The main objects of this work are to place on record the results of investigations made among the native tribes in British East Africa, particularly among the Kikuyu and Kamba people, and to endeavour, from a study of their ceremonial with regard to sacrifice and taboo, to obtain a better insight into the principles which underlie the outward forms and ceremonies of their ritual.

It has long been customary, partly through narrow-minded prejudice and partly through ignorance, to class as Pagans all native tribes which have not yet embraced one of the great positive religions, such as Christianity or Mohammedanism. But the time has now come when such negative definitions, if seriously applied, will have to be abandoned. It must be admitted that all savages have a natural religion which is a survival of, and is analogous to, a stage of belief which existed among the ancestors of the civilised peoples of the present day. The admission is inevitable, however distasteful to those who are dogmatic in their religious beliefs and loath to admit that religious thought and the conception of a deity have passed through an evolutionary process and, furthermore, a process which has not ceased. For, after all, the development of mental and moral ideas is a part of the evolution of the living being as much as the development of limbs, cranial shape, or body markings. No positive system of religion descended from heaven as a completely new concept of the deity and with an absolutely novel code. Such a system could never have survived. Any new religious teacher could not fail to be, to a great extent, a [20]creature of his environment and of the age in which he was born. He must necessarily graft his scheme on to what went before. As Robertson Smith so truly says, “a new scheme of faith can only find a hearing by appealing to religious instincts and susceptibilities that already exist in the audience.”

In East Africa, various tribes remain in a stage of belief very similar to that which prevailed in Arabia and Assyria from about 1500 B.C. and onward, and which continued till a dogmatic uniformity was forced on the bulk of the people by the teachings of Mahomed about A.D. 650.

Asiatic beliefs were introduced to Abyssinia by the Sabæans or Himyaritic invaders a few centuries before the Christian era, but it is doubtful whether they spread to any extent. For ancient religious influences on Central Africa, we must look more to the channel afforded by the Nile valley which had become a route of exploration as far back as the time of the Pharaohs. Although, however, we know that Egyptian influence was spasmodically exercised for a long distance up the Nile valley, little evidence of any spiritual effect has as yet come to light. This is natural, for the ancient expeditions were at long intervals and were not missionary enterprises, but were in search of material gain.

The only case of permanent settlement which appears to be beyond doubt is the invasion into Uganda, Unyoro, and Ankole, of a light coloured race, now known as the Ba-Hima or Ba-Huma. Some consider that these people came from the Abyssinian highlands; Sir Harry Johnston, on the other hand, believes them to be descendants of ancient Egyptian settlers; according to Dr Seligman they are probably descendants of what he terms Proto-Egyptians—the latter description being a more concrete definition based upon careful researches in the Nile valley, the result of which was not available when Sir H. H. Johnston made his suggestion.

But whatever the origin of the Ba-Hima, there [21]appears to be no trace of this infusion of northern blood anywhere east of the Rift Valley, except, possibly, among the Masai who are believed to have migrated south-east from the valley of the Upper Nile. The Nandi, the Lako and Savei of Elgon, the Lumbwa and Elgeyo also came from the north-west, but did not cross the Rift.

The Kikuyu absorbed some Masai blood from time to time, and also intermixed to some extent with the aboriginal Oggiek, but they are mainly Bantu in blood and constitution. The Kamba people, whose ancestors flowed into their present habitat from the south and south-west, are believed to be pure Bantu.

We have, therefore, no evidence as to where the ancestors of the Kikuyu or Kamba lived about two thousand years ago, and, further, whether they were affected by Semitic culture in remote times.

It is, moreover, highly improbable that the ancient Semitic beliefs should have originated in East Africa. We must, therefore, decide whether such similarity as we find to-day is merely a case of parallel and unconnected development, or the result of an ancient invasion of a Semitic race or possibly of a race which had adopted Semitic beliefs. In the present state of knowledge it will be safer to assume that this similarity is due to parallel development, many examples of which may be found in other parts of the world.

It is, however, necessary to make it clear that if there should have been any Semitic influence it cannot have been derived from the Arab settlements on the East Coast of Africa, founded during the last few hundred years. Their political hold of the country never extended much beyond the tidal waters, and their only social influence was the slight one exercised at intermittent intervals by a slave raiding or ivory trading expedition. No ancient trace of Mohammedanism can be found among the people under consideration, and their present stage of culture is pre-Islamic in point of time. [22]

The religious beliefs of the tribes of Kikuyu and Ukamba generally consist of a rudimentary conception of a high god, corresponding more or less to the old Hebrew concept of Jahveh. To the bulk of the peasantry this idea is naturally very vague and practically subconscious. But the elders of what may be termed the “high place” are believed to have a clear conception of it, and their deity is apparently of the kind which can be influenced and appeased by material attentions. The belief in ancestral spirits—ngoma or aiimu—is the predominating spiritual factor in the minds of the great majority of the people. These are ever present, and the relations between men and spirits are in accordance with the actual patriarchal state of society. The spirits must not be ignored, for are they not of the blood kin? If neglected, they will be angry and punish their children. But naturally no rancour is felt when such punishments are inflicted. There is a total absence of religious intolerance about this cult; failure to worship or failure to contribute to a sacrifice brings its own retribution, and the spirits are swift in detecting a delinquent.

These spirits are not necessarily evil, but there is little doubt that the character of the spirit is believed to reflect to some extent the character of the person from whom it came, and the power of the spirit is intimately connected with the position of the person in the tribe. This explains to some extent why an ordinary person is cast out at death, whereas an elder, qualified to take part in sacrificial ceremonies, receives burial. The burial is probably pleasing to the spirit, and the spirit of an elder possesses more power than that of an uninitiated common person. All spirits, however, appear to be relentless and malignant when neglected, and remain so until they are appeased. At times they are said to assist their clients, and, through a suitable medium, to warn the people of an impending raid.

In old Semitic records the evil spirits or jinn loom very large; they are usually referred to as devils in the [23]Old Testament. They have no continuous or fixed personal relations with mankind, but have their own particular haunts in desert places, caves, and so forth. They are, so to speak, outlaws; they appear to man either in human or animal form, and if one is killed, a solid carcase is believed to remain. Among the ancient Semites, the belief became very elaborate and survives to this day in out-of-the-way places. These unwholesome creatures were even classified more or less definitely as jinni, ghouls, mared, lilith, sedim, and so forth.

Among our African tribes this cult, however, has fortunately not developed to any great extent. It may, of course, have been forgotten, or it may have disappeared, but there are still a few traces of it left. A Kamba story, for instance, tells of two girls who took shelter in a cave during a storm. A centipede came in while they were there and the girls threw it outside. But the centipede was an evil spirit and revenged itself by closing up the entrance to the cave, so that the girls were starved to death. This story might have come straight from Central Arabia and be that of a jinni, the sedim of the Talmud, who were supposed to assume any form they wished. The deity or the ancestral spirit is appeased by means of sacrifice or libations, carried out either privately or communally according to the circumstances. A considerable amount of detailed information concerning these has been collected, which it may be interesting to compare with similar practices described in the Old Testament and other ancient literature.

The aiimu ya Kitombo referred to in “Ethnology of the A-Kamba” (p. 89), and the unnatural creature said to be seen at Manyani (p. 87, op. cit.), should also very probably be placed in this class.

The widespread prevalence of “taboo” among these tribes is very surprising, as it is a subject which is rarely mentioned and certainly never openly discussed. It has, nevertheless, reached a pitch of considerable [24]elaboration. The reason for many of the prohibitions is obvious, but that of others is extremely obscure.

The tribes under review have a very definite idea of prayer. Their appeals to the deity take place regularly at the sacred place, either on the occasion of sacrifice or when pouring out libations to the spirits. Examples of these are given later. This form of supplication is probably much more common than we are inclined to think. But it is no easy matter to induce people to give a definite enumeration of minor rites which they perform constantly and as a matter of course. The A-Kamba, for instance, when on a journey, and when leaving a spot where they have camped, throw a firebrand on their path and pray that the party should reach its destination in safety and proceed together in amity. This is done by the head of the party, the next man throwing a few leaves on the firebrand and stepping on it. It is a pretty custom, although a European of the present day might consider it a somewhat strenuous method of expressing gratitude! But when people are constantly travelling through parts of a country infested with lions, and when their only protection from wild animals is a small camp fire, one can perhaps understand that they should think it advisable to keep on the right side of the deity.

At Kikuyu, a man was once seized with a sudden fit. When he recovered consciousness, he was given a little water. Before drinking it, he promptly poured a few drops in front of him, then on his right side, then on his left. This was meant as a kind of silent prayer of thanksgiving for recovery. He stated that it was his muungu who had attacked him thus.

Charms are also very common. Many of them are in the nature of sympathetic magic, whilst others are merely a form of perpetual prayer, or rather, of materialised prayers. A German missionary, named Brutzer, gives a good example, and describes the charms worn by a Kamba friend; one was worn round his neck to [25]protect him against witchcraft in general; on his wrist was a bracelet containing a charm which would warn him should there be poison in any beer which might be offered to him; if his hand shook on raising the gourd to his lips, it would be a sign of poison. From his elbow two pieces of wood were suspended to protect him from snake bites. And hanging from his waist was a chain to ensure riches.

There are also charms against infection; these are carried by a man when visiting a sick friend. There are charms worn when going to war, charms worn when love-making, to ensure the return of affection. The charms usually consist of powdered wood, roots and herbs. The advice of a medicine man is sought and he recommends a certain plant or tree. Grain is taken to the plant or tree indicated, and six times a single grain is thrown at the tree, the remainder of the grain being thrown the seventh time only. This possibly signifies a sacrifice to the spirit of the tree. The plant is then dug up, or a piece of wood cut off the root of the tree and dried and powdered. Sometimes a firebrand and water are taken to the tree; in this case, the water is placed on the ground, and the supplicant, closing his eyes, walks six times round the tree, then stands under it, facing east, and prays, with eyes still closed: “Tree, I have a favour to ask—I have a sick child or wife or brother”—as the case may be—“and know not the origin of his sickness, as he has no trouble with anyone. I come to ask a favour. I come to you, O Tree, to treat him for it that he may be cured.”

According to some of the missionaries, the natives believe that the fate of each individual from birth to death is decided beforehand; they believe, in fact, in predestination. I myself have discovered no trace of this. A native will sometimes say of a bad character, “Oh, he was born a bad lot,” but this seems to me too vague a statement to serve as the basis of a theory. Conscience does not loom very large as a rule. The [26]Reverend Hoffman, who lived for many years in Kitui, however, quotes a saying which undoubtedly shows that the natives have some faint notion of the meaning of it: “Aka nwa Engai” or “God will find him.” Thus do the Kamba refer to an evil-doer.

The Kamba account of creation is very vague. The first man is said to have been produced by the high god Engai out of an ant-hill by the sea, and from him all men are descended. He is referred to as imuuma ndi (he who came out of the earth).

According to the Reverend Hoffman, there is a saying that “the bird was created on the fifth day, and the imundu mwei on the sixth day.” No further explanation of this curious saying is given. The ordinary meaning of mundu mwei is “man of power or wisdom,” and it is used of the medicine man. But in the saying above quoted, it probably refers to mankind generically as opposed to other animals.

Generally speaking, the tribes under consideration attribute the existence of the world and of its inhabitants to creation by Engai. Very little abstract spirituality is to be found in their religion. Almost everything is concrete, and, according to their point of view, strictly logical. The same is probably true of all religions appertaining to human beings on a similar plane of culture.

This aspect of religion is a great snare to the European student. Being the product of a far more complex environment and having been brought up under the influence of religions of a higher type, he finds it extremely difficult to avoid either reading more into a ceremony than actually exists, or, on the other hand, he is apt to overlook some apparently trivial point which may be of deep significance to the worshipper. [27]

Ancestral Spirits.—The belief in the vitality of the ancestral spirits is very strong among both the Kikuyu and the Kamba peoples; the former call them Ngoma and the latter Aiimu (singular Imu). The A-Kamba declare that the life breath ngo becomes the Imu. Curiously enough, the disembodied spirit was called Edimmu by the ancient Assyrians (according to R. C. Thompson in “Semitic Magic”), and they also believed that the soul could return to earth and that ghosts were responsible for many body ills.

Under ordinary circumstances, when a person died and was duly buried his soul entered the underworld, “the house of darkness, the seat of the god Irkalla, the house from which none come forth again.” This would seem to correspond to the Sheol of the Hebrews.

The Assyrian word Edimmu (the root of which is immu) is practically identical with the Kamba word for the same conception, but there is no evidence to show that the identity is anything but accidental.

The belief in the ancestral spirit is merely a form of the belief in a soul, with the difference that the present-day religions of the civilised world would not admit that the spirits of the departed could interfere with the life of man. We still find traces of this belief in Europe in the Feast of All Souls, and in curious ceremonies which take place in some countries on St John’s Eve. [28]

The Yezidis of Mesopotamia believe that the spirits of the good inhabit the air, whilst the Kikuyu believe that the ancestral spirits live underground, and the Kamba that they inhabit certain sacred fig trees. This latter belief would seem to be particularly widespread. It is prevalent all over India, and examples of it are to be found at most places along the east coast of Africa.

The Kikuyu will tell you that there is only one ngoma or spirit for each person, and that women as well as men possess it. Cattle are said to have no ngoma, but sometimes they may become possessed with that of human beings, and an evil spirit will now and again enter their body in the hope of destroying the poor beast. An animal so possessed is easily recognised by its peculiar behaviour; it goes about shaking its head, and tears stream from its eyes. This spirit may be of the same nature as the evil demons of Semitic mythology. The Kikuyu declare that it can be driven out by getting the possessed animal to sniff the smoke of a fire made of the dry fruit of the tree known as Kigelia musa. They believe that the high god Engai can control the actions of the ngoma, and they sometimes go to a sacred fig tree, mugumu, and beseech Engai to protect the people from evil spirits.

It is said that the ngoma of a murdered man flies straight back to his father’s village and, as a rule, hovers around it; but, should the murderer run away and hide, the ngoma of his victim will often pursue and haunt him or else influence events in such a way that the guilty one will be discovered and handed over to the authorities, who will deal with him according to tribal law.

I endeavoured to find out from the elders whether the spirit or soul was supposed to be present in the body during life. But they declared that all they knew was that ngere, the life breath, was present during life, and between this and the soul they seemed to make no [29]difference. They believe, however, that it is dangerous to wake a man suddenly, as his ngere is away, and, in this semi-conscious condition, he is very apt to strike you if he should happen to have a weapon at hand.

They have quite a clear conception of the ngoma or spirit of the departed, the character of which is said to be similar to that of the person during his or her lifetime.

Unlike the people of Kavirondo, they have no fear of treading on a man’s shadow.

There are no particular customs connected with suicide, although suicide is certainly not unknown among them. When people hang or stab or drown themselves they are supposed to have been possessed by a malevolent spirit.

The general attitude of the people towards the ancestral spirits has been described in the introductory chapter, and many concrete examples will be found in the accounts of the various ceremonies given later. The influence of these spirit beliefs among the Kamba people has been very clearly set forth by the Hon. C. Dundas in his paper on Kitui, R.A.I.J., Vol. xliii, 1913, page 534 et seq.

A quotation from an Assyrian tablet some three thousand years old, which R. C. Thompson refers to in his “Semitic Magic,” shows how slowly man changes:

The author goes on to say: “Now if the attentions of its friends on earth should cease and the soul should find nothing to eat and drink, then it was driven by force of hunger to come back to earth to demand its due.” This psalm-like utterance might equally well [30]have been made by a Kikuyu or a Kamba of the present day.

The intense desire of Africans for offspring is probably due to the fact that children are expected to sacrifice to the spirits of their dead parents, and the ghost of one who has left no posterity is therefore in a piteous plight. The spirits generally manifest themselves through certain women who, falling into a trance, give utterance to the message with which they are charged (“Ethnology of the A-Kamba,” p. 86). This reminds one of Saul going to Endor to visit a woman with a familiar spirit (Sam. xxviii. 7).

Spirits are also said to manifest themselves and give messages to men in dreams.

The Kitui people say that sometimes when a snake, crawling outside a hut, is attacked, it will suddenly vanish, and they then know that it was the imu of a deceased person which had either assumed the form of a snake or entered the body of a snake. A few days afterwards, a woman will become possessed and fall into a state of semi-trance, and the imu will speak through her mouth and say: “I came into the village the other day, and So-and-so wanted to strike me.” Whereupon the people think it just as well to sacrifice a goat to sooth the feelings of the injured spirit.

The Kamba people, unlike the Kikuyu, do not believe that spirits enter into kimbu or caterpillars.

When a hyæna comes and howls near a village, it is looked upon as an evil omen and as a token of death, and the beast is generally driven away and killed, if possible. They very probably believe that an evil demon has assumed the shape of a hyæna. In the Assyrian tablets mention is made of a spirit called Alu which slinks through the streets at night like a pariah dog and harms people.

