126 EASTERN ETHIOPIA x 



ate many Swahili, Masai, and Wa-Kikuyu have been 

 trained as police (askari) and soldiers (The King's 

 African Rifles). Ear ornaments under such conditions 

 are not wanted, but in order to preserve the ear-loop it 

 is hooked over the helix, where it is safe from harm. 

 As soon as the askari (native policeman) has finished 

 the term of service, usually about three years, he returns 

 to his tribe, abandons uniform, resumes ear-rings, spear, 

 knobkerry (club), and skin ; becoming once more an 

 unclothed native, he smears himself with greasy clay, 

 and joins in the village dance. That these men should 

 become policemen, and protect the tribes they formerly 

 robbed and murdered, illustrates the conditions now 

 prevailing in Masailand. 



The love of personal adornment is very great among 

 these people. Schillings tells of a Masai boy \vho had 

 been many times to Germany and had mastered the 

 language. On becoming a man he decided to return to 

 his people, and was subsequently seen by a European 

 who knew him, covered with clay and his hair in long 

 plaits dripping with grease, in company with a fellow- 

 tribesman in full war dress. 



The mutilation of ears is by no means confined to 

 human beings. The ears of cattle, sheep, and donkeys 

 are marked for identification purposes. The ear-marks 

 are of two kinds branding and slitting. Among the 

 Masai there is for each clan and family a principal 

 mark, and all the cattle belonging to the various 

 members of a family are branded in a special way. 

 There are also small marks by which the actual owner 

 can be recognised. This is also true of the special 

 methods of slitting ears. Some of the ear-slitting 

 designs are curious ; on meeting Somali traders with a 

 herd of cattle I always found it amusing to examine the 

 odd patterns cut in the ears of the oxen. 



In connexion with this matter it should be borne in 

 mind that in the early days of the Israelites, if a man- 

 servant wished to serve his master for ever, a hole was 



