in fitting over the
chest, and reaching about to the waist. A robe or short cloak of
short-haired sheepskin is sometimes carried for warmth, but not at all
for modesty. The weapons are a long, narrow-bladed heavy spear, the
buffalo hide shield, the short sword, and the war club or rungs. The
women are always shaven-headed, wear voluminous robes of soft leather,
and carry a great weight of heavy wire wound into anklets and stockings,
and brought to a high state of polish. So extensive are these
decorations that they really form a sort of armour, with breaks only for
the elbow and the knee joints. The married women wear also a great
outstanding collar.

The Masai are pastoral, and keep immense herds and flocks. Therefore
they inhabit the grazing countries, and are nomadic. Their villages are
invariably arranged in a wide circle, the low huts of mud and wattles
facing inwards. The spaces between the huts are filled in with thick
dense thorn brush, thus enclosing a strong corral, or boma. These
villages are called manyattas. They are built by the women in an
incredibly brief space of time. Indeed, an overchief stopping two days
at one place has been known to cause the construction of a complete
village, to serve only for that period. He then moved on, and the
manyatta was never used again! Nevertheless these low rounded huts, in
shape like a loaf of bread, give a fictitious impression of great
strength and permanency. The smooth and hardened mud resembles masonry
or concrete work. As a matter of fact it is the thinnest sort of a shell
over plaited withies. The single entrance to this compound may be
closed by thorn bush, so that at night, when the lions are abroad, the
Masai and all his herds dwell quite peaceably and safely inside the
boma. Twelve to twenty huts constitute a village.

When the grass is fed down, the village moves to a new location. There
is some regulation about this, determined by the overchiefs, so that one
village does not interfere with another. Beside the few articles of
value or of domestic use, the only things carried away from an old
village are the strongly-woven shield-shaped doors. These are strapped
along the flanks of the donkeys, while the other goods rest between. A
donkey pack, Masai fashion, is a marvellous affair that would not stay
on ten minutes for a white man.

The Masai perform no agriculture whatever, nor will they eat game meat.
They have no desire whatever for any of the white