An ivory trader in North Kenia

by A. Arkell-Hardwick

An hour or two after the camp was pitched we despatched Jumbi, accompanied by three other men, to Mount N’gombe to look for salt. Mount N’gombe was placed on my map as due north of Mount Sheba, which we had passed two days before. It is really some thirty or forty miles to the east of Sheba, as it (N’gombe) lies some thirty miles south-south-east of our “Swamp Camp,” which was itself some twenty miles due east of Sheba. It was also marked on the map as a salt crater, and in it lay our only hope of obtaining salt during the next four months, the small supply I obtained from Ismail Robli, in M’thara, being already finished.

In the afternoon George and I went down to the river and indulged in a most delightful swim, in spite of the supposed presence of crocodiles. Towards evening the mosquitos troubled us somewhat, and prevented us sleeping at all well.

VIEW ON THE WASO NYIRO, NEAR “SWAMP CAMP.”

CUTTING UP A RHINOCEROS FOR FOOD. (See page [190].)

We were up very early on the following morning, but it was not our own fault. At sunrise we were assailed by myriads of midges; they were very, very small, but they possessed a most venomous sting, the mosquitos being, in fact, quite harmless by comparison. They settled down in clouds on man and beast, and drove us all nearly frantic. Our faces, necks, and arms were soon covered with innumerable bites, which itched with a malevolence beyond anything I had hitherto experienced. George and I seized our rifles and fled from them as from a pestilence. We were out all the morning looking for game, and never once caught sight of a single animal. The men were badly in want of food, and we ourselves were in great need of raw hide wherewith to repair our boots. George and I had each attempted to buy an extra pair before leaving Nairobi, but there were no boots our size in the town at the time. We had been walking with our feet showing through those we were wearing, which were almost dropping to pieces. The country was so rough and stony underfoot that a long march was an event to be painfully remembered.

Jumbi and his companions returned in the evening from M’gomba, having discovered no traces of salt! They brought us samples of carbonate of soda, which, they said, was the only kind of salt there, but there was plenty of that. They had seen no natives, which was both surprising and disappointing, as there are generally a few Wandorobbo wandering up and down the Waso Nyiro. We were the more anxious to meet some of these people, as they generally have news of the Rendili.

The Wandorobbo are a nomad tribe of native hunters, who wander round the country at their own sweet will in search of wild honey and elephants. One or two Wandorobbo are to be found living in or near all the permanent settlements of both the Masai and the A’kikuyu. They live entirely by hunting; cultivating nothing. They are very skilful hunters of the elephant, which they kill with a poisoned spear. This spear consists of a heavy shaft about five feet long with a socket in the top, into which the poisoned barb is loosely fitted. Stealthily approaching his unconscious quarry, the naked hunter, with poised spear, watches his opportunity. At the right moment a quick movement of the arm launches the heavy spear, and the keen barb penetrates the elephant’s vitals. The hunter instantly dives into the bush; sometimes he is caught and killed. Accidents will happen, but I do not know that such an occurrence spoils the appetites of his companions. The elephant on receiving the thrust generally rushes away through the bush, and the spear-shaft, falling off, leaves the poisoned head in the wound to do its deadly work. They spear hippopotamus in the same way, but leave the rhinoceros severely alone unless they happen to catch him asleep. The origin of the Wandorobbo is still somewhat of a mystery. It is generally supposed that they are the offspring of degenerate Masai, with admixtures of other tribes. To a certain extent this is the case, but there are pure-blooded Wandorobbo who, in the opinion of Professor Gregory as recorded in his book,[8] are of very different descent. He says, “I suggest that they should be called the Wa’doko, for they agree in habits, appearance, and position with the tribe thus named by Harris[9] and Avanchers.[10] The Doko were said to occur on a high, cold, misty plateau in the neighbourhood of dense bamboo forests. Their home is about six weeks’ march from Mombasa, and between a snow-covered mountain called Obada and Lake El Boo or Bari. The mountain must be Kenia, and the lake Baringo. Hence it seems safe to conclude that the Doko or Wa’berikimo of Harris, Avanchers, Krapff,[11] and Rigby[12] are the elephant-hunting Negrillos on the plateau of Lykipia and the district to the north.”

When discussing the Wandorobbo with El Hakim, I learned that the Wandorobbo have a language of their own, though it is only spoken among a few of the tribe on Mogogodo (a hog-backed ridge north-west of the Doenyo lol Deika), where some of the pure-blooded Wandorobbo—or Wa’doko—have a permanent settlement. They were very unwilling to let strangers hear it, a fact also mentioned by Prof. Gregory. El Hakim had heard scraps of it, and it was unlike anything else he had ever known. He was ignorant of the language of the South African Bushmen, and therefore could not say if there was any resemblance.