Maasai people

“ Speaking of old women in the Masai tribe, Mr. Hinde says: “As long as she can crawl about she continues her labours, and death is the only release she can hope for.” As a rule, a girl becomes the wife of a man who can afford to pay goats and cattle for her; but the Masai parents consider their daughter’s wishes, and she is not obliged to become the wife of a man she does not like.
The life of Masai people depends almost entirely on herds of goats and cattle, which are driven from pasture to pasture. ”

“ The Masai are a very bright, intelligent, and truthful people; very rarely will a full-grown man commit a theft or tell a lie. Unlike many [Pg 20] African tribes, these people have no musical instruments, and their few war songs and verses, sung while herding cattle, are very simple. Generally speaking, African natives are musical, and flutes, drums, also stringed instruments are very ingeniously made. ”

“ Naturally the Masai with the Zulu were the most dreaded of all the tribes of Africa. They were constantly raiding in all directions as far as their sphere of operations could reach, capturing cattle and women as the prizes of war. Now that the white man has put a stop to the ferocious intertribal wars, the El-morani are out of a job. The military organization is still carried on as before. What will happen to the morals of the people it would be difficult to say. The twelve years of imposed peace have not been long enough seriously to deteriorate the people ”

“ The Masai physical type is slender, but among the finest in Africa. A tall, well-made people, the men are often well over six feet, with slim wiry figures, chocolate-coloured, with eyes often slightly oblique like the Mongolians, but the nose especially being often almost Caucasian in type, with well formed bridge and finely cut nostrils. Almost all the men and women knock out the two lower incisor teeth. For this custom they give the curious explanation that lockjaw was once very common in Masai-land, and that it was found to be easy to feed the sufferer through the gap thus made. ”

“ We come now from the Manyara country, guided by your own people, the Masai. There is war to the south, in Nguru and Ugogo, war between the Lajomba and the White men. Our Balozi is taking his wife to the coast to put her with his own people; then he will return and finish the Lajomba."
"Good," said the Masai war-captain. "We heard of this war and we are going there to see if we can join in. We hate the Lajomba."
At this moment there was a stir among the three hundred warriors sitting apart. It was caused by the approach of Brentham, filled with apprehension and anxiety as to Lucy. ”

“ Here he had built a boma, or enclosed compound, and engaged himself in acquiring Masai sheep in exchange for beads, wire, and cloth. Obviously the profits of such transactions could not be the temptation. He liked the life, and he liked his position of influence with these proud and savage people. Strangely enough, he cared little for the sporting possibilities of the country, though of course he did a little occasional shooting; but was quite content with his trading, his growing knowledge of and intimacy with the Masai, and his occasional tremendous journeys. ”

“ I must confess that my stay at Masasi has turned out a disappointment as regards the customs, habits and ideas of the 109natives, though I have gained a very fair insight into the outward, material details of their life. But here too, Nils Knudsen is ready with consolation and encouragement. “What can you expect, Professor? the people here are a terribly mixed lot, after all, and have lost all their own traditions and customs. Don’t waste any more time in this wretched hole of a Masasi, but come to Chingulungulu; you have no idea what a fine place that is!” ”

“ Kabba Rega had always declared that the natives would work for me and obey every order when the slave-hunters should have been expelled from the country. Although the people who were lately a portion of the slave-hunter's company had now been enlisted in the service of government, not one man remained in Masindi, as I had sent them all away to Fatiko, at the particular request of Kabba Rega. ”

“ The trade of Massowa chiefly consists of cotton from Muscat and Bombay, which sells to good advantage in the interior, the natives manufacturing it into cloth, after mixing it with their own, which is of a superior quality. A few coarse Indian cloths, and coarse double-milled broad cloths, are likewise articles of import: the exports consist of gold, ivory, slaves, and corn, from Abyssinia. The people speak a mixed language of Abyssinian and Arabic, which makes it difficult even for an Arab to understand them. ”

“ Masuah was in this disturbed state, when information was received there from Jidda that a prince, a very near relation of the King of England, a person who was no trader, but, strange to say, was travelling only to visit different countries and people, was about to arrive at Masuah in his way to Abyssinia. When this intelligence arrived, the naybe and his councillors assembled to determine what was to be done with the English prince. Several proposed that he should at once be put to death, and his property divided among themselves. ”

“ The Masai that our Walunga people call 'Wahumba' are on good terms with us. We brought about peace between them and Mbogo. They come to our station to trade and we have cured several of their wounded men from bad lion bites. We will send messengers to the Humba Masai asking for a large war party of spearmen to await down below in the plains any attack by the Arabs. I think the mere knowledge the Masai are there will keep the Arabs from coming near Ulunga. ”

“ The case of Massasoit, therefore, is the more remarkable, for no man not gifted by nature with fine ability and tact, could have held peace for so long a time among the fierce tribes, not only under his direct rule, but that belonged to the confederacies surrounding his own people. ”

“ Like the Masai, Turkana and Suk, the Nandi-Lumbwa tribes were originally nomadic, but they have become agriculturists. They own large herds of cattle. They have a double administrative system, the chief medicine man or Orkoiyot being supreme chief and regulating war affairs, while representatives of the people, called Kiruogik, manage the ordinary affairs of the tribe. The medicine men are of Masai origin and the office is hereditary. The young men form a separate warrior class to whom is entrusted the care of the country. ”

