These proud youths wander mincingly down the street with an expression
of the most fatuous and good-natured satisfaction with themselves. To
their minds they have evidently done every last thing that human
ingenuity or convention could encompass.

These young men are the dandies, the proud young aristocracy of wealth
and importance; and of course they may differ individually or tribally
from the sample I have offered. Also there are many other social grades.
Those who care less for dress or have less to get it with can rub along
very cheaply. The only real essentials are (_a_) something for the
ear--a tomato can will do; (_b_) a trifle for clothing--and for that a
scrap of gunny sacking will be quite enough.

The women to be seen in the streets of Nairobi are mostly of the Kikuyu
tribe. They are pretty much of a pattern. Their heads are shaven,
either completely or to leave only ornamental tufts; and are generally
bound with a fine wire fillet so tightly that the strands seem to sink
into the flesh. A piece of cotton cloth, dyed dark umber red, is belted
around the waist, and sometimes, but not always, another is thrown about
the shoulder. They go in for more hardware than do the men. The entire
arms and the calves of the legs are encased in a sort of armour made of
quarter-inch wire wound closely, and a collar of the same material
stands out like a ruff eight or ten inches around the neck. This is
wound on for good; and must be worn day and night and all the time, a
cumbersome and tremendously heavy burden. A dozen large loops of
coloured beads strung through the ears, and various strings and
necklaces of beads, cowrie shells, and the like finish them out in all
their gorgeousness. They would sink like plummets. Their job in life,
besides lugging all this stuff about, is to carry in firewood and
forage. At any time of the day long files of them can be seen bending