[Illustration: The Nandi are among the most warlike of the tribes, and before they were overcome by the British were the terror of more peaceful neighbours. Like the Masai, they bleed their cattle and drink the blood hot.] 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.