This interview with Marieni Ole Kertella was conducted by Gerald Hanley at the studios of the Kenya Broadcasting Commission in Nairobi, about 1970. In 1970 Ole Kertella was an old man of about ninety years of age. he belonged to the Iltareto age-group. This age-group were warriors from 1911 to 1929.

IT was late at night when Marieni Ole Kertella arrived at the broadcasting studios in Nairobi. Ole Kipoin and I got up to greet him and he shook hands with us. He was a fine looking and dignified old man, over ninety, yet he looked sixty, his healthy red brown skin shining in the electric light as he smiled at us and waited to be asked to sit down. He sat down and looked round at the machinery and then at the microphone on the table before him.

"That’s the thing I'll talk into?" he said.

"That’s it."

"And it keeps what I say for ever?"

"Yes."

He laughed. "I will tell you anything I know," he said, "and if I don't know it I will tell you I don't know it."

He wore the Masai blanket about his shoulders, and plenty of beads and copper ornaments. Sometimes he spoke Masai, sometimes Swahili, sometimes English, but when a fine point came up he would explain it in Masai to Ole Kipoin until all was clear. The talk went like this:-

Q. Father, do you remember where you were born?

A. As far as I can recall I only know what my parents told me. And I can remember the place where they told me I was born. It was in Naivasha at a place called Empirish naji Enololdia. In the Masai custom whenever a family goes back to a place where a child was born they take a piece of Kikuyu grass and tie it on the ankle of the child. My parents did this to me whenever we went back to that place, until I realised the importance of the practice and started doing it myself. So I was born at Empirish naji Enololdia.

Q. Where were you circumcised?

A. In Kinopop. (Now known as Kinangop).

Q. What is your age group?

A. Iltareto.

Q. Do you remember the catastrophes which befell the Masai long ago ?

A. Yes, I do. I remember when the rinderpest epidemic broke out and finished the Masai cattle.

Q. What happened?

A. Rinderpest was the first catastrophe, and it started like this. First of all there was an eclipse of the sun and it took place at about five o'clock in the afternoon. At the time I was grazing sheep and goats and the people were singing and praying for the eclipse of the sun to pass. It was then that the rinderpest attacked the cattle. The epidemic finished the Masai cattle.

Q. When you were looking after the sheep and goats at that time were you a Moran (warrior) or a boy?

A. When the epidemic attacked the cattle I was a boy, but quite a grown up boy with good sense.

Q. Do you remember the outbreak of smallpox?

A. Yes. I remember the smallpox epidemic. Rinderpest came first and the smallpox followed when the cattle were finished. The Purko section of the Masai had a man whom I supposed came from the Rendille tribe, and he vaccinated the legs of people and applied the pus from the affected part of the face."

I thought this was so interesting that I asked the old man to tell us more about it.

A. This man came from or was sent by God from somewhere. I think he came from the Rendille country.

Q. Was he a Masai?

A. He looked like a Masai, and I think he had Samburu blood, but whoever he was he was sent by God from somewhere and he vaccinated the people. What he actually did was this. He scratched the thighs of the sick and applied pus from the affected part of the face. The vaccinated part grew into a wound as big as that ash tray you are using there. People flocked to him for vaccination and he saved very many lives in the Purko section. The Ildamat section were greatly reduced in number because they got no vaccination at all. All this I remember very well.

Q. Did the smallpox epidemic affect the whole of Masailand?

A. What I know is that it affected the whole country. It would be hard to find a people who did not suffer from that epidemic. However I cannot speak for the Kisongo people in the south, but all the people in the north got it.

Q. By that time were you a Moran (warrior), a laiyoni (a boy) or a child?

A. During those two catastrophes I was a boy. First came the rinderpest and then the smallpox and in both cases I was a boy, and a very intelligent boy too.

Q. When did the Masai start to recover from these catastrophes?

A. The Masai recovered about the time they began fighting among themselves. The Ildamat section attacked the Ilkeekonyokie, and the Purko attacked the Ildamat to stop the fighting. Then the Ildalal Lekutuk were attacked and the Loita attacked the Ilkaputiei and the Ilmatapato at Ngong. Then the Loita went further and attacked the Ileekonyokie, and after that there was no peace and the sections fought one another. The fighting was among the age group called Iltalala. Then the age group of Imirisho was circumcised and they are the ones who attacked and conquered the Loita. They captured cattle called Inkishu Olmoti (the prey from Olmoti), cattle called Inkishu naji Nosero (the prey from Nosero) and cattle called Norgosua (the prey from Norgosua). The Purko section led in that attack, with the Morans of the Kaputiei, Ileekonyokie, Ilmatapato, and Ilwasinkishu. The Masai had by then recovered in strength and cattle. It was during that period that the railway reached Nairobi. The railway reached Nairobi with a number of Indians who were building it, and the Masai, who were in Kikuyuland, came out and found the Government in power.

