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ARCHIVES
D'ETUDES ORIENTALES
PUBLIEES AU FRAIS
des Forges et Acieries d'AvESTA (MM. A. Johnson

& C:ie, Stockholm), Proprietaire-Directeur M. Axel Ax:son
Johnson
de M. Frans Kempe, Phil. D:r, a Hernosands^Stocks!

holm
de la Fabrique Suedoise des Roulements a billes,

Soc. anon. (A. B. Svenska Kullager-fabriken) a Gotembourg
de la Fabrique de Cuir de L. A. Matton a Gefle
de la Soc. anon. NoRDSTjERNAN, Armateurs a Stocks!

—
holm (Johnson Lignes: Suede Bresil — La Plata, Suede Chili —
— Sud —
Pacific, Suede ^San Francisco —
Nord Pacific), Admi-
nistrateur-Directeur M. Axel Ax:son Johnson
par J.-A. LUNDELL
N:o 17
THE AKA/VIBA IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA

AN ETHNOLOGICAL MONOGRAPH
BY GERHARD LINDBLOM
UPPSALA 19 18 — 1920. APPELBERGS BOKTRYCKERI AKTIKBOLAG

ARCHIVES D'ETUDES ORIENTALES
PuBLiEES PAR J.-A. LUNDELL
Vol. 17
THE AKAMBA
IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA ;
AN ETHNOLOGICAL MONOGRAPH
BY
GERHARD LINDBLOM 0^^7-v >
2a EDITION, ENLARGED
UPPSALA 1920
APPELBERGS BOKTRYCKERI AKTIEBOLAG
The first edition of this monograph was published as a uni-
versity dissertation (discussed publicly at Upsala, May 2y'^, igi6).
This treatise comprised Chaps. I— XII, corresponding to Chaps. I —

V, VII — XI^ XIII in this edition, hi the second edition numerous
additions are made to the text of the first edition, and Chaps. VI,
XII, XIV ff. are <juite neiv.

4
TO
COUNT ERIC VON ROSEN

IN GRATEFUL AFFECTION
.
Contents.
Page
Contents vii
Introduction i
Chap. I. The Akamba — their country and neighbours... 9

1 Geographical extension 9
2. Earlier dwelling-places and kinship 13
3. The neighbours of the Akamba 17
4. Ukamba. The main features of its physical geography 22
P. I. Individual life.
Chap. II. Child-birth 29

1. General Customs.. 29
2. Abnormal parturition 37
3. Abortion 38
4. Appendix. Customs and rites connected with menstruation... 39
Chap. III. Circumcision and initiation rites 42
1. The real circumcision 42
2. »The great circumcision* 45
3. »The circumcision of the men» 60
4. The occurrence of secret initiation rites and secret societies
in these parts of East Africa 68
Chap. IV. Marriage 72

1. General Customs 72
2. Special Cases 78
3. Polygamy 79
4. Divorce 82
5 . Widows and the fatherless .'
84
6. Statistics of Families 86
Chap. V. Relations between persons connected by marriage 89

1. The conception of ndoni 89
2. Taboo of names 93
3. Avoidance between a man and his daughter-in-law or daughter 97
VIII Lindblom, The Akamba
Page
Chap, VI. Terms of relationship 99
Chap. VII. Deatli 103

1. Burial 103
2. Purification after a death 108
P. II. Sociology.
Chap. VIII, The Clan system and Totemism 113
1, The Kamba clans and their totems 114
2, The relations between a person and his totem (The religious
side of the totem system) 117
3, Relations persons of the same totem (clan) (The
between
social side of the totem system) 121
4, Further peculiarities of particular clans 123
5, The admission of individuals to a clan 126
6, The taboo-ing and worship of animals of non-totemistic origin 127
7, Rudiments of a matriarchal community 128
8, The Clan marks 129
Clan marks on cattle,
a. b. Clan marks on arrowheads,
Clan marks on beehives.
c.
9, List of clans and their totems collected by the author 136

10. The origin of the totem system among the Akamba 139
11. Fictitious Relationship 140
A. Among the Akamba themselves.
B. With individuals of another tribe.
Chap. IX, Social organisation 143

Age- and Rank-Classes 143
Chap, X, Government and administration 149
Chap. XI. The administration of the law and judicial

customs 152
1. Criminal law 154

Bloodmoney and blood-vengeance 154
Adultery etc 158
Theft 158
Punishments for other crimes 160
2. Civil cases 162
Law of inheritance 162
3. Land tenure 164
4. kipitm and the taking of oaths over it 165
The use of ktpitm in actions between persons who are
related to each other 172
.. 1
Contents ix
Page
5. Ordeals 173
6. The administration of justice by lynchlaw (kigob) 176
7. The intervention of women in the administration of justice... 180
8. Curses 182
Chap. XII. Warfare and customs connected with it 186

1. Preparations for an expedition 187
2. Armament and equipment 188
3. The attack 189
4. The homecoming of the warriors after a successful plunder-
ing expedition 197
5. Defensive fighting 200
6. Civil feuds 20
P. III. Belief and Science.

Chap. XIII. Religion 209
1 Spirit-worship 209
The worship of animals 212
2. The cult of sacrifice 216
a. Sacrifices by individuals 216
b. Public sacrifices 219
3. Tales about mm«-spirits 225
4. Spirits other than aimu 229
5 Exorcism of spirits and religious dances 230
a. Exorcism of aitnti 230
b. Exorcism of spirits of the mbevo-type 234
c. Knsu 238
Madmen 240
Prayers and sacrifices to trees 240
6 The conception Mulungu (Ngai)
of 243
Prayer and sacrifices to Mulungu 244
The origin of the conception of a god 245
The ancestor-hypothesis 245
The nature-hypothesis 247
N. SSderbloms theory of the »producer» 250
7. Myths as to the origin of the world 252
I. The Creation 252
II. The coming of death to mankind 253
Chap. XIV. Medicine men and magicians.

1. General characteristics of the medicine man 254
2. Divination 258
3. The medicine man as a healer (of illnesses) 269
The terms mnh and mtipcea 270
X Lindblom, The Akamba
Page
4. The medicine man as a practiser of public magic (for the
good of the whole community) ,.. 271
The removing of epidemics 271
5. The connection of the medicine man with agriculture. Rain-
making 275
6. Magicians 278
7. Amulets 285
8. Conceptions about the magic power in names 288
9. Omens 291
a. Omens taken from bodily action 291
b. People whom one meets looked upon as omens 292
c. Animals as bearers of omens 292
10. Different substances {gondm) used at ceremonial purifications 295
11. The illnesses â6"M and makwa 298
12. Snake-charmers 303
13. The magic significance of numbers 306
Chap. XV. Medicine 311

1. Illnesses (operations, wounds) 311
2. Medicines 314
a. External injuries 314
b. Internal diseases 316
Chap. XVI. Natural History

1. Botany 321
The part played by plants in magic 322
2. Zoology 325
Chap. XVII. Cosmology

1. Meteorology 334
2. Astronomy 335
3. Determination of time 338
4. Seasons and months 340
Chap. XVIII. Geographical ideas and conceptions of other

peoples 343
Points of the compass 344
Travelling 345
Chap. XIX. History and historical traditions 349
P. IV. Art and Games.

Chap. XX. Decorative art 357
Chap. XXI. Clothing and Personal ornaments
1 . Clothing 371
Contents xi
Page
2. Ornaments 375
3. Hairdressing, treatment of the beard and of hair on other
parts of the body 386
4. Perfuming and painting of the body 389
5. Cicatrization and tattooing 390
6. Teeth-chipping and extraction 392
Chap. XXII. Music and dancing

1. Musical instruments 398
2. Dancing 407
ReUgious dancing 414
3- Song 416
Chap. XXIII. Toys and games 418
P. V. Economy.
Chap. XXIV. The village and the hut
1. The village 431
2. The hut 436
Rites and customs in connection with hutbuilding 441
Hutbuilding for the medicine man 443
3. Home life 445
Chap. XXV. Weapons 449
Chap. XXVI. Hunting 465

Elephant hunting 465
Traps 469
Chap. XXVII. Domestic animals

1. Myths about the origin of cattle 475
2. Cattle-breeding 477
3. Other domestic animals 483
4. Names for domestic animals in the Kamba language 486
5. Rites connected with cattle-breeding 487
Rites for twin-birth among cattle 489
6. Cattle diseases 490
Chap. XXVin. Beekeeping 494
Chap. XXIX. Agriculture

1. The fieldwork and the harvest 501
2. Agricultural rites 507
.
XII Lindblom, The Akamba
Page
Chap. XXX. Food
1 Animal food 511
2. Vegetable food 513
Chap. XXXI. Stimulants.

1. Beermaking 518
2. Snufftaking and smoking 521
Chap. XXXII. Industries

Nl. Metalwork 527
1. Iron industry 527
2. Other metals 530
II. Woodwork ;
534
III. Pottery-making 536
IV. Making of strings and bags 540
Chap. XXXIII. Distribution of woric between the sexes ... 543

1. Woman's work 543"
2. The man's work 544
P. VI. Anthropology.
Chap. XXXIV. Mental Characteristics, etc 549
Chap. XXXV. Somatic characteristics 561
Addenda 567
Concluding remarks 580
List of works referred to 585
List of illustrations 593
Errata 596
^ndex 597
INTRODUCTION.
During my linguistic and ethnographical researches in East

Africa, which covered the period December 1910 to June 191 2,
my work was centred on the Akamba, a Bantu people living by
agriculture, cattle-raising, and hunting, in the highlands south of
Mount Kenia. I lived among these people from January to No-
vember 191 1 and from January to March 1912, and found among
them a practically untrodden field of work.
It is true that the Akamba were not discovered yesterday; Dr
Krapf was the first European to visit them (in 1849), but the
many travellers who have hurried through the country have not
given themselves time to stay there, since they have had more
interesting goals before their eyes, generally Kenia or Lake Vic-
toria. Thus, although the Akamba are mentioned in many Travels,
they have not hitherto been the object of systematic study (the
literature which the people is dealt with will be mentioned
in
below). My
endeavour has therefore been to collect the material
for as complete a monograph on the Kamba people as possible,
dealing with material and intellectual culture (language, folk-lore,
&c), and also taking into consideration anthropological conditions.
The present treatise includes the results of my investigations into
the subject of the Akamba's intellectual and material culture.
At the risk of seeming pretentious I consider that I may claim

that, when once worked up, my total material will be sufficient
it is
for one of the more complete monographs that has been written
about a people of the Bantu race.
Anyone who has been engaged in practical ethnological re-
search work knows how warily one must go to work in order to
gain reliable information. As often as it has been possible, I
have with my own eyes been a witness of most of the practical

occupations, as well as of different customs and ceremonies. In
a Lindblom, The Akamba
cases when I have been driven to fall back on oral statements, I

have made a special point of obtaining them from reliable author-
ities. Information which has been obtained from one quarter has
assiduously been verified by enquiries
in other quarters. This is
essential, for happens all too often that one and the same indi-
it
vidual returns different answers to the same question on different

occasions.
The putting of leading questions has been avoided, for the
native easily guesses what answer his interrogator would have, and
if he is on good terms with him, he gives the desired answer in
order to please. Even when leading questions are avoided, caution

must be observed, for it often happens that the interrogated indi-
vidual answers at random, in order to get rid of the troublesome
questioner as quickly as possible. Further, I have only in excep-
tional cases turned for information to people from missionary stations,
since the native unconsciously incorporates a • good deal of what he
hears there with his own conceptions; or else he is, or pretends to
be, superior to the customs and traditions of his own people, with
the consequence that he does not give a true picture of their beliefs
and ideas. If, for example, he is questioned upon a matter which,
from our moral standpoint, is condemnable, he perhaps feels embar-
rassed, and conveys the impression that the natives themselves also
regard the custom in question as something repugnant, which is
often by no means the case.

Finally, it is important in any study of primitive conceptions,
to abandon one's own standpoint and try to assume that of the
natives, endeavouring to see things through their eyes. The author
commenced work with a somewhat limited acquaintance with
his
general ethnology; but on the other hand, he set to work without
the encumbrance of preconceived opinions and theories, and this 1
think has facilitated his efforts to grasp the natives' way of thinking.
If it can be managed, linguistic and ethnological studies ought
to proceed side by side. From my own experience, I know how
much nearer one comes to the natives when one knows their
language. Especially in East Africa, there is a great temptation not
to trouble oneself about learning any other language than Kisuaheli,
the »lingua franca» of East Africa. But even the most intelligent
and skilful interpreter is not always able to interpret exactly, for
the corresponding expression perhaps does not exist in Kisuaheli,
:
Introduction 3
and the interpreter finds himself driven to resort to other words,

through which the original meaning have had opportu-
is lost. I
nitiesof making this observation more than once at the English

government stations, when questions concerning the natives were
under consideration.
It is of special difficulty to elicit the reason for a custom.
Sometimes one succeeds after many if's and but's, but in most
cases the stereotyped answer is : »It is a custom handed down from
our fathers* {m matindu ma andu ala ma tcsnd). Of course the
natives themselves very often do not know why they do this or
that, but the African is very conservative and does not offend
against time-honoured custom, even though he feels it to be trouble-
some and oppressive; if he did so, misfortune would come upon
him. Often, indeed, when the original reason for a custom has been
lost sight of, a native will give secondary reasons, or even his
own explanation. Ordinarily, occurs to him to reflect
it hardily
upon the reason for a any more than it occurs
certain custom,
to us to ask why it is considered impolite to shake hands without
first drawing off the glove, the explanation of which is, of course,
that many centuries ago the warrior used to protect his hands
Avith iron However, the enquiring ethnologist is often
gauntlets.
helped by a comparative study of peoples; it often happens that
the solution of a problem, which has to be abandoned for the

time being as insoluble, is met with far away in another quarter
of the world.
The following works embrace all the literature of value that
has been written about the Akamba, as far as I am aware. They
are given in chronological order, since none of them can really be
considered as quite scientific sources, and it would not be worth
while to try to make any distinctions. On
the whole rather few
scientifically trained observers have ever been among the African
negroes
J. L. Krapf, Reisen in Ost-Afrika 1837 55. Stuttgart 1858.

Translated into English under the title of »Travels, Researches,
—
and Missionary Labours» London i860.
J. M. Hildebrandt, Ethnographische Notizen iiber Wakamba
und
ihre Nachbarn. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic 1878 (pp. 347 406). —
G. Kolb, Im Lande der Wakamba. Luth. Miss. Blatt 1898.
G. Sauberlich in Jahrbuch der Sachsischen Missionskonferenz.
Leipzig 1899.
4 Lindblom, The Akamba
L. Decle, Three years in savage Africa. London 1900.

