CHAPTER IV 



THE MASAI 



The tribe of the Masai, though comparatively 

 insignificant in numbers, yet merit more than passing 

 interest, if only for the obstacles in the past, the 

 difficulties of the present, and the problem of the future 

 which they present to white civilisation. They 

 stand as a type, the type of Esau. They and the 

 lesser tribes of the same sort have, like Esau, the 

 qualities that attract : courage, straightforwardness, and 

 independence. But, like him, they have the demerits 

 of want of application, dislike of discipline or authority, 

 and contempt of work. They will be fortunate if they 

 do not share his fate. As Sir Charles Eliot so well 

 says: " They resemble the lion and the leopard, 

 strong and beautiful beasts of prey, that please the 

 artistic sense, but are never of any use, and often a 

 very serious danger." 



With the early history of the Masai it is not 

 necessary to deal at length, indeed, as is natural with 

 a paramount and exclusive tribe, it is merged in 

 obscurity. From the time when the first explorers 

 penetrated its wilds, up till the time of the occupation 

 of the Protectorate by the British Government, the 

 tribe were the masters of the East African Highlands. 



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