XV 



THE MASAI 185 



he caught the grass the thrashing ceased, as he was 

 now, as it were, holding the horns of the altar, grass 

 being as sacred to the Masai as the altar to a devout 

 Hebrew. 



Abbudi's father came to his end in a very tragic 

 way. It seems that he was a notorious cattle 

 lifter, and one night he and a friend and some 

 boys, of whom Abbudi was one, made a raid on a 

 distant kraal belonging to another section of the 

 Masai. They managed to get clear away with 

 about twenty cows, but at dawn the robbery was 

 discovered and hot pursuit taken up. Towards 

 noon the little party of raiders got the cattle into a 

 rocky ravine and hid them, as they were too tired 

 to take them on any further that day. While they 

 were resting here the pursuers arrived and speedily 

 surrounded them, put Abbudi's father and his 

 robber friend to death, and carried the boys off to 

 their kraal as slaves. 



From this servitude Abbudi was not free until he 

 became a warrior, and even then he had to start his 

 warrior life without a cow, goat, or sheep, which 

 was of course a great indignity. 



The Masai have a very complete and strict mili- 

 tary organisation. All the men physically fit become 

 soldiers at the age of about eighteen and serve 

 until they are about thirty. The manyatta of the 

 warriors stands isolated from all others, without a 



