CHAPTER IV 
THE MASAI 
The tribe of the Masai, though comparatively 
insignificant in numbers, yet merit more than passing 
interest, if only for the obstacles in the past, the 
difficulties of the present, and the problem of the future 
which they present to white civilisation. They 
stand as a type, the type of Esau. They and the 
lesser tribes of the same sort have, like Esau, the 
qualities that attract: courage, straightforwardness, and 
independence. But, like him, they have the demerits 
of want of application, dislike of discipline or authority, 
and contempt of work. They will be fortunate if they 
do not share his fate. As Sir Charles Eliot so well 
says: “ They resemble the lion and the leopard, 
strong and beautiful beasts of prey, that please the 
artistic sense, but are never of any use, and often a 
very serious danger.” 
With the early history of the Masai it is not 
necessary to deal at length, indeed, as is natural with 
a paramount and exclusive tribe, it is merged in 
obscurity. From the time when the first explorers 
penetrated its wilds, up till the time of the occupation 
of the Protectorate by the British Government, the 
tribe were the masters of the East African Highlands. 
