IV 
THE MASAI 
35 
East Africa, acknowledged allegiance to his nominated 
successor, Lenana, while the other, removing into 
German East Africa, took as their chief Lenana’s 
brother, Sendeu. The two sections carried on a bitter 
tribal war till 1902, in the meanwhile more or less 
suspending their attacks on other tribes. By 1902, 
Sendeu appears to have had enough, and the whole 
tribe agreed to acknowledge Lenana as their para¬ 
mount chief. In the meanwhile was coming the white 
man, and gradually his influence was being felt. We 
were unable to control the raiding propensities of the 
Masai till after 1898, when the last raid on any large 
scale took place. That we have been able to do so 
without bloodshed must always be a feather in the cap 
of the administration, which feather is largely due to 
the good influence of Lenana. This chief, enlightened 
and far-seeing beyond any native representative in 
East Africa, was always on the side of order and of 
the British Government. To his good influence the 
British owe the fact that white blood was not shed, 
and the Masai that their territories are wide beyond 
their deserts. 
When the first white settlers began to arrive in the 
years 1901-2-3, the question of what territory the 
Masai could really lay claim to demanded consider¬ 
ation. The Masai were of course a nomad people, 
and they drove their flocks over a very large area to 
wherever the grazing was temporarily the best. If 
any other natives happened to be in possession, or to 
want any special area, they were driven out. The 
ruling Masai maxim was “ might is right.” The 
would-be settlers arriving, saw on both sides of the 
railway large tracts of splendid grazing land, apparently 
not occupied at all, certainly not utilised to one-tenth 
d 2 
