NEW AFRICA. 87 



bladed assagai, the short sword and club and the oval shield of buffalo hide, 

 but was placed on a strict diet, alternating between meat and milk. The 

 young men were attended by unmarried girls and women, who did the cook- 

 ing and performed all necessary domestic offices. 



READY FOR THE WAR PATH. 



When the young man, or "elmoran," was ready for the war path he was 

 certainly a sight calculated to inspire fear. Gorged with blood and meat, to 

 raise his animal passions to the utmost, his oblique eyes blazed from his choco-- 

 late colored face, encircled by ostrich feathers, which were carried above his 

 frizzy hair in the form of an oval headdress, so increasing his natural height 

 as to make him appear gigantic in stature. His shoulder cape was of vulture 

 feathers, and his belt and anklets were made from the fur of the Colobus mon- 

 key. When, therefore, he leaped along the war path, with his loyg lance tipped 

 with thirty inches of keen steel, his feathers ruffing around him like an enraged 

 bird of prey, it is not singular that he struck such terror into the heart of a 

 savage foe as to half win the battle before it was even begun. In the days 

 when the Masai were in their prime as warriors, no young man dare return 

 to his camp without human blood on his spear, or booty to appeal to the 

 admiration and affection of his sweetheart. Once married, he settled down 

 in one of the villages and was allowed to vary his diet with vegetables. 



As the cow is the main food supply of the Masai, it is necessary that the 

 young warrior who is about to turn Benedict should present his prospective 

 father-in-law with a first-class animal, both as an earnest of his honorable 

 intentions and as actual pay for his bride. His journey to the home of his 

 fair one is usually made on the back of his sleek gift, the young suitor being 

 accompanied by a body-guard of friends. 



THE MASAI OF TODAY. 



The young Masai, though he may no more go forth to slay his brother, 

 is in demand by the white hunter as a helper or guide, and he also maintains 

 his old-time reputation as one of the bravest sportsmen in the world who has 

 ever faced the lion. When he now returns single handed, with his spear 

 dipped in the life-blood of the king of beasts, the whole village turns out to 

 give him a deserved ovation. 



