In the heart of the East African highlands, as far south of the Mediterranean Sea as New York is distant from Denver, and as far west of the Indian Ocean as Pittsburgh is west of the Atlantic, I am writing this chapter. Lake Naivasha, which is spread out before me, is in the Great Rift Valley, a mighty trough that runs almost north and south through this part of the continent. This great rift begins, it is now believed, south of the Zambezi and embraces Lake Rudolf on the north. Traces of it are to be found even in Palestine. It is supposed to have been formed by the earth’s folding up after a stupendous volcanic eruption, which left the craters of Kilimanjaro, Kenya, and Elgon touching the clouds at altitudes of from fourteen thousand to nearly twenty thousand feet.

The valley was named by Professor J. W. Gregory, the famous British geologist, who came out to East Africa in order to explore its system of valleys and to discover their origin. For many months he disappeared. There were rumours that he had been killed and cut to pieces by the Masai. But one day he turned up, looking ill and worn but triumphant. The results of his trip were published in a book now historical, “The Great Rift Valley,” from which this huge trough got its name. To-day one sees everywhere in this part of the country notices of “Rift Valley” farms or “Rift Valley” hotels. It is still an objective of scientific explorations and the subject of scientific discussions.

This mighty valley narrows and widens, it rises and falls, and it has many big lakes. Broadly speaking, all the great lakes of East Africa are in it or in its spurs. North of here are Lakes Baringo and Rudolf, and still farther north in Abyssinia is Lake Tsana, the source of the Blue Nile. As I write I am looking out on Lake Naivasha, a beautiful sheet of blue water over which white cranes are flying. I can see zebras and buck feeding not far from the water, and with my glass can watch the ugly black heads of three hippopotami bobbing up and down like giant fishing corks upon the surface. The swampy shores are lined with masses of reeds. Just back of them the ground rises into rich pastures which are protected from sportsmen by the reservations allotted to the Uganda Railway and which fairly swarm with big game.

The weather here is delightful. We are so near the Equator that we can almost straddle it, but the altitude is such that blankets are needed at night and it is never excessively hot during the day. Naivasha is a little higher up in the air than the top of Mt. Washington. Indeed, the climate of the whole Rift Valley is said to be suited to white men. This matter is being tested by settlers, for large tracts of land have been taken up in different places not far from the railroad, and there are many Englishmen who are going into stock raising. Near the lake, at Morendat, the government of Kenya Colony has started an experiment farm and there are big ranches in the immediate vicinity. There are no tsetse flies here, for even in the tropics the tsetse is seldom found at an altitude over four thousand feet. The zebras, which one sees by the hundreds in almost any ride over the valley, are evidences that horses will thrive. There are also many ostriches, and in time we may have ostrich farming here as in South Africa. The average elevation of the lake valley is something like six thousand feet, and the grass is said to be luxuriant everywhere.

This is one of the strongholds of the Masai race, who have always been noted as warriors and stock raisers. I see them about Naivasha, and not a few still carry spears and shields. They have many little towns near by, and their settlements are scattered throughout the Rift Valley. They live in huts about four feet high, six feet wide, and nine feet long. The huts, which look like great bake ovens, are made of branches woven together and plastered with mud. Sometimes they are smeared over with cow dung, which material often forms the floors. When it rains, skins are laid over the roofs to protect them. The houses are usually built in a circle about an inclosure, in which the cattle are kept at night. The sheep and goats are allowed to run in and out of the huts. Some of the towns have fences of thorns around them to keep out the wild beasts.

These Masai are a fierce-looking people. The men are tall and straight, and walk as though they owned the earth. When they have their war paint on, they use a decoration of ostrich feathers which surrounds their faces, and is supposed to carry terror to the souls of their enemies.

These natives are by no means pure Negroes, but belong to the Hamitic-negroid or non-Bantu group. Their skins are dark brown, their noses are often straight, and their lips not very thick. I can’t tell you whether their hair is woolly or not, for the women shave it close to the scalp, using razors of iron or glass, and polish their heads with grease so that they fairly shine in the sun. I understand they pull out the hair from all parts of their bodies and that even the babies are shaved. Many of the men carry about tweezers of iron to pull the hairs from their chins, cheeks, and nostrils, and they keep themselves shaved until they are old enough to be warriors. This comes along about the time they reach manhood. They then let the hair of their heads grow and plait it into pigtails, which they frequently wear down over the forehead. The head, along with the rest of the body, is often anointed with oil and red clay. The warrior sometimes wears a lion’s head and mane in addition to the circle of ostrich feathers about the face. His arms are a sword and a club. He has a spear with a very long blade and an oval shield bearing figures which indicate his clan.

Like the Kikuyus and Nandi, these people buy their wives. Marriage, however, is not supposed to take place until the Masai becomes an elder—that is, until he reaches the age of about twenty-seven or thirty. This is after his fighting days are over and he is ready to settle down, as it were. The warriors and the young girls of the tribe live together up to that time in a separate establishment apart from the rest of the people.

