He had been visiting Manhattan on Sept. 11 and came home last month with first-hand accounts of the horror of that faraway event. Now a young elder in the community, Mr. Naiyomah, 25, told the others of huge fires in buildings that stretched high into the clouds, and of men with special gear who entered the structures to save lives.

''They couldn't believe that people could jump from a building so high that they would die when they reached the ground,'' he said.

In the ceremony today, Mr. Brancick was given 14 cows, a sizable herd for the Masai.

''We're out with our cattle every day so we're not always up to date on the news,'' said Vincent Konchellah, 22, who donated one of his 12 cows. ''We had heard about a disaster in America but we didn't know much about it. Now we feel the same way we would feel if we lost one of our own.''

There are three most cherished things that a Masai can offer as a gift -- a child, a plot of land and a cow, which is far more than a source of meat and milk.

The Masai, who wear bright red tunics and elaborate multicolored jewelry, stand out among Kenya's 40 tribes for the high leaps of their traditional dances. During ceremonies, they drink the blood of the cow, mixing it with honey beer, and they use every last inch of the animal for clothing and decorations. A groom pays the father of a girl he wants to marry in cows, and even dung is put to use, as a lacquer to protect the outside of huts.

''The cow is almost the center of life for us,'' said Mr. Naiyomah. ''It's sacred. It's more than property. You give it a name. You talk to it. You perform rituals with it. I don't know if you have any sacred food in America, something that has a supernatural feel as you eat it. That's the cow for us.''

The Masai have a reputation as warriors, which developed in the colonial days when they fought those who trod on their range land. The tribe still teaches young men to fight, but it is now torn between its traditional ways and life in a modern world.