There is a curious custom in Ukamba which throws some light on the spiritual beliefs of the people. If a young unmarried man is killed away from his village, his imu or spirit will return there and speak to the people [31]through the medium of an old woman in a dance (see p. 86, author’s work on the A-Kamba), and say, “I am So-and-so speaking, and I want a wife.” The youth’s father will then make arrangements to buy a girl from another village and bring her to his, and she will be mentioned as the wife of the deceased, speaking of him by name. She will presently be married to a brother of the deceased, but she must continue to live in the village where the deceased had his home.

If at any time the corporeal husband beats or ill-treats her, and she in consequence runs away to her father, the imu of the deceased will come and pester the people of the village and they will have bad luck; it will probably ask, through the usual medium, why his wife has been ill-treated and driven away. The head of the family will then take steps to induce the girl to return for fear of the wrath of the spirit of his deceased son.

To those who wish to obtain full insight into the sociology of these people, it is of the utmost importance to have a clear understanding of the native’s point of view, and to bear in mind that the ancestral spirits are a very real and vital thing to him and have a very deep influence upon his life.

The leaders of psychical research allege that the survival of human personality after death has been scientifically proved, and that, under favourable circumstances, communications from the dead have been received. If this be so, might it not be said that races on a lower plane of culture are possibly more sensitive to such influences and that their belief in the activity of the ancestral spirits is therefore not wholly unreasonable? The evidence for this, however, is at present quite insufficient to satisfy most, although we think that the question is one which deserves further consideration.

Tree Spirits.—When clearing a forest to make a cultivated field, the Kikuyu people generally leave a large and conspicuous tree in the clearing. Such a [32]tree is called murema kiriti and is believed to collect the spirits from all other trees which have been cut down in the vicinity. We have here an interesting example of animism, the spirits so collected being most emphatically declared to be tree, and not human spirits. Now if this tree shows signs of decay and is liable to be blown down, they decide to fell it. Before taking this step, however, they sacrifice a red ram at the foot of the tree, the ram being, as usual, killed by suffocation. The tree is then cut down, and when this is done, the elders take branches from two sacred bushes, mukenya and muthakwa, and plant them on each side of the stump of the fallen tree; two elders cut the mukenya, and two the muthakwa. The elders then say “Nitukuria muti tutemeti,” which means “We pray for this tree we have cut down,” and pour the melted tail-fat of the ram over the stump, smearing the tatha or stomach contents of the animal over the trunk of the fallen tree. The wood from such a tree can only be used by a senior elder, by a very old woman, or for the making of beehives. If young people were to use this particular fuel, they would become ill or die; old people are supposed to be ordinarily immune against the operation of most curses or thahu. It is believed that when a tree is cut down the spirits leave it and settle in another big tree, and, if the above ceremonial is observed, they are not angry and do not vent their spite upon the people, or, as they say, no thahu falls upon them. If such a tree blows down, the spirits are supposed to avenge themselves on the elders, who are held responsible for not having taken the necessary precautions, and they are very apt to die.

There is great similarity between this and the lore concerning the spirit of the oak, mentioned by Professor Frazer. And, from a different point of view, it may also be considered as an example of the slaying of the divine king, expressed in terms of trees: fear that harm may befall the spirit or spirits of the tree, and the consequent ceremonial killing of the tree and [33]arranging for the comfortable and formal migration of the spirits to another tree, or to a new dwelling place.

The A-Kamba of Kibwezi have a similar belief: before cutting down a big solitary tree in a clearing, an elder and a very old woman must pour beer and corn at its foot. The man pours out the beer, and the woman the corn. The tree is then felled, and, taking a branch from it, they place it against another tree some little distance away, and declare that the spirit of the fallen tree will then go quietly into its new abode.

In Ukamba of Ulu, Mr Osborne states that his people told him that to fell an ithembo tree would, of course, be considered absolute sacrilege, and according to tradition it was the felling of an ithembo tree on the Iveti Hills by an official of the I.B.E.A. Co. which gave rise to the attacks by the A-Kamba on the Government Station at Machakos in about 1892.

Large trees, however, which are not ithembo trees appear to have a certain sanctity, and when, for reasons of utility or safety, the felling of such trees becomes necessary the following ceremony is practised:

The trunk of the tree to be felled is plastered with the sap of the waithu shrub as a ng͠nondu.

A small branch of the tree is broken off and placed against some smaller tree in the vicinity.

Some earth at the foot of the tree is also taken and placed at the foot of the smaller tree.

The elders then assemble with some beer at the tree to be cut down, and a little of the beer is poured out at the foot of the doomed tree, accompanied by some such prayer as—“We give this beer as a gift to the Engai, if one lives here, and ask him to go to another tree.”

The rest of the beer is then drunk by the assembled elders.

The larger parts of the tree are taken by the elders of ithembo to manufacture into honey barrels, whilst [34]the rest is carried off as firewood by the women entitled to sacrifice at the ithembo.

Non-observance of this ceremony is supposed to bring death on the man who cuts the tree down, and on all who make use of the timber.

Miscellaneous Spirit Worship.—There are some traces of the belief in river spirits. For instance, at places where there are waterfalls like on the Chania and Thika, the elders, in passing, will spit into the river or throw a little grass into it.

There is a sacred rock near Thembigwa, close to a stream called Kichii—a tributary of the Ruaraka—where the natives pluck tufts of grass as they pass by and throw them on the rock.

If a tree has blown down and fallen across the path, grass is again placed on the fallen trunk. Sometimes, too, stones are laid on a fallen tree. When people come upon the skull of a dead elephant in the bush, they also place grass on it.

The origin of all these customs appears to be lost.

Certain plants are believed to be maleficent, and are possibly thought to be connected with bad spirits. There is a creeper called mwinyuria, which is said to possess sap like blood; the story is told how one day, near Kirawa, three men named Nbota, Kigondu, and Kacheru, cut one of these plants which was growing near a sacred fig tree, and died the same day. When cut, the released end is alleged to spring out like the lash of a whip. This creeper is rare in Kikuyu, but is said to be common in the Kibwezi bush.

The Scapegoat.—The Kikuyu have a ceremony which appears to be an undoubted example of a belief which may be grouped with the Semitic doctrine of the scapegoat.

If a serious epidemic visits a village, the elders take a ram, a he-goat or a ewe lamb which has not yet borne, mwati, and slaughter it at the village. They cut pieces of meat from the carcase and impale them on wooden skewers, ndara or njibe. The men and [35]women of the village then each take a piece, walk away some distance from the village and throw it into the bush. They firmly believe that the disease will be carried away with the pieces of meat.

The remaining meat is roasted at a fire and eaten by the villagers; the bones are collected at the place where the meat was roasted and are broken up and the marrow extracted and eaten. Beer is prepared, and next morning at dawn, some is poured on the bones and the hyænas come and carry off the fragments.

When they pour the libation of beer on the place of the fire, they pray as follows: “Twa oria ichua twa oria murimu utika choke muchi”—which means, “We put out the fire at the place where we roasted the meat, we put out the sickness so that it cannot return again to our village.”

Everyone must be awakened before the beer is poured out. The beer is put into an ox-horn and into a piece of gourd, ndayi, the former being held in the right hand and the latter in the left. The beer in the right hand is poured out first to appease the male ngoma, that in the left to appease the female ngoma.

From the ceremony taking place at the village it is clear that the people believe that the ancestral spirits alone require to be propitiated.

The Scapegoat Idea in Kitui.—If a village is afflicted by a serious sickness, the headman will call in a medicine man who concocts some medicine by grinding up the roots of the following plants: muthumba, kiongoa (an aloe), mulema, nthata, kivumbu, and mutaa. A small boy and girl are then chosen from among the inhabitants, the villagers all congregate together, and the small boy leads a goat twice round the group, followed by the little girl and led by the medicine man; the party then passes through the centre of the group of people. The medicine man next makes an incision in the right ear of the goat, and the blood from this is allowed to drip into a half gourd containing the above-mentioned magical [36]concoction, mixed with water. The villagers then form up into a procession and, led by the medicine man, run for some distance into the bush towards the setting sun, no one being allowed to look backwards. The medicine man then stops and throws the mixture of medicine and blood in front of him, and the people return. This ceremony is performed in the early afternoon, after two p.m. That night, the village head must cohabit with his wife. This point is considered a matter of such importance that the elder has to take the kithito oath that it has been done.

A Kikuyu Oracle.—There lives in South Kikuyu-land an elder named Kichura or Thiga wa Wairumbi wa Kaumo of the Kachiko clan and the Njenga generation or rika, who is credited with the extraordinary power of being the recipient of messages from the Supreme Being, and in consequence possesses the gift of prophecy. He was interviewed and cross-examined by the writer, and stated that at intervals, about twice a year, during the night, he falls into a deeper sleep than usual, a trance in fact, and that while in this condition he is taken out of his bed and statements are made to him by a voice, but he cannot see who gives him the message. The trance always occurs at night, and he is generally taken outside his house while in this cataleptic condition, but says that he never remembers being able to distinguish the huts or any familiar objects in the village. The interior of the hut appears to him to be lighted up, and the message comes with a booming sound which he understands.

He stated that one day when visiting an elder named Kibutu, he was seized during the night and taken bodily through the thatch of the roof, and was found on the top of the hut next morning. On another occasion a young man of the warrior class, mwanake, belonging to his village, was sleeping alongside him in his hut when he was temporarily carried off, and the young man’s hair all came off as if it had been shaved, and in the morning it was found lying in a heap on [37]the floor by the bed, the owner having no idea how this had occurred.

He does not sleep in an ordinary hut with his wife, but in a thengira or bachelor hut with another elder. When he is seized with one of his trances the other elder will wake up and find he has gone, but does not see him go or return.

The day following one of his seizures he collects the elders and delivers his message. He states that after one of these seizures he is very exhausted, and for three days cannot rise from his bed. His father and paternal grandfather had this gift or power. His father told him that his paternal grandmother had three breasts, two on her bosom and one on her back, but he did not say whether he considered that this had any connection with the other phenomena.

He stated that he believed the gift came from God and not from the ngoma or ancestral spirits, and that if he did not deliver to the people the messages he received he would be stricken with sickness. He says that he was invested with this power when he was a stripling, soon after he had been circumcised. One morning he woke up with his two hands tightly clasped, and he passed blood instead of urine for nine days. A big medicine man named Wangnendu was then called in, a goat was killed, and the medicine man tied rukwaru bracelets of the skin on to the patient’s wrists. The hæmaturia then stopped, and his hands relaxed, and he was able to open them, and it was found that he had fifteen mbugu in each hand. These are white stones such as are used in a medicine man’s divination gourd. The medicine man then brought a small medicine gourd and placed the mbugu therein.

Kichura still has the gourd with the thirty mbugu, and relates how on one occasion his hut was burnt down and his gourd was destroyed in the fire, but that the mbugu were found quite uninjured in the ashes. He was asked whether he considered that his powers were intimately connected with these stones; he declared [38]that he did not believe he could lose them, but if by some mischance, however, they should be lost God would give him some more, and that even if they were lost he would receive oracles as before.

He gave examples of the kind of messages he received. On one occasion, some time before the advent of Europeans, he was told that the Masai would be severely stricken with small-pox, and that subsequently many would settle among the Kikuyu, and shortly afterwards it happened accordingly. On another occasion he was told that a white race would enter the country and that they and the Kikuyu would live side by side in this country, and now it has come to pass.

He was seized before the great famine of 1900 and foretold its arrival. Later, he was told to inform the Kikuyu to sacrifice a white sheep, a red sheep, and a black male goat at the mugumu, sacred fig trees, and that the chief Kinanjui was to sacrifice a mori, white heifer, at the head waters of the Mbagathi River. These orders were obeyed, and the famine and small-pox were lifted from the land.

Early in the present season he was told that the maize and other grains would be lost by drought, and that the food now being planted (April, 1911) would come to a good harvest. He was also told that during the present year the young people would suffer greatly from dysentery, and that they were to sacrifice sheep at the sacred fig trees, and that the women and children were to put bracelets from the skins of the sacrificed sheep on their wrists. Many have done so, and those who have obeyed will escape the visitation. After this he says that small-pox will come from the west of the country, and attack people from Karuri’s (east slopes of Nandarua Mountain) to Limoru. The disease will gradually work its course eastward and decrease in intensity. When he delivers one of his oracular utterances the athuri ya kiama, elders of the council, bring him a sheep and a gourd of beer. He kills the former [39]and eats it, and the beer is returned to the elders to drink.

He says that sometimes when rain does not come he is accused of stopping it, but that such accusations are due to ignorance, as he is merely the unconscious and involuntary agent for utterances from a Supreme Power, and that all he can do in such cases is to take a sheep to a sacred fig tree, sacrifice it there, and pray for rain, just like any other elder who is qualified to do so.

In Ukamba, many years ago, a famous medicine man, Kathengi by name, is said to have prophesied the coming of the white men and their domination of the country. [40]

Although this rite has often been referred to and described in a somewhat desultory way by various writers, it seems to have received very little serious attention. The subject is, however, one which undoubtedly contains many features of great interest and is certainly deserving of special examination and study. There is little doubt that if we can only fully understand the relations of a people to their gods we have advanced a long way towards a realisation of their moral and intellectual development.

It is first proposed to examine the Kikuyu ceremonial.

Among this tribe sacrifice is of two kinds:

(1) The sacrifice at the sacred fig tree, or mugumu, which is always intended as an act of communion with a deity or high god called Engai.

This sacrifice may be either a communal rite, or it may be a personal matter for the head of a village.

(2) The other sacrifice is carried out in a village and is intended as an offering to the spirits of the ancestors who are supposed to live underground. This may be either a communal or an individual act.

Dotted about Kikuyu are numbers of great wild fig trees (Ficus capensis), many of which are used from generation to generation as sacred shrines or places of sacrifice, called mugumu or muti wa Engai.

Certain big medicine men like Njau wa Kabocha have special trees; it appears that the original choice [41]of a tree as a sacred place devolved on certain notable medicine men, and if a sacred tree happens to fall owing to age, the elders assemble there and sacrifice a ram and a male goat; they eat one half and leave the other half of each carcase at the tree and pour the fat over the stump of the fallen tree to appease the deity.

It is then the duty of the local magician and the elders of ukuru to choose another tree. They sacrifice at the new tree, and if their prayers are answered they know that it is acceptable to Engai, but, if after several trials no result is obtained, they dedicate another to the service of Engai.

The idea of sacrilege is very marked. If, for instance, an impious person cuts a portion of a sacred tree, dire results are believed to ensue, and the elders make the offender pay a ram and a male goat. These are sacrificed at the tree, and the elders apply a strip of the skin to the place where the incision was made in the tree and anoint it with fat and the tatha or stomach contents. The breast of the ram is cut off and hung in the tree, and the remainder of the carcase and the whole of the carcase of the goat, eaten by the elders.

No beast or bird can be killed or shot in a sacred tree. The sacred tree and its environs is often called Kithangaona cha inja, which means the “sacred place of the ceremonies.” On the occasion of a sacrifice the elders of ukuru send word to the elders of Athamaki or Athuri ya mburi nne or elders of four goats and any senior to that grade, saying tuthieni mutini—“Let us go to the tree.” No elder whose father is alive can attend. No elder must go to the tree in a state of anger; no one must display anger with a wife, child, or even a stranger the day before he attends at the tree.

Elders of both of the circumcision guilds go together to the sacred tree and also elders of all clans.

If two elders, or their people, have a blood feud they are not allowed to attend or take part in a sacrifice [42]at the sacred tree until the feud is at an end; if they do, they are supposed to die.

A person who is alien to the tribe, but who has been formally admitted to it, may attend a sacrifice.

Oaths or ordeals are not administered at the sacred tree.

Strict celibacy must be observed the night before they go to sacrifice and the night after. The night before, they sleep in their usual huts, but the night after, they sleep in the thengira or goat hut. The morning following the sacrifice they go and bathe in a river and then resume their ordinary life.

A departure from this rule of celibacy by anyone present will entirely spoil the efficacy of the sacrifice, and, if an offender is discovered, he will have to pay a fine of two goats, and the elders will spit on him ceremonially and sacrifice afresh on the following day.

Arms must not be taken to the sacred tree. The elders wear their usual garments.

The following things are collected on the day before the sacrifice at the village of the elder who provides the sacrificial ram, and that night they stay at his village:

The sacrifice is always a ram, and it is called ngorima. One year it will be black, but if that particular year the seasons are not propitious they consider that the deity is displeased and therefore change the colour, choosing either a red or a white one.

