210 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



seen the Masai must in the course of time kill a 

 very large number of lions. Being so absolutely- 

 indifferent to the game, the Masai leave any country 

 exactly as they found it, except for the fact that the 

 grass is all eaten off by their cattle, and so they 

 wander about from place to place according to season 

 or the presence of rains, but are always careful 

 never to stand too close to the " fly." Where no 

 Masai are to be found, it is well to be careful, for 

 the "fly" is near. We had to advance carefully 

 near the old border-line, and eventually were forced 

 to leave our cattle and wagons and go into the forest 

 zone with porters only. 



The organisation of the Masai people under their 

 paramount chief, the Lunana, is excellent, and all 

 the various tribes and clans obey him. Some of the 

 petty chiefs possess as many as five to ten thousand 

 head of cattle, and cannot be induced to sell one. 

 They go on accumulating, till some great scourge Hke 

 the Rinderpest of 1892-1896 occurs and sweeps 

 90 per cent, away, and then they start again. 

 Many white men envy their grazing grounds and 

 wealth of cattle, and would like to see them swept 

 away or relegated to the desert lands, but this is 

 grossly unfair, especially so in view of the fact that 

 they behaved exceedingly well in the old days, 

 when East Africa was the caravan route to Uganda. 

 Then they could, if they had wished it, have given 

 us an infinity of trouble. 



One of the best and fairest of Governors who have 

 ruled in British East Africa was Sir Donald Stewart, 

 and he evolved the scheme of placing this nation 

 in what were called the " Masai Reserves." These 

 areas were given unreservedly to the Masai for all 



