Guaso Nyiro, in a northwesterly direction, until it
reaches Lake Rudolph. From our camp on Lolokwi
we could see Mount Gerguess, at a distance of ten
miles, rising abruptly from the plain in a series of
jagged and forest-covered peaks. The summit of this
mountain is 10,000 feet above the sea-level, and it is
said to be inhabited by several bands of Wanderobbo
who live solely upon honey, and upon no occasion venture
forth from the fastnesses of their mountain home
to the plain below.
From Gerguess the line of the General Matthews
range stretches almost unbroken to Lake Rudolph.
Its principal peaks are Mallon, Lassuran, Merkeben,
Doto, Saddim, and Myiro. The old Wanderobbo told
me that he had spent his entire life in the neighbourhood
of Lolokwi, and only on rare occasions had visited
the banks of the Guaso Nyiro; consequently he
was unacquainted with any roads to the north. However,
he had heard his brothers talk about different
roads, and he appeared quite willing to tell me all he
knew about them. He said that during the rainy season
it was possible to follow the line of the mountains
(meaning the General Matthews range) to Lake
Rudolph; but other roads were also possible during
the rains, particularly one, via Saramba and Marsabit.
Those were the only roads to the north he had ever
heard of.
As to the Rendile, he said that some of the members
of his village had lived among that tribe, but
that he had never seen them. He thought they lived
somewhere between Saramba and Marsabit. He had
heard that the Rendile were very bad people, particularly
of late years; for they had conquered a large
army of Somali (called, by the Wanderobbo and Masai,
“ Eljuju”). He added that the Rendile were always
fighting; that they had many horses; and that he had
heard there was a large tribe living near the Rendile,
but not on good terms with them, called Borana.
The tenor of all his conversation made us await
with impatience the arrival of the men who were to
act as our guides; and when at length they turned
up, fat, sleek, greasy, and gorged with food, our spirits
rose.
The contrast between these men and their wives,
mothers, and offspring was great indeed — the latter
being mere skeletons. They brought with them a
large quantity of meat, which their better halves seized
with avidity, and carried off to their huts, where, doubtless,
it was soon despatched. The men were really
fine-looking fellows; and I was at once struck with
the fact that their features were entirely different
from those of any other natives of East Africa whom
I had seen. They approached nearer the Somali type
— having regular features, full-rounded chins, and fine,
bold eyes. In colour, they were brown rather than
black. The lobes of their ears were stretched, after
the Masai fashion. Upon each side of the breast
they bore a crescent-shaped scar, which started at a
point .near the shoulder and ended near the lowest rib.
Upon receiving a small present, they sat down and
allowed us to question them; but to our queries they
failed to give answers at all satisfactory. They said
they had originally belonged to the Berkenedji or
Samburu tribe, which had originally possessed the