In former times a he-goat was said to be sacrificed before going to war. The ram must have the clan mark on its ears, and must also have had its tail cut. [43]

The provision of the sacrificial animals is settled by the elders, who pick the donors by rotation. At a specially important sacrificial ceremony, however, an important medicine man is called in and decides who shall provide the ram.

The proper time for a communal sacrifice is about two p.m., but private sacrifices take place at nine a.m.

It is said that the later time is usual for a communal sacrifice because it takes some time for elders who live far away to reach the place.

When the assembly arrives at the tree, one of the elders lifts up the ram into a standing position on its hind legs, facing the tree. This is called Kurugamia ngorima mugumuini—“To stand the ram before the tree.” The idea is probably to show the sacrificial animal ceremonially to the deity.

Only senior elders are allowed to go to the actual foot of the tree, and the elders of the four goat grade collect the wood for the ichua fire.

A gourd of honey and one of sugar cane beer are then poured into the ground at the base of the tree and the elders call out: “Twa kuthaitha Engai twa kuhoia mburi twa kuhoia indo chiothi”—“We pray to God, we sacrifice a goat, we offer all things.”

It is curious that they use the word mburi, which really signifies a goat, whilst the Kikuyu use the word mburi in a collective sense, which, in this way, often refers to sheep as well as goats.

The sheep is then suffocated by clasping its muzzle. As soon as it is insensible, but before it is actually dead, its throat is pierced by the sacrificial knife and the blood is collected in the half gourd called kinga, mentioned above. The blood is then poured out at the foot of the sacred tree, cf. Exodus xxix. 10: “And thou shalt slay the ram and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” The animal can be strangled by any elder present, and it does not appear to be the duty of any particular person to pierce the animal’s throat. It is said that [44]the animal is strangled so that its life breath should not escape. A sheep killed for food is also strangled, but an animal which has its throat cut can also be eaten.

Should an ox be killed, it is stabbed at the back of the neck, but an ox is said never to be offered as a sacrifice.

The right half of the carcase is then skinned, that portion being cut away and removed, and the left half wrapped in the skin and placed at the foot of the tree and left there. This is believed to be eaten by a hyæna or wild cat which is moved to do so by the deity.

A fire is then lit at a little distance from the tree and the pieces of meat from it are stuck on skewers, roasted and eaten by the elders. In olden times this fire was always supposed to be kindled from new fire made by friction, but nowadays a firebrand is often brought from a village, or better still from a fire in a garden.

The place at which this sacrificial fire is kindled is called ichua. The meat is laid on the branches of certain sacred trees, viz:

which are collectively termed mathinjiro. The skewers used for roasting the meat are called ndara, and must be of muthakwa and muthigio wood. The branches and the skewers have to be burnt in the sacred fire on the same day as that on which the meat is cooked. The burning of these is said to be in the nature of a prayer to Engai, and it is specifically stated that this is not done for fear of anyone using these branches and skewers as fuel as everyone would dread touching them.

When the meat is cooked, it is eaten by the elders, who each drink a horn of beer. The fat of the ram is [45]boiled down in the cooking pot provided for the purpose, and one of the elders climbs into the sacred tree, and pours the liquid fat on to the main stem of the tree. The breast of the ram is often cut out and also hung up in the tree. Cf. Exodus xxix. 26: “And thou shalt take the breast of the ram and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord.” The bones of the portion of the sacrificial ram eaten by the elders are each broken into two parts and placed at the foot of the tree, the marrow not being extracted. Not a single piece of the meat may be taken back to the villages. The elders then retire some little distance away and chant as follows: “Tathai Engai mwangi utue mbura”—“We Mwangi elders pray God to give us rain.”

If, of course, the sacrifice is for another object the prayer is varied. After the prayer no man must look back at the tree. Each man returns to his village. Next morning the principal wife of each elder goes to the tree and deposits at its foot offerings of uncooked bananas and various kinds of grain.

If, however, they notice that the sacrificial meat is untouched they do not deposit their offerings, but retire to some distance and call out to their husbands, telling them that Engai has refused the sacrifice. The elders assemble and send the women back with their offerings. They then select another elder and direct him to provide a fresh ram, which is sacrificed as before. They pray to Engai and beg him not to refuse their sacrifice a second time, as they have brought a fatter sheep. Their exhortation is: “Tiga Engai kutumbia”—“Beg God not to refuse.”

The women come again on the following morning, and, if the meat is eaten, they leave their offerings and return to their villages, chanting a pæan of joy as they go. The chant is called Ngemi, and is a form of what is usually known as “ululuing.”

They sacrifice at the sacred trees to invoke rain, and they also sacrifice to check the progress of an epidemic, when they say: “Kurinda murimo utikaoki [46]muji”—“To stop the sickness that it may not come to the village.”

They sacrifice and pray for relief from famine: “Kuoya mugumuini ng͠naragu ithire”—“To pray at the mugumu tree that the hunger may finish.”

Here again a ram is sacrificed, but before the animal is killed an important magician pours medicine into its mouth, and also squirts beer from his own mouth into that of the ram.

Unlike other tribes, they neither shave their heads nor deposit offerings of hair at the sacred tree. It is said that sometimes lights are seen at night in a sacred tree, and the following day they hasten to sacrifice there. Every season, when the maize is just coming up, the elders summon the important medicine men to go with them to the sacred tree to sacrifice. One of the magicians pours medicine into the mouth of the sacrificial ram before it is killed, and also pours it on the fire on which the meat is roasted. The bones of the animal are then burnt in the fire. These are supposed to be burnt so that the smoke may ascend into the sacred tree and be pleasing to the deity. “It is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is sweet savour an offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Exodus xxix. 18).

The blood is caught in a half gourd, njeli or kinga, and then placed in an ox horn; one half is poured at the foot of the sacred tree, the other half being mixed with tiny pieces of intestinal fat and placed in the large intestine of the sacrificial ram. This is roasted over the fire and eaten by the senior elders of ukuru. The mixture is called ndundiru.

Near the time of the harvest, when the crops are ripe, but before they are cut, the elders take a ram to the sacred place and slaughter it. They pour the blood at the foot of the tree and pray: “Engai twaoka kukui enyama tutikarware enda twa getha iriu wega”—“O God we have to bring meat so that we may not get ill, for we have good crops and are glad.”

The elders then eat the meat. After the feast, [47]they take the tatha or stomach contents of the sacrificial ram and sprinkle it over the ripe crops, and also sprinkle some over the mukumbi or big wicker bottles in the grain huts and over the big gourds in which grain is stored. It is believed that if the elders failed to do this, the people would suffer greatly from diarrhœa. The last two rites are evidently rudimentary forms of the ancient Semitic ritual of the offering of the firstfruits, or cereal oblation. The sprinkling of the crops and of the grain receptacles with tatha indicate either a conservation of the crop for human consumption, or a purification of it from all influences which might be harmful to the consumers. The latter is probably more in accordance with their line of thought.

On the particular day when sacrifices for rain are offered, no one may touch the earth with iron; not even a spear or sword may be rested on the ground, as the sacrifice would then be useless.

The Kamba have a somewhat similar belief, and think that to till the soil with iron drives away the rain.

Among the Kikuyu, however, the ground on such days must not be struck by anything, and an elder may not even strike his mithege staff into the ground in the usual way.

Sacrifices for good crops are also made at the mugumu trees by medicine men. On the same day, a mwanake (a young man of warrior age) patrols the whole district (ridge) with a torch, which he finally throws on the ground. No one may then come from another ridge or leave the ridge to go to another.

Sanctuary.—The ancient idea of a sanctuary at a holy place is known to the Kikuyu. If a murderer, or a person who has committed a serious crime, runs to a sacred place and touches the tree, he is safe from vengeance. The criminal cannot, of course, stay indefinitely at the tree or he would starve, but the elders come and take him away, and his life is safe. He cannot, however, re-enter a village, and his clans-men [48]have to go to the tree and sacrifice a ram, which they are supposed to offer in exchange for him. He is smeared with the tatha, and a line of white earth, ira, is drawn from his forehead to the tip of his nose by a senior elder, of ukuru. After which he is tahikia, or ceremonially purified, and can return to his family. All the meat of the sacrifice is eaten by the elders, and none is left at the tree. Some of the tatha, however, is sprinkled at the foot with the object of purifying the spot where the criminal stood. In a case of this sort the criminal does not pay blood money himself, but his blood relatives have to pay for him. If in war an enemy were pursued and took sanctuary at a sacred place, he could not be attacked whilst he was there, but would probably be seized and killed at some distance from the sacred place.

If, again, a man should kill a tribesman, he can run to the house of his victim’s father and, by confessing his crime, obtain sanctuary there. The father will then kill a ram and place a strip of skin on the right wrist of the homicide, who must have his hand shaved and be ceremonially purified by a medicine man—tahikia, as it is termed. He will henceforth become as the son of the deceased’s father.

Private Sacrifice to the Deity.—The head of a village usually has a private sacred tree at which he sacrifices to the deity for good fortune or for assistance in times of trouble.

The ceremony described by Routledge—“A Prehistoric People,” pages 232–734—is a private sacrifice to the deity.

As we have said before, women are not allowed to attend a sacrifice to the deity at one of the regular sacred trees. But at a private sacrifice for good fortune, carried out at a sacred tree belonging to a particular village, the village elders attend with their wives and children, their cattle, sheep and goats.

The sacrificial ram is killed, and the whole family, as well as flocks and herds, are smeared with fat. [49]The party then returns home, uttering the usual African cry of joy, sometimes called “ululuing” which the Kikuyu term ngemi.

The women and children are not actually allowed to come near the tree, but must remain some little distance away. The people belonging to the Masai circumcision guild use muzigio, mutumaiyu (Olea chrysophylla), or mugumu trees for their private sacrifices. They would probably begin with a mutumaiyu or muzigio tree, and if the luck was not good they would change to a mugumu. Those belonging to the Kikuyu guild use either mugumu or muthakwa trees.

In a private sacrifice, the skin of the sacrificial ram is taken back to the village and presented to the head wife of the elder, but this is never done at a public communal sacrifice.

The night before the sacrifice, the elders of the village sleep in their own huts, but must observe celibacy. The night after, they sleep in the goat hut or thengira.

For two days before and after a sacrifice, no stranger is allowed to sleep in a village; nothing is sent out of the village to sell, and nothing is allowed to be carried away. If a stranger comes, he can be fed, but he must eat the food there and not take it away. At both a public and private sacrifice the eyes of a ram must be very carefully removed from the carcase, for it is considered an extremely bad omen if an eye should burst during extraction, and a fresh sacrificial ram then has to be provided.

Two days after a private sacrifice, ceremonial beer drinking takes place at the village, the men drinking together in the goat hut, or thengira, and the women in the hut of the principal wife; this is called a kithangaona ya muchi. During the ceremony they pray to the deity: “Twa thuitha Engai utue endo chiothi chiana na mburi na ngombe”—“We pray thee, O God, that you will give us all things, children, goats, and cattle.” [50]

On the morning of the day following a private sacrifice the wives go to the sacred tree and deposit offerings of grain, bananas, and other things.

Sacrifice to Ancestral Spirits.—In addition to the sacrifice at the sacred trees to the deity Engai, the Kikuyu sacrifice to the ngoma, or ancestral spirits. These rites, however, never take place at the sacred trees, but in a village, close to the village shrine.

The animal sacrificed is a ram. It is killed in the same way as those sacrificed to the deity, the carcase being laid upon branches from certain sacred trees, viz:

The branches are called mathinjiro.

Four skewers, ndara, are cut from each of the above species, and the pieces of meat which are eaten are impaled upon the skewers and roasted at a fire specially kindled for the purpose, called ichua and muzigia. Mutumaiyu or makuri wood must be used.

The branches on which the meat has rested, as well as the skewers, must be burnt the same day in the fire on which the meat was cooked. Early next morning, before sunrise, beer is poured on the spot.

The ichua fire was formerly kindled on the spot from new fire made by friction, but nowadays it is supposed to be brought from a village.

These sacrifices generally take place at about nine a.m.

An elder usually sacrifices a ram every three months or so at the grave of his father. He pours blood, fat, and beer upon it and leaves the skin there.

If the father died away from home, on a journey, the son proceeds some distance along the road by which the father left and sacrifices a ram by the roadside. [51]The son and his wives eat the meat of the sacrifice, but a wife married after the father’s death, as well as the man’s children, are not allowed to touch it.

The sacrifice must take place before sunrise. This would seem to be a very common feature in many ancient sacrifices, and some authorities consider that it may be in some way connected with the worship of Venus, the morning star. It is, of course, a difficult question to settle, but I would venture to suggest that it is more likely to have some connection with the idea that ancestral spirits are more active at night, and therefore more appreciative of attention, and that they lapse into inaction with the sunrise.

There appears to be no particular day in the month for the celebration of these sacrifices.

If, on the occasion of a sacrifice at the sacred tree, the elders chance to see a snake, they say that it is a ngoma, or ancestral spirit, which has taken the form of a snake, and endeavour to pour a little of the blood from the sacrificial ram on its head, back, and tail.

If the owner of the village should meet a large caterpillar, called thatu, near the gate, he pours a little fat and milk in its path; if it turns back, all is well. If, on the other hand, it should walk round the spot where the fat, and so forth, was poured, and still come on towards the village, the people know that it is a spirit which has assumed the form of a caterpillar, and a ram is sacrificed in the village. If one of these caterpillars is found in a food hut, a ram is again sacrificed for the same reason.

Should anyone set fire to the grass or scrub on the spot where the dead are thrown out, spirits of the departed are supposed to be heard calling out. When this happens, the person who lit the fire gives a ram, which must be killed on the spot, and the elders of ukuru sprinkle the tatha all round to appease the ngoma.

Sometimes a spirit will come and call in a peculiar [52]way outside a village at night. The people believe that it is hungry, and next day sacrifice a ram.

The elders, when they eat, always throw a little food to the spirits before commencing their meal, and at a beer-drinking always pour a little beer on the ground to propitiate the spirits so that they may not harm them. Women, too, when they are cooking porridge or gruel, invariably throw some on the ground for the spirits.

Description of a Sacrifice at a Sacred Fig Tree in Kikuyu. (Witnessed by the Author.)—The elders first took some sugar cane and poured a little on each side and in front of the tree, praying at the same time. The sacrificial ram was then strangled, held up before the tree, and its throat pierced. The blood was collected in a cow’s horn and a little poured out on each side of the tree and allowed to trickle down the trunk. At this stage of the proceedings another prayer was uttered.

A strip of skin and fat running from the throat of the carcase down to its belly, and including the genitals, was then cut off and hung up on a small branch projecting from the tree. The elders now prayed again. After this the ram was dismembered and the feast took place.

If the head of a village notices the appearance of disease among his flocks and herds, or among his people, he sacrifices at his own sacred tree. But he first of all consults a mundu mugo, or medicine man, to find out whether the affliction comes from the high god or is due to the offended ngoma, or ancestral spirits. The medicine man throws his stones, and if, after sorting them into little heaps, the balance left is eight, he knows the trouble comes from the high god; if, on the other hand, the balance is seven, the trouble is attributed to the ngoma or ancestral spirits.

For a man, the heap consists of five stones, and for a woman three. [53]

The sacrificial ram is obtained from a neighbour.

If a bad storm comes and damages the crops, or if there is too much rain or a drought, a large assembly of elders is convened. They meet and sacrifice at the communal place of sacrifice, called the big mugumu.

Sacrifice among A-Kamba.—We will now examine the ceremonial connected with sacrifice among the A-Kamba, and principally among those of Kitui. These people have two kinds of sacred places, or mathembo (singular, ithembo).

(1) Sacred places for the whole country, or rather for each big division of the country, at which they pray and sacrifice to Engai or Mulungu for rain, and in the event of a pestilence among human beings and cattle.

(2) Sacred places for a group of two or three villages, where they pray to the aiimu, or ancestral spirits, on the occasion of sickness among people or cattle.

The holy places are almost always at a tree. For the first-mentioned a fig tree of the species known as mumo is chosen. For the village shrine, on the other hand, the tree may be either a mumo, fig tree, another variety of wild fig called mumbo, or a mutundu tree.

The mode of procedure of a sacrifice for rain at an ithembo of the first kind may be taken as an example, and the following description was given by a couple of leading elders:

On the day settled for the ceremony, the elders of ithembo assemble early in the morning, and at about nine a.m. proceed slowly to the sacred place, taking with them an nthengi, or male goat, usually black in colour, as well as milk, snuff, and a small quantity of every kind of produce which is grown.

The following were specified: mbaazi (cajanus), mawele (millet), mtama (sorghum), bananas, wimbi (penicillaria), sugar cane, beans, sweet potatoes, cassava, and pumpkins; also some sugar cane beer (honey beer is not allowed), red trade beads and [54]cowries, the leaves of a sweet smelling plant called mutaa, butter and gruel.

