For ten or twelve years these young men are El-morani.  They dwell in a separate manyatta.  With them dwell promiscuously all the young unmarried women of the tribe.  There is no permanent pairing off, no individual property, no marriage.  Nor does this constitute flagrant immorality, difficult as it may be for us to see that fact.  The institution, like all national institutions, must have had its origin in a very real need and a very practical expediency.  The fighting strength of the tribe must be kept up, and by the young and vigorous stock.  On the other hand, every man of military age must be foot free to serve in the constant wars and forays.  This institution is the means.  And, mind you, unchastity in the form of illicit intercourse outside the manyatta of the El-morani, whether with her own or another tribe, subjects the women to instant death.

The El-morani in full fighting rig are imposing.  They are, as I have explained, tall and of fine physique.  The cherished and prized weapon is the long, narrow-bladed spear.  This is five and six feet long, with a blade over three feet by as many inches, and with a long iron shoe.  In fact, only a bare hand-hold of wood is provided.  It is of formidable weight, but so well balanced that a flip cast with the wrist will drive it clear through an enemy.  A short sword and a heavy-headed war club complete the offensive weapons.  The shield is of buffalo hide, oval in shape, and decorated with a genuine heraldry, based on genealogy.  A circlet of black ostrich feathers in some branches surrounds the face and stands high above the head.  In the southern districts the warriors wear two single black ostrich plumes tied one either side the head, and slanting a little backwards.  They walk with a mincing step, so that the two feathers bob gently up and down like the waving of the circus equestrienne’s filmy skirts.

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; but, inevitably, complete idleness will tell.  Either the people must change their ideals and become industrious—­which is extremely unlikely—­or they will degenerate.

As a passing thought, it is a curious and formidable fact that the prohibition of intertribal wars and forays all through East Central Africa had already permitted the population to increase to a point of discomfort.  Many of the districts are becoming so crowded as to overflow.  What will happen in the long run only time can tell—­famines are weakening things, while war at least hardens a nation’s fibre.  This is not necessarily an argument for war.  Only everywhere in the world the white man seems, with the best of intentions, to be upsetting natural balances without substituting anything for them.  We are better at preventing things than causing them.