In order to marry, a warrior has to ask permission of the elders of the tribe. If this is given, he straightway buys his wife. If she is a good-looking girl she will cost him two cows, two bullocks, two sheep, and some goatskins. This money goes to the nearest relative of the woman he has selected, who may lower the price if he will. Divorces may be had for laziness and bad temper on the part of the wife; and in such cases a part of the marriage fee is sometimes returned. A widow cannot marry again. If her husband dies, the relict goes back to her mother, or to her brother if her mother be dead.

As far as I can learn these Masai girls have a soft snap. They are required to do nothing until they are married. Before that they play with the warriors, spending their time in dancing and singing and loafing about. The unmarried girl often does not do her own cooking. This condition continues for a long time after marriage and up until all the babies of the family are fairly well grown. As soon as that is accomplished, however, the hard-working period begins. Almost all the hard labour of the tribe is done by the older women, who collect the firewood, build the mud houses, and gather the cow manure with which their walls are smeared. When the villages are moved from place to place, these withered dames take the parts of donkeys and bullocks in carrying the burdens, and then erect the new huts.

These Masai are a nation of stock raisers and own herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, which they drive about from pasture to pasture in the Southern Reservation where the British Government has put them. The cattle are of the humped variety like the sacred cows of India, many of them being fat, sleek, and fine looking. Some of the animals are branded, and not a few have rude bells of iron so they may be traced if they stray. Most of the cattle are watched by half-naked boys, who drive them about with sticks. Morning and evening the cows are brought into the villages to be milked, and nearly every town of mud huts has its cow houses. The women do the milking. This is contrary to the custom in some parts of Africa, where it is thought the cows will go dry if any female touches them. The milk is caught in gourds which are afterward cleaned with handfuls of burnt grass. The people always drink their milk fresh, but their method of cleaning the gourds gives it a smoky flavour. If a calf dies, it is skinned and stuffed with straw and then placed under the cow’s nose at milking time, for the natives say the cow will not “let down” her milk unless the calf is alongside.

The Masai are blood drinkers. Their country has practically no salt, and I am told that they make up for this lack and keep healthy by blood drinking.

The people eat but few vegetables and, strangely enough, do not kill or eat game. They do no farming whatever. Their cooking is usually done in pots of burnt clay varying from eight to twenty inches in height. The larger pots are not placed over the fire, but at the side of it, and are turned around, now and then, in order that they may be evenly heated.

Much of my information about the Masai comes from Captain Sidney L. Hinde, who has had a long experience in Africa as an official, explorer, and lion hunter. He has written some books upon the Congo and other African countries, and knows much concerning this part of the world. My talk with Captain Hinde was at Mombasa, in a beautiful cottage overlooking the Indian Ocean. Upon the floors were skins of lions and leopards killed by Captain or Mrs. Hinde, and on the walls were the heads of giraffes, antelope, and gnus shot by her.

The evolution of a British colony and how John Bull assumes the white man’s burden can be read between the lines of my conversation with these people. Said Captain Hinde:

“When Mrs. Hinde and I first came into the province the country was in the same condition it had been in for ages. We found that it contained about a million people, who lived in little villages, each containing about ten huts or so. There were no great chiefs. Each village was independent and almost constantly at war with the neighbouring villages. The citizens of one settlement knew nothing of those of the other settlements about. A man dared not venture more than ten miles from his home, and he had little knowledge of the country outside that radius. There were no roads whatever excepting trails which wound this way and that over the land. The only meeting places were at the markets, which were held at fixed points on certain days of the week or month. It is a rule throughout Africa that warfare and fighting must be suspended on market days, and no one dares bring arms to a market or fight there. If he should engage in fighting and be killed, his relatives cannot claim blood money.

“When we took possession of the Kenya province we had to fight our way in. As soon as we had subdued the people, we made them work at making roads as a penalty for their insurrection. We connected all the villages by roadways and gave each town so much to take care of. As a result we now have in that province alone several hundred miles of good wagon roads each ten feet wide. We have also made it the law that all roads shall be treated in one respect like a market place. This means that no native can assault another while walking upon them and that all feuds must be buried when travelling over the highways. Many of these roads connect villages which were formerly at war with each other, and the result of the law is that they have become peaceful and the citizens can now pass safely from one town to another. They are really changing their natures and are going through a process of travel-education. As I have already said, five years ago they never left home. Now thousands of them go over our thoroughfares down to the seacoast, and we have something like eighteen hundred natives of Kenya here at Mombasa.”

The British have found the Masai such good cattlemen that they believe they can train them into good grooms for horses. Another feature of British dealings with the natives is the establishment of trading posts in the native reserves. Here the Africans are encouraged to set up little stores of their own. It is hoped that this will develop wants and help civilize the more backward groups, like the Masai, until they become as enterprising as the Bagandas and Kavirondos.