MASAI, TURKANA, SUK, NANDI, ETC. 827 



not considered unlucky if a person in speaking to you mentions your 

 name in your presence ; it is the employment of the name in direct 

 address which is thought to bring ill luck. Any one who is asked 

 abruptly for his name probably gives that of his father, which may, of 

 course, also be his. A child would never address his father or mother 

 by name, but would call them " father " or " mother." A married man 

 would also not call to his father- and mother-in-law by their names, but 

 would address them by an honorific title; a woman would simply call 

 her husband's parents "father" and "mother." Boys may address other 

 boys and young girls by their names ; but they must speak to all the 

 warriors as " El Morran," married or old woman as " Koko," and old 

 married men as "Baba." Women generally address old or married men 

 of any importance as " 01 Baiyan " (" Elder "). A married man would 

 probably call out to a woman, not by name, but address her as " Eh 

 gitok " ( " Woman "). If a Masai bears the same name as a member of 

 his tribe who dies, he may change his own name to avoid ill luck. 



Little boys among the Masai are soon put to work at herding cattle 

 and making themselves generally useful. They are lean, lank little 

 shrimps at this stage, and receive a large share of cuffs and kicks, and not 

 overmuch food. Young boys are classed as "Laiok" (singular, "Laioni"). 

 After circumcision, and before they become warriors, the youths are 

 "El Manila," and sometimes "Selogunya," or "shaven head." As a rule 

 the circumcision of the boys takes place in numbers at a time. Boys 

 and youths between the ages of eight and fifteen may be operated on. 

 The elders of a district decide from time to time when a circumcision 

 ceremony is to take place. When a sufficient number of boys have been 

 gathered together, songs are sung, and there is a good deal of feasting, the 

 old men drinking much fermented mead, and often becoming very drunk. 

 For at least a month before the circumcision takes place the boys have 

 been out in the wilderness collecting honey, or purchasing it from the 

 mountain tribes. From the honey collected they have made mead with 

 the assistance of their mothers for the old men to drink during the 

 festivities. The operation of circumcision is generally performed by 

 skilled Andorobo, who are paid a goat each for their work. Each vouth 

 that is circumcised must produce an ox (which, of course, will be given 

 to him by his father, or nearest male relative if his father is dead). The 

 flesh of the oxen is the foundation of the feasts which accompany the 

 ceremony. After circumcision the boys remain shut up in their mother's 

 houses for four days, during which time they eat nothing but fat and 

 drink milk. They carefully shave their heads when going back into the 

 world. 



The Masai, agricultural and pastoral, deal with their dead in a very 



