The Native Races of East AfricaHambly, Wilfrid D. (Wilfrid Dyson)
History
The Native Races of East Africa
Hambly, Wilfrid D. (Wilfrid Dyson)
Indigenous peoples -- Africa, East
Though slaves are unknown amongst the Masai, there are a servile people
named the Dorobo who have to obey the commands of their masters; but,
on the other hand, they receive wages, and must not be bought or
sold. Very probably these people who serve the Masai were at one time
captured and enslaved; now they do not possess any cattle, and as a
rule the hardest work falls to their lot. An East African official,
Mr. Hinde, says of these Dorobo: “They do not build kraals after the
manner of the Masai, but inhabit clusters of badly built huts hidden
in the bush. In war they are not allowed to accompany the Masai, or to
carry shields and spears. Their weapons consist of a bow, poisoned
arrows, and a heavy wooden-handled spear, into one end of which a
massive arrow-head is placed. This arrow-head is thickly smeared with
poison. In attacking large game, such as the elephant, hippopotamus,
or rhinoceros, they drive the arrow-head into the animal, whereupon
the heavy shaft drops off and is recovered. A new tip is fitted, and
the native, following the wounded animal, shoots these poisoned arrows
until the creature drops from exhaustion.”
A Masai chief is a person of the greatest importance; and in former
days, when the tribe was about to undertake a great raid on some
neighbouring people, the king would throw himself into a trance, in
which he had visions of the proper way of conducting an attack or
defence. On other occasions his power of second sight caused him to
foretell possible calamities, and before waking he suggested some means
of avoiding them.
Very probably the king practised a good deal of deception, for it is
well known that he had a secret service system which informed him of
all that was taking place in his own and adjacent tribes. A son of the
royal house will always preserve his father’s skull, which, if kept
near, is supposed to bring good luck, and assist in ruling the country.
The bodies of ordinary people are just allowed to remain in the bush,
and a funeral, burial, and mound of stones are given only to members of
the royal household.
The Masai are a very bright, intelligent, and truthful people; very
rarely will a full-grown man commit a theft or tell a lie. Unlike many
African tribes, these people have no musical instruments, and their
few war songs and verses, sung while herding cattle, are very simple.
Generally speaking, African natives are musical, and flutes, drums,
also stringed instruments are very ingeniously made.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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