166 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
gleamed here and there within, and as we approached 
we heard the talking and laughing of men and women, 
and the lowing and bleating of the pent-up herds and 
flocks. We hailed loudly, explaining our needs. At 
first they were very suspicious. They told us we could 
not bring the lion within, because it would frighten the 
cattle, but after some parley consented to our building 
a fire outside and skinning the animal. They passed 
two brands over the thorn fence, and our men speedily 
kindled a blaze, and drew the lioness beside it. By this 
time the Masai were reassured, and a score of their 
warriors, followed soon by half a dozen women, came 
out through a small opening in the fence, and crowded 
close around the fire, with boisterous, noisy good 
humour. They showed a tendency to chaff our porters. 
One, the humorist of the crowd, excited much merri¬ 
ment by describing, with pantomimic accompaniment 
of gestures, how when the white man shot a lion it 
might bite a Swahili, who thereupon would call for his 
mother. But they were entirely friendly, and offered 
me calabashes of milk. The men were tall, finely- 
shaped savages, their hair plastered with red mud, and 
drawn out into longish ringlets. They were naked 
except for a blanket worn, not round the loins, but 
over the shoulders ; their ears were slit, and from them 
hung bone and wooden ornaments; they wore metal 
bracelets and anklets, and chains which passed around 
their necks, or else over one side of the neck and under 
the opposite arm. The women had pleasant faces, and 
were laden with metal ornaments—chiefly wire anklets, 
bracelets, and necklaces — of many pounds weight. 
The features of the men were bold and clear-cut, and 
their bearing warlike and self-reliant. As the flame of 
the fire glanced over them, and brought their faces and 
