5§ 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
us a good deal about the inhabitants. He seems to 
lead a curious and uneventful life in his mountain 
fastness, where he has resided, for five years, in a little 
iron hut of two rooms, having returned to the coast 
only once during that time. He never descends to 
the plains, except to meet a passing caravan, or to 
shoot, and he assured us there were eland, hartebeest, 
and other antelopes and a few lions about. The 
summits of the hill range form an undulating plateau, 
inhabited and well cultivated. He seemed to live in 
comparative peace and comfort, but he told us that 
until a famine occurred about two years ago, he en¬ 
countered many difficulties, as the natives were always 
trying to turn him out, because they thought he must 
have committed a murder or some other crime, as none 
of his relations ever came to see him. After his help¬ 
ing them to the best of his ability during the famine, 
which destroyed quite two-thirds of the population, 
they began to realise that his presence was productive 
of good instead of evil, and now they would come and 
chat with him all day long in his hut, and were most 
friendly. 
The Wa-teita, of whom a great number came down 
to inspect us, differ considerably in general appear¬ 
ance from the Doruma; their features are smaller 
and their faces rounder, and though by no means 
beautiful, are not repulsive ; they have the curious 
habit of filing their front teeth into sharp points. 
Some have their heads clean shaved, others leave a 
small round top knot of short frizzy hair, and others 
