232 ELEPHANT-HUNTING [ch. x 
black-and-white fur of the Colobus monkey ; others had 
plumes stuck in their red-daubed hair. They chanted 
in unison a deep-toned chorus and danced rhythmically 
in rings, while the drums throbbed and the horns 
blared ; and they danced by us in column, springing 
and chanting. The women shrilled applause and danced 
in groups by themselves. The Masai circled and swung 
in a panther-like dance of their own, and the measure 
and their own fierce singing and calling maddened them 
until two of their number, their eyes staring, their faces 
working, went into fits of berserker frenzy, and were 
disarmed at once to prevent mischief. Some of the 
tribesmen held wilder dances still in the evening by the 
light of fires that blazed in a grove where their thatched 
huts stood. 
The second day after we reached Neri the clouds 
lifted, and we dried our damp clothes and blankets. 
Through the bright sunlight we saw in front of us the 
high rock peaks of Kenia, and shining among them the 
fields of everlasting snow which feed her glaciers; for 
beautiful, lofty Kenia is one of the glacier-bearing 
mountains of the equator. Here Kermit and Tarlton 
went northward on a safari of their own, while Cuning- 
hame, Heller, and I headed for Kenia itself. For two 
days we travelled through a well-peopled country. The 
fields of corn—always called mealies in Africa—of 
beans, and sweet potatoes, with occasional plantations 
of bananas, touched one another in almost uninterrupted 
succession. In most of them we saw the Kikuyu 
women at work with their native hoes; for among the 
Kikuyus, as among other savages, the woman is the 
drudge and beast of burden. Our trail led by clear, 
rushing streams, which formed the head-waters of the 
Tana. Among the trees fringing their banks were 
