VIII 
THE MASAI 
103 
During the dry season such a place is habitable, but 
in wet weather detestable. In order to protect the 
roofs of the huts hides are spread over them and tied 
down or kept in place by stones. These hides not only 
stink, but are visited by myriads of insects, such as 
crawl and fly. The central space of the village is a 
reeking dunghill haunted by clouds of flies. 
Bearing in mind the moral and physical conditions 
under which these people live in their villages, there is 
ample justification for Koutledge’s strong opinion, that 
a Masai kraal near civilisation, i.e., near a railway 
station, town, or Government post, is a sink of iniquity. 
The cattle are the mainstay of the tribe : it was 
recently estimated that the section of this tribe living 
in the Naivasha Province owns 35,000 head of cattle 
and 250,000 goats and sheep. 
The white settler finds fault with the Masai on the 
ground that their great object is to accumulate wealth 
in the form of herds and flocks. They will not sell any 
cattle useful for stock purposes : barren and dried up 
cows they part with to be slaughtered for food. They 
do not encourage the milk-yielding properties of their 
cows. 
The Masai, however, now play a different part in 
East Africa from that which they performed thirty 
years ago : from 1850 to 1885 they were numerous and 
formidable. Their military organisation made them 
feared by their neighbours, and they have played an 
important part in East Africa. For many years they 
levied toll on the Arab slave dealers, the Swahili 
traders, and all caravans, whether organised by Arabs 
or Europeans, which passed through Masailand. Joseph 
Thomson suffered from their arrogance and exactions 
in 1883 and has written an excellent account of these 
bloodthirsty, overbearing warriors. 
The Masai have since fallen from their high estate. 
Rinderpest attacked and destroyed their cattle whole¬ 
sale, Many of thern have died from smallpox, and the 
