214 THE LAND OF THE LION 
are not only polygamous but polyandrous, and I think in 
great part this moral laxity is fostered by tribal custom. 
For many generations, how many no one can tell, for 
African tradition reaches but a little way back, the Massai 
tribe set the fashion (to put it briefly) in war and peace, for 
East African native life. 
The power of this strange and strong people has been 
broken. Wars among themselves, carried on with ruthless 
determination, wars, in which for many days continuously, 
thousands of warriors fought from morning to night an 
endless series of desperate duels, man to man, while, camped 
closely by, their women looked on, have decimated them. 
Then came the rinderpest, and carried away all their 
cattle. On these they were wholly dependent, and the 
Massai perished in thousands. If cruel fortune has in late 
years dogged their path, none can say it was undeserved. 
They had trampled bloody pathways all over East Africa. 
The invaders had penetrated even the Mombassa streets; 
and from time out of mind they had boldly lived up to their 
creed, one article of which was, that God had given to the 
original father of the Massai all the cattle on the earth, and 
no other tribe could lawfully hold a goat, sheep, or cow.* 
The Massai were enabled to win their victories and main- 
tain their power, because they alone were organized for war. 
This war organization enabled them to mass their soldiers 
at any given point more quickly than could other tribes. 
Every male Massai between the ages of twenty and thirty 
was a warrior (moran). He lived in separate villages 
(munyatas) with his fellow soldiers. And these soldier 
villages were placed in such strategic positions as the chiefs 
thought would best assure the safety of the other villages, 
where lived the old and married men, and round which were 
pastured the innumerable and splendid herds, which the 
* See “Massai Language and Folklore,” p. 270, Hollis. Oxford, Clarendon Press, A most 
interesting book. Notice in Mr. Hollis’s book the extraordinary similarity between many of the 
Massai folklore stories and the stories of Uncle Remus and Br’er Rabbit. 