The men lead the goat and carry the milk, gruel, snuff, and beer, each one putting a little butter in the milk, whilst the other items are carried to the tree by the old women.

The women are not allowed to approach the tree, but dance together some distance away; as mentioned above, the ceremony commences at about nine a.m., and goes on till about two p.m., when the actual sacrifice takes place. The proceedings are not hurried, as some of the elders have to travel long distances before reaching the spot.

Six senior elders and six old women are selected, and all proceed to the tree; they can wear their loin cloths, but their blankets are taken off and left some distance away. The men go first and taste a little of the milk, gruel, and beer, which they spit out at the foot of the tree, and then give way to the old women who go through the same ceremony. The men again return to the tree and pour the balance of the milk and so forth at its foot. Each elder now puts some of the snuff in the palm of his hands, takes a little, and deposits the remainder. The women again come up and pour the foodstuffs at the foot of the sacred tree, the butter being smeared on it.

When the offerings are deposited, the officiating elders—one can almost call them priests—pray as follows: “Mulungu chao ya nekeu twenda nbua na aka machisi na ngombe kisia na mbui kisia engai tupiengea muimu andu ma kakwe”—“Mulungu, this is food. We desire rain and wives and cattle and goats to bear, and we pray God that our people may not die of sickness.”

The sacrifice of the goat comes next, but before this is done, they take the roots of two trees called mriti and muthumba, grind them together, mix them with water, and make the animal drink the mixture with a view to sanctifying it. This done, they lead the goat [55]up to the tree, stand it on its hind legs before the tree, or, as they say, “show” it; its throat is then pierced and the blood allowed to flow over the offerings previously enumerated. The carcase is skinned and an incision made from the throat to the stomach. The upper portion of the skull with the horns is cut off and buried at the foot of the tree. The leg bones, however, must not be broken, but carefully disarticulated at the knee-joints and elbows. Small pieces of meat are cut from every part of the carcase and from every internal organ and deposited at the foot of the tree. The meat is then divided, the left shoulder and part of the back is given to the officiating old women, whilst the elders take the rest. (Cf. Exodus xii. 46: “The bones of the meat of the passover feast must not be broken.”)

Each party, male and female, lights a separate fire and eats, the selected officiating elders eating with their fellows. The fire must be made of the wood of a mumo tree, not that of the sacred tree, but of another of the same species. The six men and six women each impale a fragment of the meat on a skewer of mumo wood, roast and eat it. This is a ceremonial meal, and when it is over the remainder of the meat is divided up, and any kind of firewood can be used for cooking it.

The actual sacrifice of the goat is called kutonya ng͠nondu, to pierce the sacrifice. The mere word sacrifice, however, hardly expresses it, for the word ng͠nondu really implies purification, or perhaps expiation, the underlying idea being that the goat is an expiatory gift offered with the object of relieving the country from the effects of the deity’s displeasure and of the consequent drought.

No work is done on the day following the sacrifice, and no cultivation is undertaken, neither any house building. A man may stroll over and see a friend close by, but he is not allowed to go on a real journey.

The night before the sacrifice the elders must [56]observe celibacy, as well as on the six following days, the day on which the sacred meat was eaten counting as the first.

No elder can participate in this ceremony if he has the stain of death on him; that is to say, if his wife or child has died, and the purification ceremonies connected with the event have not been completed; or again if he, or one of his men, has killed someone and the ceremonies for removing the bloodstain are not over. Any fighting or quarrelling or fighting among the people would also be likely to destroy the efficacy of the ceremony.

If a man breaks a stick from the sacred tree the elders at once fine him, and a bull or goat is sacrificed. The wound in the tree is anointed with butter, and milk is poured at its foot. Lights are sometimes seen at night in mathembo, but people very rarely go out to them while it is dark; those who have tried it declare that stones were thrown at them from the tree, and that these stones strike fire when they hit the ground. If a person be thus attacked, it is a sure sign that he is fitted for a medicine man.

Another account of the procedure was obtained from elders in a different part of the Ukamba country, and as this varies a little and contains a few additional details, it is considered advisable to describe it.

The day before the sacrifice, the women of the neighbourhood gather together and go to the sugar cane plantations, every woman bringing back two or three sticks of cane and taking them to the thomi, or village meeting place, of one of the elders, where they are crushed to make beer. In the evening, the elders of ithembo take the beer and place it near the sacred tree. They light a fire there with a firebrand from the village, and the gourds of beer are put near it; a little beer is also poured at the foot of the tree and they pray to the imu of the person to whom the tree is dedicated, and then return home. It is believed that the object of this ritual is to attract the attention of [57]the guardian spirit of the shrine, and to propitiate it and to ensure, as it were, its attendance on the morrow as the intermediary between the people and Engai.

In the morning, the elders of ithembo and certain very old women proceed to the ithembo. The elders bring the sacrificial beast and first suffocate it; they then quickly skin its throat, and the oldest of the elders stabs it in the neck with a knife, collecting the blood in a half gourd (nzeli). The skinning is then completed, and small pieces of meat are cut from the tongue, ribs, and the left flank. One kidney, one testicle, and a piece of the liver, heart, and every internal organ are also taken, all these fragments being placed in a half gourd. They then take a half gourd of beer, and the gourds containing the meat and the blood, and empty them at the foot of the tree. The old women now approach and deposit samples of every kind of field produce—beans, maize, and so forth—and milk. Some of the food is cooked and some is raw.

When the men deposit their offerings they pray as follows: “Engai twaevoya mbua kuamba eyima sionthi Engai”—“We pray to God that rain may bless all our country.”

The women merely say “Twaevoya mbua”—“We pray for rain.”

The sacrificial meat is then cooked and eaten. The first to partake of it are the four senior elders.

The fire for cooking the meat is lit a little away from the tree, and the fuel must consist of dry sticks picked up in the sacred grove. The fire having been lit, a small staging is built over it, and the pieces of meat are placed thereon to roast. The place of the fire is called ivuvio; the wood used for the framework is muthakwa; the sticks composing it are mbatwa, and the whole framework when completed is called ndala.

When removing the marrow the bones of the sacrificial animal must not be broken.

After the feast the bones are collected and placed [58]on the fire and covered with the stomach contents (tatha or muyo), and the smoke which rises to heaven is said to be pleasing to Engai.

A private sacrifice is called kithangaona by the Kamba people, its object being to purify a village from sickness. The ceremony is also termed kuvindukia muimu—“to cleanse the place from the spirit” (ku-indukia—to cleanse) and may possibly have an implied meaning to the effect that the spirit must be appeased.

Sometimes a woman who goes into a cataleptic condition, which is known as being seized by aiimu, will say that to obtain rain a beast of a particular colour must be sacrificed. A black goat is said to be preferable as a supplication for rain, the colour probably being symbolical of the rain clouds.

Sheep and goats, both male and female, are sacrificed, and also bulls and bullocks, but never a cow.

A black bullock is thought to be the most acceptable and a white sheep comes next, whilst many of the Kamba people consider a red animal bad for the purpose of sacrifice.

Sacred Places (Mathembo) in Ukamba.—Dotted about the country, near most of the older villages, there are sacred trees, representing private shrines, called mathembo. The sacrifice which takes place here is similar to that described above, but the proceedings do not take so long, as the assembly is smaller. There is no particular day of the month for such a ceremony, but it should not be performed in the months called Nyanya and Kenda (the month Nyanya in 1912 commenced on June 14th). Ikumi is suitable for a sacrificial ceremony, as it is then considered possible to prepare the fields for planting, in expectation of the rain which will fall as a result of the ceremony.

Four pieces of the stalk of the castor oil bush are planted at the foot of the sacred tree. If on a certain day a man brews beer, he visits the tree in the evening and pours a little of the beer into each of the castor [59]oil stems, and prays to the aiimu, saying, “I have made some beer, and this is your share; do not come into the village and bother us.” The castor oil stalks are meant to imitate gourds of beer. It is customary to deposit at the tree a piece of the fruit of Kigelia pinnata, or K. Musa (called miatini and used in producing fermentation in beer), and the leaf of a mumo tree. They then say, “This is your nzeli to drink the beer from,” the nzeli being a half gourd used as a drinking cup, and the mumo leaf in this case representing a nzeli. As these things decay, they are periodically renewed.

The people of a village utter a prayer when they see the new moon, begging that they may go safely through the month. This bears a close resemblance to the European habit of turning one’s money and bowing nine times to the new moon. At the village ithembo beer is poured out, generally on the advice of a medicine man, when someone is ill in the village.

The sacrifice at the village ithembo usually takes place about ten a.m., the people returning at noon. On their arrival at the village, a mixture of tatha and water is sprinkled upon the cattle, and upon the water pots of the village. This is called kikaela muyo and is done for the benefit of those villagers who are not qualified to go to the sacred place.

The women qualified to attend a ceremony at an ithembo are those who are past the age of child-bearing and have a husband who is a mutumia ya ithembo (an elder of the ithembo). A childless old woman may also be allowed to go.

It often happens that during a ceremony at an ithembo a woman is seized, or possessed, and passes into a condition of semi-trance in which she will prophecy either that the rains are coming or that they will fail, or, in former days, that a Masai raid was imminent. An explanation of this was carefully sought, and, upon investigation, I was told that the message came from the imu or spirit of the person of [60]olden times to whom the ithembo was dedicated and to whom it was supposed to belong, but quite clearly, that this spirit was only an intermediary, the message really coming from the high god Engai or Mulungu.

A little house is always built at the foot of the sacred tree on the east side, with the door facing the rising sun, and two days before the time settled upon for commencing planting a pot of water and one of food, as well as butter and milk, are placed in it. On the day following the deposit of this offering, no work is done. These offerings are said to be for Engai; the pot of water is a reminder that rain is required, and the food represents the crops.

Sacrifices for Rain.—Kikuyu—If the elders go to the sacred fig tree for rain they sacrifice the usual ram, preferably a black one. If, on the other hand, they pray for rain to cease, the sacrificial ram is preferably a white one, although a red one may be used. After the sacrifice, the intestines are taken and tied round the stem high up in the tree. The melted tail fat is then poured at the foot of the tree and a strip of the meat and fat are hung on a branch.

Ukamba.—Among the Kamba a black goat should be sacrificed for rain; a red one, however, is occasionally used. But whatever the colour of the animal sacrificed, it is very important that it should be entirely of one colour, and not spotted or parti-coloured. A parti-coloured animal would probably be considered as having some blemish. (Cf. Deut. xviii. 1: “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish or evil-favouredness”; also Numbers xix. 2: “Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring thee a red heifer without spot.”)

The Kitui A-Kamba also have another curious ceremony which they perform when their crops are in danger of being spoilt for lack of rain. They snare a couple of hyrax (Procavia sp.) and carry them round the fields containing the standing crops; one is then [61]released, the other is killed. The heart, contents of the stomach, and intestines of the victim are then taken and placed on a fire which is lit among the crops. The smoke of the sacrifice is said to be pleasing to the deity (Engai). Cf. Exodus xxix: “And burn them … for a sweet savour before the Lord.” The carcase is not eaten.

The use of a hyrax for sacrificial purposes is rather curious, and may well be a relic of an old Semitic belief in which the hyrax was thought to have possessed originally the human shape. It was said that he who eats of its flesh will never see father and mother again.

The A-Kamba, however, appear to have lost sight of any connection of this sort, and it is therefore impossible to say whether it really existed; the choice of this curious animal may be merely a coincidence.

General Remarks on Sacred Places and Sacrifices.—The way in which a particular tree is chosen as a sacred place was explained to me unhesitatingly in the following manner: In a particular locality, long ago, there would be a woman, noted as a prophetess or seer, whose prophecies always came true, and at her death she would be buried in her village. After a time, a woman of that village became possessed by the imu, or spirit, of the deceased, and, in a state of exaltation, would speak in the name of the prophetess, saying: “I cannot stay here, I am called by Engai, and I go to live at a certain tree” (which would be specified). The tree thus designated then acquired sanctity. Four elders and four old women would then be selected; taking some earth from her grave, and one (a blood relation of the deceased) taking a goat, they would all proceed to the tree. The earth was deposited at its foot, the goat led thrice round the tree and then sacrificed. The delegates then prayed: “We have brought you to the tree you desire,” and a small hut was built on the spot. This hut is renewed from time to time, usually before a great ceremony takes place at the tree. [62]

The elders who build the hut must have their heads shaved next morning, but must shave one another, as no one else is allowed to do it. They then hide their hair. (Note.—Hiding away of hair after it is cut or shaved is a common custom among Africans; the idea is supposed to be that an evil-disposed person might use the hair as a medium for bewitching the owner.)

An interesting and thoughtful paper on the A-Kamba of Kitui, by Hon. C. Dundas, appeared in the Journal R.A.I., 1913, and on page 534 et seq. the writer discusses the religious beliefs of these people. He has come to the conclusion that they have no conception of a high god, and that the terms Engai and Mulungu are merely collective words denoting the plurality of the spiritual world. The present writer, however, is unable to accept this opinion, for while it is recognised that great confusion of thought may exist on the subject among the bulk of the people, there is little doubt that the elders of ithembo, or tribal shrines, are quite clear on the matter. Great care was taken to record only such information on the question as was furnished by this grade of Kamba society. And as the elders of ithembo correspond, in a measure, to the priestly castes of more highly developed communities, their opinion has a certain value, and we therefore feel justified in saying that the Kamba religion contains the concept of a high god. We would also contend that the information herein recorded contains internal evidence of this, and every effort has been made not to read more into the information than it actually contains. The fact that the writer was known to have been duly recognised as an elder among the neighbouring tribes, the Kikuyu, undoubtedly induced the elders to discuss these questions with considerable freedom in his presence. The words used to designate what may be conveniently termed the high god are Engai, Mulungu, and sometimes Chua (or the sun). [63]

It is sometimes said that Engai lives in the high mountains, Kenya for instance, and this would appear to differentiate the great spirit from one which has its origin in an ordinary human form. They insist also that there is only one Engai. They say that if the aiimu, or ancestral spirits, want to kill someone, Engai or Mulungu can stop them, their explanation being that although the aiimu can afflict a living person, they cannot kill him unless Mulungu concurs.

There is a saying when anyone dies, “Nundu wa chua,” which means “the order of the sun,” the obvious inference of which is that death comes from the high god.

They are emphatic in stating that Engai, and not the aiimu, brings the rain. It is said that a woman will sometimes bear a child having a mark on its body similar in position to that of a wound which caused the death of a brother-in-law or some near relative in the village. The deceased is supposed to have been seen by Engai, and it is he who puts a similar mark on the new-born child. I am not sure, however, that the term Engai is not somewhat loosely used in this case, as the imu of the deceased might well be held responsible for such an occurrence.

Other confirmatory evidence of the presence of the concept of a high god will be found in the account of various ceremonies.

There is no doubt about the definition of the concept of the imu, and it can be translated as the spirit of the deceased person.

The Kitui elders stated that the sacrificial fire for cooking the meat at the ithembo must always be made by friction, so as to avoid any such impurity or uncleanness being brought from a house as might occur were burning embers from a household kitchen taken to the tree.

No one who is under a thabu or tabu can take part in a ceremony at an ithembo, nor must the muma or kithito oath be taken on such an occasion. Inquiries [64]were made as to whether, in olden times, any of the spoils of war were sacrificed at an ithembo, but this was said not to have been the case.

When, as sometimes happens, a shooting star appears to fall in an ithembo, it is supposed to be a sign that Engai has descended to the ithembo and demands food. Various kinds of food are then taken there as offerings. It is, however, not usual to sacrifice an animal. The shooting star falling on an ithembo may be compared with the story of Jehovah appearing to Moses in a burning bush, which seemed to burn and yet not be consumed. It is here to be noted that it is Engai who demands food, not the aiimu.

Sacrifice apparently is only performed when the people desire to invoke help.

One elder only from each clan, mbai, can participate in a ceremony at the ithembo on any particular occasion, and, further, no elder whose father is alive can go to the tree.

If in war an enemy took sanctuary at an ithembo he was allowed to stay there unmolested, and was safe; at night he escaped. If, again, he caught hold of an elder of ithembo, he was equally safe; the elder would take him to his village and send one of his sons to convey him safely out of the country. It is considered that this fact emphasises the priestly position of the elders of ithembo, who must, at all cost, avoid the stain of death.

If a snake is seen at a sacred place it is customary to pour milk, butter, and gruel over it; it is supposed to be njoka ya aiimu (snake of the aiimu).

Arms must not be taken to an ithembo, small knives to skin the sacrificial animals only being allowed.

No bird or beast can be killed at a sacred tree in the grove which generally surrounds it.

Should a sacred tree, of the old communal mathembo kind, fall down, the people will still worship on the site.

