EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
VIII 
98 
of the men are engaged in what may be called house- ] 
work and cooking. S 
The women also milk the cows and goats, and in 1 
this they are assisted by the boys. Now that the j 
Masai no longer raid their neighbours and steal cattle. || 
the occupation of the warriors is gone, but these men [’ 
make excellent herdsmen and are often employed in 
this capacity by European settlers. The Masai are 
not only polygamous but also polyandrous, for the n 
wife is lent to a visitor : they are exceedingly 
immoral. Thomson states that though the Masai and | 
Wa-Kikuyu were eternally at war wdth each other, j, 
there is a compact between them not to molest the | 
womenfolk of either party, and the Masai women | 
would wend their way to a Kikuyu village whilst their 
relatives were probably engaged in a deadly struggle ' 
close at hand. I 
The Masai are fond of moving, and if the grazing | 
is poor they move to another place. The donkeys and | 
women are the pack animals. It is quite common to 
meet with a party on the move and find the women laden ■ 
with babies, bags, gourds, and other utensils ; the work i 
of raising the skin tents or building huts devolves on ~ 
them also. The men accompanying the party merely I 
carry their spears and clubs. | 
With us to spit upon a thing expresses contempt; | 
with the Masai it is a sign of friendship and respect. 
The two lower incisor teeth are knocked out in men I 
and women, and no reason is assigned for this practice ; , 
in spitting the fluid is ejected through this gap, some- I 
times in a forcible stream. I first saw the practice in a 
village. When my conductor entered the village a i| 
woman of the tribe advanced and shook hands with him, 
having previously spat in her palm. My friend spat 
on his palm, and I noticed that he did not shake hands I 
wdth what would be called w^armth. I mentioned this I 
opinion to him subsequently ; he replied that she had ' 
expressed her high appreciation of his visit by spitting I 
