ch. v] SOMALIS, KIKUYUS, AND MASAI 105 
were massive with copper and iron bracelets, had been 
given a blanket because he had no other garment; he 
got along quite well with the blanket, excepting when 
he had to use the lawn-mower, and then he would 
usually wrap the blanket around his neck, and handle 
the lawn-mower with the evident feeling that he had 
done all that the most exacting conventionalism could 
require. 
The house-boys and gun-bearers, and most of the 
boys who took care of the horses, were Somalis, whereas 
the cattle-keepers who tended the herds of cattle were 
Masai, and the men and women who worked in the 
fields were Kikuyus. The three races had nothing to do 
with one another, and the few Indians had nothing to 
do with any of them. The Kikuyus lived in their 
beehive huts scattered in small groups ; the Somalis all 
dwelt in their own little village on one side of the 
farm, and half a mile off the Masai dwelt in their 
village. Both the Somalis and Masai were fine, daring 
fellows ; the Somalis were Mohammedans and horse¬ 
men ; the Masai were cattle-herders, who did their work 
as they did their fighting, on foot, and were wild 
heathen of the most martial type. They looked care¬ 
fully after the cattle, and were delighted to join in 
the chase of dangerous game, but regular work they 
thoroughly despised. Sometimes when we had gathered 
a mass of Kikuyus or of our own porters together to do 
some job, two or three Masai would stroll up to look on 
with curiosity, sword in belt and great spear in hand; 
their features were well cut, their hair curiously plaited, 
and they had the erect carriage and fearless bearing that 
naturally go with a soldierly race. 
Within the house, with its bedrooms and dining¬ 
room, its library and drawing-room, and the cool, 
