"The Masai people had a great horror of being photographed, as they supposed the camera was a bewitching machine which would work them great harm. Mr. Thomson came near getting into trouble by shooting a marabout stork which he saw near the camp. It seems that storks and adjutants are looked upon as sacred; as they, along with the hyenas, are the grave-diggers, or rather the graves of the Masai. These people do not bury or burn their dead, but simply throw out the corpses to be devoured, in much the same way as the Parsees of Bombay carry their dead to the Towers of Silence on Malabar Hill to be eaten by vultures.
"The hunting was so good in the neighborhood of this camp that in one day our friend 'bagged' four rhinoceroses, one giraffe, four zebras, and four antelopes, all within six hours. He saw the tracks of elephants and buffaloes, but did not kill any; though a hunter from the traders' camp managed to kill an elephant whose tusks weighed a little short of two hundred pounds. The Masai people proved to be inveterate thieves, and, in spite of the greatest precautions, not a day passed without the loss of more or less property which the light-fingered scoundrels managed to lay their hands on. Mr. Thomson was looked upon as a wonderful worker of magic, but even the respect that was due him as a magician did not prevent the people from stealing his goods.
AFRICAN ADJUTANTS.
"On the road the Masai used to rush up to the caravan singly or in twos or threes and attempt to carry off the loads from the porters' heads; if they failed no effort was made to punish them; and if they succeeded they were not pursued to any great distance, as their friends would be sure to come to their rescue. At night the camp was surrounded by a stockade or a fence of thorns, and several times the Masai attempted to enter the stockades and stampede the animals belonging to the caravan. Hostile demonstrations were numerous, and escapes from fights exceedingly narrow.
A WELL-STOCKED HUNTING-GROUND.
"At a convenient point on the road Mr. Thomson left the caravan temporarily, to make a flying trip to Mount Kenia with a selected party of his best men. He kept up his character of magician, and, by an ingenious ruse with his teeth (two of which were false), he carried conviction with his assertion. 'Come to me,' he said to one of the wondering warriors, 'and I will cut off your nose and put it on again. Just look at my teeth; see how firm they are,' and as he said so he tapped them with his knuckles. 'Now I turn my head and, see, the teeth are gone;' and the crowd shrank back in dismay and was on the point of seeking safety in flight. 'Hold on a moment,' said the white magician, and with another turn of the head he put the teeth in place and stood smiling before the petrified spectators.