THE MASAI 



smiths, the Elgunoni, a tribe alHed to them, to do it ; 

 so also do they barter for colobus monkey skins and 

 ostrich feathers from the tribe of the Wandorobo, 

 who are hunters of game, which the Masai are not. 

 The Masai women, by paying a small tax to Govern- 

 ment, are allowed to collect firewood and bring it in 

 to sell ; they carry a tremendous load on their backs, 

 the load being supported by a strap which passes 

 round their foreheads to keep it in position. I have 

 often watched them staggering into my compound 

 with wood which my cook bought. Baruku bar- 

 gained, and then carefully counted every piece, and 

 after that grandly handed the woman the money in 

 payment, for was she not only an Mshenzi (wild 

 woman) ? Babies of course are carried in a cloth 

 on their backs, often with other things ; their little 

 bald black bladder-like heads wobble over the edge 

 of the cloth ; but, to my surprise, their necks never 

 seem to break, and they sleep peacefully when 

 being jogged along wherever their mothers have 

 to go. 



The young Masai women are quite nice looking, 

 but their hard work soon tells on them, and they 

 become perfectly hideous in their old age. 



Masai men make excellent runners with notes, 

 running at a trot for twenty or thirty miles. They 

 split a thin stick at one end and always carry 

 the letter in the slit ; their long slender legs soon 

 cover the ground. They are not allowed to carry 



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