J.Hofmann, Geburt, Heirat und Tod bei den Wakamba. Leipzig
1901. Verlag der Ev.Luth. Mission. 24 pp.
E. Brutzer, Begegnungen mit Wakamba. Leipzig 1902. Verlag
der Ev.-Luth. Mission. 32 pp.
E. Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube bei den Kamba. Leipzig 1905.
Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission. 16 pp.
E. Brutzer, Tierfabeln der Akamba. Archiv fur Anthropologie 1910,
pp. 523-542.
C. V. Hobley, The Akamba and other East-African Tribes.
Cambridge 1910 (pp. i — »Totemism and Exogamy*
117). In
Frazer has a chapter on »Totemism among the A-Kamba»
(vol. II, p. 420), which is a reproduction of Hobley's account
in The Akamba etc.
C. V. Hobley, Further Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Reli-
gious Beliefs and Customs. Journ. Anthropol. Institute 191 1,
406—457.
pp.
C. V. Hobley, Kamba Protective Magic. Man 1912.
C. V. Hobley, Kamba Game. Man 1912, pp. 179 180. —
Ch. Dundas, History of the Kitui District. Journ. Anthr. Inst.
1913, pp. 480—549.
Ch. Dundas, The Organization and Law of some Bantu Tribes
in East Africa. J. A. I. 191 5, pp. 234 — 306.
The reports of the German Mission work in East Africa contain
various things of ethnological value, both on the Akamba and on
other tribes^:
Evangel. Luth. Missionsblatt, Leipzig, from 1898.

Nurnberger Missionsblatt, from 1887.
There are a considerable number of works in which the

Akamba are mentioned more or less in passing:
L. V. Hohnel, Zum Rudolph-See und Stephanie-See. Vienna 1892.
J. W. Gregory, The Great Rift Valley. London 1896, pp. 346 — 351.
H. B. Johnstone, Notes on the Customs of the Tribes occupying
Mombasa Sub-District. Journ. Anthropol. Inst. 1902, pp. 263 272. —
H. R. Tate, Notes on the Kikuyu and Kamba Tribes of British East
Africa, ibid. 1904, pp. 130 148. —
A short estimate of the respective values of the above-men-
tioned books will not be out of place here.
Mr Hobley, who is commissioner for the province of Ukamba
^ According to information kindly given to the author by Herr

G. Sauberlich, missionary, late of the Ikutha station, Leipziger Mission,
East Ukamba.
Introduction 5
and a prominent expert in matters connected with various East

African peoples, gives a certainly brief, but fairly comprehensive,
account of both the intellectual and the material culture of the
Kamba people. For a highly-placed official, who can only visit
the natives for short periods at a time and can seldom associate
freely with them, it is clearly difficult to obtain all the necessary
information. It is therefore scarcely to be wondered at that Mr
Hobley's book contains a number of inaccuracies and mistakes;
to these attention will be drawn in the following pages. Further,
his ignorance of the language has the result that the native
terms and other expressions he has collected are often incorrectly
reproduced phonetically, or misunderstood. In spite of that, the
work is of great importance as a starting point and foundation for
further investigations.
Hildebrandt's work is interesting, as it describes the Akamba
of over 35 years ago, but his work, too, contains much incorrect
information. In spite of their popular style, the pamphlets of the
Leipziger Mission contain much that is valuable and interesting; it
is seen at once that Messrs Hofmann and Brutzer are well acquain-
ted with the subjects they deal with.
From many points of view, especially for the description of
native law, the best of all the works mentioned is that of the
Hon. Charles Dundas. As shown by the title, he deals chiefly
with the Akamba
of the Kitui district, where he stayed some time
as DistrictCommissioner and where I had the pleasure of making
his acquaintance in 191 1 and getting to know of his studies, then
in manuscript. As my own exposition lays the chief stress on
the Akamba of Machakos, M"" Dundas's paper is valuable as com-
pleting it. One reads his reliable and accurate description with great
pleasure and notes that the author has tried and succeeded to
get into close contact with the natives and understands them
better than many other officials. Some points of detail, such as
»the rite of Etumo», are unknown to me, and perhaps are not
found in the Machakos district. On the other hand it is only in
some few unessential cases that I should venture to assert that

the author has come to a wrong conclusion. If there is any
other criticism to make, it is only about the title of the work,
as the essay can scarcely be said to deal with the »History of
Kitui», but with the Kitui Akamba of the present time. The best
chapter, certainly on account of the author's profession, is that

on Kamba Law, which is in many respects more thorough than
my own exposition of the same subject (Chap. XI).
For information as to existing literature on the Kamba lan-
guage, reference may be made to my work, » Notes on the Kamba
Language*, Archives d'etudes Orientales, Vol. lo, Upsala 1919.
Perhaps I may also be allowed to mention the principal natives

who have been of assistance to me in my work.
In the first comes my servant and language teacher
place
Kwko wa Malata Machakos district. He showed great
of the
interest in the work, and I trained him systematically, until he
understood exactly what I wanted. He is one of the most intelli-
gent natives I ever met, and had served as an askari (soldier) in
the English police troops, during which time he had learnt to asso-
ciate with Europeans and to grasp their way of thinking.
Malata wa K%ambi, the father of the former, an old man
who is a specialist in ceremonial purification processes, of which
he knows at least one that but few Akamba are acquainted with.
MboTogd wa K^pome, an itima, i. e. a medicine-man, who
differs from the usual type of medicine-men in that he confines
his activities to the curing of diseases (Machakos).

Muhndd, an old man of great repute (Machakos).
Vindia, a mundu mud, e. an ordinary medicine-man from
i.
the district of Kibwezi. I pitched my tent near his village, and
we were together every day. He conceived a great liking for

me, and would gladly have accompanied me as a servant, if his
occupation and reputation as a medicine-man would not have
suffered thereby. Among other things, he initiated me into the
secret ceremonies of the third circumcision, the so-called »men's
circumcisions. The revelation of the abominable customs connected
with these rites is punished with death, if the offence is discovered.
Makiti, > headman*, a neighbour of the foregoing, for whom
I had the opportunity of performing a service.
Mull, a disreputable and half degenerate individual living near
the mission station of Ikutha. His rapacity betrayed him into show-
ing me, among other things, the place where a valuable hpiiui
(see p. 166) was kept.
Introduction 7
Further I must express my gratitude and recognition to many

other people, among whom are the following:
Professor C. V. Hartman, to whom I owe the opportunity

of undertaking my journey to East Africa;
Professor J. A. Lundell, who by kindly accepting my work
for publication in Archives d'etudes Orientales, has secured for it
the possibility of greater circulation. He has also given me many

good suggestions with regard to the printing of this work and
has bestowed a great deal of disinterested work on reading proofs.
Mr S.Charleston M. A. and Mr H. Alexander M. A., lecturers

at the University of Upsala, who have helped me with the Eng-
lish text;
The Hon. Mr C. V. Hobley, C. M. G., who drew my atten-
tion to the Akamba; The Hon. K. R. Dundas, D. C. in Machakos,
who took an unfailing and kindly interest in my work, and rendered
me great assistance. The same may be said of the three mission-
aries, Mr C. F. Johnston, of the African Inland Mission, Macha-
kos, Mr G. Sauberlich and Mr J. Hofmann, of the Leipziger

Mission, Mulango and Ikutha.
Finally, I will only point out that a work such as the present
one should preferably be worked up on the spot, in the milieu
which it deals with. When one gets home and begins to system-
atise the material, one finds that, in spite of every care, a great
many things have been overlooked which, for the sake of complete-
ness, it would have been desirable to include.
Chapter I. The Akamba — their country and
neighbours.
I. Geographical extension.
The Akamba are one of the most north-easterly Bantu peop-

les in Africa, and one of the largest tribes in British East Africa.
Speaking approximately, the Akamba inhabit the eastern slope of
the East African highlands, between the upper course of the river
Tana and Uganda Railway. More exactly, their country, Ukamba,
forms approximately a right-angled triangle, one side of which is
a line running from the summit of Mount Donyo Sabuk^ in a
north-easterly direction along the Tana's tributary Thika, and the

upper course of the Tana, up to the Mumoni range, the extreme
northern outpost of the Akamba. The second side practically falls
along the stretch of railway between the stations of Kiu and Mtoto
Andei ^, on the Uganda line ; while the hypothenuse is formed by
a chain of mountains which, running principally in a longitudinal
direction from north to south, form the extreme eastern branch of
the East African highlands, Ndau, Muutha, and Leopold chains,
&c. The greatest length of the country from north to south (Mu-
moni — Mutitu wandei) is, as the crow flies, 225 km.; its breadth
from east to west, about 130 km.
The stretch defined above is Ukamba proper, to which must
be added the few villages which lie on the eastern slope of
^ » Donyo Sabuk», under which name

the mountain is generally
known in East Masai language.
Africa, is The Akamba call it kima
Ijui nzaOi = 'the nzavi mountain' nzaGi is a sort of bean.
;
^ This name is one of the many examples of how a native name
can be distorted when adopted by Europeans. The word is mutiftt ivn

ndeir in Kikamba, and means »the vulture forest ».
Arch.Or. Litidblom l*
the mountain ranges of Ngolea and Kyulu, south-west of the

railway ^
There are, further, a number of scattered Kamba colonies in
both British and German East Africa. The settlement of these
usually dates from earlier famines, and they are therefore prin-
cipally composed of people whose ancestors, in such times of
visitation (unfortunately not unusual in East Africa, at least in
former times), left their native parts to seek their livelihood else-
where, and who, when the famine was over, remained in their
new homes. Thus, in the Kikuyu country, it seems there are to
be found a large number of Kamba villages near the govern-

ment station of Fort Hall, and in the eastern part of the Rabai
district, in the hinterland of Mombasa, among the Wanyika, there
live several thousands. Some of these lived there already when
Krapf, the indefatigable missionary and explorer, came across
them about 1850, and according to their own account they had
lived there for about 15 years. They immigrated, says Krapf,
during the great famine of 1836*.
If we proceed to the Kilimandjaro territory, we come across
a number of villages between Taveta and Lake Jipe, and a good
distance south of this lake live a smaller number, in the most
south-easterly parts of the Pare Mountains, on the boundary zone of
the inhabited highland and the steppe. Still further south, also on
German territory, there are found scattered villages in many places
in Usambara, as for instance, north of the height commanding the
Musi valley and the depression at Maramba, whose inhabitants,
when Baumann came into touch with them at the beginning
of the had migrated there about two
eighteen-nineties, said they
generations ago from Ukamba^. Very possibly they were driven
from the soil of their fathers by the same great famine which
drove to Rabai the Akamba now found there. Finally, Last* came
across a great number of them still further south, in the province
North of Ngolea there lies a small mountain, Noka, which is in-

^
habited by the Anoka, a small tribe living largely by hunting. No

European has yet visited them, but according to the account of the
Akamba round Kibwezi, they speak a sort of Kamba dialect.
^
J. L. Krapf, Reisen in Ostafrika,
^ O. Baumann,
1837 55.
Usambara und seine Nachbargebiete, pp. 165,
—
171, &c (see also maps).
J. T. Last, Grammar of the Kamba Language (Polyglotta africana).
*
1
The Akamba — their country and neighbours 1
of Usagara, near Mamboia (about 80 kilometers south-west of the

most easterly point of the Pangani River). These had emigrated
from the north. The tendency to penetrate in smalldetachments
further and further south is still found to-day among the Akamba,
and in some decades they may, especially if any great famine
again occurs, be found south of Usagara. Perhaps they are al-
ready there.
The Akamba living in strange parts not only preserve their
language and customs fairly pure and are loath to marry into the
tribes among which they live, but they also maintain communica-
tion with their kinsmen at home. In East Ukamba — whence the
principal emigration seems to have taken place — I have often
met with visitors from Rabai; and, on the other hand, I have at Lake
Jipe met with people from Ukamba.
In spite of this feeling of affinity, it is however natural that
they cannot live a long time in a foreign country without being,
to some extent, influenced by its inhabitants ; and this has caused
many of the Akamba proper to look down upon their scattered
countrymen. When talking of them, they may often be heard to
say: »N. N. is no real Mukamba». Those living in Rabai have
even got nicknames, and up-country are called atumwa (slaves) or
madikilambua ('those who have followed the rain'). They got
the first name because, when they emigrated, it was said they
went to be slaves to the people on the coast; the latter name, of
course, was applied because they emigrated on account of a con-
tinued drought with its accompanying famine. To tell the truth,
these » rain-followers » give the impression of being somewhat de-
generate, and they have the reputation of being great cattle
thieves — a suspicion which is not lessened by the fact that
they prefer to build their villages as far in the bush as possible,
where it is not easy to come upon them unawares.
According to the official calculations for the collection of the
hut tax, the population of Ukamba proper is about 230,000.
If the great geographical extension of the Kamba people is
taken into consideration, support is found for the reliability of
my experience that it is one of the principal peoples, and that

Kikamba is one of the most widely spoken languages in that part

of East Africa. This statement I should like to emphasize even
to the extent of saying that, next to Kisuaheli, the » lingua franca*
of East Africa, Kikamba is the most useful language to know for
those travelling in the parts of East Africa mentioned above. It
is understood and spokennumber of Akikuyu, the

by a large
nearest neighbours of the Akamba to the west, more especially in
the eastern parts of the Kikuyu country, and also by many Masai
on the steppes in the south-west. My knowledge of the Kamba
language stood me in good stead also during my visit to the
Kilimandjaro district, among the Wataveta, Wadjagga, Wakahe,

&c. If to this is added the fact that in by-gone days the Akamba
were one of the leading trading peoples in the present British
East Africa, there is additional support for what has been previ-
ously said about the vSpread of the knowledge of their language.
They not only were, and still are, skilful hunters, and brought
quantities of ivory from elephants which they had killed themselves
down to the coast, or were met on the borders of their country
by Arab and Suaheli purchasers; but through their hands also
went quantities of ivory which was obtained from the tribes in the
tracts where elephants abound, round Mount Kenia and elsewhere.
Ukamba lay like a wall between the coast and the interior, and
it was too risky an undertaking for the inhabitants to venture to
transport their ivory through Ukamba themselves. Thus masses of
ivory from the interior also went through the hands of the Akamba.
What has just been said about ivory applies also to the slave
trade, though on a smaller scale. When there was a possibility of
cattle-stealing also, they were prepared to cover considerable distan-
ces. Krapf, the warm-hearted and enthusiastic missionary, was
for these reasons very anxious for the conversion of the Akamba,
as, on account of their roving propensities, they came into touch
with many different peoples, and were therefore, in his opinion,
more suitable than others to spread the message of the gospel.