“ Masiko told Martin that the object of this raid, as well as of numberless others, had been solely to procure slaves to sell to the slave-dealers, who sent up parties many miles to the interior from the east coast.
“Unless the Christian people of your country and others unite to put a stop to the cruel traffic, there will be no peace or happiness for poor Africa,” he observed. ”

“ The southern Masai will average between six and seven feet in height, and are almost invariably well built. Of most tribes the physical development is remarkably strong and graceful; and a great many of the women will display a rounded, firm, high-breasted physique in marked contrast to the blacks of the lowlands. Of the different tribes possibly the Kikuyus are apt to count the most weakly and spindly examples: though some of these people, perhaps a majority, are well made. ”

“ This has spread over the country among the girls and young women. The natives called it Masabi. The older people do not care to mention it or, if they do, it is in sort of an apologetic manner. They claim that the spirit of some bird or other animal enters the person and causes her to act so strangely. The usual remedy resorted to is to beat the tomtoms to drive away the spirit. They claim [401] that the so-called possession is comparatively new in the country, and that it came from a tribe northeast of Macha. ”

“ Since this would naturally attract people from all directions, it is not to be wondered at if a question as to the tribal affinities of the Masasi people should land one in a very chaos of tribes. Makua, Wayao, Wangindo, a few Makonde, and, 70in addition a large percentage of Coast men:—such are the voluntary immigrants to this little centre of social evolution. To these we must add a miscellaneous collection of people belonging to various tribes of the far interior, who are here included under the comprehensive designation of Wanyasa. ”

“ The Masai are a pastoral people depending entirely on their herds, which must have abundant pasture; while, on the other hand, the Akikuyu are tillers of the soil. In order to make a tract of land clear for sowing, they are in the habit of burning large tracts of forest, a practice which annoys the Masai, because herds of cattle shelter under the trees, where they find fresh grass, when all the country exposed to the sun is parched and withered. ”

“ They are an enterprising people, who have been exposed to the constant attacks of the neighbouring Masai and Galla nations. But they have hitherto successfully resisted these attacks, thanks to the natural lines of defence presented by their rugged bush-grown territory. Nevertheless one of their tribes was compelled to emigrate in the year 1882, when men, women, and children, leaving the dangerous neighbourhood of the Masai nomads, suc- ceeded in reaching the Usagara country in the upper Wami basin over 300 miles farther south. ”

“ This advanced southern branch of the great Ilm-Orma nation is fully conscious of their common origin with the northern Galla people, to whom they are said occasionally to dispatch envoys. North-west of Lake Baringo the district watered by the upper course of the Wei- Wei, which flows northwards in the direction of the Zamburu, is inhabited by the Wukiimasia and Wa-Klgeyo tribes. Although certainly related to the Masai, these peaceful and industrious peoples betray little resemblance in their social usages to their fierce and predatory neighbours. ”

“ In 1865 new troubles arose leading to a renewal of war between the Free State and Moshesh. Again the governor of Cape Colony acted as mediator, but his decisions were rejected by the Basutos, and new hostilities began. This time, by a heroic effort made in 1868, the whites defeated and scattered the Basutos with great slaughter, and were at the point of utterly breaking their power, when the always politic Moshesh appealed to the British High Commissioner at the Cape to take his people under British protection. ”

“ Thomson found that the Masai warriors came quite near the coast in their marauding expeditions, and several of the Wa-kamba villages in the region back of Frere Town had been plundered. The Wa-kamba people have large herds of cattle, goats, and sheep; they drive these herds into zeribas or stockades, at night, to prevent their capture, in raids by the Masai. The stories of these raids continued to alarm Mr. Thomson's porters, and, in spite of all his watchfulness, two of his men managed to get away. ”

“ I have already mentioned that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto. I, and the others who started the organization, did so for two reasons. Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. ”

“ After we had made camp we saw a number of Masai warriors hovering about the opposite bank, but they did not venture across. Some of their women did, however, and came cheerily into camp. These most interesting people are worth more than a casual word, so I shall reserve my observations on them until a later chapter. One of our porters, a big Baganda named Sabakaki, was suffering severely from pains in the chest that subsequently developed into pleurisy. From the Masai women we tried to buy some of the milk they carried in gourds ”

“ The Makalanga, or Children of the Sun, whom Barreto fought, were in the line of succession from the Phœnicians, as the Mashonas are their representatives to-day. In Mashona pottery we can still trace the decorations, which are found on the walls of the Zimbabwes: the people have something Semitic in their features, as compared with other Bantu tribes; they know something of gold-working, a little of astronomy, and in their industries and beliefs have a higher culture than their neighbours. ”

“ But this feature can be observed only amongst the young men, for all married men and all women without exception keep their heads carefully shaven. In the same way all the Masai people pierce and enlarge the lower lobe of the ear, insert- ing at first little rods, and afterwards distending it by means of heavy pendants made of iron or copper wire. Like some of the Nilotic and North Abyssinian tribes, the Masai pastors will frequently remain for hours standing on one foot with the other planted against the calf, and the body resting on their' lance or shield. ”

“ At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion made by the State in its opening that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said. ”