His body, too, was turned to bronze by the
same method, so that he looked like a beautiful smooth metal statue come
to life. To set this quality off he wore glittering collars, bracelets,
and ear ornaments of polished copper and brass. When he joined us his
sole costume was a negligent two-foot strip of cotton cloth. After he
had received his official jersey, he carefully tied the cloth over his
wonderful head; nor as far as we knew did he again remove it until the
end of the expedition. All his movements were inexpressibly graceful.
They reminded one somehow of Flaxman's drawings of the Greek gods. His
face, too, was good-natured and likeable. A certain half feminine, wild
grace, combined with the queer effect of his headgear, caused us to name
him Daphne. At home he was called Kingangui. At first he carried his
burden after the fashion of savages--on the back; and kept to the rear
of the procession; and at evening consorted only with old Lightfoot. As
soon as opportunity offered, he built himself a marvellous iridescent
ball of marabout feathers. Each of these he split along the quill, so
that they curled and writhed in the wind. This picturesque charm he
suspended from a short pole in front of his tent. Also, he belonged to
the Kikuyu tribe; he ate no game meat, but confined his diet to cornmeal
porridge. We were much interested in watching Daphne's gradual
conversion from savage ways to those of the regular porter.
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