ANTHBOBOLOGY. 
417 
touchingtlie chin. A calabash supposed to contain milk, 
but generally empty, is placed by the side. A slight 
excavation in the ground is either chosen or made, in 
which to put the body. Stones are then heaped 
around it and over it, and grass is thrown on the top, 
so that a kind of cairn is generally formed. Neverthe¬ 
less, the hyenas scarcely ever fail to pull down this 
mound and drag out the corpse, which is then de¬ 
voured without any interposition on the part of the 
surviving relatives. When any person dies within an 
inhabited village, the settlement has to be purified by 
the medicine-man with a liquor made from the half- 
digested food ( E-mojoh ) in the stomach of an ox, 
which is killed for the occasion. After death the 
name of a deceased person is never mentioned, lest his 
spirit should obey the call and return. Notwithstand¬ 
ing this impression, these people have almost no fear 
of or belief in ghosts or demons, and mock at the 
Bantu people in their vicinity for their elaborate 
propitiation of the shades. 
The Masai worship a vague Supreme Being, whom 
they call “ En-gai,” a feminine word also meaning the 
“ heavens ” and “ rain.” En-gai is sometimes supposed 
to dwell on the summit of Kilima-njaro, which is 
therefore called “ Eiigaji-Engai,” or the House of God. 
This Great Spirit with whom rain and grass 9 are 
peculiarly associated—as being the chief sign and 
result of his beneficence—-is propitiated with loud 
singing and dancing ( Isilil ). They also sacrifice 
sheep, and tie all the bloody remains in the skin and 
leave it on isolated mountains, or at a place where 
9 Grass (gujita) is regarded as peculiarly sacred. It is a sign of 
peace and good-will. To throw grass at any one is to display good¬ 
will and favour. 
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