NOTES ON THE MASAI. 349 



such things are not exhibited freely. The 

 curious reader can find more on the subject in 

 other books ; but as this is confined to personal 

 experiences I will tell only what I have myself 

 elicited. 



The youth's shaved head is allowed to grow its 

 hair. He hangs around his brow a dangling 

 string of bright-coloured bird skins stuffed out 

 in the shape of little cylinders, so that at a short 

 distance they look like curls. For something 

 like a month of probation he wears these, then 

 undergoes the rite. For ten days thereafter 

 he and his companions, their heads daubed with 

 clay and ashes, clad in long black robes, live out 

 in the brush. They have no provision, but are 

 privileged to steal what they need. At the end 

 of the ten days they return to the manyattas. 

 A three-day n'goma, or dance, now completes 

 their transformation to the El-morani class. 

 It finishes by an obscene night dance, in the 

 course of which the new warriors select their 

 partners. 



For ten or twelve years these young men are 

 El-morani. They dwell in a separate manyatta. 

 With them dwell promiscuously all the young 

 unmarried women of the tribe. There is no per- 

 manent pairing off, no individual property, no 