Q. Do you know which lands the Masai occupied in those days?

A. Yes. The rear of the Purko section was at Ongata Pus, and the head was right up at Loroki (now called Loroghi of the Northern Frontier district) and Kisima. Kisima is in the Samburu country. Yes, they were right up to Loroki and on the other side they could see Ogata Olbarta (The Plains of the Horses).

Q. And what about the Samburu. Where were they?

A. The Samburu were in the dry country called Olpurkel which extends from Oldoiyo le Ngiro and spreads north to Marsabit hill. They occupied all that land right down to a point near Kisima.

Q. What about the other sections? Where were they?

A. The Ilkeekonyokie were at Kinopop until the Masai were forced to leave that area. They were at Kinopop, Sision, Imunyi, and as a matter of fact that section (the Ilkeekonyokie) had the biggest area of Kinopop. They stretched from Kijabe hills right up to a place called Enkushuai, and to Enkume where the oxen used for Masai ceremonies used to be kept. That was the land they had. And the Purko occupied the other side called Enkutoto e Kamja where there is a road today to Nyeri.

Q. And where were the Ildamat section?

A. That section was at a place called Enaigusungus and they extended right up to Kinopop. They lived side by side with the Purko, and the Ildalal le Kutuk lived side by side with the Ilkeekonyokie, occupying a place called Karat.

Q. And the Iloitai section?

A. The Iloitai were to be found as soon as you cross the bridge of Engare Ngiro today in Narok district, and they extended on that side and took in Ogata e Loita (Loita plains) right down to the Ongata e Siringet (Serengeti plains) in Tanganyika. All that was their land.

Q. And the lands between Engare Ngiro in Narok district and Kinopop (modern Kinangop). Who had those?

A. All land on this side of Engare Ngiro including Engare Narok (Narok river), Syapei river, all that belonged to the Ildamat section. And although they occupied all the land right up to Naivasha some of the Purko section, and some of the Ildalal le Kutuk and Ilkeekonyokie were living among them there, even though the area belonged to the Ildamat you found a number of other sections living there too.

Q. Tell us where the Lodokilani section lived.

A. The Lodokilani were living in Mosiro and took in Kimoren and Enkopiri. All Mosiro as we know it now belonged to the Lodokilani.

Q. And the Kaputie section, where were they?

A. The Kaputie area was as follows-they had the whole of Ngong, Ololaiser (the Ngong hills) including Rura, Kukuya, Narok Omon (where the army camp is today). All those areas including Nairobi, Ilkejek Onyokie, Olmanie Loo Nokopen, and also the present Kabete, Enteijia (Ndeiya), Imorog (Limuru), all that belonged to the Kaputie section.

Q. What about the Isikirari section?

A. They had Oldoiyo Oibor (Mount Kilimanjaro) - I mean this side of the mountain, and they had Oloitokitok, Osilalei, Lolpenyet, Ongata e Kinyawa (The plains of Simba railway station today) right up to a place called Oloitilai le Mosonik and Ildoiyo Lolkirosion, and that is the end of the Loitokitok Masai area.

We had a cigarette after that long description of Masai geography as it had been in Ole Kertella's boyhood. His description of the territory gives an idea of how far the Masai stretched before they were moved south of the Mombasa-Uganda railway, which move Ole Kertella wanted to describe for us. But first I wanted to ask him about the Laibon Olonana.

Q. Do you remember, or did you ever see Olonana in the flesh?

A. I remember him very well.

Q. Did you see him?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Will you describe him for us? Was he tall or was he thin, or would you say he was heavily built physically?

A. He was slim, and his pigmentation is what I would call mungie, that is midway between black and brown. He was tall, with a bald head, but you could not see his bald head because he covered it with a headgear of leather called Enkaranda. His teeth were white and one of his front upper teeth protruded. Yes, and he was very slim. I knew him well. He had long earlobes which reached down near to his chest. (Stretched artificially in the Masai way).

Q. Was he a good orator?

A. He was not a good orator, but he was an expert Laibon.

Q. Socially was he good company, or did he lose his temper quickly?

A. Socially he was good company. He spoke very quietly and was very reserved, and not many people could speak with him. He introduced a strange system by appointing an interpreter to speak to the Masai. I knew the man. He was called Saboye Ole Ntaanipenyo of the Kekonyokie section. When people went to consult Olonana the interpreter would go to him and say "The people want your opinion about such and such a thing." Then Olonana would call them to him and ask the interpreter to tell him what they wanted. After hearing them through the interpreter he would answer through the interpreter who would say "The Laibon says so and so in answer to your question. He always spoke very quietly.

Q. And do you remember Senteu, the other Laibon?

A. Yes. I remember him too. He came to a place called Kileleshwan. He came there with a group of about seven or eight warriors who were escorting him. Yes. The day he arrived at Olonana's boma I was there. That was the boma at Kileleshwan.