In his time, he says, they used — in large caravans, numbering
from two to three hundred — to make trading and hunting trips
200 to 250 »leguas» into the interior (i leg. = 3 English miles).
The elephant hunter A. Neumann states that he met Akamba
hunting by the Guaso Njiro ^, nay, even north of that river, among
^
A. Neumann, Elephant hunting in Equatorial East Africa.
the Samburu; and according to Paulitschke, the »Miniidi am Guasso

Njiro [a Galla people] wurden von den Wa-kamba bedroht» ^. At the
little harbour of Mkunumbi, north of the mouth of the Tana and
immediately west of the town of Lamu, the Galla residents told

the author that marauding bands of Akamba found their way even
thither^. As the crow flies, it is nearly 250 km. from there to the
eastern boundary of Ukamba. According to Baumann, they used
also to go —
generally as traders —
down to the harbour of Tanga on
German territory, and then came from Ukamba proper. During the
insecurity caused by the great Arab rebellion against the Germans
(1888), the above-mentioned traffic ceased.
2. Earlier dwelling=places and kinship.
Statements as to the origin of the tribe are contradictory,

and it seems impossible to come to a definite conclusion in the
matter. So much is, however, certain, that the stretch of country
east of the river Athi has been peopled from Ulu, the country
west of the same river, and this cannot have happened so very
long ago, since the differences in language and customs are al-
most negligible. All statements on this point agree, and on

matters of custom Ulu sets the standard for the whole country.
Often, when in East Ukamba I made enquiries as to some cer-
tain custom, I know that better
got the answer: »You ought to
than we, you who have come from up there* ^. From this point
of view, it was lucky that I chanced to begin my studies in West
Ukamba, where the ancient customs of the tribe have been best
preserved.
But if one wants to go further and find out where the people
of Ulu came from, one gets at once on uncertain ground. Many
Akamba declare that the tribe has never lived anywhere else, and
refer to the current myth about the first men, some of whom
are said to have been thrown from Heaven on a mountain in
^ Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, I, p. 67.

2 G. Lindblom, Krigforing och darmed forbundna bruk bland
Kamba-negrerna i Brit. Ost-afrika, p. 136.
^ ulu or tulu simply means 'up there', and undoubtedly the
country has been so called because it lies higher than East Ukamba.
the Kilungu district in southern Uki. Some place the ancient home
down towards the coast, in the neighbourhood of the Giriama
country, while others mention the country round about Kilimand-
jaro as the original settlement of the Akamba. This view is also
advanced by Kraft, according to whom the Akamba were origi-
nally nomads in the neighbourhood of Kilimandjaro, but after-

wards, » probably under pressure from the Masai », emigrated
to the present Ukamba. In the new country they could not,
however, live solely as nomads, but were compelled to cultivate
the soil. This statement must be taken with reserve, but so much
seems certain, that in very early times Kamba colonies were found
on Kilimandjaro^. Professor J. W. Gregory believes that the tribe
came from the south, since east of Tanganyika there is a pro-
vince Ukamba, which is mentioned already by Stanley^. Incidentally
the word is also found as a place-name in Unyamwezi, in Ger-
man East Africa. Such a similarity of names may be a pure
coincidence, and on that alone nothing can be built. The question
of earlier dwelling-places and migrations is, moreover, nearly every-
where one of the most difficult to solve in the study of a people.
A glance at the map shows that the migrations of small groups
of Akamba during the last few centuries have been almost ex-
clusively from north to south, never in the opposite direction,
and that these migrations have been determined by the occur-
rence of highlands, which have always been followed^.
Difficult of solution is also the question of the meaning of

the name of the tribe. Of at least a hundred of the older
men questioned, none seem have so much as thought of the
to
matter. Hildebrandt thinks the word may be translated by »tra-
vellers», from the verb hamba 'to travel, journey about'*. It is
^ Cf. B. Gutmann,
Dichten und Denken der Dschagganeger, p. 28.
Cf. also A. Widemann,
Die Kilimandscharo-Bevolkerung, p. 2, and
M. Merker, Rechtsverhaltnisse und Sitten der Wadschagga, p. 32.
J. W. Gregory, Great Rift Valley, p. 347, 363.
^
^ Without proving in any way his statement or indicating the

source from where he has drawn it, Deniker (Les races et les peuples
de la terre, p. 536) writes about the Akamba and "Wataita: »Ces
Bantous d'immigration rdcente sont venus du nord-est, du pays des
Gallas»,
*
J. M. Hildebrandt, Die Wakamba und ihre Nachbarn, p. 348.
true that this verb does not occur in Kikamba, but it is found
in several Bantu dialects. The name would also be suffi-
other
ciently descriptive, and reflect one of the fundamental characteri-
stics of the tribe. I have not, however, been able to discover any
support for this hypothesis about the original meaning of the name.
Division. From an ethnological, as well as from a linguistic,

point of view, various disparities are to be found among the Akamba,
but these are and immaterial, compared with those found
slight
among other Bantu peoples. This is a remarkable fact, since the
tribe occupies an extended area, and is divided up geographically
into several centres of population, separated from each other by
inhabited country.
Geographically, as well as linguistically and ethnographically,
the country is divided into two parts, between which the river Athi
forms a boundary. Of these parts, Ulu or Yulu (i. e. »up there »)
lies west of the Athi ; East Ukamba has no special name. Offi-
cially it is called Kitui district, after the government station of

the same name. Its inhabitants have, as already mentioned, emi-
grated from Ulu. Judging from the slight dialectical differences,
one is probably entitled to draw the conclusion that it cannot be so
very long since the Akamba passed over the river Athi — most
likely not more than 1 50 or 200 years. The Athi and the unin-
habited table-land Yata, extending along its eastern bank, divide
the tribe into two chief parts, having each its own dialect. The
Akamba in the east are called apaisu by the people in Ulu, and
their dialect hpatsu. Even this shows that they are conscious
of diflerences between the different groups. The ethnological diffe-
rences are, firstly, differences in clothing, and secondly differences

in manners and custom^. It often happens in East Ukamba 'that,
if they are uncertain what the ancient usage is in a certain case,
they go over to Ulu to get enlightenment. Again, in the matter
of language, when the people of Ulu hear a word that they do not
use themselves, they say, »that is no k'hkamba hlu'ggalu^'> ('real
Kikamba'), and then they call it hpaisu. The meaning of this

word is uncertain; there is said to be a people apazsu, north of
the Tana, but the Akamba have no communication with them. It
:
i6 Lindblom, The Akamba
might be possible that the present East Ukamba was formerly in-
habited by another people; but according to most statements, the

country was uninhabited when the earliest pioneers of the Akamba
began to occupy it (cf. p. 20)^.
Brutzer, the German missionary, holds the contrary opinion*.
I venture to quote the following from his »Vorwort» : »Dort in
Kitwi finden die Ngove [according to him, the real Akamba com-
ing from Ulu] einen ihnen sprachlich verwandten volksstamm vor.
Diese Akamba betreiben ackerbau und bienenzucht. Sie werden
von den Ngove als Kamba anerkannt, erhalten aber den namen
Kikuli (hundspavian), weil sie wie affen auf die baume klettern
um ihre bienenstocke aufzuhangen. Die Kikuli geben auf die
frage der Ngove als ihren ursitz 'Mbee' an». Mbee or Mbere
lies north of the Tana, and is inhabited by a tribe closely related
to the Akikuyu.
In spite of persistent enquiries, I have not obtained similar
information from a single old man, nor have I ever heard the
words 'ggoGd or kikuli used, unless I have introduced the subject
myself. In Ulu the words seem even to be unknown, at least to
many people. What I gathered about the two ideas in East
Ukamba agreed with Brutzer's statements in the following respects
Both ^goOd and tkuh are Akamba, but the former consider them-
selves of greater distinction. They keep cattle for the most part,
while the ikuli, who live chiefly east of Kitui, have a great num-
ber of bee-hives, and have to climb into the trees a great deal
to look after them. Hence the name tkuh 'baboons', which
seems also to be the nickname for many poor people. On the
other hand, no one was able to tell me anything about those
tkuh as having alone inhabited the Kitui district in earlier times.
A point in favour of Brutzer's hypothesis is the statement made
to me by some natives that the 'ggoGd have certain peculiarities
of vocabulary. The investigations I made on this point were not
crowned with success.
In Ulu, the most south-westerly district, Kilungu, occupies a
unique position in many respects^. Its inhabitants were extra-
^ Mr. Sauberlich, the missionary in Mulango, informs me that about

south-east of Ikanga (East Ukamba) there is a small district Nthaisu.
^ E. Brutzer, Handbuch der Kamba-sprache, p. i.
' Cf. kilungu 'part, portion', a name which, whether intentionally
or not, is very appropriate.
and brutal, were notorious as great cattle-thieves,

ordinarily wild
and had been engaged in ruthless warfare with the other
long
Akamba in Ulu, whom they called cgOau^. According to Gregory,
they were descended from some Akikuyu who, about two genera-
tions ago, had settled down in this district and succeeded in main-
taining themselves there ^.
The most south-easterly corner of Ukamba, Kikumbuliu, which

projects towards the Taita country, exhibits less striking peculia-
rities; the language seems to resemble hâisu in certain cases.
In East Ukamba again, the most northerly part, Mumoni, which

extends to the upper course of the Tana, forms a separate whole.
-Both linguistically and ethnologically its inhabitants resemble the
neighbouring tribe in the west, the Akikuyu.
On the whole, then, Ukamba can be divided into four centres
of population: Ulu, in the west; the Kitui district, in the east;
Mumoni, in the north; and Kikumbuliu, in the south-east. In the
following account, attention will be paid to the differences they
exhibit in the matter of customs, rites, &c, whilst the disparities
in the matter of material culture must wait for consideration until
the author has had an opportunity of working up his observations
on the subject. The respective dialects have been treated in the
introduction to the author's paper » Notes on the Kamba Language*.
3. The neighbours of the Akamba.
If a glance is now taken at the tribe's neighbours, we notice

in the west and north-west the large Akikuyu tribe, also one of
the Bantu peoples, with whom the Akamba have carried on a
feud since time immemorial. The Akikuyu are said to have a
tradition that they once separated from the Akamba^. Among
the latter I have found no corresponding tradition, unless it is to be
traced in the legend of the man with three sons, Mukavi (Masai),
Mukamba and Mukikuyu. On the other hand, some clans of the
^ Cf. mwi-Oau 'cousin'. Hofmann, the missionary, in the manu-

script of his dictionary, translates this word by 'einer des gleichen
stammes'.
^ Gregory, Great Rift Valley, p. 84, 347
^ Routledge, The Akilcuyu of Brit. East Africa, p. 2.
ArchOr. Lindblom 2
Akamba claim to be identical with a couple of clans in Kikuyu.

It is very possible that once upon a time some Akamba emigrated
to Kikuyu, became acclimatised there, and formed new clans. In
this way a small fraction, at least, of the Akikuyu would origi-
nate from Ukamba (cf. also p. Ii8). The last great famines have
provided many examples of such migrations. That the two tribes,
moreover, are closely connected is shown by the language, for a
Kamba and Kikuyu usually understand each other fairly well.
a
South of the Kikuyu country, the highlands of Ulu border
immediately on the Masai steppes, the old Masai province of
Kapotei. The Masai were the Akamba's most deadly enemies,
but they understand — perhaps better than any other black race
— how to defend themselves and their herds against the dreaded
nomads; nay, they often successfully took the offensive against them.
In several places in the east it is claimed that the cattle-stock
originated from stolen Masai cattle. The Akamba call the Masai
akavi, doubtless a corruption of the old tribal name Wakuafi.
In the south-east, Ukamba is connected by the lengthy Kikum-
buliu with the Taita highland, whose inhabitants, Wataita, exhibit
inmany respects a likeness to their neighbours in the north. The
Akamba seem to have been on a friendly footing with the Wa-
taita, forthey were obliged to travel through their country, when
they went down to the coast loaded with ivory. In the east,
thereis no inhabited country until the river Tana is reached, and
between that and the eastern border of Ukamba lies a belt of

about 1 60 km. of desert, ill-supplied with water, which, as far as
Europeans are concerned, is still a blank space on the map of
Africa, the official maps are compelled to cover by
and which
printing the names Galla, Borana-Galla, &c, in all directions. Early
in 91 2, I went through this territory in the company of A. C.
1
Champion, A. D. commissioner in Kitui, who was sent out by the

Government to follow the river Nthua, as to the course of which
information had been lacking up to that time^. We found the
country round Nthua uninhabited, though the Galla undoubtedly
make periodical hunting expeditions thither, as there are plenty
of elephants there.
On the Tana live the Wapokomo, a Bantu people and an
off-shoot of the more southerly Galla. Communication between
^ Cf. A. C. Champion, The Thowa River.

these tribes and the Akamba was exclusively of a hostile character,

consisting of cattle- and woman-stealing raids. Missionaries work-
ing among the Pokomo told me that the Akamba were a real
scourge to that peaceable tribe, and also to the Galla living in
that neighbourhood. The latter, however, sometimes went over
to East Ukamba in their turn, on plundering expeditions. In
earlier descriptions of travels in these and neighbouring districts
are found cursory references to the Akamba's plundering expedi-
tions. To take one example. Captain F. G. Dundas (1892) men
tions that the Wapokomo and Galla on the river Tana were much
troubled by the Akamba and Somali, and he himself encountered a
considerable body — according to his account several thousand
men -
— out on a plundering expedition along the upper reaches
of the Tana ^.
There is no doubt that only half a century ago Galla ex-

tended in a more southerly and westerly direction, towards the
middle course of Athi (Sabaki) and down towards Mombasa, than
at the present time. Thus old Akamba men in the Ikutha region
have told the author that the river Tiva, which flows practically
through the centre of the present East Ukamba, was formerly the
boundary between Ukamba and the Galla country. Even further
south, at Kibwezi, Galla are said to have lived. However, after a
succession of conflicts with varying fortune, the Akamba finally drove
the enemy back, till the great desert east of the highland prevented
any further advance. It is well known that the Galla were forced
southwards by the Somali, and then a part of them went over the
Tana. These in their turn undoubtedly tried to expel the Akamba,
but were not successful. Instead, while the Somali beset them
from the north, they were severely harassed by the Akamba and
Masai from the south. summed up the position
Paulitschke probably
correctly twenty five years ago, when he wrote: »Die Oromo am
Tana und Sabaki sind denn auch buchstablich dem untergang
preisgegeben — — —
Das land zwischen dem Sabaki und der
-
stadt Mombas ist auch bereits ganz frei von Oromo-elementen» ^.
At the present time there are practically no Galla found south

of the valley of the river Tana.
^ E. Gedge, A Recent Exploration, under Captain F. G. Dundas,

up the River Tana to Mount Kenia, p. 514.
^ Paulitschke I, p. 24.
ao Lindblom, The Akamba
In this connection, I will take the opportunity to criticize the

location of the Galla's most southerly distribution on many maps.
In spite of what is quoted above from Paulitschke, the latter
nevertheless colours red (Galla) one continuous stretch from the
upper Tana in a meridional direction to the inflow of the Tsavo in
Sabaki, and thence in a narrowing wedge, down towards Mom-
basa. From this we naturally come to the incorrect conclusion
that about 1890 the Galla occupied this territory south of the
Tana. At most dots or some other slight indication would have
been suitable to show the scattered colonies of Galla which were
still found in this region. In the same way, Gerland represents
the Galla as occupying a considerable region between the Tana
and the Sabaki, larger than that he allots to the Akamba and the
Akikuyu together ^ Even on the big English Ordinance Map of 1905,
a number of names of Galla tribes are set out just in this region ^.
Finally, if we turn from Ukamba towards the north, we find

— north of Mumoni on the upper course of the Tana -
— the
small but warlike tribe of Tharaka, or Athaka, as the Akamba
call them. Very little is known of them as yet, but the view has
been advanced that they Pokomo^. Un-
are an offshoot of the
fortunately the author has had no opportunity of visiting them in
their own country, but he has studied their language, which has,
in many respects, been found to resemble Kikamba and Kikuyu,
whilst Kipokomo shows closer relationship to the languages spo-
ken on the coast, Kinjika and Kisuaheli^. According to some of
the Akamba in the Kitui district, the Atharaka are descended
from the Akamba''.
^ Gerland, Atlas der Volkerkunde, in Berghaus' Physikal. Atlas,

Pt. VII.
^ Sheet »Kilimandjaro» in Maps published by
the Topographical
Section, General Staff (Africa 000000). i : 1
3 C. V. Hobley, Akamba and other East African tribes, p. 2.