If a village which possesses one of the small [65]mathembo is moved, the assistance of a medicine woman is sought for the selection of another one near the new site for the village. The elders take her to the old tree and leave her there all night in solitary vigil; in the morning she is fetched and taken to the new tree.

When the elders return from sacrificing at a sacred tree, each takes a small piece of the skin of the sacrificial animal and ties it on the thorn fence near his hut. It is believed, however, that this would not be allowed in the case of a great communal gathering to pray for rain, such as previously described.

The sacrificial animal is provided by the elders of ithembo in rotation.

It is said that before going to war a black goat was sacrificed at the ithembo, and success was prayed for.

Upon returning from a successful raiding expedition, they went to the organiser of the party, the muthiani, killed the biggest ox, and prayed to Engai as a thanksgiving ceremony. This did not take place at the ithembo, as, in all probability, they dared not go to the ithembo with any suspicion of bloodstain upon them.

The Kamba belief that the spirits like to haunt certain sacred fig trees is very widespread, and there is one factor connected with it which is common to the whole area in which the belief is found, and that is that sacrilegious trespassers in a sacred grove are assailed by showers of missiles. Such incidents are often alleged to occur in India, and, apart from native superstition, the writer has even heard of two examples in East Africa, where European colonists, who had no knowledge of these beliefs but had built in the vicinity of sacred fig trees, asserted that they were periodically disturbed at night by stones thrown on the roofs of their houses. In Phil Robinson’s well-known book, “In my Indian Garden” (page 208), it is stated that in Burmah to this day the Government pays a fee, called [66]murung, to the headmen of certain tracts for appeasing the manes of their ancestors lodged in old sal trees.

Robertson Smith also quotes an old authority to the effect that fig, carob, and sycamore trees are haunted by devils.

The belief in ghosts is widespread in Kitui, and people who allege that they occasionally see the ghosts of human beings are not uncommon. They do not appear to be terrified about it, but state that they call out to the apparition to verify its immaterial character, and if no reply is received they know that it belongs to the aiimu. If, however, a ghost is seen, it is necessary for the observer to kill a ram and smear his face with some of the purifying tatha, together with some of the ram’s fat.

We thus see that when a shrine is established, tradition and the continual use of it for worship sanctifies it and maintains its position in the popular mind. As the authority previously quoted points out: “Holy places are older than temples, and older than the beginnings of settled life.”

It is also interesting to note how the old Canaanite high places were associated with a tree or grove of trees. This is considered by some authorities as an indication of an ancient cult of tree worship. There is little evidence of the survival of such a cult among the people under consideration, but an account has been given of a ceremony which has to be performed when a large solitary tree in a clearing is cut down, and certain rites have to be performed to transfer either the spirit of the tree to a new abode or perhaps human spirits resident in the tree.

There is, however, little doubt that the ancient altars erected under trees were a later development of worship which originally took place at the tree without any altar. It is said that our English maypole is a degraded survival of the worship under trees. Generally speaking, in ancient Arabia the gifts of the worshippers were presented to the deity by being laid [67]on sacred ground, often at the foot of a sacred tree, or they were hung on it, and when libations of sacrificial blood or other things were offered, they were poured either there or over a sacred stone. All this might have been written of our African peoples of to-day, and one cannot, therefore, be accused of special pleading in inviting attention to the similarity of practice.

It is supposed that the ceremonial dedication of the foundation of a sacred building is a direct survival of the rites which took place in ancient times when a new “holy place” was formerly recognised and adopted.

The ancient flavour will be detected in the following extract from the account of the proceedings which took place a few years ago upon the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of a Jewish synagogue, in British East Africa, the sacrificial nature of the rites being very noticeable:

Making of Fire (Kamba of Kibwezi).—The fire [68]required for sacrificial purposes was formerly always made anew by friction, as fire so produced could carry no evil with it, whereas if firebrands were brought from a hut some thabu or curse which rested on the family owning the hut might inadvertently be brought with it, and the wood might in fact be infected.

Nowadays, however, it is curious to note that a sacrificial fire is lighted with matches; for they consider that these, being of foreign origin, can bring no infection derived from Kamba spirit influence. This gives some insight into the ratiocination of the native mind.

Fire was formerly made, and is still made, on occasion, by hunters and others who rapidly rotate a piece of hard stick, held vertically between the hands, in a cup-shaped cavity cut in a piece of soft wood which is held between the toes, the friction generating enough heat to produce sparks which light some tinder. The vertical stick is called the male, and the other piece the female, the reasons for which nomenclature are obvious.

It is curious to note that a woman is not allowed to make fire by friction, the reason given for this being that a man has to squat to make fire, and that if a woman does the same, it is unseemly, as she thereby exposes her nakedness. It is believed, however, that there is more in it than this, and that only a male is really supposed to manipulate the masculine portion of the fire-making apparatus. [69]

When the Kikuyu people found a new village, the elder of the family collects three stones, two being brought from the bed of a river to the north of the village, the direction from which the tribe migrated, and one from a river to the south of the village. The river in the north is generally the Thika, and the river in the south is generally the Mbagathi. The stones must not be collected from a river from which the villagers take water for their domestic use, and it must also be a river with a perennial flow.

These stones usually weigh from thirty to forty pounds, and are used as a village shrine. Having obtained the stones, the people take a black ram, sew up its left eye, and bury it in the middle of the village. This is done with the idea that if anyone comes to bring bad magic to the people of the village, he will, like the ram, lose the sight of one eye. The three stones are then planted round the spot where the ram is buried. Four people carry out this ceremony: the head of the village, another elder of the same clan, and the two senior wives of the village head. They break branches from the mutumaiyu, mukenya, and muthakwa trees and plant them round the spot. If they take root, it is considered a very good omen; if the branches die, however, they are replaced periodically by fresh ones.

Whenever a sacrifice is made in the village, in connection with any ceremony, the ram is killed near this spot and blood and fat are poured into the ground [70]between the stones. Meat for the spirits is always put out in two heaps, one for the male and one for the female spirits. It is believed that if the stones are obtained from strong flowing rivers, they will help to protect the village from nocturnal thieves. Moreover, the stones from the rivers to the north of the village will stop the entrance of bad ngoma or spirits coming from that direction, and similarly, the stones from the south will form a protection against the evil spirits from that direction.

The stones are not supposed to possess a spirit, but if a stone is stolen it is looked upon as a terrible crime. The thief is said to have, by its possession, the power to inflict a serious curse upon the village, whenever it was stolen. When the stone is missed, the head of the village collects the kiama, or council of elders, and presents them with a fee of a ram and a bullock, which are killed. They tell the owner to wait three days, and if by then the stone is not returned, they bring him the kithathi on which to curse the thief. In all probability, the stone is secretly returned by night; if not, the owner curses the thief on the kithathi, and some time afterwards it will be found that two or three people have died mysteriously in a certain village and the stone is brought back. The owner of the stone will then kill a sheep, and place strips of the skin, rukwaru, upon the right wrist of all the men, and upon the left ankle of all the women in the thief’s village. After this, they all go to a river and are purified on the bank of it by a mundu mugo, or medicine man. They then bathe in the river and are marked on their foreheads by a vertical mark made with ira, or white earth, and return home. The owner of the stones now presents a ram or male goat to the elders of kiama, to show that the trouble is over. It is said that no theft of this kind has occurred in recent years.

The sacred stones are called Kithangona ya muchi, which may be interpreted as “village shrine” or altar. The Swahili equivalent is Mathbah ya Kafara ya [71]miji; mathbah is evidently the same as the Arabic masseba. It is believed to be associated particularly with the ngoma, or ancestral spirits, and has no connection with the deity. They may perhaps believe that the stones form a resting-place for the beneficent ngoma of their ancestors, or that they indicate a spot where the villagers can render service to the spirits. The former interpretation is the more likely; why, otherwise, should there be such trouble when one is stolen? These stones must never be used as seats.

The same idea occurs in Bantu Kavirondo, where these stones are to be found in each village. Mumia pointed out such a shrine, decked round with white feathers, where a fowl was periodically killed and the blood poured between the stones. The stones were said to have come from the north of the Nzoia River, from a place whence the Wanga clan were supposed to have migrated.

Some years ago, one of these stones was stolen by a complainant who alleged that he could not get a hearing in a case regarding the debt of a cow. The whole country-side was upset at the loss; the suit was immediately heard and disposed of, and eventually the stone was returned. The incident clearly showed what importance was attached to these apparently insignificant objects.

If a Kikuyu village is moved, the stones are moved to the new village, a fresh ram being buried in the new spot. Before the stones are removed, the head of the village and his senior wife pour out honey-beer and sugar-cane beer on the space between the stones, which can then be removed with impunity. When a brew of honey-beer is made a little of the honey is poured out between the stones, and when the beer is fermented, a libation is also poured there.

The writer recently witnessed the celebration of the morning prayer at a village shrine. The principal wife brought sugar-cane beer and poured some into a [72]cow horn and some into a small U shaped gourd. The elder, who was head of the village, then poured the beer, first from the horn on to the trees growing between the stones, and then from the gourd. He now uttered a prayer with great solemnity, and called upon the spirits to grant good fortune to the village and also to the visitor. He prayed for wealth in live stock, abundance of children, safety in journeying, and so forth. As the prayer proceeded another elder responded solemnly. The beer from the horn was a libation to the male spirits; that from the gourd to the female spirits. The horn had a knob carved on the end, the origin of which might be phallic. [73]

It is interesting to compare all this with the Mosaic ritual laid down in Exodus xxiii. 19: “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God.” This is the Levitical minha or tribute.

Robertson Smith’s “Religion of the Semites,” p. 241, states: “Among the Hebrews, as among other agricultural peoples, the offering of firstfruits was connected with the idea that it is not lawful or safe to eat of the new fruit until the god has received his due. The offering makes the whole crop lawful food, but it does not render it holy food; nothing is consecrated except the small portion offered at the altar, and of the remaining store clean persons and unclean can eat alike during the year. This, therefore, is quite a different thing from the consecration of animal sacrifices, for in the latter case the whole flesh is holy, and only those who are clean can eat of it” (Cf. Lev. xxiii. 10–21).

Professor Robertson Smith also points out that in Hosea’s time the firstfruits of corn were offered at the shrines of the Baalim, who had become recognised as the giver of rain and the author of all fertility. This principle, it will be seen, agrees as closely as possible with the ideas of the tribes under review.

In Kikuyu, the people do not appear to take the firstfruits to the sacred tree formally before reaping the crop, but on the occasion of each harvest the women will take offerings of the various cereal foods—maize, [74]millet, and so forth (also beans, sugar cane, etc.)—to the sacred place. They are not allowed to go right up to the tree, but pour their gifts on the ground near by. All such food must be uncooked. This being done, they return, and the elders kill either a young ewe which has not yet borne a lamb, or a ram, at a little distance from the tree, and a rukwaru, or strip of skin, is placed on the left wrist of each of the women. The elders then eat the meat; none is actually taken to the tree or left there. It is a kind of harvest thanksgiving ceremony.

Firstfruits in Ukamba.—It is customary to eat a certain quantity of the maize cobs or the bean crop before they ripen. But before this can be done a little of each kind is reaped and laid at the ithembo by an elder and an old woman, and a goat is sacrificed. The tatha, or stomach contents of the goat, are mixed with the green food in a cooking pot and boiled. A portion of this is then distributed to each village, after which the green crops can be safely eaten.

Next comes the proper harvest, but before reaping can commence the owners again consult the medicine man whose advice was previously sought at sowing time. They take him a present of every kind of grain, and so forth, reaped at the previous harvest, and he gives his advice as to a propitious day for the ceremony. The elders then gather the firstfruits of the harvest and assemble at the village meeting-place (thomi) of one of the senior elders and sacrifice a goat. Then, as above, they cook samples of the various products in a big pot together with the tatha of the goat. When the food is ready, the women from the villages round come and receive some of it, which is placed on leaves.

It is said that were this ceremony to be omitted, the people would be afflicted with diarrhœa, and would presumably become the victims of thabu. But when it is concluded, they may reap and eat of the crop without fear or hindrance. [75]

Curiously enough, this ceremony is not considered necessary for the mbaazi crop (Cajanus indicus or pigeon pea). The people give no explanation of this, but it may be that the pigeon pea was introduced from Kikuyu or elsewhere, after the belief had developed, and was therefore excluded.

A housewife having gathered into her granary (ikumba) all her crops, must not cohabit with her husband the night on which she has completed her harvest.

A present of a little of the new grain has to be made to the medicine man who advised the people where to plant.

If a woman has had assistance from her neighbours in the harvest-field she makes a feast of all kinds of food; no men are present, as they have nothing to do with it. There is no dancing on such an occasion.

The next thing is the threshing of the grain, and before the mawele grain, and according to some the mbaazi pea, can be threshed, permission must be sought from a medicine man who specialises in agricultural magic. In Kibwezi district no one has any leave to thresh mawele until the elders have sacrificed at the ithembo. It is said that if anyone breaks this prohibition the particular area will miss the mvua ya ua, or the second portion, of the next big rains. These are the showers which bring the grain into head and fill out the seed, and thus they will miss their crops. The first half of the rains grow the stem and leaves, and the second half bring the plant to fruition.

Again, if a woman has the assistance of her neighbours she will make a feast for them at the completion of the threshing.

Planting of Crops and Harvest.—In Ukamba, before the sowing of the grain is commenced a medicine man is usually consulted with regard to the proper season and the prospect of good rains.

When these preliminaries are settled, the elders of ithembo and the old women are summoned to the [76]ithembo. The men bring a goat and the women bring milk and offerings of grain contributed by the villages of the neighbourhood.

The goat is sacrificed at the sacred tree; some of the blood and the beer are poured out as libations, an offering of the cereals is made, prayers for good crops are offered, and the meat and food is then eaten and the beer is drunk by the worshippers.

They then go away and commence to plant with a light heart. After planting, however, a woman must not cohabit with her husband until the grain has sprouted and appeared above ground. Should, however, ceremonial cohabitation become necessary in connection with some other religious observance, the woman must first go and dig up a seed of each species of food product which has been planted and bring it back to the village.

If any man plants before the proper sacrifice has taken place, the elders will fine him a goat, which has to be sacrificed at the ithembo as an atonement. Further, the grain which has been sown has, as far as it is possible, to be dug up, collected and returned to the village. If it is left in the ground, it is supposed not to mature, and also Engai might be angry with the community at large.

The people of Ulu (Ukamba) again, often perform another fertility ceremony to ensure good crops. They take the dung of the hyrax, which is called kinyoi ngilla in Kikamba, and mix it with the powdered root of the mulinditi tree and a weed called waithu. This medicine is then mixed with some of the seed which they propose to plant and burnt together with some of the dry weeds collected from the field. The fire is made in such a position that the smoke drifts across the field. The ashes of this fire are then mixed with the seed about to be sown. In Kitui, however, it is said that a live hyrax is carried round the field by a procession of villagers, the animal being then killed and its blood and entrails scattered over the field. [77]

One of the most important factors in the life history of all natives is the formal initiation to the tribe, of which the outward sign is usually the ceremony of circumcision. In Kikuyu these rites have attained some elaboration, and it is important to describe them in detail.

It will later be seen in Chapter VII how deeply the division of the Kikuyu tribe into the two guilds, Kikuyu and Masai,1 affects their customs, and in the following description the rites of the two guilds are described separately.

Before a child reaches the age of circumcision, however, a ceremony called Ku-chiaruo ringi has to be gone through, which means “to be born again.” It must be undergone by young children before they are eligible for the next stage of initiation, viz., circumcision.

The occurrence of these two ceremonies, connected as they are, cannot fail to strike one as being, in a lower stage of civilisation, the genesis of the idea of the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It is said in fact [78]that some of the missionaries do not hesitate to explain the two Christian doctrines mentioned by reference to the two pagan ones, and state that with the help of this key the natives at once grasp the idea of their doctrines.

But to return to the ceremony itself—the form varies with the guild of the parents. According to the fashion of the Masai guild, about eight days after the birth of the child, be it male or female, the father of the infant kills a male sheep and takes the meat to the house of the mother, who eats it with her neighbours if they belong to the Masai guild. At the conclusion of the feast, the mother is adorned with the skin from the left foreleg and shoulder of the sheep, the piece of skin being fastened from her left wrist to left shoulder; this she wears for four days, when it is taken off and thrown on to her bed, where it remains till it disappears. The mother and child have their heads shaved on the day this ceremony takes place; it has no connection with the naming of the child, which is done on the day of its birth.

