The Last of the Masai |
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alarm animal antelope arrows attack Batian BEISA Oryx birds British East Africa cattle child circle coast colour common dead ditos East Africa Protectorate eland elder elephant enemies fact fastened father feet Fort Smith frequently goats Grant's Grant's Gazelle grass greater kudu hair hand hartebeest head-dress herd hippopotamus horns hundred yards hunted hunter huts hyænas impala inhabit invariably iron Kikuyu Kikuyu forest killed Kitui district known kraals kudu large number Lenana leopard lions live M'Kikuyu manyatta marriage fee marry Masai boys Masai chief MASAI RACE MASAI VILLAGE MASAI WARRIORS MASAI WOMEN Masailand medicine milk Mongoose mother natives nearest relative neighbourhood never occasionally orretete patch poison raid rarely ravine rhinoceros rinderpest river round royal Selogunia Sendeyo servals shields shot skin snakes spears species specimens stripe Swahili Thomson's gazelle tree tribes Uganda Wakamba Wakikuyu waterbuck wear wildebeest woman wounded zebra
Popular passages
Page 111 - ... Sendego, sons of the old chief Batian. The collection of this detailed information must have been a work involving much trouble and perseverance. The information presented on the life of the people shows them in a favourable light from many points of view, and the general conclusion arrived at is that the Masai are unquestionably of far greater interest than most African peoples, and that the destruction of so virile a race would be a permanent loss to East Africa.
Page 70 - WOMKN married women their sole duties consist in tending their children and cooking the food for their household. This life continues until they are past the age of child-bearing. It is then that their term of hardship begins, for [all work of a strenuous nature is relegated to the old women. They collect the firewood, build the villages (together with the bomas that surround them) and, in common with the donkeys, carry the loads when a village is being moved. Their capacity for work is extraordinary,...
Page 79 - Masai cattle are extremely docile, and allow themselves to be handled by natives in a manner hardly credible. The herds of Masai cattle are, however, well able to protect themselves in daylight on the open plains, and a young lion, leopard, or hyaena, has small chance of escape if he approaches a herd too closely. The whole herd will charge together, leaving nothing in their rear but a shapeless pulp to represent their over-bold enemy.
Page 110 - The same tendency is at the bottom of the common practice of punishing a second and third offence more severely than the first. Among the Masai, " if a man is convicted of a particular crime several times, or constitutes himself a public nuisance, he is proclaimed an outlaw, his property is confiscated, and he is beaten away from any settlement or village he goes near. Unless an outlaw can find friends among non-Masai tribes, he dies of starvation.
Page 48 - From the wrist to the elbow and from the elbow to the shoulder- joint are each suitable extents of surface to be worked upon, and here not only straight-line friction, extending from one joint to another, may be used, but also circular friction. The form of the latter which appears to me most serviceable, as it includes the advantages of the other two...
Page 51 - ... mother. It is considered unlucky for a man to be addressed by name. The methods employed in finding out what an individual is called seem apt to lead to confusion.
Page 25 - He is credited with second sight, which he can invoke at will and transmit to his heirs through the agency of a certain medicine, the ingredients of which are known only to the royal family. "Once or twice during each year the reigning chief invokes this power, and usually remains under its influence for several days together, the taking of the medicine being invariably followed by a drinking bout. On recovering from the effects of this, he makes known to his followers the intimation regarding the...
Page 36 - As a race they are intelligent and truthful, and a grown Masai will neither thieve nor lie.