* Cf. G. Lindblom, Outlines of a Tharaka Grammar (Introduction).
^ According to Champion, one of the few Europeans who have visited
the Tharaka-country, the Atharaka say that » their forefathers came from
south-east, and that they occupied the Kitui district before the Akamba
crossed the Athi, but that they were gradually driven back by the Akamba
till they sought refuge amongst the hills which they now occupy
No doubt many Kikamba customs have been absorbed, but I am strongly

of the opinion that the Atharaka are not an off-shoot of the Akamba,
but an entirely different race». A. C. Champion, The Atharaka, p. 69.
:
On the whole, the Akamba have natural boundaries on all
sides, since nowhere do they live side by side with a neighbou-

ring tribe, but are separated from their neighbours by stretches
of uninhabited country, grass- or bush-steppes, which usually suffer
more or less from lack of water.
Of the Akamba's names for their neighbouring and other

tribes, I have made notes of the following, besides those already
mentioned
The Wasuaheli they call asumba, formerly mapomba, e. i.
'those who carry burdens' {pomba 'to bear a burden'), probably

because the Wasuaheli formed the larger proportion of the bearers
in the caravans which used to be fitted out at the coast and go
up-country.
The Wagiriama are called anvi, their language ktswi, and
their country usivini.
The Wataita are called andi, which is said to come from ndi
'strings'. When the Kamba merchants went to Kiswani (Mombasa)
in former times, they used to meet people who carried ropes and
strings of baobab fibre. Baobab, the bast of which is in great de-
mand, grows in East Ukamba, but I have never seen it west of
the Athi.
The Waduruma = aluluma (the Akamba cannot pronounce ;').
The Wambee or Wambere, a tribe on Kenia = ambele.
The Galla (less frequently Somali) = atwa. The Galla country
= utwa. According to Paulitschke, the Watwa (Wa-Tua) are a
hunting tribe between the lower Tana and Sabaki^. I do not
think it is improbable that the Akamba confused these with the
Galla, all the more since they sometimes occupy a sort of vassal
position to the latter.
The Somali = perhaps a^golo^go.
The Nubians = anovi. A considerable number of them are
to be found in the larger places in East Africa, many of them
serving with the English and German colonial troops.
^ Paulitschke, Ethnographic Nord-ost Afrikas, I, p. 34.

32 Lindblom, The Akatnba
According to Krapf, the Akamba were called Waumanguo by

the Wasuaheli; according to Hollis, el lunghu, or » those with an
evil smell» by the Masai. no explanation of this name^.
Hollis gives
The Akamba on the coast sometimes call their relations in
Ulu nzaî.
An old, now almost obsolete, name for the Masai is kipo}igo,
remarkable on account of the use of h- (a prefix denoting a thing)
in a personal name.
4. Ukamba. The chief features of its physical geography.
If one really wishes to understand a people and its develop-

ment, one must have some knowledge of its milieu, the land it
lives in, and especially the climatic conditions. As has already
been mentioned, Ukamba comprises the eastern portion of the
East African highland, which falls rather abruptly towards the east.
Ulu seems to lie at an average height of about 1500 meters above
the Indian Ocean, while 60 km. east of the river
about 50 or
Athi the altitude is less than 1000 meters. Numerous mountain
chains, running principally from north to south, intersect the country,
and have an elevation of as much as 1000 meters. Typical of
the mountain chains and of the hills are the very narrow combs,
which are sometimes only some 10 meters in breadth. One has
hardly reached the summit before the opposite descent begins.
The geological formation of these mountains is granite and "gneiss,
which often protrudes in the higher parts. The loose layer of

earth consists, especially in the east, of the same red laterite as
is found so abundantly up in the Kikuyu country.
Among the higher peaks may be mentioned Nzaui, in Ki-
lungu, where, according to the legend, the first people lived.
Between the chains of mountains, the country varies from undu-
lating to level plains, often of the savanna type, but usually over-
grown with a more or less dense bush, which, with its thorns of all
shapes and sizes, is a plague to travellers. The boundaries bet-

ween the different territories often consist of small rivers or streams,
*
Hollis, The Masai.
with deeply worn channels. All such isolated little heights are
called titumo by the natives.
In the matter of water-supply, Ukamba has been treated very
scurvilyby nature. There are no lakes, and the rivers, except
the Tana and the Athi, are usually empty, except during and
directly after the rainy periods. The Athi, under the name of
Sabaki, empties into the Indian Ocean at Malindi. Conditions
are best in Ulu, where numerous streams flow along the mountain
slopes. Further east, becomes a troublesome
the water question
problem during the dry season. Large holes sometimes several —
meters deep —
must be cut in the dried-up river-beds, and the
women will sometimes sit there for hours, before they can fill
their calabashes with the water which slowly wells forth, and which
is sometimes of such a colour that travellers hesitate to use it
even to wash in. Down in the south-east (especially in Kyulu),
there are villages which, during the dry season, are so far from
their water-supply that if the women start out one morning they
cannot get back again However, time
until the following day!
is nothing to the African native, and at the river they meet
acquaintances and have plenty of time for talk and gossip, while
waiting for the water.
Ukamba lies in the equatorial zone, between about o^ 30' and
3° south, and consequently has two rainy seasons: a lesser, in Nov.
— Dec, and a greater, which begins in March and lasts until
June. The rain is, however, often late in coming. The rainfall
decreases from west to east. Thus in Kikuyu it is u.sually some-

what greater than in Ulu, which in its turn gets more than East
Ukamba. According to Eliot, the average during 6 years for
Kikuyu station was 36.14 inches annually; for Machakos in West
Ulu 34.76 ^. Hofmann, the missionary, during a long course of
years, made observations of the rainfall at his station Ikutha, in
East Ukamba. His observations
are interesting, as they go as
far back as the great drought at the end of the eighteen-nineties.
They have never been published, and I therefore give them here,
with Mr Hofmann's permission. The figures represent German
»zoll».
^ C. Eliot, The East Africa Protectorate, p. 153. Cf. also Direc-

tory of B. East Africa, Uganda, and Zanzibar, p. 38.
»4 Lindblom, The Akamba
Month 1897 1899 1902 1903 1904 1908 1909
January 4-75 2.84 1.68 0.50

February 0.85 2.60 4.09 1.66
March 2.68 0.02 2.73 1.09 2.91 0.18

April 1.20 0.14 3-16 2-54 0.46 6.41
May 1. 17 O.io 0-37 1.50 5.40 0-57 .0
June 0.02 0.60
July 0.67 0.20 0.12 0.49
August 0-57 0.22 0.03
September 0.35 .0
October 0.88 0.09 1-75 1.22 0.84 1-34
November 3-00 6.88 12.06 3.50 17-34 3-62 5.96
December 1.22 1.79 7-87 5-37 3-14 3-31 12.94
Total 17.36 9-22 29.74 21.75 32.15 16.71 21.26
Further, the annual rainfall in Ikutha amounted in 1905 to 24.57;

in 1906 to 38.94; in 1907 to 26.34; and 1910 to 20.49 *zoll».
in
A great source of trouble in these parts of East Africa are
the periodically recurring droughts, when the rain fails completely
during one or more » rainy seasons », and the horrors of famine
are let loose in the land. The last famine, a minor one, was in
1908 — 9; the one before that, a very severe one, coupled with
cattle-plague over large stretches of East Africa, was inî898 — 99;
a third was about twenty years ago, and so on. In 1898 — 99,
in some places in Ukamba, 50 ^ of the population is said to have
perished; in other places as much as 75 %^, and the bleached bones
of such of the victims as were not eaten by hyenas lie there still
to-day, scattered over the country. I found many such remains

in the Ikutha district, and, in the east especially, there were many
over-grown fields to be seen, while all too often were found frag-
ments of clay vessels and the three cooking stones of the hearth,
signs which show upon a time a hut had stood there. The
that once
famines still live in the memories of the people and have acquired
special names after some particular characteristic. Thus, that of
^ According to the calculations of Mr. Sauberlich, Leipziger Mission.

1898 is called »the carriage famine » {loa ia '^gah), because it
raged while the Uganda railway was being built. It is certain

that the risk of hundreds of natives dying of starvation is consi-
derably diminished now, since grain can be quickly brought up-
country from the coast by the railway.
The climate in the western regions can, on account of their
elevation above sea-level, be compared to that of the countries
round the Mediterranean, and one is really only reminded of the
proximity of the equator by the fact that Europeans must pro-
tect their heads from the rays of the sun. The nights here are
cool and refreshing. Even when the sun is directly overhead, the
heat is seldom oppressive. During July and August, the sun is
often hidden for several days in succession by heavy clouds and
mists, and it is then often so chilly that one feels cold in the middle
of the day. Mosquitoes and fever are seldom met with. Even a little
further east it grows fairly hot, and in spite of the dry atmosphere,
many places are considered dangerous for the health of Europeans.
This applies especially to the most northerly district, Mumoni.
Not only Europeans, but also the natives, suffer from fever. How-
ever, no extremes of temperature occur. During my visit to the
region of Kibwezi, in Sept. 191 1, the mean temperature at the
middle of the day was 28 — 30° C. Besides, towards evening, there

blows over the whole of East Ukamba a sometimes rather strong
easterly wind — probably from the Indian Ocean — which lowers
the temperature.
With regard to the vegetation, the bush-steppe previously

mentioned is predominant among the hills and mountains. It is of
the same type all Large trees are sel-
over great parts of Africa.
dom to be seen; only those of medium height and under. They do
not grow close together, but scattered about a coarse kind of grass ;
grows between them, though not, as in Northern Europe, in continu-

ous sward, but in patches, between which the soil is bare. Different
species of acacia and mimosa are predominant among the trees.
Typical of the drier bush are varieties of the genus Sanseviera. The
several plants often grow close to each other, and they are easy
to recognise from their long, fleshy, grey-green leaves. Further up
on the hill-sides grow species of Euphorbia, resembling cactus.
The Euphorbia candelabrum especially gives the landscape a cha-
racteristic appearance, where it is to be met with. In the east

only, along the banks of the rivers, are found some palms, such
as the dum palm (Hyphene) and the wild date palm (Phoenix
reclinata). The baobab is only found east of the Athi — the
climate of Ulu is far too temperate for it — but a couple of
species of Ficus are found there. Around the villages, and as
weeds on the fields, grow Rhicinus communis in abundance, often
attaining the height of a smallish tree.
No forests are found in Ukamba, if by » forest* we mean what
we understand by the word in Europe. Only on the tops of

some of the higher mountains, such as Mutitu, north of Kitui, are
to be found small remains of primeval These undoubtedly
forests.
had greater extension in earlier times than they have now, but
the Akamba are an agricultural race, and require the slopes of
the hills for their fields. One can often see that a forest has
once grown on a place which now is bare. Solitary trees and
immense stumps bear witness to the fact. A small, thickly popu-
lated district close to Machakos is called inutitnni ('in the forest'),
and the old people say that it was once entirely overgrown with
forest and the haunt of elephants. Now the district is almost
entirely devoid of even fuel, to procure which women have labori-
ously to dig up the remains of trees long since dead.

p. r
INDIVIDUAL LIFE
Chapter II. Child-Birth.
I. General Customs.
When a woman finds she is pregnant, she tells her husband

{navttaneiie unvei I have passed the month'). They then sleep
together once more only. During pregnancy the woman lives prin-
cipally on milk and k^teke, a sort of porridge made of the flour

of Sorghum or millet (Penicillaria). Fat, which the women are
otherwise very fond of, is not eaten during the last three months,
as it is considered to render the delivery more difficult; nor does
the woman eat bananas or isU), that is to say beans and maize
boiled together, otherwise the most usual food among the Akamba.
Honey is thought to be especially injurious, since the foetus is said
to derive much nourishment from it and so grows a great deal, which
makes the delivery more difficult, and may even cost the woman
her life ^. Others think that honey has the effect of checking the
growth of the There are no other special regulations with
foetus.
respect to diet, but the person concerned decides for herself what
she will or will not eat. I have only been able to discover one
case of a certain food being »tabu» for a pregnant woman, and

that is the meat of animals killed with poisoned arrows. \{ the
mother eats of such meat, the child will die. It is not unusual to
see them eat earth from white-ant heaps or the red laterite with
which the ants cover the tree-trunks. They can usually give no
reason for this, but declare that they have an irresistible longing
for it. It seems as though this had something in common
with the longings of pregnant women for certain kinds of foods,
often quite extraordinary in character. In some cases the motive
alleged was the belief that the birth is hastened by it, so that
^ I have found this belief also among the Wataveta at Kilimand-

jaro. G. Lindblom, Anteckningar ofver Taveta-folkets etnologi, p. 167.
such earth is eaten by women in the more advanced stages of

pregnancy, immediately before the beginning of the rainy season.
The woman much
do in preparing the fields for the
then has to
rains, digging, sowing, &c., and she is therefore quite naturally
anxious to free herself from a burden which hinders her in her work.
As far as I could discover, the Kamba woman is not looked
upon as » unclean » during pregnancy, and is not isolated in any
way. It is very usual to see women, even in a fairly advanced stage
of pregnancy, continuing their usual occupations^.
The spirits of departed ancestors are supposed to create and
shape the child in the woman; they also decide whether it shall
be a boy or a girl, dispute about the matter, and try to forestall
each other. While one spirit sleeps, his wife, perhaps, makes the
child a girl, and when the husband wakes he finds himself fore-
stalled ^. Of course this does not imply that the Akamba are igno-
rant of the connection between sexual intercourse and conception.
They only think that the spirits, as well as the husband, play an
indispensable part^.
^ If the above mentioned separation of husband and wife at the

