was captured
all the male defenders-were instantly killed with the spear, while the
women were put to death during the night with clubs. The Masai, indeed,
never made slaves or took prisoners, and it was their proud boast that
where a party of elmorani had passed, nothing of any kind was left
alive. The object of these raids was, of course, to capture live stock,
for the Masai are not an agricultural people and their wealth consists
entirely in their herds of cattle, sheep and goats. Curiously enough
they do not hunt game, although the country abounds with it, but live
principally on beef and milk; and it is also a common custom for them
to drink daily a pint or so of blood taken from a live bullock. As they
thus live entirely on cattle, and as cattle cannot thrive without good
pasture, it is not unnatural to find that they have a great reverence
for grass. They also worship a Supreme Being whom they call N'gai, but
this term is also applied to anything which is beyond their
understanding.

Perhaps the most curious of the customs of the Masai is the extraction
of the two front teeth from the lower jaw. It is said that this habit
originated at a time when lockjaw was very prevalent among the tribe,
and it was found that if these teeth were pulled out food could still
be taken. This explanation seems scarcely satisfactory or sufficient,
and I give it only for what it is worth: but whatever the reason for
the custom, the absence of these two teeth constitutes a most
distinctive identifying mark. I remember once being out with a Masai
one day when we came across the bleached skull of a long defunct member
of his tribe, of course easily recognisable as such by the absence of
the proper teeth. The Masai at once plucked a handful of grass, spat
upon it, and then placed it very carefully within the skull; this was
done, he said, to avert evil from himself. The same man asked me among
many other questions if my country was nearer to God than his. I am
afraid I was unable conscientiously to answer him in the affirmative.
Formerly the Masai used to spit in the face as a mark of great
friendship, but nowadays--like most other native races--they have
adopted our English fashion of shaking hands.

Another very common custom amongst them is that of distorting the lobe
of the ear by stretching it until it hangs down quite five or six
inches. It is then pierced and decorated in various ways--by sticking
through it a piece of wood two