Besides his sacred cattle the Masai raises also lesser herds of the hairy sheep of the country.  These he used for himself only on the rare occasions of solitary forced marches away from his herds, or at the times of ceremony.  Their real use is as a trading medium—­for more cattle!  Certain white men and Somalis conduct regular trading expeditions into Masailand, bringing in small herds of cows bought with trade goods from the other tribes.  These they barter with the Masai for sheep.  In Masai estimation a cow is the most valuable thing on earth, while a sheep is only a medium of exchange.  With such notions it is easy to see that the white man can make an advantageous exchange, in spite of the Masai’s well-known shrewdness at a bargain.  Each side is satisfied.  There remains only to find a market for the sheep—­an easy matter.  A small herd of cows will, in the long run, bring quite a decent profit.

The Masai has very little use for white man’s products.  He will trade for squares of cloth, beads of certain kinds and in a limited quantity, brass and iron wire of heavy gauge, blankets and sugar.  That, barring occasional personal idiosyncrasy, is about all.  For these things he will pay also in sheep.  Masai curios are particularly difficult to get hold of.  I rather like them for their independence in that respect.  I certainly should refuse to sell my tennis shoes from my feet merely because some casual Chinaman happened to admire them!

The women seem to occupy a position quite satisfactory to themselves.  To be sure they do the work; but there is not much work!  They appear to be well treated; at least they are always in good spirits, laughing and joking with each other, and always ready with quick repartee to remarks flung at them by the safari boys.  They visited camp freely, and would sit down for a good lively afternoon of joking.  Their expressions were quizzical, with a shy intelligent humour.  In spite of the apparent unabashed freedom of their deportment they always behaved with the utmost circumspection; nor did our boys ever attempt any familiarity.  The unobtrusive lounging presence in the background of two warriors with long spears may have had something to do with this.

The Masai government is centred in an overlord or king.  His orders seemed to be implicitly obeyed.  The present king I do not know, as the old king, Lenani, had just died at an advanced age.  In former days the traveller on entering Masailand was met by a sub-chief.  This man planted his long spear upright in the ground, and the intending traveller flung over it coils of the heavy wire.  A very generous traveller who completely covered the spear then had no more trouble.  One less lavish was likely to be held up for further impositions as he penetrated the country.  This tax was called the honga.

The Masai language is one of the most difficult of all the native tongues.  In fact, the white man is almost completely unable even to pronounce many of the words.  V., who is a “Masai-man,” who knows them intimately, and who possesses their confidence, does not pretend to talk with them in their own tongue, but employs the universal Swahili.