first sign of pregnancy, otherwise common among Bantu peoples, among
the Akamba has anything to do with »uncleanness», I cannot tell.
^ AccordingHobley (p. 89), every married woman is at the
to
same time wife to her husband and to one of his ancestors, and her
fruitfulness depends largely on the latter. Personally I certainly never
heard anything of such a » spiritual husband », but neither will I deny
the existence of such a conception.
' The numerous legends about conception without sexual intercourse,
found among the most widely separated peoples examples of which —

are also found in the author's collection of Kamba folk-lore can- —
not possibly be based upon ignorance of the effect of sexual inter-
course upon conception, not even as a survival from a by-gone time,
when such ignorance may have existed. Those who are not content
to look upon such tales as the products of a lively imagination pure
and simple, may instead regard them in the light of the behef of a
pwimitive people in magic powers, through which anything soever can
come of nothing. Thus, primitive man is not ignorant of the necessity
of sexual intercourse for conception, but that does not prevent his belief
that fertilisation can take place without it —
namely by magic. See also
A. Goldenweiser, in The American Anthropologist, 191 1, p. 598 ff. (a
criticism of E. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, the myth of supernatural
birth, I, 1909; Hartland gives a selection of »myths of supernatural
birth»). See also A. van Gennep, Religions, moeurs et legendes, p. 14 ff.
Child-Birth 31
When the woman's time has come, some of the neighbouring

women are called in to assist at the delivery. There are no spe-
cial midwives, but any oldwoman with experience in such mat-
ters can help. The husband may not be present. The woman
usually stands upright in front of the hearth in the hut. She holds
on to two of the roof supports and stands in a straddling position.
Some of the women take a firm grip on her legs, two hold on to
her shoulders, and another receives the child. They talk and laugh
if all goes well. The navel cord {inukauti) is cut with an ordinary
knife. According to Hildebrandt, it has however first been tied
with a piece of baobab bast, »die etwa 2 — 3 zoll vom nabel nahe
bei einander umgeschniirt werden». The placenta {nsuu or "ggua
la kana 'the child's dress') ^ is buried outside the hut. It seems
as though no artificial means are employed, as a rule, to make
its removal easier —
a string of bast merely is bound round the
woman's abdomen. But sometimes a sort of sea-snail, of which
a part is powdered, is used. The powder is laid in the shell,
which is filled with water, and this the patient drinks. The child
is washed in warm water.
The length mother rests after the birth depends

of time a
upon circumstances. Sometimes she returns to her work the same
day, fetches water, works in the fields, &c. If she has daughters
who can work, she usually keeps to the hut for a few days.
To ease the birth, » medicine* can be obtained from the
medicine-man. It is called nêsio (< pesha 'to help'), and usually
consists of an antelope horn (for example, that of a Thomson
gazelle) filled with various substances (a so-called k'hpitu). This
is repeatedly stroked over the woman's abdomen and dipped in
a calabash full of water, which she afterwards drinks. Whether

any real, or supposedly real (that is to say, not magic), medicine
is used unknown to the author. In his ethno-
in difficult cases, is
botanical collections, which contain some hundreds of plants, there

are, however, none for such a purpose. Even when the birth is
safely over, the child is sometimes subjected to special treatment,
especially if the woman has previously lost many babies; for a
desire is naturally felt to prevent the deaths of children. Hof-
^ Called »the child's house » by the Ronga round Delagoa Bay. H.

Junod, The Life of a South African tribe, p. 37. Cf. also Ploss, Das
Weib in der Natur- und Volkerkunde II, p. 245.
32 Lin db lorn, The Akamba
mann describes such a case ^ Among other things, according to

him, a special entrance to the hut was made for the mother and
child, and the child was carefully concealed from everyone, until
it had undergone a certain magic treatment. The diversion of evil
influences by changing the entrance to the hut is very common
among primitive peoples.
A child which is born before term is carefully wrapped up
and placed in a large clay vessel to keep it warm. Such a child
is often called miiinde (< inda 'to sink, tuck down') ^.
When the birth is over, the woman may not Ue on her bed,
but takes the sleeping skin from it and lies on the earth floor of
the hut, in the place she usually occupies when the family are
assembled round the hearth. Neither does the woman seem to
have to keep to any special diet. The following ceremony must
then be gone through : Two small children, a girl and a boy, have
their heads smeared with fat, and are sent with small calaba.shes
to the river to fetch water. On the way there they may talk to
each other, but not to anyone they may meet. They break off
a branch of the wild fig-tree {knimd) and pick some blades of the
grass ikoka, and then go and fill their calabashes. If the new-
born child is a girl, the girl covers the opening of her little ves-
sel with the twigs they took with them, and the boy his with
tkoka; if it is a boy, they do the opposite. When they get back
to the village, the mother again smears their heads with fat, be-
ginning with the boy, if the new-born baby is a boy; in the cont-
rary case, with the girl. Part of the water is used to wash the
child and part for the porridge to be described below. The small
quantity of water used shows clearly that this is entfrely a mat-
ter of ritual ^.
Preparations for the feast which is to take place on the fol-

lowing day are now begun. A
large cooking-pot is placed on the
hearth and isio is prepared for the women who now come to pre-
^
J.Hofmann, Geburt, Heirat und Tod unter den Wakamba, p. 6.
- The verb is used specially for bananas, which are picked un-
ripe. They are laid in a pot, which is buried in the earth, and so they are
allowed to ripen.
^ A
custom which resembles that described here is mentioned by
Routledge from the Akikuyu, a Bantu people west of Akamba. See
Routledge, The Akikuyu of British East Africa.
Child-Birth 33
pare dishes for the feast. This isio is called utinditi. The num-
ber of the women invited must not be odd, mwa, for odd num-
bers are generally considered to be unlucky among the Bantu
peoples. The women make porridge {'ggtma) of Eleusine flour.
When the porridge is ready, the mother with her child takes her
place at the entrance to the hut. A 'ggoi (the piece of skin in
which a baby is carried) is bound on the back of a little girl or
boy, as the case may be (cf. p. 32), who then carries the child
to the entrance of the village and back again. This rite ushers in
the important phase of a child's life during which it is carried on its
mother's back. The mother then takes a leaf and removes the
child's motions for the first time. The ceremonies are concluded
with an offering to the spirits of the ancestors of the child: an
old woman throws a big piece of 'ggzma over the roof of the
hut, saying effect: »Ye who live out
something to the following
there, take this, and know that a child has been born here». The
woman who makes this offering at once becomes barren, so it is
always done by an old woman who is past child-bearing. The
mother can then sleep in her bed again.
According to an unconfirmed statement the following ceremony
must take place before a confined woman can associate with the
rest of the women in the Her husband
following day's g^w^-eating.
goes into the and cuts four pieces of sugar-cane, two with
field
dark and two with light bark. From one sugar-cane of each kind
he removes the top and the leaves, which must not be done with
a knife, but only with the hands. Then he goes home, carrying
two canes on each shoulder, and brings them in above the door
to his wife's hut.
The next day a feast takes place on the nza, the cleared
space in front of the hut, and friends and relations are invited.
A he-goat, or if they are well-to-do people, an ox, has been slaugh-
tered. Early in the morning, the women begin to eat ^gima
and fat, all the while discussing eagerly what the child shall be
called. Suggestions are made and rejected, till at last a certain
name is upon ^. No
agreed special ceremony occurs in con-
nection with the naming of the child, nor need this necessarily take
^ Hildebrandt states incorrectly that it is the mother that names

the child; see above-mentioned work, p. 397.
Arck.Or. Lindblom 3
place on the third day ^ The men's carousal takes place later in
the day. In the evening, the women dance and sing songs, in
which the child is called by the name chosen. The skin of the
slaughtered animal ought not to be sold or given away to anyone
else; very often the woman uses it to sleep on, or the husband makes
clothes for her out of it. However, if the skin is disposed of, a
strip of it is first cut off and fastened to the skin {ggo>) in which
the mother carries her child on her back.
On the fourth day, the father usually hangs round the child's
neck a necklace, */>(?, consisting of one of the fine iron chains
made by the Akamba. This chain may not be made of anything
but iron, or it will bring bad luck to the child ^. As soon as the
^pa is hung round the child's neck, the child becomes a real
human being; before that it is looked upon as being in more or
less intimate connection with the spirit-world, from which it has

come, and is called knmu (cf. nmu 'a deceased relation, spirit').
In order that the new-born child shall be recognised as a real

member of the tribe, it is therefore not enough that it is born and
receives a name, which is otherwise, among primitive communities,
usually the ceremony by which the new individual is taken up as
an integral part of the tribe.
The next night the parents must sleep together. The child
is then placed between the mother's breasts, and afterwards always
occupies this position at night, till the mother menstruates for the
first time after her confinement. The parents then sleep together
again. On this occasion the child must lie behind the mother's
back. This is called olula kana 'turn the child' {ninontd ndakam^
mnaobuld kana 'I have seen the blood, I have turned the child', says
the woman). If not placed as mentioned above, the child will die.
If one takes into consideration the aversion to iron which, accor-
ding to popular belief, spirits always entertain, it is not too bold
^ My investigations into the names and principles for naming among

the Akamba are worked up and will be published in connection with
my linguistic studies. I will only mention, in passing, that later several
additional names are given — suggested by different events in the
life of the individual.
Perhaps one may conclude from this that the wearing of the
"
>J)q a very old custom, dating from a time when copper and brass
is
had not begun to be imported and iron was, consequently, the only
metal found in the country.
Child-Birth 35
to conclude that the object of ipq is to protect the child from the
malicious whose attacks a baby is considered to be
spirits, atmti^, to
more liable than other people, especially if it comes from the spirit
world, as they believe here -. If this is so, we may wonder why
several days are allowed to elapse before this prophylactic is app-

lied. We
might think that they ought to be anxious to procure
protection for the child as soon as possible after its birth.
Hanging the ^pa round the child's neck and the subsequent
coition are important ceremonies, which may on no account be
omitted. If a girl has an illegitimate child and her lover deserts
her, must act as husband and father. Her father then
another
takes her to one of his friends, who places the ^pa round the
child's neck and performs the ritual coition, and then the girl goes
home. The man receives a goat for his trouble. If he has the
opportunity and can afford it, he gladly buys the girl, and she
becomes wife. It is very usual that children are born before
his
marriage, but the lover generally makes the girl his wife.
If a child dies while it is still kumu, the mother may not
touch another baby, unless its mother is pregnant or has just had
sexual intercourse with her husband. Otherwise the other child

will also die. Nor may the mother of a child who has just died
while it is still kizmu touch another woman — not even her be-
longings. Neither when they go out to fetch wood or water to-
gether may she help with the loads, &c. She is looked upon as
unclean, but she is not isolated, and she is allowed to associate with
the others, as long as she does not touch them. If this rule is viola-
ted, the woman who has been touched is subjected to an ordinary
purification ceremonial (cf. p. 103) in order to prevent evil con-
sequences. The goat necessary for the purifying process is then
presented by the husband of the unclean woman. The latter remains
in her exceptional position until she next menstruates. Before
that she may not sleep with her husband, for it would be fatal to
the next child.
If a woman who has been confined has relations with any
other man than her husband before she menstruates for the first
time after the birth of her child, the child will most probably die.
1 Cf. Ch. XII, Religion.

- Cf. Frazer, The Golden Bough II, p. 235.
The Akamba attach great importance to birth inarks,

especially if the same birthmark has been borne by a deceased
member of the family. They have no doubt then that the latter
has allowed himself to be reincarnated in the child, and that
settles the question of what the child shall be called. To cite
an example of this, a child in the neighbourhood of Machakos
had a scar on its forehead. The father's grandmother had been
killed by a stab in the forehead from the spear of a Masai,
and, according to all accounts, a deceased brother of his had
had the same mark. In this case I could get no satisfactory
answer to my enquiry as to whose spirit had taken up its abode
in the child. There seems, however, to be no fundamental obstacle
to a woman being reincarnated in a male child. It is most usual

for the spirit of a deceased relation to come in the night (most
probably in a dream) to the pregnant woman, and tell her that
it intends to be reincarnated in the child she shall bear ^
The woman's experiences during pregnancy, and perhaps still
more her mental life during that period, are not without influence on
the child she is going to give birth to. If, for example, she is very
fond of a man who is not the father of her child, and in consequence
often thinks of him, the result will be that the child will resemble
him when it has grown a little ^. The father's sayings and doings, on
the other hand, seem to have no effect on the child. A very
wide-spread belief, found also among Europeans, is that a preg-
nant woman can be impressed by some particular thing. The
author has not personally met with this belief in* Ukamba, but
there is no reason to doubt Hildebrandt's assertion that it is pre-
valent there. He also says: »Empfindet die frau rechtzeitig, dass
sie sich versehen hat, so muss sie die arme nach hinten bewe-
gen und dazu sprechen 'weggesagt', dann wird das versehen
unschadlich».
^ Frazer adduces a number of examples of the same or similar

beliefs from, among other peoples, the Lapps. » Taboo and the Perils
of the Soul», The Golden Bough II, p. 368.
Writing of the Baganda, Roscoe says: »It was looked upon as un-
^
fortunate if a pregnant woman came in contact with, or even saw, any
child that was not healthy and strong ... If a woman laughed at a
lame person, it was thought that her child would be lame». J. Roscoe,
The Baganda, their Customs ând Beliefs, p. 49. Cf. also Ploss I,
p. 878.
Child-Birth 37
The birth of a child is a great event in the lives of primitive

people, and they can never have too many descendants. One might
think that girls would be more welcome, since, when grown up, they
are a source of great gain to their fathers. But this is not the
case among the Akamba. was
In by-gone days especially, a son
more welcome, it was hoped
for that he would, when grown up, take
part in the men's raiding expeditions and bring home many cattle
as booty. The days of plundering expeditions are now past, but
they are not so far distant that this point of view has changed.
Another important point is that every head of a family desires to
have as many people around him as possible, as his influence
and importance are thereby increased. Grown-up sons build their
huts close to or in the near neighbourhood of that of their father,
and as long as he lives, they are under his authority. On the
other hand, daughters do not help to increase his authority, since
they leave their homes and clans when they marry.
2. Abnormal Parturition.
Anyone born with the feet first {niundu iva km or mundu

lua innio) may not marry anyone born in the usual manner {cs na
mau 'he has legs', it is said). This also applies to anyone born
with ^gumkilia ^, that is to say with the bladder-like covering
(caul), in which the child lies, unbroken. The prohibition has, how-
ever, the nature of a ritual observance, and if such a man is rich,
it may happen that a man will peremptorily order his daughter

to marry him. But a girl born with a caul has no chance of
getting a husband who has not had the same »defect». When such
a person is circumcised, a special knife is used, so that the blood
of others may not be mixed with
his. If there is no other knife
handy, the knife smeared with mutton fat before being used. If
is
a calf or other domestic animal is born with a caul, the owner

may neither sell it nor give it away, but he may keep it for himself.
The descendants of such an animal are held to be quite normal.
Those who cut their teeth in the upper jaw first, mundu wa km-
mtlo, or in East Ukamba hludu {uintla to come out in a certain
place'), also occupies a unique position. Such a person is consi-
^ Probably from ktinika 'to cover'.

