A member of the Dorobo, c. 1913, poison-hunters who inhabited small hill villages.
English: A well-built Dorobo. After much study … the Nzoia Plateau [and] especially the Cheringani Hills at its eastern part was chosen as hunting ground, c. 100 miles by 70 in extent and c. 150 miles from the railroad. This choice of territory fortunately gave us as companions and guides, the warriors of a little tribe there, the Dorobo of the Cheringani Hills. In 1908 I had made friends with this small tribe of poison-hunters. Secure in the fastnesses of their dense woodlands, they had controlled the land for ages. Fear of the deadly poison of their arrows and the cunning secrecy of their deep-spiked game-pits had kept off the hunting safari. … These very shy natives now agreed to come down from their mountain villages and serve the new expedition. Title: The American Museum journal Identifier: americanmuseumjo13amer (find matches) Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s) Authors: American Museum of Natural History Subjects: Natural history Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: TRACKERS OF THE CHERINGANI HILLS 303 only of small size in the region of the Tana, also in the Serengeti Plains between Voi and Kilimanjaro, as also in the country south and east of Lake Rudolf and in that about Mt. Kenia. After much study of the question, the Nzoia Plateau especially the Cheringani Hills at its eastern part was chosen as the hunting ground, a small area, about one hundred miles by seventy in extent and some one hundred and fifty miles from the railroad. This choice of territory fortunately gave us as companions and guides, the warriors of a little tribe there, the Cheringani Dorobo. In 1908 I had made friends with this small tribe of poison-hunters. Secure in the fastnesses of their dense woodlands, they had controlled the land for ages. Fear of the deadly poison of their arrows and the cunning secrecy of their deep- spiked game-pits had kept off the hunting safari; while the uncertain attitude toward the white men, maintained until quite lately by their neighbors, the Elgeyo tribe on the south and the Maraquette on the north, had closed the door effectually in that whole countryside to every expedition other than a military one. These very shy natives now agreed to come down from their mountain vil- lages and serve the new expedition. Half a dozen real trackers were soon picked out among them. Three abreast where the ground was open they would follow the spoor at a fast walk, and interpreting the rhino's brainless wanderings — signs which even to the safari leader's experienced eyes were invisible — would gain knowledge as to where the game was going and where it would rest. The forest was so dense at times that we used some forty or fifty natives as signallers and beaters. The method took time to organize but worked well. The Cheringani were cautious when following rhino. It is very easy to shoot this animal in the open. In dense cover it is another matter, and beaters and trackers I must confess, spent much time safely if not use- fully up trees. When on the trail of buffalo, which also are easily shot in open country, only a few of the bravest would go into the black hollows that hid the beasts, and once a buffalo was wounded I had to go in with them or no one would go. Good fortune attended us however and in all the history of the expedition no one of the hundred and fifty men was seriously in- jured. The risk of hunting buffalo in wooded country is sadly proved, if proof were necessary, by the later fate of the very best of the natives I employed. He was a brave boy and wonderfully good as a tracker. After Text Appearing After Image: A well built Dorobo Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.