WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



Some have been forced to become agriculturists ; but 

 they cannot change the habits acquired in centuries 

 in a few years. Like the North American Indian, they 

 are doomed to vanish from the face of the globe. 



I have lived among the Masai, have had the oppor- 

 tunity of learning to know them and their ways, and I 

 can only think with a deep feeling of sadness of their 

 fate. I can see, in my mind's eye, the stalwart, bronze- 

 colored " El morane " sitting around my camp-fire, spear 

 and shield in arm, humming their ancient war- songs. 

 What could we Europeans have accomplished against 

 them had we fought them with spear and shield? I 

 never felt a grudge against them even when they did 

 attack me, once in a while, at night to steal my cattle. 

 I could not blame them either when they tried to rid 

 themselves of their masters, whom they had not in- 

 vited to come, and who were depriving them of their 

 ancient prerogatives as the ruling warrior nation. They 

 are still looking forward to the appearance of a great 

 chief, a deliverer, who w^as predicted by their greatest 

 chief, Mbatyan, a hundred years ago. How the Masai 

 cling to their ingrained customs! And who would 

 blame them? 



A Masai boy had' been in the service of a German 

 official for many years, had also been repeatedly in 

 Germany, and spoke German so well that he could ex- 

 press himself in Berlinese slang. The "ol aijoni" (boy) 

 had grown into an "ol barnoti" and left his master's 



416 



