210 
THE KILIMA-NJAB 0 EXPEDITION. 
its turns and windings better than tlie dwellers in 
the open, have gained a fierce victory over their 
assailants. Now they dwell in safety, and their little 
republic is the favourite resort of not only the coast 
traders, who leave their wives here when they enter 
the dangerous Masai country, but of all the hunted, 
homeless fugitives from Caga, from Taita, and from 
Ukambani. Though there is thus great intermixture 
of race, the original language of the Wa-taveita holds 
its ground and is the general tongue of the community. 
Swahili is known to most of the inhabitants, who mix 
a great deal with the coast traders, and Masai is also 
spoken and understood, because the Masai who once 
harried the Wa-taveita so cruelly, now come peacefully 
to trade, exchanging their ivory, oxen, and asses for 
vegetable food, for trade goods, and for honey—of 
which the Taveita people obtain great quantities from 
their bees. Moreover, there is a fairly large colony 
of about two or three thousand agricultural Masai 
(called Wa-kwavi by the coast people) settled at 
Kikoro, a southern extension of Taveita. This is a 
most interesting locality for a student of African races 
to settle in. It resembles Stanley Pool on the Congo, 
Dondo on the Quanza, Khartum on the Nile, and such 
like emporiums of trade; a rendezvous of tribes, 
tongues, peoples, and nations. You may sit here in 
the porch of your comfortable thatched house, which 
may be built in a few days from the materials at hand, 
and receive visits from representatives of most of the 
nations found in East Central Africa. Arabs, Gallas, 
Masai, A-kamba, Wa-caga, Wa-pare, Wa-taita, Wa- 
gweno, Wa-swahili, Wa-sambara; the people of Kavi- 
sondo on the Victoria Nyanza, of Bu-ganda, and Bu- 
nyoro; of Njemps, and Samburu, all find their way 
