IN EAST AFRICA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 19

IN EAST AFRICA

.TROUBLE BREWING

WAR-LIKE NATIVES

By B. Trcmlett. (Copyright.) The unrest in East Africa threatening of lato to break out into an interHribal war, is duo to an ancient and traditional antagonism between the two tribes, Masai and Lumbwa. In the present case it appears to be the young men of Lumbwa who are indulging in an outbreak of lawlessness, but it is generally known to settlers in Kenya and Tanganyika territory that the Masai are the most warlike of the East African natives. They are ' nevertheless very aloof, and while they may submit to the ruling of their • own chiefs they take less kindly ' to European administration, A Masai village is not the somewhat scattered collection of native huts usually mot with. There is a hint of ..the fortress about the oblong formation of mud-plastered "semi-detached" huts, acting as a.kind of stockade to protect ■ their cattle which, are herded into the enclosure, in the centre at nightfall. ' Nor is this merely a precaution taken ■ against lion and leopard, but also against their neighbours in the Lumbwa reserve who may attempt cattle thefts. Apparently they are. happy to remain in this precarious and uncivilised state. And there the difficulty lies; for those in authority who do their best not " only to instil law and order into the minds of these warliko tribes, but also to avert actual bloodshed. Even } in these inoro enlightened days they do ■ not thank you for any kind of interference whereby they are hindord from sharpening their spears, and furbishing up their shields —tlio Masai are noted for the primitive weapons of defence. OED-TIME TRADITIONS, Until comparatively recent time 3no young Masai was considered-a man among his own people until he had blooded his spear, and this meant but ond thing—the killing of a man. The ■white man whoso task it is to divert these people's inhuman customs into a different channel', is faced with the direst problem as'to. how to act without making matters even worse. Dealing with, a race whiek is hide-bound for centuries past with superstition for their chief god, it is hard to realise ■how incredibly sacred to them is the keeping of these old-tinio traditions, however gruesome. But much has been accomplished, and of late years the young Masai becomes a hero and a fullblown warrior at the killing of his -first "lion.- ■ , Unlike the Swahili native, who ] lives mainly on cereal food, the Masai are a meat-eating people, living in! cattle country free from tsetse-fly. Not' i only do they, kill their cattle for meat, but they are also known to tap them for their blood without actually harming them. Indeed civilisation does not j appeal as yet to tho Masai warrior. , They- are an .independent and selfcontained race, desirous of keeping to themselves above everything, and with no wish to understand European cus- ... t'oms and acquire knowledge or even money. Even in tho. Great War, during the East.African campaign, the Masai kept aloof and disinterested from what they evidently considered no quarrel of theirs;, for the righting on the frontier in the early stages they were used as guides and runners, having an amazing ■ capacity for finding their way in a country which would appear to .us .peculiarly dav.oid of land -mar-Its, .J^nd. also able to keex> ity a, speedy, shuffling gait for-long distances. Primitive people. The.Masai warrior still represents a fine picture of an African native,: yeta- strange aboriginal-like creaturo, never parted from his long stool spear, practically without clothing, and ;his entire body smothered in a queer coppery pigment made from reel clay soil, 'even to his'liair,which* is caked and. plastered in tho saino way. The wonien wear innumerable brass and copper bangles; in some cases so tightly fitting as to havo almost grown into the flesh of their arms or legs.. It is also a mark of beauty for the lobes of their ears to have been so weighted down that they drop nearly to the shoulders. It is to be wondered how much longer these people will be content to live in this primitive stato, while others of oheir colour who have been to the coast and tasted life in more civilised surroundings aro trying to ape the white man. At least the warlike tribes • of the uplands havo not lacked respect from, their black brothers in the past. They have always been tho overlords; can you then wonder that tho Masai warrior clings hard to the old-time traditions that to him mean the glory of Ms race?