ABOUT THE MOSAROS 
177 
and asked for her child, which I set down and ^ cL her to 
come and fetch, while I retreated. Other mothers of the children 
lying about also came for their little ones, and as we did not 
disturb them, the members of the family came up one by oiu , 
and soon a friendly feeling was established between us. Our 
boys were so thoroughly disciplined by this time, that they never 
even attempted to molest the Mosaros, for whom they usually 
profess the greatest contempt, as people who have no homes, no 
chiefs, and no gardens, and whom they compare to the baboons 
for living wildly in the bush, subsisting mainly on wild fruits 
and roots, and perhaps what game they may catch in their 
primitive traps. Any weapons, bows and arrows or spears, 
they may acquire, are periodically stolen from them by such 
natives as they may meet with in their peregrinations. It seems 
that they seldom raise their hands in self-defence against these 
depredations, trusting by submission to gain the clemency of 
their robber lords and masters. They probably are guided in 
this by the necessity they experience of gathering wild fruit to 
sustain themselves on, as it naturally grows more thickly near 
'the river banks, and consequently nearer to parts inhabited by 
natives whom they must propitiate to be allowed to reap the 
meagre harvest that nature has provided. As warriors they 
are a poor-spirited lot, but are perfect marvels at finding their 
way about in the otherwise deserted inhospitable sand-belts of 
the desert. Their accuracy as trackers of game is astonishing; a 
wounded buck, or lost animal, can never get away from them. 
Running like sleuth-hounds on a track almost or quite invisible 
to the eye of less practised hunters, they will continue at a trot 
for hours at a time, without displaying the least fatigue, until 
they run the game to earth. They know the habits of all game 
and birds thoroughly, and can read from a sign in the tracks 
that would escape the observation of any one else, exactly what 
the game intends doing—whether it is thirsty, otherwise making 
for water, or travelling to another district, or if it intends re¬ 
maining in the district for a short time; whether after feeding 
there is a probability of the game being found in the neighbour- 
