or three inches in diameter, or a little
round tin canister, and by hanging to it pieces of chain, rings, beads,
or bunches of brass-headed nails, according to fancy. Nearly all the
men wear little bells on their ankles to give notice of their approach,
while the women are very fond of covering themselves with large
quantities of iron or copper wire. Their limbs, indeed, are often
almost completely encased with these rings, which I should think must
be very heavy and uncomfortable: but no Masai woman considers herself a
lady of fashion without them, and the more she possesses the higher
does she stand in the social scale.

As a rule, the Masai do not bury their dead, as they consider this
custom to be prejudicial to the soil; the bodies are simply carried
some little distance from the village and left to be devoured by birds
and wild beasts. The honour of burial is reserved only for a great
chief, over whose remains a large mound is also raised. I came across
one of these mounds one day near Tsavo and opened it very carefully,
but found nothing: possibly I did not pursue my search deep enough into
the earth. In general, the Masai are an upright and honourable savage
race, and it is a great pity that they are gradually dying out.

More or less serfs of the Masai are the Wa N'derobbo, who, unlike their
over-lords, are a race of hunters. They are seldom to be met with,
however, as they hide away in caves and thickets, and keep constantly
moving from place to place following the game. Not long ago I saw a few
of them in the neighbourhood of the Eldama Ravine: but these were more
or less civilised, and the girls, who were quite graceful, had
abandoned the native undress costume for flowing white robes.

In the district from Nairobi to the Kedong River, and in the Kenya
Province, dwell the Wa Kikuyu, who are similar to the Masai in build,
but not nearly so good-looking. Like the latter, they use the spear and
shield, though of a different shape; their principal weapon, however,
is the bow and poisoned arrow. They also frequently carry a rudely made
two-edged short sword in a sheath, which is slung round the waist by a
belt of raw hide. Their front teeth are filed to a sharp point in the
same manner as those of nearly all the other native tribes of East
Africa, with the exception of the Masai. They live in little villages
composed of beehive huts and always situated in the very thickest
patches of forest that they can find,