THE MASAI 



individual bravery and the warlike spirit of nations, 

 wherever it manifests itself, even when it is directed 

 against ourselves. 



Here we see a people which ages ago came from its 

 distant home, fought its way through hostile nations, 

 and chose the limitless steppe for its abode; a people 

 which has led for many centuries the freest life im- 

 aginable, that of a nomadic warrior nation, ruling the 

 country far and wide. To-day the Masai warrior is 

 still the proudest of men, confiding in his strength, 

 fearing no danger, and looking down on all tribes not 

 so warlike as his own. 



The Masai love their country, and know it well. 

 Their senses are almost as keen as those of the animals 

 of the steppe. Once a six-year-old Masai child, straying 

 away from camp, found its way through the pathless 

 "pori," the thorny steppe, to its village, which was two 

 days' distant. The power of this warrior nation was 

 broken by two agencies, the small-caliber, long-range 

 breech-loader of the European invader and the mur- 

 rain. The Masai, with his primitive spear and shield, 

 was no match for the usurper armed with modern 

 fire-arms. The rinderpest, which about two decades 

 ago ravaged the whole East African steppe, destroyed 

 with one blow the economic basis of the Masai's exist- 

 ence, the cattle-herds. The famine carried off the bulk 

 of the nation, men, women, and children starving to 

 death. Onlv a few hundred thousand Masai are left. 



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