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, and
their cattle kraals are especially strongly built
and carefully hidden. On one occasion I managed
after a great deal of difficulty and crawling on
all-fours to make my way into one of these
kraals, and was much amazed to notice what
labour and ingenuity had been expended on its
construction.
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