VII 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



317 



had been forced into semi-serfdom to the Rendile — 

 watching their flocks, and performing other menial 

 services for them. In return for this they were pro- 

 tected in their persons and possessions. These 

 people in no way changed their customs after join- 

 ing the Rendile, and their customs are distinctly dif- 

 ferent from those of the Rendile. For example, they 

 do not bury the dead, but throw them out to the 

 hyenas ; and they scorn the use of a bow and arrow 

 until old age has deprived them of sufficient strength 

 to use a spear. 



Among the Rendile adultery is not punished ; but 

 in the case of unmarried girls unchastity meets with 

 severe retribution, for the sole and simple reason that 

 the market value of the girl to her parents has been 

 decreased. A slip from the path of chastity by a 

 young girl invariably results in her being driven out 

 from her home ; and she is either forced to join the 

 Samburu, or Berkenedji, or the Wanderobbo, or she 

 is sold as a slave. 



Murder is punished by confiscation of property; and 

 the relatives of the murdered man are at liberty to 

 revenge themselves upon the person of the murderer. 



Theft is punished by a fine three times the value of 

 the stolen goods. 



All questions of this kind are adjudicated by the 

 older men of the village in which the offence was 

 committed. 



The chief food of the Rendile is milk, meat, blood, 

 and dhum-palm fruit. Upon slaying an animal, the 

 blood is at once drunk by the males, who think it 

 makes them not only brave and courageous, but 



