and was very severe; it resembled a Spanish bit.
The saddle was made of light wood covered with soft
folds of sheepskin; so that it-was comfortable. It was
attached to the horse by means of a cinch girth run
through rings and knotted. The stirrups consisted of
rings just large enough to admit- the great toe. The
saddle was held in place by a breastplate and breeching,
as well as by the girth. The reins consisted of
bits of untanned hide. The horseman was armed with
a spear quite ten feet in length.
I was told that the Rendile possessed about 500
horses. These they had purchased from the Barawa,
whose tribe was said to be possessed of thousands
of horses, which they used in battle and also for
the purpose of hunting giraffe and antelope, which
are the only game eaten by the Rendile.
During our stay in the neighbourhood of these
people I saw but one woman. She was clad as follows.
About her hips there depended a short kilt,
consisting of what resembled rope-ends, and from her
shoulders fell a voluminous cloak of well-tanned sheepskin.
The Rendile tanned their hides very successfully,
and one of these bore a remarkable resemblance
to peau de suede. The woman’s hair was most carefully
arranged. It was gathered on the top of her
head in the shape of a crest of an ancient Greek
helmet, and was held in this position by means of
pins and grease.
In the afternoon we were able to gather an idea of
the numbers of the Rendile flocks and herds. Just
before sundown a herd of camels passed our camp,
and we counted 4000. These were said to belong to
a single village, and that not the richest of the Rendile
villages. There were said to be twenty villages;
so that one might say the Rendile possessed, in round
numbers, 80,000 camels. In former days they had
possessed many cattle, but these had been very much
reduced in number by plagues, so that their herds, at
the time of our visit, consisted of but 1000. Of donkeys,
they were said to possess thousands upon thousands,
and it was reported that their flocks of sheep
and goats were countless.
From conversations with these people, we gathered
that there must be 20,000 Rendile, not counting the
many thousand Samburu and Berkenedji living with
them. - It was said that when the Rendile were
camped in one long line, it took six hours’ hard
marching to pass from one end of the line to the
other.
Their huts were said to be made of camel saddles
similar to those used by the Somali. They had been
encamped two months at Kome, where we found them;
but, as the pasturage was now nearly exhausted, they
were on the point of moving. They said they wandered
from Marie, to the north of Lake Stephanie, as
far south as the northern extremity of the Leikipia
plateau. In former years they had encamped near
Marsabit and the northern end of the General Matthews
range; but five years previously they had suffered
defeat at the hands of the Turcana, who robbed
them of thousands of camels, and killed many of their
tribe. Many years ago they inhabited the plain to the
south of Lorian called Kirrimar; but owing to the repeated
raids of the Somali from Kismayu and the