The ceremony of Ku-chiaruo ringi, according to the fashion of the Kikuyu guild, is as follows in S. Kikuyu. The day after the birth a male sheep is killed and some of its fat is cooked in a pot and given to the mother and infant to drink. It was not specifically stated whether this had a direct connection with the rite referred to, but the description commenced with a mention of this. When the child reaches the age of from three to six years the father kills a male sheep, and three days later the novice is adorned with part of the skin and the skin of the big stomach. These skins are fastened on the right shoulder of a boy or on the left shoulder of a girl. The skin used for a boy has, however, the left shoulder and leg cut out of it, and that for a girl has the right shoulder and leg cut away. The child wears these for three days, and on the fourth day the father cohabits with the mother of the child. [79]

There is, however, one important point, and that is that before the child is decorated with the sheep skin it must go and lie alongside its mother on her bed and cry out like a newly born infant. Only after this ceremony has been performed is the child eligible for circumcision.

A few days after circumcision the child returns to sleep on a bed in its mother’s hut, but the father has to kill a sheep before he can return, and the child must drink some of the blood, the father also having to cohabit with the mother upon the occasion.

Owing to similarity of name it is possible that the ceremony of Ku-chiaruo ringi might be confused with Ku-chiaruo kungi, which is of widely different significance. This latter is an adoption ceremony, and is said to be similar to a Swahili rite called ndugu Kuchanjiana. If a person has no brothers or parents he will probably try to obtain the protection of some wealthy man and his family. If such a man agrees to adopt him he takes a male sheep and slaughters it, and the suppliant takes another one. The elders are assembled and slaughter these sheep, strips of the skin (rukwaru) being taken from the right foot and from the chest of each sheep and tied round each person’s hand, while each is decorated with strips of skin from the sheep of the other party. The poor man is then considered as the son of the wealthy one, and when the occasion arises the latter pays out live stock to buy a wife for his adopted son.

The Kamba people, at any rate the Kitui section, have nothing corresponding to the Ku-chiaruo ringi rite of the Kikuyu, but when the child is about six months old it is moved from its mother’s bed and thenceforward sleeps on a little bed by itself. If the husband cohabits with his wife during this period the child has to be placed on the mother’s back.

Circumcision.—As previously mentioned, the A-Kikuyu are circumcised according to two systems, some according to one and some according to the other. [80]

The actual surgical operation is the same, but according to the Masai system the boys stay and sleep in the hut for four days after the operation, and then go out, shoot birds, and wear the skins of the birds on the head and neck. When the new moon appears their heads are shaved, and each one then goes to his home. The head of the village cannot sleep in the hut where the circumcised youths are staying until they are well.

According to the Kikuyu system the youths remain in the hut for eight days; on the day of the operation a sheep is killed, and on the ninth day the father of the children takes them away to their homes. The head of the village sleeps in the hut where the youths stay after the operation has taken place.

Those circumcised according to Kikuyu fashion hold the feast called Mambura the day before the operation; the writer recently witnessed one of these gatherings, and so is able to describe it with some accuracy. It was held at a village between the Mathari and Thigiri streams, and was on the twelfth day of the moon, so there does not appear to be any particular significance as to date. Several thousand people of both sexes had collected to dance and take part in the festivities; the warriors were dressed in their war paint and had their bodies smeared with red or grey paint, and in some cases were picked out with star-like patterns. The women were all in their best, and freely smeared with red ochre and oil; a large collection of elders was there, and the chief was present, as he explained, in order to keep order and prevent the young warriors from quarrelling. Over the gate of the village two long pieces of sugar cane were fastened, and all who entered the village were supposed to pass underneath. The entrance of the village was also guarded by a bag of medicines belonging to a mundu mugo; these were supposed to prevent [81]anyone coming into the village to bewitch the candidates. In the morning the elders of kiama slaughtered a big male goat, nthengi, by strangulation, and each male candidate for circumcision had a strip of the skin fastened round his right wrist, the same strip being also carried over the back of his hand and his second finger passed through a slit in it. The male candidates were nude with the exception of a string of beads or so, and a necklace made of a creeper called ngurwa; the girls were nude as far as clothes went, but were enveloped in strings of beads from their necks to below their waists. Much dancing took place till a little after two p.m., when there was a ceremonial meal. The candidates came into the village in Indian file, the girls leading the way. They were received in front of the hut, where they were to reside temporarily after the operation, by a few elders who had for some time been preparing a number of strips of a vegetable creeper, and smearing them with a black oily mixture. Each girl first came up and had a piece of the creeper fastened round her left ankle. The creeper is called ruruera, and each piece is smeared with medicine made from the umu and wang͠nondu plants mixed with castor oil. One of the elders then took a handful of porridge made of wimbi and mtama meal (eleusine grain and sorghum), and placed some on a bundle of twigs of the mararia bush and offered it to each candidate; the candidate bit a little piece and then spat it out on the ground, the balance was then placed in her hand and she ate it. The porridge was placed on a flat stone used for grinding corn. The boys then came along one by one, and the ceremony was repeated in the same manner, but the strip of creeper was fastened on the right ankle of each boy. It was stated that the object of this portion of the ceremony was to lessen the pain suffered by the candidates during the actual operation.

In another part of the village a man was completing five stools of white wood, roughly hewn out of the solid, which were intended as special seats for the [82]elders and old women who had to perform the ceremony.

Immediately after the ceremonial meal was finished a great rush occurred, and the candidates, followed by the crowd, galloped off to a mugumu, fig tree, about three hundred yards away; as they approached it, the boys threw clubs and sticks up into the tree, and then commenced to climb into the branches, hacking savagely the whole time at the leaves and twigs; each youth had a light club with the head sharpened to a blunt cutting edge, and by dint of vigorous hacking gradually broke off small branches which fell down among the crowd below, and were immediately seized by the people, some of whom at once began to strip off the bark.

The bark was supposed to be used to bind round the heads of the candidates. The people then danced round the tree, and this ended the proceedings. The leaves of the fig tree are collected and strewn in the hut where the candidates sleep after the operation. They are said to be for the purpose of catching the blood, and possibly to prevent the hut being defiled by the blood soaking into the earthen floor. They would never throw sticks into, or gather leaves from, a sacred mugumu tree.

The actual operation was not seen, as it took place at dawn the following morning; it is performed in the open near the village. The bulk of the prepuce is not cut off at all, but forms an excrescence below the glans, a small piece of skin only being cut off; it is thrown away, and not buried.

At the similar operation in Ukamba the prepuce is left on the leaves on which the youth is seated during the operation and thrown away with them.

The neophyte is placed on a bed of leaves for the operation, as it is very bad for the blood to fall on the earth. If anyone touches the blood it is considered unlucky and he must cohabit with his wife, and the mother of the child with her husband, and no harm will ensue. [83]

Mambura Festivities Preceding Circumcision According to Masai Fashion.—The festival which precedes circumcision according to the Masai fashion was also witnessed. It was originally to have been held at full moon, but bad weather caused its postponement till the twenty-fifth day of the moon, which seemed to be equally propitious.

In the morning a sheep was killed and eaten by the elders, and at about noon the candidates had assembled. The people of the village and the candidates passed their time in dancing until the preparations were completed. The male candidates were smeared from head to foot with ashes, and were nude with the exception of a belt of iron chain (munyoro), a bead necklet (kinyata), an iron dancing bell (kigamba) on the right leg near the knee; some wore a ring of the ngurwa vine round their necks. The girls were decorated from neck to waist with a load of beads as in the Kikuyu form of the ceremony.

The first proceeding was the decoration of each of the male candidates with a bracelet made of climbing euphorbiaceous plant called mwimba iguru.

The elders of kiama and the wives of the owner of the village, who was one of the elders, sat round in a circle in the middle of the village with a quantity of tendrils of the plant on a wicker tray, kitaruru, in the centre; a small gourd of white diatomaceous earth, ira, was produced, and each person licked a little and then smeared a small portion of the white earth on his throat and navel; this was to purify himself for the ceremony. A horn cup of honey-beer was then produced, each one taking a sip, and then all simultaneously blowing it out of their mouths in spray on to the plant; it was said that the object of this was to purify or dedicate the plant to the use to which it was to be applied. The male candidates then came up one by one and a bracelet of the creeper was fastened on the right wrist of each.

After a little more dancing the male candidates were seated in a row on ox-hides spread out on the ground; [84]a woman, the sister of the owner of the village, came along and poured first a little milk and then a little honey-beer on the head of the one on the left of the line; she smeared it over the scalp and shaved a place on the right side of his head and passed on to the next. The shaving was merely ceremonial, as the candidates had all been shaved on the head before coming to the ceremony—the native razor, ruenji, being used. The milk was in a gourd and the beer in a cow horn. The male candidates then got up, and the same performance was gone through with the girls.

Shortly after this two great branches from the mutamaiyu tree were brought to the gate of the village and held upright, one on each side of the entrance; the elders said that in the ceremonies according to Masai fashion the mutamaiyu had the same significance as the mugumu tree had in the Kikuyu ceremonial. The candidates came through the village dancing and singing all the time up to near the mutamaiyu branches, and stopped a few yards away from them, still dancing and singing. The song did not appear to have any great significance, being to the effect that from time immemorial they always had the mutamaiyu at these festivals, and now it had come they could proceed to circumcise the candidates according to old custom.

They then all returned to the village, and the candidates were arranged in the order in which they could be circumcised on the morrow. The owner of the village divested himself of his blanket and donned an oily kaross made of goatskin from which all the hair had been scraped; his hands were carefully wiped and some ira (the white earth previously mentioned) was poured into the palm of his hand from a small gourd. He then commenced at the left of the line and anointed each candidate on different parts of the body with smears of the white earth; he was assisted by his principal wife and two sisters and another elder.

The boys were first touched on the tongue, and a line was then drawn down the forehead to the point of [85]the nose; a spot was placed on the throat, the navel, the palm of each hand, and finally between the big toe and first toe.

The procedure with the girls was slightly different, the tongue being smeared first, and a horizontal line then drawn across the forehead. The palms of the hands and the navel were next smeared, and finally a band was drawn round each ankle.

After the candidates had thus been anointed, the elders took mouthfuls of honey-beer out of a horn and blew it in spray over each candidate’s head and shoulders. This part of the proceedings was a ceremony intended to purify the candidates from any thahu which might be on them, and to protect them from any thahu which they might possibly get from an onlooker. The spectators “ululued” loudly during this operation.

It was then about two p.m., and nothing further of importance took place; the crowd, which had been gradually growing, however, danced on till sundown.

At nightfall each candidate was said to receive a dose of the crushed seeds of a plant called ngaita, which acted as an aperient, and in the morning before the operation each one had to bathe in water in which an axe head had been placed to make it cold; it was, however, stated that if there were a large number, some would not bother about this, but would bathe in the nearest stream.

The operation took place at dawn on the following morning, and was not witnessed. No firewood but that from the mutamaiyu tree is allowed to be used in the hut where the candidates live after the operation.

This custom of circumcision according to the two different systems applies to both sexes. Both classes dance with the oval wooden shields called ndomi before circumcision, and travel through the district painted in zig-zag stripes with white clay.

A man circumcised according to Masai fashion can marry a girl circumcised according to Kikuyu fashion [86]and vice versâ; but a medicine man and the elders have to perform a ceremony to change the girl from Kikuyu to Masai before the marriage can take place. The ceremony is said to be as follows: a male sheep is killed, and the small intestines are extracted. The medicine man and the girl take hold of them, and the elders then cut the intestines with three pieces of wood sharpened to a knife edge and made of mathakwa, mukeo, and mukenya bushes. A piece of intestine is cut with each knife. The girl is then anointed with the fat of the sheep by another woman and smeared over with tatha (the stomach contents) mixed with water.

In the case of a marriage between a couple belonging to different guilds the man never changes; it is always the woman who relinquishes the system in which she was brought up. A man can, however, at his own wish and for reasons of his own, change his guild; that is to say a man brought up Masai fashion can change over to the Kikuyu side. It is a much simpler matter for him than for a woman; a male sheep is killed by the elders, and a medicine man then comes and puts him through the ordinary purification ceremony.

A man usually belongs to the guild of his father; that is to say, he is circumcised according to the system of his father and grandfather before him. The mark of a person circumcised Masai fashion is as follows: a copper ring is placed in the lower lobe of each ear, and a piece of stick with an ostrich feather on it is bound on each side of the head; a band of sanseviera fibre, ndivai,2 is bound round the forehead, and on this band bird skins are fastened.

These ornaments are worn for eight days only; bows and arrows are also carried and sandals are worn. After eight days they put off the ornaments and give up the bows and arrows, leaving them in the village where they were circumcised. They then have their heads shaved at the village and return home.

Those circumcised Kikuyu fashion go through [87]none of this, but for two days wear a strip of banana fibre, maigoia, in the lobe of each ear. During five days after recovery they also wear in their ears a round plug of mununga wood whitened on the top with ira and a necklace of the leaves of the mutathi plant. This is probably a protective magic to preserve them from evil influence during their convalescence.

The marks just enumerated only apply to the male sex. With regard to girls, further inquiry has elicited the following facts: a girl whose father belongs to the Masai guild wears rings of copper called ndogonyi on each ankle. A girl whose father belongs to the Kikuyu guild wears an anklet of iron with little rattles, called nyara runga, attached to it.

If a girl who is Masai marries a man who is Kikuyu the ndogonyi are taken off at marriage. If a girl who is Kikuyu marries a man who is Masai she does not, however, discard the nyara runga.

The elaborate ceremonial of old days in connection with circumcision is now rapidly dying out in Southern Kikuyu.

Inquiries were made as to whether the bull-roarer, which is well known in Kikuyu as kiburuti, was used in these ceremonies, but curiously enough it appears to survive only as a child’s toy, whereas in many of the neighbouring tribes it and its first cousin, the friction drum, are regularly used in initiation ceremonial.

Among the Kikuyu, two men circumcised at the same ceremony cannot go into each other’s huts or even touch one another and neither may their children by their first wives. The prohibition may be removed by an exchange of goats, or beer, which both families consume together in a hut. This prohibition does not extend to children of younger wives or to grandchildren. It does not appear to be connected in any way with thabu, but a penalty of a goat or two is paid for breach of the custom.

Generations of the A-Kikuyu.—The description of [88]the circumcision may be concluded by an enumeration of the circumcision ages of the Kikuyu as far back as they can be traced.

In the December number of Man, 1908, the late Hon. K. Dundas gives a list of the Rika or circumcision ages of the A-Kikuyu which probably goes back about one hundred years or so, but this enumeration did not go sufficiently into detail, and certain important points were missed, so it has now been revised.

Four well-known elders, named Katonyo wa Munene, Karanja wa Hiti, Ithonga wa Kaithuma, and Mukuria wa Mucheru, were consulted, and the following lists are probably as reliable as can be expected, dependent as they unavoidably are on the memory of old men. The first list was given me by the first two, the second list by the second two. There are slight variations, but these are almost inevitable under the circumstances.

Morika, or Muhurika, singular—Rika, plural, is the circumcision age or generation, and corresponds more or less to the poror among the Masai. The Rika called Manjiri, Mamba, Manduti, and Chuma were not recognised by either of the elders, who both commenced their count with Chiira, which is obviously the same as Shiera of Dundas’s paper, and possibly the farther north one goes among the Kikuyu tribe the farther back do their legends go.

The following is the list beginning at the most remote point:

Version I

Version II

This brings us up to the last few years, and the elders said they had no interest in them.

The name given to the morika generally has some topical allusion to an event which occurred during the year and about the time of the circumcision ceremonies; these allusions are naturally forgotten in course of time, and the derivations in many cases now appear senseless.

One morika extends over two years, or four Kikuyu seasons, called Kimera.

The terms Maina and Mwangi as names for the rika of the last fifty years seem to be fixed as far as one can gather, e.g.:—

So apparently every person when circumcised takes the name of the morika of his grandfather.

The word morika is used indifferently as applying to the larger group as well as to the group of a particular year. Any young men, however, who have been circumcised of recent years, and are still under the class Mwiringhu, would not be called Mwangi until the group of years was complete.

The time of the completion of a group of years is decided by the elders, but what determined the commencement of a new group was not ascertained.

These rika names only apply to males.

A leading Kikuyu elder named Lorigi was independently questioned on these matters by Mr C. Dundas, and his view was as follows: The Azamaki of to-day are practically all Mwangi, and Lorigi himself, who is among the most senior Azamaki, belongs to Mwangi. Kamiri, and a few others, are Maina, like the Mwangi he attends the councils. The sons of Maina are Mwangi and the sons of Mwangi are Maina, so that a man always belongs to the same division as his grandfather: thus Lorigi’s father was a Maina and his son also belongs to Maina, but Lorigi himself belongs to Mwangi as his grandson does. It thus comes about that there are two generations of Mwangi and Maina living at the same time, and the younger generation of either is distinguished by the temporary name of Mwirungu (plural Irungi). When these become elders they will be called Mwangi or Maina, as the case may be, without the addition of Irungu.

