reached Nairobi. 
Here the ex-President leaves the train, and we will leave him for the 
present. The Nairobians are a hospitable, gay, sport-loving people. 
They have horse races two or three times a year. 
