192 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA chap. 



or when preparing for war or celebrating the victory 

 afterwards. 



The Masai is, however, a wonderful orator, and 

 possesses the gift of speech and power of expression 

 in a very marked degree. He may be a little bit too 

 wordy and argumentative, and no conclusion of any 

 kind is ever reached without an immense amount of 

 talk on both sides. All the same, a Masai speech 

 is a real work of art, and abounds in felicitous 

 phrases and appropriate similes. The orator uses 

 a stick to emphasize his words, and this he 

 raises and lowers to give point to his sentences, 

 occasionally bringing it down to the ground with a 

 whack. When the next speaker begins, he takes 

 possession of the stick and uses it in the same 

 manner. 



It is the custom among the Masai for the young 

 girls as well as the warriors to live in the warrior 

 kraals, 



Abbudi told me that life went very pleasantly for 

 him at this time, for when he was not away on a 

 raiding expedition he was waited upon and loved by 

 a pretty little Masai girl, for whom he appears to 

 have had a genuine affection. He constantly talked 

 of her to me and said that he hoped I would give 

 him leave to go and see her when we returned to 

 Nairobi, as she lived in a manyatta about three days' 

 journey from that place. 