The Itwika Ceremony.—As explained in the last section, the Kikuyu have rika or circumcision ages, and a long list was given; these rika fall into groups and so many form a greater rika, named either Mwangi or [93]Maina, which follow one another alternately. It was not clear at the time what determined a group of rika being lumped together as Maina or Mwangi; it now appears, however, that this is connected with a periodic ceremony called the itwika, which takes place every fifteen years or so. These correspond to a great extent to the eunoto of the Masai, and are of tremendous importance to the Kikuyu; the elders, in fact, state that they originated in Kikuyu, and were copied by the Masai during the period when the Kapotei and Dogilani Masai were very friendly with the S. Kikuyu and the Purko Masai with the N. Kikuyu; in the present state of our knowledge it is, however, impossible to say whether there is any foundation for this.3 Probably the best test would be to inquire if the Bari people who live in or near the country from which the Masai are believed to be derived, possess this kind of social organisation. The itwika has been described by Mr. Routledge as a secret society connected with snake worship, but as far as can be discovered in S. Kikuyu there is no foundation for this idea, elders, however, do not care to discuss its ceremonial unless one is very well known to them; they are not supposed to discuss it with any person of younger grade than themselves, and the ceremonies may be considered, in fact, as a final initiation at which only fully qualified elders are allowed to attend.

The last great itwika ceremony was at the end of the big famine of 1898–9, and was held about the time that the Government founded Fort Hall.4 The gatherings were formerly held on the area between the Thika and Chania rivers, just above the junction of these two rivers, and the name Thika is derived from its connection with the itwika. The last itwika was held [94]near Kalaki’s, in the district known as Tingnanga in Mimi wa Ruchu’s country; it is said that on account of the decimation of the people by famine and small-pox it was decided not to hold it at the old place. The next itwika will take place when the grandchildren of people of the same rika as the chief Kinanjui have all been circumcised, and the decision of the date rests with the athuri ya ukuu of the Maina generation, this being the senior generation to-day. This apparently corresponds to the ngaje of the Masai (vide Hollis’s “Masai”).

An account of the last ceremony was obtained from one who was present, and the first step is said to be the building of a huge long hut to accommodate those who participate in the festival. This is divided into two main divisions, one for elders of the Maina generation and one for those of the Mwangi generation, and in addition, a small room for the athuri ya ukuu, who may be considered as the officiating priests of the festival. These thuri ya ukuu are always eight in number, and at the last itwika their names were, Muthaka, Ngombwa Tutua, Kimwaki, Kathungu, Kithenji wa Njuki, Rimui wa Kanjuku, Ngegenya and Mbura wa Katuku, and the whole programme rested in their hands.

The principal elder of each village is supposed to attend, and often the next in importance as well; the gathering, therefore, consists of several thousand souls, and the proceedings continue for three months or more. Each elder brings sheep and goats, bullocks, gourds of honey-beer, and gourds of sugar-cane beer, and relays of food are brought to the camp during the ceremonies by women, but no women are allowed within the confines of the camp. A number of men are also selected to collect firewood, but do not come inside the camp. The only persons allowed inside the camp, except the elders, are eight spearmen, who are told off to attend on the eight athuri ya ukuu.

It does not appear possible to obtain a detailed account of the proceedings, but it is said that every [95]day the eight athuri ya ukuu instruct their juniors in the customs of the tribe and so forth, the elders also hold “ngomas” or dances.

One man is chosen as an official trumpeter to the proceedings, and he collects the elders for the various rites by blowing a horn of the rare bongo antelope (ndongoro). The horn is called choro, and no one else is allowed to blow it; this is considered a very honourable office, and the trumpeter is paid nine rams and nine female kids for his services.

In former days towards the end of the festival the elders in charge of an itwika sent two envoys to a certain place on a stream called Kikira, in Kenya province, which was said to be the habitat of a mysterious reptile called the ndamathia. It was described as being more like a crocodile than like a snake. This beast was given beer to drink, and when it was drunk hairs were plucked from its tail. A hairy tail is not characteristic of reptiles, but all are agreed that the hairs were obtained. The envoys then returned, and the hair was plaited together with some strands of fibre of the wild date palm (Phœnix reclinata), and then placed on the top of the itwika hut. At the conclusion of the festival the people went in procession to a sacred fig tree (mugumu) in the vicinity, and stuffed the hair into a crevice in the tree and left it there. They then took the milk of a cow which had only borne one calf, the milk of a ewe which had only borne one lamb, and the milk of a goat which had only borne one kid, and poured them as a libation at the foot of the fig tree; a dance round the fig tree then ensued. This was the concluding ceremony of the itwika. Each person attending was finally adorned on the wrist with a rukwaru or strip of skin from a male goat, and the itwika house was broken up and they returned home.

At the last itwika held in South Kikuyu the elders did not send for the hair of the ndamathia, but the concluding ceremony was carried out with a big black ox, which was tied by its fore and hind legs and laid [96]between two poles; all the people then came along, one after the other, and stamped on the ox, which eventually died. The ox was not eaten but was left lying there, and they then poured libations of milk and fat at the foot of the sacred mugumu tree and danced round it, praying to God (Engai). After this they shaved their heads, were adorned with the rukwaru from a male goat, and returned home. Upon reaching their villages each elder killed a ram and placed a rukwaru cut from its skin on every person in his village; these were worn for one day only, the villagers then ceremonially bathed and threw them away.

These ceremonies are said to be very pleasing to God (Engai). No one is ever allowed to cultivate on the area which has been used for an itwika ceremony, and no one must ever cut the mugumu (fig tree) with an axe or knife. [97]

Kikuyu.—Among most peoples, irrespective of their stage of culture, definite ceremonials have to be observed upon the occasion of a death, and before the heirs can succeed to the property. In Kikuyu land these are somewhat complex, and like many other observances in that country, their form greatly depends on the circumcision guild to which the person belongs. This is the excuse for introducing the subject, as it is submitted that this factor has apparently escaped the notice of previous investigators, and to understand fully the life-history of a Kikuyu native it must be clearly realised how, from his early years to his death, he is bound down by the ritual of the guild to which he belongs. The nearest analogy one can find to illustrate this is the case of one child who is baptised a Protestant and another a Roman Catholic; the main principles of these religions are the same, and among the Kikuyu the guild to which a man belongs does not affect his beliefs as to the ngoma, or spirits, and their influence upon mortals, but the ritual of his religion varies throughout his life according to the guild to which he belongs.

The ceremonial observed upon a death is called ku-hukura—the Swahili synonym, sadaka, has practically the same meaning.

The death and funeral ceremonies of an elder circumcised Kikuyu fashion will be first described. On the day of the death the children or heirs take two rams and present them to the elders to pay for the [98]digging of the grave; every elder who has circumcised children is buried, married women who have borne five or six children are also buried. The grass is dug with a mubiru or mukuruwi stick, the sons of the deceased doing the actual digging, but the elders decide the site and supervise the work; if a son refuses to assist in digging his father’s grave it disqualifies him from receiving a share of the estate. The grave-diggers receive a big male goat (nthenge), or, if the family is rich, a bullock, the bullock being slaughtered and the corpse buried in the hide. The corpse of a male is buried on its right side with its knees doubled up and with the right hand under the head. The site of the grave is near the gate of the village, and the face of the corpse is placed looking towards its hut. A woman is always buried lying on her left side.

On the third day after the interment, the elders assemble at the village to kill a ram to cleanse the village from the stain of death, and the sons eat the breast of this animal and next day shave their heads. The same day the elders bring with them one of their number who is very poor, and of the same clan as the deceased, and he has to sleep in the hut of the senior widow of the deceased and have connection with her; he generally lives on in the village and is looked upon as a stepfather to the children.

There is then a pause of six days, and on the seventh day the elders return, a supply of beer is made ready for them, and a big male goat is killed and eaten by all present. This is called nthenge ya noro, which means the “goat of the whetstone,” referring to the whetstone used in sharpening the razors with which the heads are ceremonially shaved at the conclusion of the ceremonies. During the first four days after the death, the married men in the village must have connection with their wives; during the succeeding four days, however, they must observe strict continence.

After the nthenge ya noro has been killed the property is divided. [99]

If the deceased belongs to the Masai circumcision guild the ceremonies are as follows:

When a death occurs the elders decide whether the person is to be buried or not. Only elders above what is known as the “three goat” grade are buried; these are called athuri ya mburi tatu, which means that they have reached the grade, the entrance fee to which is three goats; the next grade is athuri ya mburi nne or the “four goat” grade. No elder is a fully qualified member of council till he reaches that rank. Generally speaking, it works out that only those elders who have grown-up children are buried. In the case of a person not entitled to burial, it is the duty of the elders to decide the place in the bush where the corpse shall be deposited.

Assuming that the deceased is entitled to burial, the local athuri ya ukuu (highest grade of elders) are summoned, and the corpse is taken out of the hut by the sons and laid on the hide on which the person slept during life. A ram (ndorume) is then slaughtered, the fat being cooked in an earthenware pot and some poured on the corpse, the children of the deceased also being smeared with the fat. The ornaments of the deceased are then removed under the supervision of the elders and divided up among the immediate family; the eldest son has the first choice, then the senior wife, and each child gets something. An ox of a uniform colour, preferably all white or all black, is now slaughtered and the hide is set aside. The elder sons dig the grave, the site having first been chosen by the elders; it is usually situated inside the village near the goat hut or bachelor quarters, thengira. The corpse is then interred lying on the sleeping hide used during life; if a male, it is laid on its right side, knees doubled up and right hand under the head; if a female, it is laid on its left side in the same position. The corpse is then covered with the raw ox hide with the hair side upwards and the grave is filled in. Nothing is buried with the body, but after the grave is filled in, the elders [100]pour honey and cooked fat on the grave, and say, “We give you this to drink.”

A little later in the day a male goat, nthenge, is slaughtered, the meat being roasted on a fire near the gate of the village, and a little of the fat is placed on every fire in the village; the smell of this is believed to be very pleasing to the ngoma, or spirits, and any thahu or curse that may be impending is drawn away. This act is also said to lustrate the sons who have performed the burial.

A month, or perhaps more, is allowed to elapse, and the division of the estate takes place. The children or heirs then take four rams, and the women of the village shed all their ornaments and sleep together in the same hut, which is also shared by the four sheep. In the morning the elders arrive and the sheep are killed, the fat is cooked and then put away to cool, while the meat is eaten by the assembled people, providing they belong to the Masai guild. The head must be cooked and eaten away from the village; the skin is taken by someone else, and the viscera by yet another person.

On the following day the heads of all the inhabitants of the village are shaved and they are anointed with the fat of the sheep. During the ceremony the people present wear their skin garments inside out, and these are anointed with the cooked latex of the mugumu fig tree; after their bodies have been anointed with the fat they can once more turn their skin robes right side outwards, and the women resume their ornaments.

The property of the deceased is then divided up by the elders; the principle followed is that each son takes the property which had its dwelling-place in his mother’s hut, the goats and sheep, for instance, and which lodge, so many in the hut of each wife. With regard to which cattle, each son gets those which have been milked by his mother. Strict continency must be observed by all in the village until these proceedings are finished, and at their close the inhabitants and all [101]the property of the deceased are ceremonially purified by a medicine man.

Among the Kikuyu a woman’s skin cloak is laid outside on the ground when she dies and no one will touch it; a Dorobo husband, however, wears his wife’s cloak after her death; hence one may at times see a man wearing a woman’s cloak. The fear of corpses is intense with the Kikuyu, but it appears to be much less so with the Dorobo. They will, for instance, live in the house of the deceased, and do not seem to mind handling the corpse, a man’s sons, in fact, anointing his corpse after death.

Burial (Ukamba of Kitui).—Among these people the head of a village is buried if his wife, wives, or any sons are alive. If they are all dead the body is thrown out.

A man of importance and of high social grade is nearly always buried and is interred at the side of his cattle kraal.

The head wife of an elder is buried.

Beer and blood are periodically poured out by the side of a grave of a deceased medicine man, but not by that of other elders. It is essential that this libation should be made just before sunrise, and as this is in accordance with the practice in several other places, the custom is probably a very old one.

In the case of deceased elders, a libation of beer and blood is poured out inside the hut of the deceased when liquor is brewed or when a goat is killed.

If a childless wife, who is the first wife, dies, she is buried inside the village. In the case of a second or third wife, the body is thrown out, but curiously enough it must not be taken through the gate; a special opening is made in the village fence for the purpose, the opening being afterwards closed up again. Presumably this is to prevent her spirit from finding its way back into the village.

There is a curious custom among the Kamba of Ulu, in the event of a member of the family being away [102]when a death occurs in a village. An elder measures the corpse, cuts a stick of the same length and places it alongside the house of the deceased; this procedure is believed to protect the absent one from evil. Upon his return, a goat is killed and he is smeared with the contents of the stomach, muyo in Ki-Kamba, the tatha of Kikuyu, and some is deposited at the door of the hut, and he must tread in it before entering the hut; this ceremonially purifies him. The stick is then taken up by a mutumia ya makwa, one of the elders who understands the ritual connected with the removal of thabu or makwa, and is thrown out into the bush where the corpse of the deceased was deposited.

In Kitui if a man is on a journey and a death occurs in the village during his absence, his wives may not cut their hair till he returns and has performed the ceremonies necessary upon the occasion of a death. [103]

Regarding the Birth of Children, etc. (Kikuyu).—In former times, if a child was born feet first it was suffocated and thrown out.

If a child touches the ground at the time of its birth it is considered very unlucky. A ram, a mwati (young ewe) or an arika (young female goat) is killed, and a bracelet made of the skin is placed on the mother’s wrist. This is done for the sake of the child. The skin of the animal sacrificed is used for carrying the child on its mother’s back.

It is again very unlucky when an infant cuts its upper teeth first, but the child is not killed, and is merely sent to its maternal grandmother. This only refers to those belonging to the Kikuyu circumcision guild. The child is termed kingu. To avert the ill luck, a friend is asked to cohabit with the mother for a month, after which the husband returns to his wife.

The birth of twins is a great misfortune either in human beings or domestic animals, but only when it occurs the first time a woman or animal bears.

It is believed that the father will die if he cohabits again with the mother; a case was cited of a man who did so and was killed by a train a few days later.

Formerly twin infants were always suffocated, and in such cases were thrown into the bush by the old woman who assisted at the birth. This probably still occurs in the remoter parts of Kikuyu, but the elders stated that in the more civilised parts they are no longer killed but are given to a member of the clan of the father to rear. [155]

In order to free the mother from the curse, the husband hands her over to another man called a mundu rohiu, and when she has borne to him, her husband takes her back. A ram has to be killed and the woman adorned with a rukwaru before she is taken back.

This only refers to those belonging to the Kikuyu circumcision guild.

If a person, who is a twin, crosses a river, he or she must stoop down and fill the mouth with water and, facing downstream, spit it out into the river, saying, according to their sex: “May I not beget (or bear) twins as my father (or mother) did.”

Anyone seeing this ceremony might well mistake it for a propitiatory offering to a river spirit, and the error indeed has occurred. The root idea, however, is that the flowing water may carry away the kind of thahu which results in such an unlucky tendency as that of bearing twins. They can give no explanation as to why twins should be of such ill omen if they happen to be the first children of a married couple or of a domestic animal. They do not appear to believe, as in some countries, that twins have any influence over the weather. If a woman bears twins a second time, one of the children will be given to another man to bring up.

The Hon. C. Dundas made some inquiries on this point in Kyambu district, and he states that in S. Kikuyu the birth of twins is considered unlucky excepting in the case of a woman who has borne other children; the younger the woman the more unlucky the occurrence, and if the first birth is of twins, no medicine man can remove the evil, and the only course is to throw the twins into the bush or to give them to another man of a different tribe or clan. In Kenya Province it is said that twins are sold to other tribes, but in Kyambu district the elders held this to be a bad custom. The foster-father becomes sole owner of the twins and if they are girls receives dowry for them. In such case if the twins were the first birth of a woman, the father can accept no part of the dowry, but if they were second [156]or subsequent births, he receives the whole dowry from the foster-father and returns ten goats to him.

At Ngenda Mission, a twin was handed over to the missionary, and the father agreed to give them the customary ten goats out of the dowry when the child should be married. No reason for this belief is known, but the custom is rigorously followed to this day. No one can sleep in the hut in which twins were born until they are disposed of, and the mother must cohabit with a stranger who is then called mwendia wa rohio or mundu rohiu (man of the sword).1

A short time ago a case of triplets occurred. The mother had first borne one child, then twins, and finally triplets. In this case only one of the triplets was given away to a man of another clan, for, as the woman had borne several times before, the triplets were not considered unlucky, and the giving away of the one was said to be due solely to the mother’s inability to suckle all three.

On the birth of a child a sheep is killed and a strip of the skin is worn on the mother’s wrist, rukwaru, and her head is shaved; the fat of the sheep is prepared and given to the infant to eat, being put into its mouth with the finger. This must be done before the child is suckled, and the same ceremony, in respect to the mother, is performed by the foster-mother in cases where a twin or other child is handed over to a family of another clan.