38 Lin d bio m, The Akamba
dered to have an evil influence upon certain kinds of foods, and
also upon the plants or animals from which these foods are obtai-
ned. He may not drink milk until some other person has drunk
of it, or else it will »be like water », and the cow which gave it
could never give nourishing milk again. He may not eat bananas
from the oldest trees in become
a plantation, or their fruit will
hard and uneatable. Of more recently planted trees
the fruit of
he may, however, eat, without working evil. When meat is eaten,
also, he must wait until the others have eaten a little, otherwise
the meat will be affected like the bananas.
In the case of twins (maGapa), in olden times one was killed.
The reason for this custom among the Akamba, as among some
other tribes, may have been was looked upon
that the birth of twins
as something unnatural, which might bring bad luck \ Nowadays
both are allowed to live; but though the native, under normal cir-
cumstances, wishes to have as many children as possible, they are
not welcome. They are troublesome for the mother and hinder
her in her occupations, since she can only carry one of them on
her back and the other must be placed on her breast. If, on the
other hand, a cow has two calves, it is considered a great misfortune,
and to ward off evil consequences, both cow. and calves are killed.
3. Abortion.
Ill connection with birth, a few words may be said on abor-

tion, which is at times practised by young girls, v Free intercourse
is permitted between unmarried youths and girls, but it is con-
sidered a disgrace for a young girl to be with child, and she will
have difficulty in getting a young lover, often being obliged to
content herself with an older man. When the dances of young people
are at their height, the desire to be able to take part in this recrea-
tion wdll by itself be sufficient to induce a pregnant girl to try to
^ If it were known that the birth

was a rare occurrence
of twins
among a people,it understand how this unusual
would be easier to
event would be regarded as something unlucky. Unfortunately I have
no information as to the frequency of the birth of twins among the
Akamba (as far as I can remember, I have never seen any). The
small amount of information which is to be found on this subject, from
other Bantu peoples, is contradictory. Cf. Ploss I, p. 778 ff. and
A. Post. Afrikanische Jurisprudenz I, p. 281 ff.
Child-Birlh 39
free herself of the unwelcome burden, which begins to weigh down

her body. In the earlier stages of pregnancy, she consumes quan-
tities of melted butter or soot from the roof of the hut {mzvae).
At the more advanced stages, a decoction is prepared from the
roots, leaves, and fruit, of several well-known plants, which are
considered to be highly poisonous, namely kilta inbttt (Jatropha
species), mutanda-mbq, or ma-mhnnhu (Phytolacca^). The decoction

is drunk. It is considered very poisonous, and if the desired re-
sult is not obtained, the woman seems in most cases to pay the
penalty with her life.
Appendix.
Customs and rites connected with menstruation {mzvcyggd)'^.
It is a well-known fact that the first menstruation especially

is regarded as an important moment in the life of the more pri-
mitive woman, and we must therefore not be surprised to find

that the Kamba girl as well must, during her first menstruation,
observe extreme care, as it is believed that otherwise she may
become barren. If she is out of doors when the event occurs,
she leaves everything she is doing and goes home immediately.
If, for instance, she has gone to fetch water, she immediately puts
the calabash down, for if she brought the water home to the village
and the young men drank from it and afterwards had connection
with other women, she might become barren. Similarly if she has
gone to fetch fuel, she must not bring her load home; for if the
youths, who are continually running after girls, were to warm
themselves by means of this wood, she would run the same risk
as in the case of the water.
As soon as possible the girl informs her mother about her
condition and afterwards rests — without however being isolated —
as long as the period lasts.Her mother informs her husband about
the matter, and
on the night of the following day the parents
perform the ritual coitus. This is called kuseuCna mwitiu 'purify
the daughter' and indicates that the girl is considered unclean to
a certain extent, although she does not seem to be dangerous to
^ Cf. Hobley, The Akamba, p. 65.

those around her, but she herself alone, in her capacity of a future
mother, is exposed to danger. She is afterwards washed with
water, and this washing takes place before her parents have had
intercourse. If the washing takes place before this, it is thought
that she will become barren. The water is poured out inside the
hut at the entrance to the we, the partition where the parents have
their sleeping-place. It is probably not incorrect to place these rites
in the category of » imitative magic », designed to further the girl's

task when later on she is confined.
A menstruating girl carefully avoids all sexual connections,
and even the young men are very careful on such an occasion,
for they are afraid lest they should have to pay the goat which
is imposed as a fine if the girl should become pregnant (see
further Chap. XI). A man who cohabits with a menstruating girl
has, in addition, when the girl gets married later on, to pay a
goat to her and from
husband, this the means of purification
{gondui; see further Chap. VII. 2) is prepared, with which the girl
is purified. If, in spite of this, her first child should die imme-
diately after birth, her former lover is obliged to pay an ox to
her husband.
Married people on the other hand always cohabit when the
wife is menstruating, since the Akamba believe that a woman can
be impregnated only during the period of menstruation. On the
other hand, however, many negro tribes regard even a married
woman in this condition as unclean and she has tQ remain isolated ^.
If again a father during his daughter's menstruation has inter-

course with a woman other than his wife, he may not, if his daugh-
ter afterwards gets married and has a child, see this grandchild
of his before he has been purified with 'gondm. The goat needed
for the preparation of this is brought to the daughter's home and
there killed, after which a man skilled in 'gondm smears his eyes
with the purifying substance. With his eyes shut he is then led
forward to the child and told to open his eyes. Before he was
purified these were »evil», and his glance might have had an in-
jurious influence on the baby.

From the following definite case, which came to my know-
ledge, it seems to be clear that, with the exception of the parents,
^ Se examples in Ploss I, p. 273.

1
Menstruation 4
— who on the contrary ought to do it — none of the menstruating

girl's nearest relatives may have sexual intercourse, as long as she
is in that condition. A man cohabited with his wife while his
was having menses. When later the girl got married, her hus-
sister
band demanded that she should be purified, so that their children

should not suffer.
As we shall see in Chap. VIII, burial and the ceremonies con-

nected with death are performed by elders, atmma. An elder
whose wife has catamenia can, however, take no part in these.
If he is invited, he refuses, saying: »I have an accident at home*.
If he does attend a death and then cohabit with his wife — which
always happens when a married woman menstruates — the child
she bears may die or be injured in some other way. This idea
should perhaps be placed under the heading » contagious magic ».
Menstruation may sometimes influence the time for the burial
of a dead person, because if a married woman in the family has
inwo^go, it can not take place before she has had connection
with a man. At the most, the corpse may be laid in the grave, but
it may not be covered with earth.
A man who takes a wife and wishes to bring her home to
his village must not do this if there is a menstraating woman in
his home. He waits until the menstruation is over.

The author has not found any instance of the use of the
menstrual fluid any purely magical use; nor has
as medicine or
he noticed, either, the existence of any fear of this fluid as specially
mysterious or potent, a belief which is otherwise widespread even
outside primitive people. Judging by the author's observation —
which probably only yielded a cursory glance at the role played
by menstruation in the everyday life of the Akamba (cf. p. 34, 35)
there is nothing for men to fear in it.
According to the statements of several of the Akamba, many

of the customs connected with menstruation are probably founded
on the ideas (mentioned on p. 30) of the role of the ancestral
spirits at the impregnation of a woman. It is certain, however,
that several different ideas have found expression in the customs
here described. It may be added finally that these seem to have
no connection with the rites of initiation discussed in the next
chapter.
Chapter III. Circumcision and initiation rites.
In Kikamba circumcision is called nzmko, from mka 'to cir-

cumcise'. The Akamba, however, do not employ this word to
denote circumcision only, but use it to designate two other kinds
of initiation rites, which really have nothing to do with circum-
cision. The'y have therefore three nzmko festivals, namely:
1. nzmko ila mm 'the small circumcision', also called nzmko
%a ka6>o 'the circumcision with the knife', or nzmko lekondd 'the
circumcision of the foreskin' {ikondd or i-kold 'foreskin');
2. nza>ko tla ncend 'the great circumcision', also called nzmko

la mbusm 'the circumcision of the rhinoceros', or nzmko la
inuleh\
3. nzmko la aumd 'the circumcision of the men', also called

mbcBâm (in Kikumbuliu) or mbaGam (in Kitui and Mumoni). The
German missionary Mr H. Pfitzinger told me that the word is
derived from kuGaGana to surpass another in strength or power',

also 'to be angry'. As the name implies, these ceremonies — in
contrast to the foregoing — are undergone only by males.

All these feasts are held in pano, the longer dry season,
from August to October. They always follow in the above order,
and, moreover, the first two take place yearly over the whole
country, while the third is held only every few years and only
in eastern Ukamba.
There are no traditions about the origin of circumcision and
initiation rites, nor does the former seem to be dictated by reasons
of hygiene.
I. The real circumcision {nzmko tla mm).

The least important of the three nzmko is the actual circum-
cision; yet all of both sexes must submit to it, if they wish to
be regarded as members of the tribe. This is typical of nearly all
Circumcision and initiation rites 43
peoples which practise circumcision. There is no fixed age for

the operation, and puberty has nothing to do with the matter.
In passing, I will here call attention to the distinction which
van Gennep has established between » physiological puberty » and
»social puberty >, two essentially different things, which but seldom
fall together^. With this distinction clear before our minds, we
shall more easily understand the significance of especially the
second and third nzmko.
A father decides arbitrarily when he will have his child cir-
cumcised. The maximum age is the marriageable age, for the

simple reason that no one who is not circumcised can get a wife.
Children of from 4 to 5 years old may be circumcised together
with almost full-grown boys, whose circumcision is delayed by
special circumstances, such as the poverty of the father; for a
certain fee must be paid to the performer of the rite, and if a

man cannot afford this fee, he must postpone the circumcision
of his children -. The performer, mivatkt, is an elderly man of
consideration who is versed in such things. Hence it can be said
that the officiator is a paid professional. The medicine-man, as
such, has nothing to do with the matter.
In the circumcision of the males, the whole foreskin is re-
moved. The foreskins are put among the refuse of the sugar canes,
»so that the children may not see each other's »; for, as a rule,
many children are circumcised at the same time, the parents club-
bing together to engage an the ceremony isoperator. When
over, the up in a skin and thrown away.
foreskins are gathered
Curiously enough, they do not seem to fear lest the ablated pre-
puces should fall into strange hands and be used in black magic.
The instrument is a sharp knife of the usual native make, but
any knife will not do; a particular knife is always used, and
may not be used for any other purpose. The operation is simple,
but if the knife used is blunt, terrible torture is caused to the
A. van Gennep, Les rites de passage, p. 93 ff.

^
Routledge (p, 154), mentions the same circumstance in connec-

-
tion with the Akikuyu and among the Amwimbe, one of the minor
tribes of Eastern Kenya, akin to the Akikuyu: »the age varies con-
siderably and depends largely upon the wealth and position of the father
of the boy or girl » G. O r d e Browne, Circumcision ceremonies
.
among the Amwimbe, p. 137.

patient. The wound is not treated in any particular way, but a

little dry, fine earth is applied to it. According to Hobley, how-
ever, »the crushed roots of a reed are applied to the wound as a
dressing*. The wounds heal rapidly, usually in about 2 to 3
weeks; but the older boys sometimes have considerable trouble
for several months, and cannot sleep at nights for the pain.
In the case of girls, the labia minora and preputium clitoridis
are cut away. An old woman, usually the wife of the mwaih,
operates on them, and none but women are present.
On the second night after the circumcision, the children's
parents have coitus, »in order that the wound may heal well».
Without this act, which is an essential element in so many Kamba
customs, the circumcision is not complete.

It is said that, after circumcision, the children develop ra-
pidly, and soon reach maturity.

The ceremony of circumcision is accompanied by a sort of
public festivity. The young people put on all their ornaments
and perform dances, and of course much beer {uki) is drunk. It
must, however, be observed in this connection that a man who
has not yet a child who is circumcised may not take part in
these drinking bouts. Sacrifices are made to the ancestral spirits
{aimu), but presumably only in order that the wounds may
heal quickly. Circumcision is not to be regarded as a genuinely
religious act among the Akamba.
There still remain some details to mention: *
A woman who wishes to have her child circumcised, but who

has not yet got her own hut, must first build one.
On the evening before the operation, the children may not
drink water or eat sugar cane, »so that there shall not be so much
blood » ; afterwards they may eat all sorts of food.
If a child should happen to urinate during the process of
circumcision, it is regarded as a sort of pariah throughout its
whole life, and cannot marry anyone else than one who has been
guilty of a similar offence.
Unfortunately, the had an opportunity of
author has never
being present at an actual nzaiko. In 191 1 these ceremonies com-
menced in the beginning of June in the district of Machakos, and
I had been told that they were to be performed in a certain vil-
lage at 4 o'clock in the morning. But when I arrived there

I found that the members of the council of elders had decided

to postpone the operation for the time being, as the weather was
considered to be too cold for the children (at 4 a. m. the ther-
mometer indicated only 8.5° C). The reason for choosing such
an early hour was stated to be that they wished to avoid »the
evil eye».
2. "The great circumcision".
The great nzmko also has the character of a popular cele-

bration, but it is regarded as much more important than the above-
mentioned. Every Kamba man must have taken part in it, if he wishes
to be regarded as a true member of the tribe and a properly
educated person. When we know this, we can understand the
meaning of the expression nda'hkwa nzaiko i^la ncend 'he has not
yet gone through the great nzaiko\ which is often heard when
anyone behaves badly. The person who has not gone through
this nza>ko is looked upon as an inferior sort of person, and is
put on a par with a knmu (see p. 34). If it is a young man,
he has no chance of getting a wife; if it is a young woman, the

young men will not have anything to do with her. The children
born of such a union would die.
This is true of Ulu, and is therefore certainly the original
custom, but in the Kitui district they are not so particular. Ne-
vertheless, if a child is born, it must be smeared with a purifjdng
medium, 'gondui, in order to avert all evil.
The chief idea underlying this initiation is no doubt con-

nected with the emerging from childhood into manhood (woman-
hood), the assumption of responsibilities, sexual and social.
'" These rites are held annually during the longer dry season
(Sept. to Oct.). Generally speaking, no nzahko may take place
during the rainy season.
191 1, was held at the end
In the first
of September, and the second towards the end of the next month,
mu6iM 'the hot'.
There is no age limit for participation in the second nza>ko\
most of the children are certainly of ages ranging from 8 to 12,
but there are always a number of older ones. The reason
is that the candidates must pay a fee, which they or their parents
have not always ready at the appointed time, and they may then
put it off from one year to another. It is very usual, too, that
children do not undergo both the first and the second nzaiko
during the same year. It happens, further, that a father punishes
an obstreperous by postponing the time for its undergoing
child
the second nzmko. Ikutha I saw a candidate for the second
In
nzmko who looked about 40 years old. He had served for many
years in distant parts as an askari (soldier), and had only recently
returned to his native parts, which he had left at a quite early
age. At present many Kamba boys enter the service of Euro-
peans in Nairobi or elsewhere. Mr Pfitzinger, of the Leipziger
Mission (Kitui district), told me that on one occasion he saw a
married man of from 30 to 40 years of age at such a nzatko.