Q. Were you a moran (warrior) by then?

A. I was Olaiyoni. (A big boy).

Q. Tell us how he came, father.

A. Senteu left the fertile hills of Loita where he lived and walked all the day and arrived at night. When he arrived the whole area was covered by mist, and it was dark too. He arrived at Olonana's boma in the early hours. There he entered a hut and it was too dark to take the calves out and milk the cattle. Inside the hut he found a woman and he asked her to light a fire, and she lit one. Then he told her to tell the people that Olamal had arrived (Olamal is usually a group of morans, women or elders, who go about praying and singing and praising God for a certain purpose, and must be treated well wherever they go), and that the Olamal is headed by the Laibon called Senteu. The woman was taken aback and said "Did you say you are Senteu ?" and he said "yes", and the woman left and reported the presence of Senteu in the boma. The news was taken to Olonana who said "So he has come, and he is leading Olamal" (a mission of peace).

It was then that the mist cleared away and the calves were led out and the milking of cows began, and the time was about nine o'clock in the morning. Then Olonana said "Take them to the boma of Sananga's sons," which was at a place called Mapenae near Kukuya. Kukuya is near what is now called Dagureti, but it is on this side of Dagureti. You don't know Kukuya? On the small plain called Kabati (modem Karen near Karen von Blixen's old house) there is a white building (Mr. Rodney Chilton's present house) on the edge of the plain and that is the real place of Kukuya, and when you stand there you can see red buildings on the plain at the place we used to call Rora. That area belonged to the Ilkaputiei section and that is why the girls of the Kaputiei section praise themselves when they say "We are Rora girls." Yes, Olonana said that Senteu and his Olamal were to be taken to the boma of Sangata's sons near a place the Masai called Nolchoro and which is now called Dagureti.

After that Olonana called together the warriors of the Kaputiei and Purko Sections, because all these warriors were in the Kaputiei country at that time. And the chiefs were called. For instance there was the Chief Leposo, and Ole Melua, Ole Manei, Ole Sereka (the father of Lekimani and the grandfather of the present Doctor Lekimani). Yes, all these chiefs were summoned to come and discuss the arrival of the Laibon Senteu. It was a long discussion and at the end they came to the conclusion that he was genuinely heading Olamal (a mission of peace) and they decided to call him and hear what he had to say.

When Senteu arrived before them he said he had come to surrender, and that he wanted to be let live among them because he had been defeated by them. And it was agreed, and he left the Olamal which had escorted him and he went to live at Ngong. Do you know where the present market is at Ngong? And if you happen to know where Mr. Nonkimojik's shamba was, then that is near where Senteu established his home on the plain at the foot of the hill. After that the Loita and Damat sections, who had come together by then, were sent to the Naivasha area and they lived there with the Purko section. And it was not long after that the Government forced the Masai to leave Naivasha and Kinopop.

Q. There is a story that when Senteu entered that hut in Olonana's boma he picked up a child that was lying on a bed there. Is that true?

A. I never heard of that.

Q. Where did Olonana die?

A. He died at Enomatasiani (about three or four miles East of modern Ngong township), and he died of illness. It seems as if he was bewitched, and he became sick and started roaming all over the country. Sometimes he climbed trees and he became somewhat insane until he died, at Enomatasiani.

Q. Can you remember the earlier Laibon, Mbatian? (the one who forecast the coming of the white men and the railway).

A. Yes, I remember Mbatian's death, but I never saw him. He died at a distant place, at Oldoiyo Orok (Black Mountain - modern Namanga Hill).

Q. Did you ever hear what Mbatian looked like?

A. I always heard it said that he was a small man physically, and many said that his son Nanunuaki resembled him. But Nanunuaki is dead.

Q. Now when Mbatian died who truly inherited his position (as chief Laibon of the Masai), Senteu or Olonana?

A. Both Senteu and Olonana were Mbatian's sons, but it was Senteu whom he wished to be his legal heir. Then I heard that before he died Mbatian called both of them to him to give them his last words. Then, when the two sons were leaving the hut he called Senteu back and told him to come again early the following day, before his brother Olonana. Apparently Olonana had been suspicious and he hid and heard what was said to Senteu by Mbatian and the next morning he rose before his brother and went straight to his father's hut. When he entered his father's hut Mbatian said "My son, Senteu, have you come?" And Olonana pretended to be Senteu and said, "Yes, father, I have come." And then Mbatian blessed him and made him his successor. Later on Senteu arrived, after Olonana had gone, and he said to Mbatian, "Father, I have come." When Mbatian realised that it was Senteu speaking he asked who it was that had come before him and Senteu said that it might have been Olonana. Then Mbatian said to Senteu, "I am afraid he has beaten you, because I have already blessed him and made him my successor." It was after that Olonana became the chief Laibon of the Masai, although Mbatian had not wanted it.