In every case where a child is handed over to foster-parents it will belong to the clan of its foster-parents and not to that of its real parents, but if the child is a girl she can marry a man of the foster-father’s clan provided he does not live close to the foster-father, while marriage with a man of her real father’s clan is prohibited to her. [157]

There is an undoubted widespread belief that the only satisfactory way of dealing with twins is to suffocate them, as they are unlucky. It is believed that the practice of giving them away is a later adaptation to the custom followed when a woman dies in child-birth, the child, whether twin or not, being always, in this case, given away to a man of another clan.

Among the Kamba of Ulu, the same general idea as to the unluckiness of twins, if they are the first-born, prevails. The twins, however, are not killed or put away, but within a day or two of their birth the mother is returned by her husband to her father and the marriage price of the woman is paid back to him. If the husband cohabits with the mother of the twins after their birth it is believed that he or the children will die. It is therefore quite clear that the curse or ill luck is only immanent in the woman. Upon the birth of an ordinary child a string made of the bark of the ithaa tree is ceremonially tied round its neck, but this is not permitted in the case of twins. After the mother of twins has been returned to her father, she may be married to another husband without the latter incurring the same risks as the first husband, but the second husband must be of the grade of an elder of council. It is an interesting point, as a man, on reaching this grade, is not so subject to the incidence of a curse as a young man. It would therefore appear that the woman is still to some extent dangerous. The second husband becomes the adopted father of the twins and carries out the ithaa ceremony mentioned above; one of the twins must be named Mbatha, the name of the other one being of no significance. At the feast of the ithaa, he kills two rams or two male goats, one for each twin. It is said that twins are not killed at birth, as among the Kikuyu, because the woman’s second husband would, under native law, sue the father for the value of the children.

As the twins grow up, each child must be treated exactly alike; if one has a present, the other must [158]receive the same. A wife must be found for each at the same time, and the same marriage dowry must be paid for each. In the case of boys, when sufficient live stock has been paid over to the prospective father-in-law to induce them to part with their daughters, both brides must be brought to their husbands on the same day. If one of the twins is a boy and the other a girl, and the latter is being sought in marriage by a young man, it is the custom for the brother to take his sister to her lover’s village for a visit. They stay there two days and return home on the third day, the girl being given a goat by the young man.

The Kamba of Ulu do not believe that twins have any influence on the rain or the weather generally. In Kitui, as in Kikuyu, it is most unlucky for twins to be born if they are the first children of the marriage. In former times one was buried alive, but this cruel custom has apparently died out. It is, however, still believed that if they are girls and both live, the mother will die, and if the twins are boys and they survive, the father will die. It is supposed that the evil effect can be mitigated to some extent if, three days after their birth, the father cohabits with the mother; the parents also kill a goat and are smeared with the tatha, or stomach contents.

If a cow bears twin calves at first calving they are invariably both killed.

As in Kikuyu, it is lucky for a child to be born head first; it is unlucky to be born feet first, but the infant is not killed. There is, however, a curious belief that such a person must never step over anyone lying on the ground, and if he forgets this prohibition, he must at once step back over the recumbent person. The stepping back is called njokela, “to go back,” and is supposed to reverse the ill luck which would be transmitted.

In Kitui, if a cow bears a dead calf the children can eat it but not a woman, as it is believed that the next time she is pregnant she will have a still-born child. [159]Women are also not allowed to eat the meat of a beast which dies.

If a cow bears a deformed calf it is buried, for if it is allowed to live lung trouble is said to appear among the cattle.

There is no particular taboo on crippled children, but the people say that the infant is the reincarnation of a deceased person similarly afflicted whom they remember, and give it his or her name.

The Kamba of Kitui believe that the aiimu, or spirits of the deceased, sometimes pray to the deity (Engai) to give them another body, and if the request is granted, a spirit will enter a new-born child and commence another corporeal existence on earth. Their reason for believing this is that a pregnant woman will sometimes dream of a deceased person night after night; if she dreams of a certain man who is dead, and then bears a son, they know it is that particular man who has come back to earth, and the child will be given his name. This is part of the same belief as that of the spiritual husband, described in the author’s work on the A-Kamba, page 39.

As in the Ulu district and Kikuyu it is considered very unlucky for a child to be born feet first, and such a child will have ill luck through life. If it is a male child his wife, if he marries in late life, is sure to die, and if it is a girl, her husband will die. In the latter case, however, the evil can be averted if the prospective husband, before he commences to pay for his bride, sends her mother a present of an axe. If the woman bears a child which is born feet first, it is essential that the husband cohabit with her on the seventh day after the birth.

Should a child in Kitui cut its upper incisor teeth first it is considered a very bad sign. Such a child must not partake of the firstfruits of the fields, and it is said that, should it admire a growing crop, that crop will never reach maturity. This evil influence, however, can to a great extent be mitigated if, when the first of [160]the child’s milk teeth drops out, the father cohabits with the mother.

A child is taught that when one of his milk teeth comes out he is to throw it between his legs and say, “May Engai give me a new tooth to replace the one I have lost.”

The feeling against twin birth varies according to the locality. In the more remote parts it is very strong, but in parts of Ulu, the prejudice is dying out. The father, however, will usually sacrifice to prevent evil effects.

Taboos on Women.—When a pregnant woman is near delivery, all arms are taken out of the hut, and also any iron hoes. They are not brought back again until the mother’s head has been shaved at the purification ceremony after a birth. If these articles are left in a hut on such an occasion and someone, for instance, takes a hoe away and uses it, the child will, it is believed, be afflicted with a thabu. The food in the house at the time of birth can only be eaten by the mother and three old women who assist at the birth; any infringement of this rule is a great danger to the newly born. Even the father cannot eat in the hut for three or four months, but if a man is poor and has only one wife, he will sleep in the thengira, or goat hut, and if he has no thengira, he will sleep in the hut on a separate bed.

A pregnant woman must not sew with a needle, as it is said to be very dangerous for the new-born infant.

If at child-birth any blood falls on the floor of the hut, the old women who assist at the birth dig up the earth floor at that place and bury the soil in the bush at some little distance from the village, for if a goat licked that particular spot it would die.

If a man goes into his hut at a birth or after it has taken place, and accidentally treads in blood which may have dripped on the floor, the newly born child will become sick, but the evil can be averted by the cohabitation of the parents.

This fear of certain kinds of blood is very curious [161]and goes right back to ancient times. Among these people a woman during her menstrual period may not grind corn, but is allowed to cook sweet potatoes or whole maize. She may not, however, milk the cattle, nor may she cut potato tops as green fodder for the goats.

A woman must also not step over her husband when in this state or he will become ill, and to remove the thahu a ewe lamb must be killed and both husband and wife invested with bracelets made of the skin (rukwaru). A woman will tell her husband when she becomes ill, and bathe when she is no longer so. Her husband can then return to her.

A woman must not shave her hair while her husband is on a journey; if she does so she will be accused of bewitching him. She can, however, clip her hair a little in front. This prohibition is said to be connected with the customs by which a wife shaves her head on the death of her husband, and were she to do so while he is travelling, it might possibly bring him ill luck.

If a man goes away to hunt or to fight, and on his way back, when he nears his village, is taken ill and suffers from diarrhœa, he knows thereby that his wife has been unfaithful to him during his absence. He will thereupon call an elder and tell him to bring a ram and the roots of certain medicinal plants: kindio, ibalu, and mathengi. The throat of the ram is pierced and the blood collected in a half gourd (nzeli) and mixed with the crushed roots and the tatha, or stomach contents, of the ram. The suspected woman is called out and told to take hold of the right arm of the elder who is holding the nzeli containing the mixture. She then takes a handful of the decoction and throws it on the ground, and the husband rubs his foot in it. The remainder of the mixture is sprinkled all the way from there to the door of the hut, as well as on the bed. She is probably beaten by her husband, and her paramour is summoned before the council of elders and fined a bull or a ram. [163]

In a study of the beliefs and practices of primitive people it is difficult to draw the line between religion and magic. The general view is that magic is anti-social; that is to say, that it grew up to satisfy the desire of man to manipulate supernatural powers for his own private benefit.

Robertson Smith expresses the position as follows: “The gods watched over a man’s civic life, etc., but they were not sure helpers in any private need, and, above all, would not help him in matters that were against the interests of the community as a whole. There was therefore a whole region of possible needs and desires for which religion could and would do nothing, and if supernatural help was sought in such things it had to be sought through magical ceremonies designed to purchase or constrain the favour of demoniac powers with which the public religion had nothing to do.”1

This line of argument is probably unassailable, but in the people with whom we are dealing the belief in demoniacal powers, as apart from the ancestral spirits, has not reached a high pitch of development, and is not at all concrete. They practise magic extensively and have a firm belief in it, but it is difficult to say with certainty exactly what powers they believe are being influenced by the magical ceremonial.

The guild of smiths, both in Kikuyu and Ukamba, possess hereditary magic powers; one clan of the Kikuyu, called the Eithaga, is believed also to possess similar powers. A leading elder in Kikuyu, for [166]example, who is also the priest in charge of a sacred tree, is said to have the power of destroying plagues of caterpillars. Such a person, however, could scarcely be considered anti-social, as the destruction of the pest must benefit the crops of the whole community. There is also the case of another elder who is apparently a past master in the art of detecting criminals, and more especially thieves; this power would, of course, only be exercised at the request of the owner of the property, and incidentally to the advantage of the magician.

The power of the “evil eye” probably belongs to magic, although the power is regarded as an infliction which a person unfortunately possesses at birth. It is a very ancient belief, and has existed from the time of the ancient Assyrians to the present day. It still flourishes among the Semitic races, and also in Morocco; all round the Mediterranean basin, in fact, as well as in Arabia and Palestine, people wear armlets or charms to protect them from this evil influence. [167]

The information relating to Kikuyu smiths was mainly collected from Kimani wa Nyaga, of the Gachiko clan, who is one of the senior smiths in Southern Kikuyu.

A smith in Kikuyu is called muturi, plural aturi.

The smiths of the Kikuyu tribe are said to have all come originally from a common centre of distribution at Ithanga, on the south-western side of Mount Kenya.

This scattering of the smiths throughout the tribe is stated to have occurred many generations ago, and the name Ithanga to be that of their common ancestor, but now the term Ithanga has become a synonym for a sub-clan of the A-Gachiko, and not all the members of this sub-clan are smiths.

It may be that the ancestor Ithanga was a migrant from another tribe and the first person to bring into the tribe the knowledge of working in iron. There appears to be, however, no legend as to who invented the act of smelting or working in iron; it therefore looks as if the craft were imported. It was certainly not learnt from the Dorobo or Asi aboriginals, for the Kikuyu declare that when their forefathers came into the country, the Asi had no smiths, and to this day they have none. It is believed that the ancestors of the Dorobo were the people who made the stone implements now being so widely found.

The Masai, however, appear to have had amongst them for a long period a clan of serfs called El-Konono, who are their smiths.

In former times, the ancestors of the Kikuyu dug [168]out nodules of ironstone at Ithanga, and also collected iron sand washed down by the rain from the hill. This is probably the place described by Routledge, p. 80 et seq., of his book. The ironstone was smelted with charcoal made from the mutumaiyu tree (Olea chrysophylla) and forged with charcoal from the mutarakwa tree (Juniperus procera).

The tools and apparatus used by smiths are as follows:

In former times one section smelted the iron and another forged it; imported iron wire is now so cheap that most of the forgings are made from it.

If a man wishes to enter the guild, he has to be initiated with some ceremony. He must bring a ram (ndorume) which is slaughtered just outside the smithy; the novice is then walked round the anvil. The heart and lungs of the slaughtered animal are held in the smith’s tongs and roasted in his fire, which is fanned by the bellows; the novice eats them and the smith sits on the anvil and anoints the forehead of the novice with a spot of white earth (ira). The carcase of the sacrifice is then split from neck to tail, the right half being eaten by the smiths and the left half by the villagers present. [169]

The smiths and the villagers then go to the village of the novice to drink beer, and next morning the smith comes and forges an iron bracelet, which he places on the right wrist of the would-be smith, and, if the smith is married, one on the left wrist of his principal wife. If he has more than one wife, one of his first tasks is to forge bracelets for the others. The head of a smith’s village wears a twisted iron bracelet on his right wrist, the other smiths a plain iron band.

Birth does not confer membership of the guild; the son of a smith has to go through the same initiation ceremonies before becoming a smith.

All smiths are believed to possess magical powers which are alleged to come from the iron they use and are carried on through the spirits of their ancestors (ngoma). These powers are used in many ways; a smith can inflict curses which are of the nature of thahu, and they can bless the weapons they forge.

When a smith has forged a spear or sword he rubs it with a piece of kianduri wood (Swahili msuaki, Bot. Salvadora persica) and addresses the weapon thus: “If the owner of this meets with an enemy, may you go straight and kill your adversary; but if you are launched at one who has no evil in his heart, may you miss him and pass on either side without entering into his body.” This incantation is believed to be a great charm.

After this ceremony the smith’s assistant polishes the weapon with a quartzose stone called ngomongo; the assistant is paid for his work but is not usually a smith. He is often merely the bellows boy, who is called a muruguti.

Some customers bring their own iron and charcoal and bargain for the manufacture of a sword or spear; others buy a weapon which has been made at odd moments and laid by for sale.

A smith will not make the sheath of a sword; he makes the wooden hilt, but the owner himself covers it with raw hide and also makes the sheath.

One of the important functions of the smiths is to [170]make certain articles used in connection with the circumcision rites of the tribe. These are as follows:

The head of the village where the rites are to take place orders these articles from a leading smith before the ceremony. When the smith delivers them he is given some honey beer, and he ceremonially spits a little of it on each of the things to free them from any suspicion of containing bad magic.

When a smith marries, another smith is called in to forge an iron bracelet, which is placed on the bride’s left wrist. The husband then kills a ram, and the fat and the tatha (stomach contents) of the animal are boiled together in a pot, and the bracelet is dropped into the mixture. This is supposed to free the bride from any bad magic which some evilly disposed ancestral spirit might bring upon her by means of the bracelet.

The Kikuyu smiths state that they have no special language or dialect peculiar to their guild. When they die, they are buried or thrown out in the bush, according to their grade, in the same way as other members of the tribe, and no symbol of their trade is buried with them.

Some smiths belong to the Masai circumcision guild, others to the Kikuyu guild.

With regard to the magic powers of smiths referred to above:

A smith can place a spell on a patch of forest to [171]prevent anyone from destroying it. He takes an iron necklet or bracelet which belonged to a deceased person, cuts it into small pieces, and walks round the piece of forest which is to be protected. He then deposits the pieces at the foot of a tree within the area, and woe betide anyone who infringes the prohibition! If at any time the spell is to be lifted, the smith proceeds to the area, sacrifices a ewe, removes the pieces of bracelet, and smears the spot with tatha, or stomach contents, of the sacrificial animal.

If sugar cane is stolen from a garden, or goats are stolen out of a village by night, the owner often goes to a smith and seeks his aid, taking with him the iron necklet or bracelet of a deceased person. If the smith agrees to intervene, he will heat this in his smithy fire and then sever it with a chisel, saying, “May the thief be cut as I cut this iron.” Or he may take a sword or an axe-head which he is making, heat it in his fire and then quench it in water, saying, “May the body of the thief cool as this iron does,” i.e., “May he die.”

Both of these curses are said to be equally effective, and it is believed that the thief will gradually become thin and fade away with a terrible cough. When he becomes ill, however, he will usually confess his crime and be brought to the smith or come to him to beg that the curse may be lifted. He must bring a ram (ndorume) with him, and the smith will then order him to sit down outside the smithy and will march round him with the ram. The ram is killed, and the heart and lungs are extracted; these parts are then roasted in the smith’s fire and the patient eats them, and the curse is lifted. The complete recovery, however, is said to take about six weeks. A medicine man has no power over a smith’s magic.

In former times smiths were sometimes supposed to bewitch people against whom they had a grievance. A smith would secretly take the necklet or bracelet of a deceased person, cut it into pieces, and bury a piece at the gate of the village he wished to bewitch; the people [172]passing in and out all day would step on the spot where the piece of iron was buried and thus incur the evil influence. Another piece would probably be buried at the watering place. By these means the whole village became afflicted, and unless the magic was removed the people would die. The infliction of the magic, in fact, would probably not be realised until several people had died. The evil magic has to be removed by a smith and a medicine man; a ram and a young ewe, which has not yet borne, mwati, are provided, the ram is killed, and the usual purification ceremony gone through, the ewe being set aside and taken by the mundu mugo. After the evil magic has been removed, the head of the afflicted village receives from the smith a twisted iron bracelet (muthiori).