50 AFRICA SPEAKS 



They still maintain tremendous herds of cattle, and 

 up until the time they were brought under the control 

 of the white man, continued their raids. Whenever 

 the chiefs desired new pastures, they would send forth 

 their warriors to conquer, and they seldom failed in 

 their mission. No wonder they were feared far and 

 wide by all the other tribes! 



All of their wealth is figured in terms of cattle. A 

 man pays so many steers for a wife or is fined a number 

 of head for some offense against tribal law. The herds 

 supply them with practically everytliing needed in 

 their Spartanhke life. They milk the cattle and bleed 

 the steers, these two fluids being mixed and allowed 

 to curdle. The resultant product constitutes their prin- 

 cipal diet. It is an interesting fact that the Masai 

 disdain aU vegetable food, hving on meat, blood, and 

 milk exclusively, while members of surrounding tribes 

 prefer a mixed diet. When an animal dies they use 

 the skin for clothing and the meat for food. The cow 

 dung is used as a building material; also for medicine, 

 fuel, and chairs. This material has the redeeming 

 quahty of being antiseptic, killing germs which would 

 otherwise take full possession of the village where, of 

 course, there are no sanitary arrangements. 



Essentially a pastoral people, they have no central 

 settlement and their home comforts are few, because 

 they are always sliifting about taldng advantage of 

 the best pastures. They have no pottery, basketry, 

 no blacksmiths or grain fields; nor in fact any sort of 

 agriculture or industry. A stoical race, they have 

 reduced their needs to the very necessities of fife. 



This magnificent tribe is undoubtedly dying out, 

 due to changed conditions brought about by the white 