Such examples show what importance the Akamba attach to the
matter. A man such as the above-mentioned soldier may per-
haps have been in contact with Europeans for many years, and
may find the whole bissines somewhat unnecessary, but if he
wishes to remain at home he must complete his education accor-
ding to regular usage, however much he may have learned from
contact with whites.
The conductor of the ceremonies and festivities in connection
with this nza^ko is also called mwatki, and is probably the same
man as the conductor of the first nzatko. According to Mr Pfitz-
inger, the same man was always the conductor in his district. If
there is no fixed mwatki, a reputable elder, who has himself

children that are to undergo the ceremonies, applies to the council
of elders, nzama (p. 135), for permission to conduct them. He in-
vites them home to a beer-drinking bout, and puts forward his
proposal; if the elders agree, the matter is settled, and they ar-
range the time, which is then announced.

On the conductor's plot (pomd) is built a hut with two en-
trances, one for the boys and one for the girls; the children have
to sleep there on grass and leaves, on different sides of the hut.
This is built by the elders under the direction of the conductor.
Of course, the work proceeds to the accompaniment of appro-
priate beer-drinking, during which the mwmkt pours out a little beer
in the hut, as an offering to Mulw^gu, The Supreme Being, with
prayers that the children may develop well. In East Ukamba such
a hut is called tûnu. The one I saw near Ikutha, in 191 1, was
the usual bee-hive shaped type of hut that the Akamba use, but
about three times as large as an ordinary hut. In Ulu only one
such hut is used as a rule, namely that of the ntwa^kt, which,
when used for such a purpose, is called kie'ggo kia nzatko^. If
a special hut is built for the purpose, it is called ilnanda.
The night after the nzaiko hut is ready, the conductor must
have sexual intercourse with his wife, before the candidates move
into it. The novices are called astggt. As instructors are em-
ployed a number of mature married men called a^w^kti (presu-
mably from Qwhka 'to cover'); in the same way, the girls are
\mder the direction of elderly and experienced women. These
adwiku are chosen by the parents of the asi^gt. When a really
big nzohko takes place, one muOwikti may have as many as
twenty candidates in his charge. The aQwiku meet in ad-
vance, and draw up the programme for the ceremonies and the
dances, which usually continue for seven days. They then practise
the songs which are to be sung, for many songs are included in
these festivities. The duties of a6w>kit in instructing and taking
charge of the candidates are called kuta,-.
The asi^gi take off their ornaments and are completely naked,
with the exception of a piece of cloth or a piece of skin round
their heads; for during the whole time they must take particular care
not to touch each other's heads, or their hair will fall off. Their
bodies they have rubbed with fat and ashes.
Early in the morning, after the mwatki has had coition with
his wife, the asi'ggt are taken to the nzwhko hut, where they pass
a great part of the day singing. One of the songs runs thus:
mivasha, e, lelo: You say eeh, listen:

tata miuajnbaika, e, My father has me circumcised, eeh,
zvaggilha aimu kutindaa He ? remains
mutnba ta kana. in the hut like a child.
mxuatim maendw ku? Whither have our mothers goner
^
^X^^S^ ^s the name of the hut in which the cowherds live when
tiie cattle are tended at some distance from the village.
" The author has never heard this word used in any other con-
nection. Hofmann, however, has it in his dictionary, and translates it
with »teach, instruct*. In every day speech, however, ^teach' is tnanes%a,
causative of mama 'to know'.
ntaendtd kuua. They have gone to cook (food).
txvi na nzq ncen3. We are very hungry.
During this first nâiko-A^y ^ all the asi'ggi must proceed to the
female leader's hut, and that is done under the following circum-
stances :
On the ground, beginning at the entrance to the nza>ko-h.\x\.,
are placed a row of objects, which extend to the woman's hut.

On one occasion, objects were placed as follows: a lump of wood
{htt'ggt), a leather strap (ptukwd), a pile of ashes (wm), a large
calabash vessel (««), and a calabash {k-hku). The asi'ggi advance
in an ordered troop, and when they reach the first object (the
lump .of wood), they stop and sing:
madt'ggo mtvaGt'gga, a! You have closed the way with

obstacles, aah!
iwaOt'gguia m mukxamo. The way is closed to us by
something that lies across it.
Then the lump of wood is thrown on one side, and they

proceed to the next object, where they sing:
mwasia, e, leld: You say, eeh, listen:

Whamu m nfend, the animal is large,
\atinga mai'gga. it coils into coils ^.
ikxa naOn mukxamo! Throw the obstacle over there

(to one side).
The strap is thrown aside, and they come to the ashes:
mwasxa, e, lel^: You say, eeh, listen:

ivakasaOuku, hare,
wakasaGuku duha mu! hare scrape up ashes-!
u6itd na6ij, mukxamo I Go to one side, obstacle !
Before the calabash vessel they proceed to sing:
mivasxa, e, leld: You say, eeh, listen:

ivombombo. wombotnbo (a sort of refrain)
^ The compared to a writhing snake.

strap is
- The compare themselves to a hare, raising up dust
boys as
it runs, and they take up ashes and throw them at each other.
:
nzwe sia mutwd m the hair on the head is burnt

s%a6ed kana nata? is'nt it^^
'ggwontd un\'Xnzd, aa, aa I have seen ? aah, aah!

nzua ikumt niQcetwd, ten calabash vessels may be moved
away,
mukiamo. obstacle.
Now they reach the last obstacle, the calabash:
mmwasxa, e, leld: You say, eeh, listen:

mivwhiu, mwaOt'gga, e. Our mothers, you have closed the
way, eeh.
mwaGtf^ga ua nzua You have closed with the vessels
na tku siondd. and calabashes all.
The singers sing under the direction of a chief singer {^guf).

All the obstacles are now removed, and they have reached
the old woman's hut, where they are given beer to drink out of
spoons. They sing again:
asa, asokt. Father, father, beer.

undu tambdhha kwtnâ Why should we begin to dig
na ndt la mutandt? with a grave stake of the mutandt
tree?^
When have got beer, the asi^gt return to their hut. They
all
do not, however, sleep much during the two nights they spend
there, but while away the time by singing songs. Some songs are
sung alternately by boys and girls, and they are extremely obscene.
One of them runs as follows:
(the boys:)
had, had, leld: Hae, hae, listen
kino m ndia the kino^ is a fool,
kiiundumeld 'gguam she dwells in the clothes,
had, had hae, hae.
(the girls answer:)
mwasia, e, leld: You say, eeh, listen:
^ The calabash is compared with

a bald head.
^ A tree bearing red flowers, of which digging-sticks are made.
^ The name of the female pudenda.
Arch.Or. Lindblom 4
5© Lindblom, The Akamba
kea m ndia the kea^ is a fool,
htundumeld mcem^ it dwells among the testes,

na, m ndta and is a fool
k'hkundawa unou ni kino. to allow the kino to drink fat.
The meaning is that, by much sexual intercourse, the man grows

lean, while the woman thrives on it.
Like the songs, the conversation also is of a very dubious

nature, and, according to my informant, is directly intended to
show that no feelings of shame exist under these circumstances,
though in daily life considerable modesty is shown in connection
with such matters. But now no consideration may be paid to such
feelings, even if a mupom (chap. V) be present.
In spite of the erotic character of the whole performance, and
although the young people are accustomed to fairly free sexual
intercourse, nothing of that kind takes place during the nzmko
time, as it is considered to have a harmful influence on their future.
The aGwiktt have carefully instructed them on that point. Yet others
who have nothing to do with the ceremonies come and try to
persuade them to disobey the instructions.
During the second day, the ceremonies reach their height in
the appearing of mbusya »the rhinoceros*. This, which has been
prepared beforehand, consists of a structure resembling a box,
joined together and covered with branches, so that
with sticks
it is impossible to see the man who goes into it and produces
the bellowing noise, which is supposed to be an imitation of the
roar of a rhinoceros, intended to frighten the women and children.
The rnbus%a, which has up to this point been concealed in the waste,
is carried by four men. When it is brought near the village, it
roars. It is put down close to one of the entrances of the

nza'hko hut, so that the man can enter it unseen; the hut is di-
vided into two parts by hanging skins, so that the asi%gi shall
not be able to see the mbusxa, but only hear it. The animal
bellows and to show his courage each of the male
continuously,
candidates must go one by one to the hanging with a stick in his
hand, with which he beats the hanging, saying: wikou mwana m
wa 'ggaxna 'he who does this is N. N's son' (mentioning his
^ The name of the male pudenda.

father's name). This is called kwapa mbusyi 'shooting the rhi-

noceros'.
According the description that was given me, the myste-
to
rious produced in the following way: The man who is
noise is
playing the role of mbusya carries by a cord round his neck a

small clay vessel, containing equal quantities of water and beer.
By blowing into the liquid with a pipe (a twig of the mwaepa
tree) he produces a sound which resembles the bellow of the
rhinoceros.
Only the boys take part in what has now been described.
After the mdusia has disappeared as mysteriously as it came, it is
the turn of the girls to undergo a similar but less trying test.
The sound which is to frighten them is produced by an old
woman, who shakes a calabash containing seeds, probably wimbi
(Eleusine).
Ulu the mbus\a is not produced until darkness has fallen,
In
presumably in order to make the whole performance more my-
sterious,and to frighten the ast^gt more. At the nzohko at which
I was present in Kitui, it was done at about five o'clock p. m.
During the night before the third day, the conductor of the
ceremonies must again have intercourse with his wife, the girls'
mwohki. That night all the ast'ggi sleep on the open space before
the nzwhko hut, and they must not light a fire. On the following
morning, the fee must be paid to the mwrnki and his wife, and
the aQwhkti are entitled to try to remove their charges in order
to get them off paying. To prevent this, the relations and friends
of the aOwhktt stand on guard round the place. They make fires
round it, and some of them do sentry-go in turns, and even patrol
between the fires, meeting half-way. These assistants of the con-
ductor must also have their remuneration, which they lose if any
of the asi^gi get away. It sometimes happens, too, that they
fence the place in, so that it shall be even harder for the aQimkii
to steal off with the asz'ggt.
The third day. On the next morning, the ast'ggt pay the
fee to the mwa'hkt and his wife. For a boy the father pays per-
haps half a rupee, for a girl about 30 cents; but as a rule the
parents club together, and 4 ast'ggt pay one goat, 10 to 14 pay a
young bull, 16 pay an ox, which is considered to be worth more
than a bull. For twenty girls one bull is paid.
5a Lindblom, The Akamba
When have been paid, the aOwhkii take back their

the fees
charges. They are now given miniature bows, a few decimeters
long, and small, fragile bird-arrows {mwggi), which latter are made
of the plants called mukulwa or muluila-mbia^ . The boys are sent
with these weapons to hunt lizards, grass-hoppers, etc. These
little animals then represent wild beasts, enemies, &c. Although the
present-day Akamba are principally farmers and cattle-raisers, yet
they are also skilful hunters, and, according to their own traditions,
they were originally a hunting people. This pretence of hunting
on which the boys are sent is, therefore, certainly symbolic of the
occupation which was once upon a time the most important of
the Kamba man, and is perhaps supposed to make them good
shots, both in the chase and in war. The girls, on the other
hand, are sent to break small twigs, that is to say, gather fuel,
which is a part of every woman's daily occupation.
After they have finished hunting, the ast'ggt return singing
to the open place before the nzohko hut. The two mwa^ki each
take a calabash vessel full of beer, which they drink and then
spit out over the multitude as a blessing. The mwa^kis task is
now completed, and the asi^gt may return to their homes. On

the way home, they sing songs, one over the first cow droppings
they see on their way, another over the first goat-droppings, and
so on. *
At home in the villages, the mothers have arranged madi'ggo

'obstacles', to puzzle more to discover whe-
the asi'ggt, and still
ther the aOw^kii have given their children good instruction and
thus earned the remuneration which, as we shall soon see, even
they receive. From mu6ea (the entrance to the kraal) right up
to the door of the hut, the women have placed various objects,
such as a bow, a quiver, a calabash, a grinding stone, and so
on. Every conceivable object is made use of, and even a baby
may be laid in the row. The asif^gi may not enter the hut until,
with the help of aOwhkzi, they have discovered the meaning of

these obstacles, or have discovered what the women have done to
the objects. Thus, for example, the giraffe- (or zebra-)hair binding
1 With regard to the first-named, cf. Chap. XI. The latter is a

plant with bright red flowers. The musical bow with which the medi
cine-man gets into communication with the spirits is struck with a stick
cut from this plant.
: :
tied to the shaft in one or two removed

places, has been
from one arrow in one quiver; or the women have detached one
end of the string of one bow and tied it in a different way; or
one of them has concealed an object in her nostrils, or among
the beads which they wear in a broad belt round the middle. The
devices are even obscene sometimes. Thus, according to what I
was once told, on one occasion the solution was that the novice
had to insert his penis into the genital organ of the »hindering»
woman.
When all the solutionshave been discovered, the mother
smears the musi^gi with and then he may enter the hut. He
fat,
receives a present from his father, and in the same way a girl
receives a small gift from her mother.
While the asiggi solve the » obstacles*, they continue with
their singing. The following is a specimen of such a song:
mwasxa, e, leld You say, eeh, listen

