t, short queue.
He wore three skewers about six inches long thrust through each of his
ears, three strings of blue beads on his neck, a bracelet tight around
his upper arm, a bangle around his ankle, a pair of rawhide sandals, and
about a half yard of cotton cloth which he hung from one shoulder.
As weapons he carried a round-headed, heavy club, or runga, and a
long-bladed spear. He led us to buffalo, accepted a thirty-three cent
blanket, and made fire with two sticks in about thirty seconds. The only
other evidences of human life we had come across were a few beehives
suspended in the trees. These were logs, bored hollow and stopped at
either end. Some of them were very quaintly carved. They hung in the
trees like strange fruits.

Now, however, after leaving the Isiola, we were to quit the game country
and for days travel among the swarming millions of the jungle.

A few preliminary and entirely random observations may be permitted me
by way of clearing the ground for a conception of these people. These
observations do not pretend to be ethnological, nor even common logical.

The first thing for an American to realize is that our own negro
population came mainly from the West Coast, and differed utterly from
these peoples of the highlands in the East. Therefore one must first of
all get rid of the mental image of our own negro "dressed up" in savage
garb. Many of these tribes are not negro at all-the Somalis, the Nandi,
and the Masai, for example-while others belong to the negroid and
Nilotic races. Their colour is general cast more on the red-bronze than
the black, though the Kavirondos and some others are black enough. The
texture of their skin is very satiny and wonderful. This perfection is
probably due to the constant anointing of the body with oils of various
sorts. As a usual thing they are a fine lot physically. The southern
Masai will average between six and seven feet in height, and are almost
invariably well built. Of most tribes the physical development is
remarkably strong and graceful; and a great many of the women will
display a rounded, firm, high-breasted physique in marked contrast to
the blacks of the lowlands. Of the different tribes possibly the Kikuyus
are apt to count the most weakly and spindly examples: though some of
these people, perhaps a majority, are well made.

Furthermore, the native differentiates himself still further in
impression from our negro in his carriage and the mental attit