418 
TIIE KILIMANJARO EXPEDITION. 
many paths converge. The Masai mention another 
and weaker divinity, whom they also designate by a 
female appellation— cc En-naiterkob.” En-naiterkob 
seems to be a kind of earth-spirit (Eii-kob, the earth, 
the world), in contradistinction to En-gai, the heavens, 
the over-arching sky. The Masai often call on Naiter- 
kob to mediate with En-gai and obtain the granting of 
their prayers for rain, success in war, or many male 
children. They regard with peculiar veneration the 
snowy summits of both Kilima-njaro (Ol-doinyo oibor, 
the white mountain) and Kenia (En-durkenia, or 
Ol-doinyo oigeri, the spotted mountain), imagining 
that these are at once the chosen residence of Naiter- 
kob and the places on which Eii-gai reposes, and that 
they are therefore the most fitting sites for mediation 
with the Most High. 
The political constitution of the Masai tribes is 
mainly patriarchal, but the rule is sometimes a dual 
one. The father of the tribe, the supreme chief, is 
generally a man chosen for his wealth, his wisdom, or 
his martial renown; or it may be that he is a mighty 
medicine-man skilled in the arts of divination and pro¬ 
phecy, and able to compound powerful drugs from the 
roots and bark of certain trees. If the former he is 
called Ol-beijani, and holds his place as long as he can 
A 
keep it, but if his power is sacerdotal—if he is an 01- 
eibon, then he is probably supreme till death. The 
office is not hereditary. Sometimes the Beijani and 
the Eibon are found ruling side by side—the temporal 
and spiritual chieftains. In other cases it may be the 
Eibon who wields exclusive power or unites the tem¬ 
poral and spiritual functions in his own person. The 
Wa-kwavi states are usually little republics ruled by 
an oligarchy of all the wealthier or more powerful 
