882 MASAI, TURKANA, SUK, NANDI, ETC. 



house, it produces no lain ; but if after a drought the root is thrown into 

 a river, or kept soaked witliin a huge pot of water, rain is sure to fall 

 soon afterwards. 



Justice is administered hy the chiefs and elders among all these 

 people, with the exception, perhaps, of the irresponsible nomad Andorobo. 

 Among the Nandi cattle-stealing is punished by spearing to death. Their 

 laws regarding homicide are curious. If a man kills his own brother, 

 nothing is done to him ; but if he kills another man who is not such a 

 near relation, the elders make him pay a tine of as much as twenty goats. 

 Among the Kamasia theft is severely punished. The thief is fined a large 

 number of sheep and goats, and if he cannot j^ay he is beaten to death 

 with clubs. If he is able to pay the fine, however, he must still receive 

 a severe whipping ; and this often leaves him mortally injured. Among 

 the Kamasia not only a murderer, but all his relations, suffer confiscation 

 of their entire stock of cattle, shee[), and goats. Adultery entails little 

 or no punishment, and it is a common custom in that tribe for wives to 

 be lent to friends and guests. Among the Glutei, murder is a capital 

 offence, and the culprit is immediately executed with spears by the 

 warriors of the tribe. In a ease of adultery it is only the woman who 

 is punished. She is beaten, and the man is let off. Theft is punished 

 by a severe beating, as well as by the confiscation of much of the live- 

 stock belonging to the thief. Among the Elgeyo, murder is not a capital 

 offence, and can he atoned for by a heavy fine. In this tribe the man 

 is punished by beating in a case of adultery, and the woman is let off 

 unless the co-respondent cannot be found and the woman refuses to give 

 his name, in wliich case she is severely beaten. 



In all these countries the witch doctors are persons of very great 

 influence, and do a great deal of the detective work in tracing out crime 

 and leading to its punishment. The Nandi especially believe profoundly 

 in the powers of their medicine men, and follow them implicitly. They 

 believe that these wizards can kill people by mere will power and at a 

 distance of many miles The position of a witch doctor is a hereditary 

 one, and a sort of caste of sorcerers has grown up in the Xandi country. 

 But only men, not women, can follow this profession. 



When a witch doctor becomes the father of a son he generally 

 contrives to practise the following clumsy mystery : On tlie third night 

 after the son is born the baby disappears, and e\ery one affects to liewail its 

 loss and to search for it ineffectually. At dawn it is found outside the 

 door of its mother's house with the tail of an ox tied round its neck (by 

 the father, of course). This is a sign that the child is intended to be a 

 scwcerer when he grows uj). 



The medicineman makes ''medicine"' out of many substances, chiefly 



