412 
TIIE KILIMA-NJAEO EXPEDITION. 
As regards their limbs, I have generally noticed 
that the forearm is long, as it often is in Africans, 
and that the tip of the middle finger nearly reaches 
the knee when the arm is dropped by the side. The 
forearm is generally thin and rather straight all the 
way down, but although the muscles do not much 
project they are hard as iron. These few lines of 
vague description are of little use to anthropologists, 
and I regret very much that I have not a series of 
body-measurements to give you, but such a thing was 
impossible with the Masai. They angrily rejected 
the proposal when I advanced with my measuring- 
tape. 
The colour of their skin is a dull chocolate-brown, 
ordinarily, varying between the Isos. 28 and 42 of 
Broca’s colour types. Occasionally among the women 
lighter shades may be seen, but this is generally in the 
vicinity of the Wa-gogo people, who are very light- 
complexioned negroes. Some Masai—more especially 
Wa-kwavi—are a dull black, but this tone always 
accompanies coarse features and indicates a mixture 
with captives from the black tribes east, south, and 
west. Hair on the body seems tolerably abundant in 
the usual parts, if allowed to grow—at least, so I 
am informed—but it is always rigorously pulled 
out, and all the Masai I ever saw were carefully 
depilated. 
Circumcision is generally performed on the male at 
the age of fourteen, as far as I can ascertain—that is 
to say, it is done as one of the preparatory rites that 
celebrate the attainment of manhood. The manner of 
operation and the result are, I believe, quite peculiar 
to the Masai. 8 
8 Praeputio e superiore parte diviso, duae quasi lingulae sub glandem 
