244 THROUGH MASAILAND TO THE BORDERS OF KIKUYU 



Masailand is divided into districts, and these in their 

 turn into sub-districts. The most southerly province is 

 Kibaya; that dominated by Mounts Meru and Kilimanjaro 

 is Sigirari, subdivisions of which are Leitokitok and Nyiri. 

 Sigirari is bounded on the north by Matumbato, beyond which 

 is Kapotei with Dogilani on the west. The country north of 

 Lake Naivaska is called Kinangop, whilst the highlands west 

 of Kenia are known as Leikipia. 



The Masai are pre-eminently a pastoral people ; as a rule, 

 confining their wanderings in search of fresh pastures for their 

 cattle to their own districts. They cling devotedly to their 

 own customs, and have maintained the purity of their race, 

 allowing no inter-marrying with other tribes. There is nothing 

 of the negro type in their appearance. They are slender and 

 tall, above the medium height, but they are not particularly mus- 

 cular. They have clear chocolate-brown complexions, pointed 

 prominent chins, noses narrower than those of the negroes, 

 thin lips and oval-shaped eyes with an upward slant. Their 

 hair is frizzy, but it is thinner and much finer than that 

 of the negro. Their limbs are beautifully formed and 

 developed, their feet and hands remarkably small. The ex- 

 pression of some of the younger men is almost feminine in its 

 gentleness, and regular features are more common amongst the 

 males than the females, the profiles of the latter approaching 

 much more nearly to the negro type. Moreover their hair is 

 coarser and their complexion often a shade darker than that 

 of their brothers. Some of the quite young unmarried girls 

 are however charming enough, but they soon degenerate into 

 poor wrinkled, shrivelled-looking creatures, whilst the men 

 retain to old age their noble aristocratic appearance. 



Little children of both sexes amongst the Masai are called 

 ngerai ; a young boy is a lajon, who as he grows older becomes 

 a bamoti. A bamoti turns in due course into a moran or 