Q. Is it true that it was Mbatian who forecast the coming of the white man?

A. Yes, he was the first one to predict the coming of the white man.

Q. What did he tell the Masai about that?

A. When he told them of the white men who were coming he said "You will be ruled by uncircumcised people, and they will have a piece of wood with water and fire in it, and it will shout and cry as it moves, and it will carry people." (The steam engine.) And Mbatian went about picking up war clubs and saying "Let me strike the head of this snake," but he was asked not to strike it, though he repeated this demand many times without success. At the end of it he said "I have left it, but a long snake will cross the country from East to West, with no tail and no head, and as soon as it arrives you will be ruled. There it is. I have left it." So you see he was the first one to predict the coming of the white man." (and the Kenya-Uganda railway).

Q. Did the white men find Mbatian alive?

A. No. He was dead when they arrived."

As the Masai always held their circumcision ceremonies in what is now called the Kinangop in Kenya, but was Kinopop to the Masai, I wanted Ole Kertella to tell me, for the historical record, who were the last age group to go through the ceremony there before the British took over that land for white settlement.

Q. Do you remember the last age groups which had their Eunoto ceremonies at Entoror?

A. The last age group who were supposed to undergo that ceremony there were the age group of Ilemek of the Kekonyokie section, but when they and the same age group of the Purko section were ready for their ceremony Olonana refused and told them they were to move south, and he would tell them where they would have the ceremony, and that was that. And he moved them across the Kekonyokie country right down to Enomatasiani and the ceremony was held there. And it was after that that the Masai were moved down into the present land units held by the Masai. (This was the old man's way of telling me that the Olonana was obeying the new British government.)

Q. Do you remember the first Treaty between the Masai and the British government, when Olonana was chief Laibon?

A. Do you mean the Treaty after which we vacated the Naivasha area? Yes. I was there.

Q. Do you mean you were present at the first Treaty or at the second one?

A. I was present at the first one.

Q. Were you a warrior then? Tell us about it, father.

A. I was a big boy then. The British government and Olonana had a private meeting and reached a certain conclusion or decision, and no one else knew about it. This is a secret I am telling you. After that a meeting was called and it was at that meeting that the British government told Olonana that they wanted Kinopop and Naivasha, and that the Masai should move to Ngatat - their present land unit. Olonana agreed to this demand. When the meeting was summoned Ole Masikonde and Ole Gilisho were instructed to ask all the elders to attend, the Iltalala age group and the Ilyangusi, and any of the Ilpeles group if they were alive. They were told that Olonana and the Governor would be at the meeting. The meeting was advertised for a week. When it was held the crowd was so big that it was held under a big tree outside the town called Olamaloti.

Q. Can you remember who were the Europeans present at that meeting?

I looked at the old man when this question was asked, wondering if he could possibly remember the names of the Europeans there after fifty-eight years, and I was amazed by his reply which included even native nicknames. (See the actual Treaty further on for how good a memory Ole Kertella proved to have).

A. The ones who were there numbered eight. One of them was called Mr. Ainsworth, and the Masai called him Njuaini. There was Mr. Hopline, called by the Masai Kobilo. There was Mr. Lane from Fort Hall, Mr. Macmillan, Mr. Back, and His Majesty's Government representative, the Governor, whose name I cannot remember, and there was Mr. Gibson whom the Masai called Gibrisen, and there was one who had had an arm amputated called Mr. Smith and whom the Masai called Smith Kikono. How many is that now?

We told him that he had given eight names.

A. Well, I think they were the only white men present at that meeting when I attended.

Q. Can you tell us what happened before and after the meeting?

A. Well, as I have already told you, elders were there in hundreds, most of them from the Purko section. The Iltuati age group called Ilmirisho were there and headed by Ole Gilisho and Ole Patiak, because by then the Ilmirisho age group were warriors. Yes, Ole Gilisho and Ole Yiaile were there, and there was another man who was the last to pass away of that age group but I have forgotten his name.

Q. Who opened the meeting?

A. It was opened by Mr. Hopline.

Q. Was there an interpreter?

A. Yes, a man of my age group called Moyei Ole Tuukwo. Mr. Hopline, addressing Ole Gilisho and Ole Masikonde, said, "In this meeting we are here to tell you all that the Government want you to leave Naivasha and Kinopop, because the Government have built a railway from Mombasa across the country to Kisumu. The Government are going to bring many things on that railway. We shall bring cattle which are descendants of buffaloes, and these cattle will beat and defeat your cattle if they fight. Our bulls are stronger than yours, and our cattle likewise. And we shall bring sheep which are so different from yours that you will not like them and will want to kill them, thinking they are wild animals, like hyenas. But they are sheep, just like yours. For instance yesterday Koresh Ole Tanyiny and Kosion Ole Karia killed two of our pigs which they found feeding on the salty earth at a place called Embolio Emuny. When they saw those pigs they thought they were hippopotamus calves, and they speared those pigs. That was a great mistake they made, because those were not hippopotamus calves but our pigs which we keep as you keep cattle. They were lucky, because during the hearing of the case we realised that they did not do it deliberately, otherwise they could have been heavily fined and sent to gaol. It costs us a lot of money to bring these pigs into the country, and you people must not continue to kill them, because they are real pigs. In this case we ask you to leave this area and to move to Ngatet.

