VIII 
THE MASAI 
99 
too freely into her hand ! Among these people spitting 
is a custom with an infinite variety of meanings. 
The Masai take very little trouble with their dead. 
The corpse is carried a short distance from the village 
and left to be devoured by hyaenas, jackals, and 
vultures. They believe that when a man dies it is the 
end as with the cattle. To bury a corpse would, in 
their idea, poison the soil. 
Masai drawing blood from an ox by shooting a blocked arrow into the 
jugular vein, (From the Veterinarian. After R. J. Stordy.) 
The principal food of the old men, women, and child¬ 
ren is milk. The warriors drive bullocks into the 
forest and slaughter them for meat. All the members 
of a village would eat an ox if it died a natural death, 
or if killed by a snake, or a beast of prey. They are 
very fond of blood, which is obtained from an ox by 
shooting a blocked arrow into its jugular vein. The 
blood they catch in gourds and drink it hot from the 
