provided. It is of formidable
weight, but so well balanced that a flip cast with the wrist will drive
it clear through an enemy. A short sword and a heavy-headed war club
complete the offensive weapons. The shield is of buffalo hide, oval in
shape, and decorated with a genuine heraldry, based on genealogy. A
circlet of black ostrich feathers in some branches surrounds the face
and stands high above the head. In the southern districts the warriors
wear two single black ostrich plumes tied one either side the head, and
slanting a little backwards. They walk with a mincing step, so that the
two feathers bob gently up and down like the waving of the circus
equestrienne's filmy skirts.

Naturally the Masai with the Zulu were the most dreaded of all the
tribes of Africa. They were constantly raiding in all directions as far
as their sphere of operations could reach, capturing cattle and women as
the prizes of war. Now that the white man has put a stop to the
ferocious intertribal wars, the El-morani are out of a job. The military
organization is still carried on as before. What will happen to the
morals of the people it would be difficult to say. The twelve years of
imposed peace have not been long enough seriously to deteriorate the
people; but, inevitably, complete idleness will tell. Either the people
must change their ideals and become industrious--which is extremely
unlikely--or they will degenerate.

As a passing thought, it is a curious and formidable fact that the
prohibition of intertribal wars and forays all through East Central
Africa had already permitted the population to increase to a point of
discomfort. Many of the districts are becoming so crowded as to
overflow. What will happen in the long run only time can tell--famines
are weakening things, while war at least hardens a nation's fibre. This
is not necessarily an argument for war. Only everywhere in the world the
white man seems, with the best of intentions, to be upsetting natural
balances without substituting anything for them. We are better at
preventing things than causing them.

At the age of thirty, or thereabout, the El-morani becomes an Elder. He
may now drink and smoke, vices that in the Spartan days of his military
service were rigorously denied him. He may also take a wife or wives,
according to his means, and keep herds of cattle. His wives he purchases
from their parents, the usual medium of payment being cows or sheep. The
young women who h