"The new boundary," Mr. Hopline went on to say, "will start at Eusso Empakasi (modern Athi River) and will follow the river to the East to a point where there is a railway bridge, and from there the railway will be the boundary, right down to where the boundary of the British Government and Germany (Tanganyika-old "German East") meet at a place called Ildoiyo Lolkirosion (The Hills of Ilkorosion). On the West the boundary will start from the same point at the source of Empakasi (Athi River) and will run northward to Engilai e Nengosie.

Q. Where is that place?

A. It is on the upper side of Kerarapon and passes Inkoiropij, and Inkolropij is on the upper part of Enteijia (modern Ndeiya) and goes down to Kisekekwan which is near Euaso Ongkidongi (Uaso Kidong) where the tarmac road is now. From there the boundary drops into Kitilikine, which is a river. Right in the place where the red house of Mr. Williams used to be, where you drop into the Rift Valley, that is the place called Kitilikine. The boundary goes on to the West and passes Morijo Hills on the left side of the present tarmac road, where there is a settler's farm who possesses many white cattle, near the Narok road diversion from the main Nairobi - Nakuru road. The boundary passes between a place called Ogerai (between Longonot and Kijabe hills) where the present main road passes, then the boundary runs straight into an island in Lake Naivasha called Olamangalei. The lake is divided in two, and then passes where I was born at Olgilai Otua on to Oldoiyo Opuru (Smoky Mountain) and beyond that to a place called Olorok Oshoke to Nakuru. "The area on the left," Mr. Hopline said, "is to be left to the Masai, and the government will take the land on the North side of the railway, and will include Naivasha, Ongata Nairoua, and Kinopop." The Masai were asked to move to Ngatet. The Government speaker finished his speech by telling us that that was all the Government had to say.

Q. And that was at the first meeting?

A. Yes. The government also said that they were going to move the Kaputiei section from their land to Empakasi, Ongata Rongai and Nomatasiani, and that they could occupy the land right down to Kinyawa (modern Simba railway station) and that their boundary would be the railway. But the Purko section refused to leave Naivasha and Kinopop and go to Ngatet. If they were asked to move up into Endoror they might reconsider the matter. They protested and said that Ngatet was too far and at last the Governor asked Olonana for his opinion, saying, "As you have seen, the people don't want to move to the land we agreed on. What have you to say?

Then Olonana said, "If they want to go to Endoror (in Northern Kenya) let them go there." The white men present then had a conversation and they then agreed to what the Laibon said. Anyway the Government wanted the Masai to move to Ngatet and the Laibon, Olonana, wished them to follow the government's instructions. The Kekonyokie too were very adamant and refused to be moved either to Ngatet or to Endoror. The Purko, the Damat, the Iloitai, and the Ildalal le Kutuk, all agreed to move to Endoror.

Q. And what part of Endoror did the Masai occupy after that

A. They reached Ongata Pus, to a place called Lesirko right up to Loroki (modern Loroghi where the Samburu live.) We occupied all that land up to a place called Taun. Yes, we all moved up to that part and it was I who became an interpreter at Olomuruti (modern Rumuruti). European settlers started occupying the land the Masai refused. Olonana moved all the Masai who were at Ololaiser (Ngong Hills) and Kisaju, to Endoror, together with the others on the other side of the hill called Olosho Oibor, but these people were not many. The Europeans started to farm, for instance, in Naivasha as soon as the Masai had left. They occupied the land right up to Mau. Gradually they filled the land as they believed that the Masai would never go to that country again.

Some years passed and it was said that the Lamek age group were to undergo their Eunoto ceremony at Kinopop. I think that it was after seven years. It was agreed and an area was set aside at Kinopop for all ceremonies to be held according to Masai custom. The Government agreed to this arrangement and an area was set apart for that purpose. Then, when the Lamek age group of the Purko section were ready to hold their ceremony there Olonana refused and said "I know where the ceremony will take place. And the warriors left for the unknown destination and passed a place called Olgos Lolpironito, and came to Ngatet. The Moran came to Enomatasiani, (where Olonana died), and that was where the ceremony took place. It was after that ceremony that the Government ordered the Masai to leave Kinopop and the Kekonyokie were also forced to leave Endoror.

Q. And was there any other meeting between Government and the Masai?

A. There was an insignificant meeting.

Q. Where?

A. The first meeting was at Olomuruti (Rumuruti) and then there was another at Ngong. I would rather say there was no proper meeting. At these meetings the Masai were merely told "You will now have to move down to Ngatet." They were called on and given orders. The Masai refused, saying that they had agreed to move from Naivasha and Ongata Nairouwa and they were not prepared to move again. Ongata Nairouwa is now called Nakuru. But the Government insisted that the Masai must move from the areas mentioned. Soldiers were brought to force the Masai to move, and they moved the people from early in the morning until late at night.

