The journey was continued via Ufiome Mission, where the excellent Father Dürr was settled, to Kondoa-Irangi, Kilimatinde and back to Dar-es-Salaam. The impression left by this first inspection was that from a military point of view there was still a great deal to be done if we wished to be properly prepared in case the English should make war on us. Unfortunately I did not succeed in arousing sufficient interest in the matter on the part of the authorities. The ruling opinion was that we were on exceptionally good terms with the English, and that a war, if it came at all, was still in the distant future. Thus it happened that when war actually did break out but a few months later we were unprepared. For me, a new-comer in East Africa, the journey had not only been of military interest. At Boma la Ngombe, a place between Moshi and Arusha, a number of old Askari had been settled by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Johannes; they were mainly engaged in cattle-dealing, and had become well-to-do. The news of my coming had preceded me, and the people appeared in full strength to greet me on my arrival. I had the impression that this was not a mere show of loyalty; the people not only told me enthusiastically of Germans under whom they had previously served, but after the outbreak of war, unasked and without the slightest pressure, they placed a large sum of money at our disposal to help the force. In that district I also saw the first Masai, who, in contrast to the majority of the East African tribes, are pure Hamites, and live in a special reservation. It may be mentioned that Merker, the best authority on the Masai,[1] considers them to be the original Jews. They possess to a marked degree the characteristics of the pure inhabitant of the prairie. Occasionally, one of these tall, slim, and very swift men acted as my guide on hunting expeditions; their vision and skill as trackers are astonishing. In addition, the Masai is intelligent, and, at any rate towards strangers, an extraordinary liar. He lives in closed villages of mud huts, and, like all nomads, wanders with his herds over the prairie. He seldom enlists in the force. In agriculture the Masai engages hardly at all, whereas among the other tribes this forms the chief occupation and is a necessary condition for close settlement. Thus the banana districts on the eastern slopes of Kilima Njaro support a native Wajagga population of some twenty-five thousand souls, and this number could easily be increased. The great wealth of cattle in the neighbourhood of Arusha, on the Masai prairie, and near Kondoa-Irangi, showed me that the tse-tse fly, the principal enemy of African cattle, is comparatively rare in those parts. As a comparison, I may state that the cattle in the single district of Arusha are estimated to be more numerous than in the whole of South-West Africa. At Kondoa-Irangi and Singida the people had come from a great distance, and had lined the road to greet me.