These are strapped
along the flanks of the donkeys, while the other goods rest between. A
donkey pack, Masai fashion, is a marvellous affair that would not stay
on ten minutes for a white man.
The Masai perform no agriculture whatever, nor will they eat game meat.
They have no desire whatever for any of the white man's provisions
except sugar. In fact; their sole habitual diet is mixed cow's blood and
milk--no fruits, no vegetables, no grains, rarely flesh; a striking
commentary on extreme vegetarian claims. The blood they obtain by
shooting a very sharp-pointed arrow into the neck vein of the cow. After
the requisite amount has been drained, the wound is closed and the
animal turned into the herd to recuperate. The blood and milk are then
shaken together in long gourds. Certainly the race seems to thrive on
this strange diet. Only rarely, on ceremonial occasions or when
transportation is difficult, do they eat mutton or goat flesh, but never
beef.
Of labour, then, about a Masai village, it follows that there is
practically none. The women build the manyattas; there is no cooking, no
tilling of the soil, no searching for wild fruits. The herd have to be
watched by day, and driven in at the fall of night; that is the task of
the boys and the youths who have not gone through with the quadriennial
circumcision ceremonies and become El-morani, or warriors. Therefore the
grown men are absolutely and completely gentlemen of leisure.
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