Q. Soldiers were in charge of this move?

A. Yes, and they had two officers with them, one called Brown, and another who died later at Ngong.

(How often I had heard in the past of this officer, Brown, who had moved the Masai. I was told by old men, Kikuyu. and Meru as well, that he had heaped up the Masai shields and spears and burned them before their eyes, and that the Masai warriors, broken by this terrible sight, knelt down and wept. And an old European told me before the war that all Brown had carried during this dangerous operation was a swagger stick. He must have been a courageous man.)

Q. Was Olonana alive when the second Treaty was made?

A. Olonana died when the Masai were being moved to their present area. I remember that very well because I was Oloibartani (just circumcised). (Oliobartani is the stage between circumcision and warriorhood.)

Q. What did Olonana tell the people to do at that time?

A. Olonana wanted the Masai to move to Ngatet. He wanted the Masai to give the land for European settlement. And as far as that second Treaty is concerned don't be told that there was a proper meeting which drafted it. The Masai were merely called to be given orders, and when they protested no one listened to them. The Government insisted that they must move and that was that.

Q. Where were you in Endoror then?

A. I was at Olomuruti (Rumuruti). The Masai were forced to move out of that part of the country-and, the name of the European I had forgotten is Mr. Armstill. This European and Mr. Brown were the ones who forced us to move. In other words they were in charge of the move.

Q. During the move did the Masai break back?

A. When we reached Mau quite a big number turned and went back to Endoror. Afterwards they were brought back by force, and it was then that Ole Gilisho hired a lawyer called Mr. Morrison with the intention of fighting the Masai case so that we could go back to Endoror. The case lasted for quite a time and they went down to Mombasa at one time where was the head of the Government. Anyway the Advocate had quite a big fee. During the case I was summoned to give evidence. We lost the case and did not raise it again. Yes, the breakback took place at Mau because the Masai did not want to move to Ngatet, but being forced to they demonstrated in that way against the move. That move was quite different from the first one, because in the first move an agreement was reached between the Masai and the British Government, but in the second one there was no agreement, and it was a show of strength and we were moved by force.

Masai had complained to me that even after the second move when the Masai went south of the railway the Government went on nibbling away at their agreed land boundary. I asked Ole Kertella about this.

Q. What are the facts about pieces of land said to have been taken from the Masai after the settlement?

A. The Europeans took the land gradually. Olonana had said that only one European would be allowed to remain within the Masai land unit, and he lived at a place called Eor Enkitok. This European was a friend of Olonana. If you leave Ngong for Nairobi and cross the river, then turn to the left, not far from there you will find a small clearance, and that is Eor Enkitok. That is the place where Mr. Arnuer (Arnwell?), Olonana's friend, used to live, and the Masai used to call him Kagethua. lie had cattle which had white spots round their mouths.

Q. Is that the place where the army camp used to be? (There was a training camp there during World War II called Karen Signal Camp.

A. Do you know where Captain Ridge's house used to be ? That house has been turned into a hotel (modern West Wood Park Hotel) and on the left there is a small plain, and that is Eor Enkitok. And that m-as what Olonana said, that only one European would remain inside the Masai boundary, and lie stayed there. That European was given that land by the warriors of the Kekonyokie section because they had worked for him at Euaso Kidong. Later the boundary was altered, and I think that if Olonana had been alive they could not have altered it. Since the death of Olonana the Europeans have gradually penetrated into Masai land and occupied the land they have there now.

It was getting late now and I said to the old man, "Are you tired of talking yet, father?" He smiled and said he would answer any question we asked him and would not get tired. I thanked him and said I was glad, for I was leaving the country soon and probably would never see him again to ask these questions which only he knew the answers to now, of all alive. I asked him if he would tell me what he knew of the wars in the old times. Yes, he said, he would tell me what he knew of that forgotten history.

