El Hakim declined to take such a lenient view of the case. To have done so would have been construed into a confession of weakness, and probably have led to more serious complications. He therefore demanded that the young man should be delivered up to him for punishment, or, failing that, a fine of ten sheep should be paid by his father.
They answered solemnly that the white men had very hard hearts; furthermore, the young man, having already been driven out of the village, could not now be found, and they were in consequence quite unable to give him up.
“Then,” said El Hakim, “his papa must pay the fine.”
They protested that the wicked young man had no papa, or, indeed, any relatives whatsoever; in fact, that he was an outcast whom, from charitable motives, they had allowed to stop in their village. We declined to believe such a preposterous story, and remained firm on the subject of the fine. After a time, finding remonstrance useless, the elderly deputation sorrowfully withdrew, after promising that the fine should be paid.
The next day six sheep were driven into our camp, and the old gentleman in charge stated that they were all he could afford, and would we consider the matter settled. We were inexorable, however, so soon afterwards the balance of the fine was brought into camp and handed over.
It was the old, old story, which can be paralleled in any town in the civilized world. The story of a young man sowing his wild oats, who, for some breach of the peace or other, comes within the grasp of the law, when ensues the police court, and the fine paid by papa, anxious to redeem his erring offspring.
We were truly sorry for the good old Burkeneji gentleman, who paid the fine in order to keep the peace which his son had so recklessly endangered; but our sympathy did not prevent our sense of justice—in this case more than usually acute, as the safety of our own persons was threatened—nor did it prevent us from exacting the full penalty.
The Rendili we found to be of very different behaviour, though they have a very bad character from Mr. Chanler. He describes them as overbearing, quarrelsome, treacherous, and haughtily contemptuous towards strangers. He met them at Kome in 1893, and stayed with them two or three days. Since his visit, however, they have been, as I have already remarked, terribly decimated by small-pox, and possibly that has toned them down somewhat.
They are tall and well built, with slim and graceful figures and light, clear skins. They have an appearance of cleanliness and wholesomeness which was altogether wanting in the other natives whom we had previously met. Their distinctly Semitic features bear little resemblance to those of the typical negro, with his squat nose, prognathous jaws, and everted lips. There were many members of the tribe with good clean-cut features, well-shaped jaws and chins, and pronounced aquiline noses. They somewhat resembled high-bred Arabs in general appearance, and, if clothed in Arab dress, they, with their fine, straight, close-cut jet black hair, could not be easily distinguished from that aristocratic race.
At one time they wore a rough, coarsely woven garment of sheep’s wool, but at the time I saw them they had entirely taken to trade cloth to the exclusion of the home-made article. They then wore large mantles of this cotton cloth, made by sewing together two three-yard lengths of cloth, thus forming a large square piece. The edges of this are then unravelled to form tassels, which are further ornamented with small red and white beads. This they draped round them somewhat in the manner of a Mexican “serape.” They and their clothes were always scrupulously clean. Unlike the Burkeneji they will never wear anything but white cloth. “Coloured cloths,” they remarked contemptuously to us on one occasion, “were only fit for women and Masai.” They prefer the English drill, called “Marduf” by the Swahilis, to the lighter and commoner “Merikani” (American sheeting).