Probably ten thousand
picked natives of various tribes are engaged in the profession. Of
course but a small proportion of this number is ever at home at any one
time; but the village is a large one. Both these villages are built in
the native style, of plaster and thatch; have their own headman
government--under supervision--and are kept pretty well swept out and
tidy. Besides these three main gathering places are many camps and
"shambas"[8] scattered everywhere; and the back country counts millions
of raw jungle savages, only too glad to drift in occasionally for a look
at the metropolis.
At first the newcomer is absolutely bewildered by the variety of these
peoples; but after a little he learns to differentiate. The Somalis are
perhaps the first recognizable, with their finely chiselled,
intelligent, delicate brown features, their slender forms, and their
strikingly picturesque costumes of turbans, flowing robes, and
embroidered sleeveless jackets. Then he learns to distinguish the savage
from the sophisticated dweller of the town. Later comes the
identification of the numerous tribes.
The savage comes in just as he has been for, ethnologists alone can
guess, how many thousands of years. He is too old an institution to have
been affected as yet by this tiny spot of modernity in the middle of the
wilderness. As a consequence he startles the newcomer even more than
the sight of giraffes on the sky-line.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113