A. I was born near the Ilpeles age group. I was born during their last fight, which was called Enyore Enkojorigani (The War of Malaria or The Mosquitoes), and after that fight they ceased to be warriors and they laid down their shields. It was those age groups, the Ilpeles and the Ilyangusi who fought the Ilaikipia. And they fought the Uasing Inkishu. At that time the Masai were strong and brave and no one could face them. They fought the Kitoshi, the Ilkamogori, Ilkamuriongo, Ilkoony, Ilumbwa, Iltiangual, Ilmutende, Ilmari, Isunguma, and they fought the Iltatua. They fought all the tribes they could reach. After that age group we had the age group called Iltalala, and it was this age group which started the fighting among the sections of the Masai. It started when the Damat and the Kekonyokie sections fought, and then the Purko section attacked the Ildamat because they did not want them to fight the Kekonyokie. The Damat were defeated and then the Ildalal e Kutuk were attacked and they fled to the Meru after they were defeated. Yes, they went and lived with the Meru and that is why they are called Ilkangere, because they ran to the Meru. Later they were brought back and they lived again with the other Masai ... Masai fights and wars were so many that it is impossible to recall them all. The Government arrived and governed the country and stopped all the fighting. I tell you that if the Government had not arrived in time we could have swept away quite a number of tribes-" He turned and looked at Ole Kipoin - and you, especially your age group could have done wonders in the same line. You would be circumcised and your duty would have been nothing but fighting. My son, the Masai adventures and wars with these other tribes are so numerous that it is impossible to count them. We fought all the Kamba and the others, let alone the Kikuyu - they were women. The reason why we did not finish the Kikuyu is due to the fact that they had no cattle to take. It is interesting to see them being proud now. Yes, war was our main pastime. If a tribe defeated the Masai in a fight the Masai would never rest until they destroyed that tribe completely.

Q. What preparation did the Masai make when they went to war?

A. The warriors would first fill themselves up with meat at a place called Ilpuli, and they would drink medicines made from special herbs, and then they would meet and discuss the attack. They would then go to the Laibon who would choose which tribe was to be attacked. That was the procedure. The warriors were fierce then and some of the very brave ones called Intorosi would charge about, mad, tearing their dress and crying for war morning and evening. They would pray for war and death. They would lose many people in their wars. Once the Kekonyokie warriors, for instance, came up from Euaso Kidong and they started killing the Kikuyu, from a place called Rarin (modern Uplands) and they went right into the Kikuyu. land somewhere near Fort Hall, where most of them were killed by a European the Kikuyu. used to call Nyahoro, whom I think is the father of Kangani, and he was a Mr. Horne. He killed them with bombs, and he killed a lot of them, and the Kikuyu chopped the dead in pieces. By that time I was a boy and looking after calves, and it was the time of the rinderpest epidemic.

Q. Do you remember the last time the Masai went to war

A. Mine was the last age group to go to war.

Q. Where did you fight?

A. It was a big fight involving many warriors and that attack was on a place called Ooloile and Goroine. We passed the Serengeti plains and attacked a tribe living in a place called Goroine. On the first day we lost 127 warriors, Purko and Kekonyokie warriors among them, and we captured very many people, and we killed many of the enemy. Then we attacked the Watende and brought many cattle home. The cattle were brought to Oldoiyo Oyokie, and the Government made the warriors pay for that. The warriors had seven guns they got from the European who lived at Eor Enkitok, the one I said was a friend of Olonana. The Government took half of the loot and the warriors kept the other half ... yes, those were the last fights the Masai engaged in ... forget the petty thefts of the junior age groups.

Q. Is it true that Masai power reached down below Isiolo, and that if any tribes wanted to use the water holes there they had to have permission from the Masai? (I still could not believe that the Masai power had extended that far down to the desert below the Meru country.)

The old man saw my readiness to doubt and he smiled.

A. Yes, it is true. Those are the Kombe waterholes. I know Isiolo. Those waterholes called Kombe are on the side of the Meru country we call Ilmero le Our (The Meru of the desert). My dear son, most of Kenya belonged to the Masai, and as you can see all these other tribes are not few, and they used to live in small parts of the land, like plots.

Q. What can you remember of the white men coming to Kenya?

A. I will tell you what I know. I now the British came to Mombasa first, but I think it was a long time ago, and they stayed there-for some time before they came up country. They came up after the Masai cattle were finished by the rinderpest. The first white man to be seen in the Masai country came from the North. I don't know whether he came from the Rendille or the Boran country. He passed down through the Samburu country from the Rendille side. When he reached the foot of Oldoiyo Keri (Mount Kenya) on the plains we call Pore (near Timau) he came on the Masai who were living there then, the Kangere. (These were the Masai who had fled to the Wa'meru, and whom the Meru had been so proud to claim blood relationship with when they talked to me of them before the war.) I don't know what misunderstanding they had, the white man and the Masai there, but I understand that it was the white man who started the quarrel or did something bad. During the fight the white man was killed, and he was killed by a man called -" Here the old man hesitated - "I cannot recall his name. The following day there was an eclipse of the sun, the one I have mentioned already. The people said that the eclipse of the sun had come because yesterday a white son of God came and was killed, and it was said that milk poured from his wounds. Many believed that to be true. Later on it was said that the white man killed was a European (Olmusungi), and that it was blood that poured from his wounds. The scene of the fight was described. The white man wounded very many people during the fight, for instance he wounded Ole Kapusia, Ole Tinka, and others, but he was killed.

