MASAI, mli'si. A mixed Eilliopiam'N'egro people in British East. Africa. cast of Lake Vic toria. belonging to the Niam-Xiam or Zandeh group. They are divided into the nomad Masai or II Oikoh. and the settled Masai or Wa Kwafi, the latter having been forced to become agricul turists, both on account of the plague which destroyed their immense herds of cattle, and the intertribal warfare that drove them into the ter ritory of non-Alas:1i tribes. The 11 Oikob, or 'Freemen,' are typical :Nlasai and are of magnifi cent physique. not one of the warrior class being under six feet in height. Their complexion is chocolate, their hair frizzly, and their eyes slight ly oblique. The pure blooded tribes have good features, and, barring their color, would pass for Europeans, While among 'Awl. tribes the coarse negro features are observed. Each tribe is no madic within certain Weil-narked boundaries and the subdivisions are named from their geo graphical location. Their villages, set in a circle in which the cattle are herded, consist of huts of bent boughs plastered with eow dung, with flat roofs. Envireling the village is a strong boom or thorn fence. They practice no arts, their weapons and utensils being procured by barter or from a subject tribe called Andorobbo living among them. The country is elevated and the climate temperate, so that the Masai more clothing, than the tribes in the warmer parts of Africa. The women adorn themselves with a profusion of strings of beads and circlets of iron and brass. They wear the rudiments of a dress consisting of a small apron in front and a larger at the back. The men have an upper garment of tanned skin, a length of cloth fas tened at the neck and hanging down the back, armlets of ivory or horn, ornaments of slender iron chain, a waist cloth. The hair is
gathered into a sort of chignon which hangs be low the shoulder blades. The ear lobes are enormously distended by ornament.
The Masai are divided into a number of clans, the symbol of which the warriors paint on their shields. The people :ire divided into married men, living in the villages, and warriors, living in the canips. The latter youths are set apart by the rite of circumcision on reaching puberty, occupy separate quarters, and are attended by the unmarried women. A diet of meat and milk is allowed them, but ()lily one of these must be eaten at a time, and between the periods a purgative treatment is required. Before going on their raids they gorge themselves With blood and meat. The warrior's costume eonsists of an oval headdress of ostrich feathers encircling the face, a shoulder cape of vulture feathers, a belt and anklets of colobus monkey skin. Their weapons are a long-bladed assagai, a short sword and chili, and an oval shield of buffalo hide. After serving his time the warrior settles down to married life, and then varies his flesh diet with vegetable food purchased from agricultural tribes. The Masai are dignified, self-contained, and intellectually capable, and their skill in oratory is of a high order. They practice no form of burial. the bodies of the dead being east. nut to be devoured by hyenas. Prayers and of ferings of grass dipped in cream are made to a superior deity; grass is also an offering to ward mutt evil. They believe in witcheraft and nmintain mhaina mm Through 1,und (London, I SS5 ).