nimbus of darkness.

After we had made camp we saw a number of Masai warriors hovering about
the opposite bank, but they did not venture across. Some of their women
did, however, and came cheerily into camp. These most interesting people
are worth more than a casual word, so I shall reserve my observations
on them until a later chapter. One of our porters, a big Baganda named
Sabakaki, was suffering severely from pains in the chest that
subsequently developed into pleurisy. From the Masai women we tried to
buy some of the milk they carried in gourds; at first they seemed not
averse, but as soon as they realized the milk was not for our own
consumption, they turned their backs on poor Sabakaki and refused to
have anything more to do with us.

These Masai are very difficult to trade with. Their only willing barter
is done in sheep. These they seem to consider legitimate objects of
commerce. A short distance from our camp stood three whitewashed round
houses with thatched, conical roofs, the property of a trader named
Agate. He was away at the time of our visit.

After an early morning, but vain, attempt to get Billy a shot at a
lion[22] we set out for our distant blue mountains. The day was a
journey over plains of great variegation. At times they were covered
with thin scrub; at others with small groves; or again, they were open
and grassy. Always they undulated gently, so from their tops one never
saw as far as he thought he was going to see. As landmark we steered by
a good-sized butte named Donga Rasha.

Memba Sasa and I marched ahead on foot. In this thin scrub we got
glimpses of many beasts. At one time we were within fifty yards of a