No doubt this owl was a wingless bird. I afterwards
learnt that the hooting of an owl is a favourite signal
among the Masai tribes. — A. Q.
Since I saw the above I have examined hundreds of
these swords, but have never been able to discover
how the gold plates were inlaid in the fretwork.
The armourers who make them in Zu-vendis bind themselves
by oath not to reveal the secret. — A.
Q.
The Masai Elmoran or young warriors can own no property,
so all the booty they may win in battle belongs to
their fathers alone. — A. Q.
As I think I have already said, one of Umslopogaas’s
Zulu names was the ‘Woodpecker’.
I could never make out why he was called so until
I saw him in action with Inkosi-kaas, when I at once
recognized the resemblance. — A. Q.
By a sad coincidence, since the above was written
by Mr Quatermain, the Masai have, in April 1886, massacred
a missionary and his wife — Mr and Mrs
Houghton — on this very Tana River, and
at the spot described. These are, I believe,
the first white people who are known to have fallen
victims to this cruel tribe. — Editor.
Mr Allan Quatermain misquotes — Pleasure
sat at the helm. — Editor.
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea
Mr Quatermain does not seem to have been aware that
it is common for animal-worshipping people to annually
sacrifice the beasts they adore. See Herodotus,
ii. 45. — Editor.
There is another theory which might account for the
origin of the Zu-Vendi which does not seem to have
struck my friend Mr Quatermain and his companions,
and that is, that they are descendants of the Phoenicians.
The cradle of the Phoenician race is supposed to
have been on the western shore of the Persian Gulf.
Thence, as there is good evidence to show, they emigrated
in two streams, one of which took possession of the
shores of Palestine, while the other is supposed by
savants to have immigrated down the coast of Eastern
Africa where, near Mozambique, signs and remains of
their occupation are not wanting. Indeed, it
would have been very extraordinary if they did not,
when leaving the Persian Gulf, make straight for the
East Coast, seeing that the north-east monsoon blows
for six months in the year dead in that direction,
while for the other six months it blows back again.
And, by the way of illustrating the probability, I
may add that to this day a very extensive trade is
carried on between the Persian Gulf and Lamu and other
East African ports as far south as Madagascar, which
is of course the ancient Ebony Isle of the ‘Arabian
Nights’. — Editor.
