Of the Taveita forest region Johnston says:
"After marriage the greatest laxity of manners is allowed
among the women, who often court their lovers under their
husband's gaze; provided the lover pays, no objection is
raised to his addresses."
And regarding the Masai (415):
"The Masai men rarely marry until they are twenty-five nor
the women until twenty. But both sexes, _avant de se
ranger_, lead a very dissolute life before marriage, the
young warriors and unmarried girls living together in free
love."
The fullest account of the Masai and their neighbors we owe to
Thomson. With the M-teita marriage is entirely a question of cows.
"There is a very great disproportion between the sexes, the
female predominating greatly, and yet very few of the young
men are able to marry for want of the proper number of
cows--a state of affairs which not unfrequently leads to
marriage with sisters, though this practice is highly
reprobated."
Of the Wa-taveta, Thomson says (113): "Conjugal fidelity is unknown,
and certainly not expected on either side; they might almost be
described as colonies of free lovers." As for life among the Masai
warriors, he says (431) that it
"was promiscuous in a remarkable degree. They may
indeed be proclaimed as a colony of free lovers.
Curiously enough the sweetheart system was largely in
vogue; though no one confined his or her attentions to
one only. Each girl in fact had several sweethearts,
and what is still stranger, this seemed to give rise to
no jealousies. The most perfect equality prevailed
between the Ditto and Elmoran, and in their savage
circumstances it was really pleasant to see how common
it was for a young girl to wander about the camp with
her arm round the waist of a stalwart warrior."[144]