Later on there was another white man killed. That was at Kitilikine, near Morijo Hill where there was a manyatta of warriors. The white man's name was Dick and he came with a big caravan, and no one knew where he had come from. In his safari he had Kikuyu, and Kamba and Swahili. When he reached the manyatta he left the caravan and rode up on a horse. The Swahili stayed behind him beating drums and singing and dancing. The Masai warriors came out with the mothers and children and the Elders to watch. When the white man saw the crowd coming he fired a shot from his rifle, aiming at the entrance of the manyatta, and bullet hit and killed a calf inside the manyatta. The Masai rushed for their weapons and the men in the caravan picked up their guns and tried to stop the Masai by shooting at them, but it was in vain. The warriors attacked the caravan and killed, or rather lynched, the porters and the gun bearers, but most of them dropped their guns and ran. They were chased right up to the place I named, Kitilikine, and it was there that the warriors caught up with the white man. He stopped and faced them and he killed quite a number of them. Some of the warriors were sent round behind him and they killed him. The name of the warrior who killed him was Ole Lekutit. But then the railway had reached Nairobi, and during the hearing of the case it was found that the Masai warriors were in the right, because they had been attacked first. Olonana was arrested and with him a very famous chief of the Iltalala section called Terere. He was both chief and Olotumo. Then, after finding out the truth the Government said we had all better forget the whole thing and live in peace. The Government went on to say that both sides should forget those they lost in that fight. And oaths were taken on both sides swearing that neither side would look for revenge and that they would live peacefully. And I heard that that oath was taken in the following manner. The finger between the nail and flesh was pricked by a needle and the blood of the Masai was sucked by a white man, and then the blood of the white man was sucked by a Masai. After that we lived peacefully.*

*[ As to the second "Agreement" as Ole Kertella might have out it, Ainsworth says, "However, early in 1910, I learnt that Lenana had mad a request to the Government that the 1904 Agreement should be altered to the extent that the whole of the Masai tribe should come together in one Reserve, and that the Southern reserve should be that area. At that time I was somewhat surprised to hear of that request and was inclined to suspect that outside pressure had been brought to bear on the Laibon.

It occurred to me later , however, that there was a possibility that Lenana was finding that the existence of two separate reserves, with restricted communication between them, was tending to undermine his authority as the principal laibon of the whole tribe."]

Q. What are the bad things you have seen from the time of your childhood until now, Father?

A. The first thing is the rinderpest epidemic which finished our cattle. Every section suffered during that time. We lost so many people from the smallpox after that that I cannot compare them with the numbers lost in fights and wars. The good thing I have noticed is that since the coming of the white man the tribal wars have been stopped, and justice has been brought into the country. One can move in the country without fear, and no one can deprive you of your property.

Q. And what are other good things you have seen in your life?

A. That is the main good thing I have seen, that since the British Government came law and order has been maintained and the tribal wars have stopped. When we were young we used to say that the Government had done a bad thing by stopping us from attacking other tribes to get cattle, as our fathers did, but later on we realised that they had done a good thing. I have noticed that our numbers have increased, because if an old man has ten sons he can bring them all up without losing them all as used to happen during the tribal wars. And we say thanks for that. And if it was not for the droughts and famine like the recent one in the Kajiado district we had lost few cattle for a long period of time. Yet, at the same time, we feel very bitter about our land which was taken from us by force-the place of our birth-and that we see as a very bad thing. When the white man came here first they lived side by side with the Masai, for instance here in Nairobi and at Pangani and at Eastleigh and in many other places there were Masai manyattas, but later they were moved away. The other thing is the taxes. We started paying three rupees, and since then it has increased tremendously. The water we are using is not artificial, and the firewood we use we get from the forest. In all I feel we are paying more than necessary because we get less than we deserve. A good thing is that there are jobs, or the chances of getting jobs, for as soon as you work you can earn money.

Q. When you see the world changing the way it is what do you think would help the Masai?

Old Kertella was silent for a few moments while he thought about this question. He scratched the white bristles on his chin. I wondered what he would say. Schools? He looked at me with serious eyes.

A. To help me as a Masai when the British Government has gone from this country-we, the Masai, say that we shall have to prove to these other tribes that we are still as brave as we used to be. And we shall hold our shields as we did in the past. I know that some tribes, like the Kikuyu, despise me as a Masai simply because I am not educated. But they do not understand that the reason we did not respond to the idea of education is because we love cattle more. Anyway, as the British Government is leaving the country they had better return all the lands they have taken from each tribe to their former owners, and let each tribe rule itself in its own area. I feel that if the white men leave and we start to fight as we used to, we shall stand where we used to stand.

Old Kertella shook his head slowly and looked at us with his sombre old eyes, and went on to finish.

There is only one way for the tribes to live in peace, and that is for each tribe to rule itself.

Was there anything else we wished to ask or to say to each other? We decided no. We got up and thanked each other for the conversation we had had, and I thanked the old man for telling us his memories. He said he had enjoyed it and we went out into the bright moonlight where a car was waiting for Ole Kertella.