'ggaOi'^giwa na mbni I be shut out by sword
shall
na niatumo na smu swnda and spear and by every possible
thing,
e, nafnb\u na matumo, &c. eeh. By sword and spear, &c.
That day the ast'ggt, provided with their miniature bows, go

round from hut to hut and collect small presents, such as chains (in
the fashioning of which the Akamba are past-masters), bracelets,
and other ornaments. These objects are hung on the points of the
bow, and the boys continue to wander round until their bows
will hold no more. The ornaments go to the aQwikii as remune-
ration for their work. Every father of a family, besides, gives
his child's mu6unkn about one rupee's worth of beer, if he has
had one pupil to take charge of; if he has had two or more
children under his charge, he gets beer to the value of a goat.
Further, on the third day, each boy is given a little stick
about one decimeter in length. On the evening the songs
and dances are in progress, they are to approach the unsuspecting
girls and insert the stick into their genital organs. My informant
emphasized that this is only a pleasantry i^gui), but it is consi-
dered, nevertheless, that if any boy neglects to do this, the children
which he may subsequently beget, will easily die. Here and there
in our account we see traces of the great role which sexual matters
play in these initiation ceremonies. One of the most important

duties of the aOwikti, too, is to instruct the ast'ggt in sexual mat-
ters, and this is undoubtedly a way of preparing the young people
for matrimony.
I — 7. Figures from musa^ sticks, somewhat enlarged.
I. Open space (yard, pom^) with paths leading to it. 2. Tortoise. 3. Ornamented
seat of a stool {mumbo). 4. Python. 5. Cow's tail. 6. Star. 7. Star.
8. Piece of musai stick, natural size. Millipede, clan-mark on beehive, moon, star.
The fourth day. On the night before the fourth day, the
novices sleep on the ground in their mothers' huts, and their
parents must have ritual coition. On the fourth day are distributed
the musax sticks, called uka\ in Kikumbuliu. The niusa\ is a thin
stick of about 80 centimeters in length, made by the aOwikti from
;
branches of the mupiwa tree. In its bark are scratched figures

winding round the stick, and as to the meaning of these figures
they are examined by the aOwhkn, who explain to them what
they do not understand. A father
his son will often instruct
beforehand as to the meaning of these »pictographic riddles*, as
Hobley calls them, so that the son shall not appear all too ignorant
at the examination. When the nzatko festivities are over, the
A UJiinn
13-
14. 15- 16.
9. Snake. 10. The sun. The Akamba call the rays »legs». 11. Stool with three legs.
12. Moon and stars. 13. Chain withjshort side links. 14. Centipede. 15. Woman's
belt with two rows of cowry shells. 16. Calabash with narrow neck.
boys' parents place the musai sticks under the bed, and again
have coition. After that the sticks are destroyed.
There are several musai sticks in my ethnographical collection
from the Akamba. A part of such a stick isshown in the figure 8
Hobley (p. 71) reproduces a whole stick. The most usual figures
are of the sun, the moon, the stars, tortoises, lizards, millipedes,
roads, dancing-places, clan-marks on bee-hives, &c.
I have collected such sticks with figures cut in them (though

they are much longer and thicker than the niusa\ sticks of the
Akamba) from the VVataveta near Kilimandjaro. They are given to
the newly circumcised, who have to interpret the signs. Besides
the sticks, they receive bows marked with similar signs. These
are more conventional than the figures on the inusa\ sticks^.
In addition to the figures just described, there are others which
the aOwikit draw in the sand. Several of these are depicted in
the figures 9 — 16.
Although it is an embarrassing matter for anyone to betray
too great ignorance in these matters, yet the figures have no deep
meaning, but seem mostly to be looked upon as a joke. In the
third nza'hko we shall meet with another sort of conventional signs
with a far more serious practical significance.
Further, on this fourth day, the ast^gt have to steal sugar cane,
and prepare from it beer for the adwhkit. This beer is called iiki
wa utulia wumbu 'beer to push forward the milk juice with'
(see the following section).
The fifth day. Early in the morning, the aQwikii go in search
of a wild fig-tree {mumbu). It must be found in an easterly direction.
All of them, commencing with the eldest, spit on the tree, praying:
» Fig-tree, we have come to pray you to give us milk juice for the
asi'ggi* {knimbu h^ mtuktd uku6oia, utuncB'ggd wumbu wa urKzioga
asi'ggt). They make an offering of a little food and milk by the tree,
and smear a little fat on its trunk, on the right side for the boys
and on the left side for the girls. The juice is obtained by
pricking the tree with a nail, after it has been smeared with fat
in seven places. Each of the aQwhkit catches juice in a little

calabash for his asi^gi. At nightfall they go and fetch the asi'ggi
to the tree, where they take a little milk-juice on one finger and
give it to the asi'ggi, who pretend to eat it^. During the preceding
days, the asi'ggi have not been allowed to consume milk, meat,
sweet potatoes, or certain kinds of beans (Phaseolus and Cajanus
Indicus), but now they can have all sorts of food. Since the
^ See, further, G. Lindblom, Anteckningar 6fver Taveta-folkets

etnologi, p. 178.
^ The fig-tree plays a part also in the initiation rites of the Aki-
kuyu. See F. Bugueau, La circoncision au Kikuyu, Anthropos 191 1,
p. 626. The fig-tree is a kind of sacred tree all over Africa.
»
beginning of the nza^ko, they have Hved on maize, Eleusine

porridge, and gruel. We recognise here the well-known circum-
stance that certain kinds of food are tabu for novices, and they
may only eat them when they are initiated.
At the fig-tree is performed another ceremony, which, in the
second nzohko, is the only thing which has any connection with
real circumcision. A slight cut is made at the base of the glans
(muOwa), and a little beer is poured on the wound.
If the selected fig-tree does not give any milk, the aQwtkii un-
derstand that some malicious person who is conversant with such
matters, has, for sport, » closed* all the fig-trees in the district,
in order to cause and compel them to search

them difficulty
around for another tree, in doing which they tire themselves out,
prick themselves on thorns, and so on. Usually, however, there is
someone among them that knows how to »open» a tree » closed* in
this manner. To this person the others must pay a fee, consisting
of ornaments, a few cents each, and so on.
The asi'ggt pass the sixth day quietly at their homes, where
beer is brewed, and the women prepare gruel («jm) for the following
day's festivities.
The seventh day. The asi^gi carry out a sham cattle raid,
the »cattle» being represented by the round, yellow fruits of a

sort of Solanum {}ido'ggti)\ they have cowherds to watch them.
All the ast^gi are equipped as for a warlike expedition, carrying
bows, arrows, and a calabash containing provisions for the journey.
When the enemy approaches,

the cowherds pelt him with the
Solanum fruit, ^The Masai (or the Galla) are com-
calling out:
ing!* This is the way in which the cattle stealing connected
with the nsaiko is carried on in Kikumbuliu. In Ulu the practice
is that, when the cattle are being driven home in the evening,
the asz^gt rush out and attack the cowherds with ndoggu fruits,
clods of earth, &c, and pretend to steal the cattle. The women
wail: »The Masai have come! The Masai are here to steal our
cattle !
After a real war-expedition, when a young Kamba warrior

returns home with stolen cattle as booty, his parents must have
ritual coition. By analogy with this, the ast'ggis parents have
intercourse when the above-described sham cattle-stealing takes
place. This, however, does not take place until the evening of
the following day. The seventh day is not considered a good

day, for odd numbers {mwa) are looked upon as unlucky in many
respects, and this applies especially to the number seven ^.
As has been mentioned, the festivities generally extend over
seven days. During the whole time, the other young people who
have already been circumcised, indulge in great dances, for which
they put on as many ornaments as possible. These dances are
called nmma, and those who have not yet been circumcised may
not take part in them.
The members of the great clan anzaum (chap. VII), who live i
the neighbourhood of Machakos, extend the time for the second

nia%ko to nearly a month, instead of the usual six or seven days;
the reason for this is that so many young people of this clan are
said to have died after the ceremonies.
Now our description of the second nzatko is at an end. Naturally

the procedure varies somewhat in different places, especially in
the matter of the sequence of the different items. Thus Hobley's
account differs in a good many particulars from mine, yet in the
main our descriptions tally.
Other songs in connection witti the » Great Circumcision >.
On the whole, all these songs seem to be the same over the
whole of Ukamba, with the exception perhaps of Kilungu, where
they are said to be very old and interesting. We have already
seen (in Chap. I) that that district differs in many particulars from
the rest of the country. Unfortunately, I have not had an oppor-
^ When the cattle are out at pasture, they are never watched
by the same cowherd for more than six days at a time. And if the
medicine-man shakes seven objects from his fortune-telling calabash,
when he is consulted, this is looked upon as boding ill-luck. In his
study over circumcision among the Kikuyu, Father Bugeau says » Peu :
importe d'ailleurs le nombre, pourvu que ce ne soit pas sept: ce

nombre est en effet de mauvaise augure. Aussi 6vite-t-on soigneu-
sement d'etre sept dans les repas et les reunions*. E. Bugeau ibid,
p. 623.
tunity of hearing any songs from Kilungu. The one which follows
is from Machakos.
sxua iapt>a ukaGi, e, The sun goes down in Masai-land

tta kwitiu latia makcB'gga aaa. and leaves us its reflection, aah.
fnwas\a, e, leh: You say, eeh, listen:
tukatada, lela. We shall steal, lela,
ad, ad, tukataOa 'gombd ae, ae, we shall steal cattle
sxa akaGi, from the Masai,

iukataGa maweo ondd. we shall steal over all the steppes.
What I saw of the second nzatko in Kitui, in Oct. 1911.
On Oct. 31, 191 1, I happened to learn that the second nza'iko

was proceeding in a village in the neighbourhood of Kitui govern-
ment station. I immediately betook myself thither, arriving about
4 o'clock in the afternoon. I found crowds of people of all ages
and both sexes assembled on an open place in front of the hut of the
conductor of the ceremonies; dancing and singing was at its height.
The dancers were divided into several groups. One of these
consisted of such as had gone through the third nza'hko conse- —
quently only men and no —
others were allowed to partake in
this dance {nzuma). Of the song that was being sung I could
only catch the following words: tmtula cetm, m ta ta utula nia-
cB'ggo 'We do not dance with the girls, it is like dancing with
bee-hives'. The fact of the matter is that the women do not
know the dances that belong to the and those that
third nza'hko,
came to look on were chased away. I heard them say: »We do
not like this dance ». When I appeared on the scene, the dan-
cing stopped, and I was politely but firmly requested to depart
again. What I had the opportunity to see of the dance was not
of an erotic character. All the nza'hko dances, however, seem to
be different from the ordinary dances danced for amusement.
Another group of dancers was composed of those who had
gone through the second nza'hko, that is to say, both males and
females.
The principal personages in the third group were the ast^gz
for the year. They had their heads bound up, were without or-
6o Lindblom, The Akamba
naments, and were covered with old blankets and pieces of cloth.
Together with a crowd of girlsand married women, they went
ceaselessly round in a circle, clapping their hands and singing.
In the middle of the open space stood the nkaiko hut, from
the interior of which proceeded intermittently the roars of the
nibusia. Every now and again some of the ast'ggt were taken
into the hut »to beat the mbusia-». The asi'^gi carried thin switches,
about 2 and when the dance was ended, they

meters in length,
went round pretending to beat people. Everything they did,

however, gave the impression of being done in fun, and the whole
performance resembled innocent amusement.
I was told that this day was the last nzaiko day for the year.
On the following morning, the asi'^gi, carrying bows of some
two meters in length, were seen going round from hut to hut,
begging for beads, which they strung on their bow-strings. Gene-
rally they were given only two or four beads by the same per-
son : it was considered that to give three, five, or seven beads
would bring bad luck, and the ast^gi refused to accept such an
odd number.
3. "The Circumcision of the, Men".
The third nzmko, which is only practised, in Eastern Ukamba

(the Kitui district and Kikumbuliu), is much more secret than the
second, and the proceedings are only known to those that have taken
part in it. These are all bound by oath to secrecy. The breach of
this was punished by instant death in earlier times, and
oath
even nowadays such punishment is not out of the question. At
best the delinquent escapes with the payment of a fine of ten
cows. A Kamba may
not refer to these rites even in general
terms, and merely to ask about them costs two bulls. A man
may not even talk about them to his wife. When I had become
initiated into these matters, I used sometimes to amuse myself by
putting questions to my bearers, during rests between marches,
in order to see their amazed and scared faces. My first questions
were generally ignored, but if I persisted, they answered: »Master,
we know that nothing in Ukamba is unknown to you. But if you
Circumcision and initiation rites 6i
know these secrets,you ought also to know that they are not
talked about. you do not cease plaguing us with your questions,
If
we will lay down our loads and leave you».

Under such circumstances it is not surprising that missionaries
who have lived in the country for twenty years, are ignorant of
these matters. As a matter of fact,up to a few years back,
they were unknown both to missionaries and officials. Of the
two existing accounts of the third nzatko, besides my own (from
Kikumbuliu), one is by Mr Hobley (from Kitui), and the other,
which is not yet published, is by the above-mentioned missionary,
Pfitzinger (from a district north of Kitui station)^. All the ac-

counts show great similarity, especially my own and Pfitzinger's,
which agree in all essentials. Pfitzinger got his information some

years ago from a converted native. But although the latter had
become a Christian, he only ventured to make his disclosures
with great hesitation. My own information I obtained from a
medicine-man in the district of Kibwezi, with whom I had got on
intimate terms and who was my most frequent companion during
a month's time*.
On the other hand, it is doubtful whether any white man has
ever been an eye-witness of these ceremonies. While I was still
staying in the neighbourhood of Kibwezi in 191 1, preparations

had already been commenced for the »men's circumcision*, but
I only learnt this fact after I had left the place. It is celebrated
only every third or fourth year, and not every year, as is the
case with the other two nzmko festivals. The natives say that
it is so dangerous and harmful that, if it took place oftener, the
rains for the year would fail, and a famine would ensue.
This nzaisko has no more to do with religious practice than
have the other two. The object is simply and solely that the
Kamba youth may reach the culmination of the education and
knowledge that the tribe can bestow on the individual — to make
him a mundu wa 'gguma 'a man of reputation'. He who has
gone through these ceremonies is a real man and has a safe claim
to the mutumâ dignity (see p. 138). As in the case of the second
nzaiko, the novices are called asi'^gi.
^ By the courtesy of Mr K. Dundas, Machakos, I was enabled to

study this manuscript, which had been handed over to the government.
^ See the account of my travels in Afrikanska strdftSg, p. 195 ff-
The conductor of the third nzaiko is one of the respected

elders. He selects a remote spot in the wastes, away from the
paths and near a Here he sends four men who have gone
river.
through these rites, and they have to build a hut. Round this
hut they make a cleared space, which is strewn with sand or fine
earth. The place is consecrated by killing a goat and mixing
its 7nu\o (the digested contents of one of the stomachs, seep. 103)
with the sand. Then they go to prepare the mbcedam, which corre-
sponds to the mbusia of the second 7izaiko. A ktusm tree is
found ^, and from it are made two pipe-shaped staves, into which
a thinner stick is inserted. By means of fibres of the mwapa
tree, which is a 'gondm tree (chap. VI), the staves are bound together
at an acute angle. Another goat is killed when the staves are

ready, and they are smeared with its mmo. Then the mbcedani
is concealed in the river.
While three of the men are making the mbcedam, the fourth
remains at the place to see that nobody approaches, who has no
business there. If anyone does come, he is seized and must pay
a fine of a bull, the meat of which is eaten by those who take

part in the festival. An unbidden guest even risks life and limb.
Now the three men return to the conductor's village, and inform
him that everything is ready for the novices. In the evening they
go out into the waste and fetch the mbceGam, which is taken
to the village. It is carried point foremost, resting upon one
man's shoulders, two other men carrying the legs of the angle.
According to my informant, these legs have »a large opening
behind, which is blown into, and a smaller one in front*. When
they approach the village, they blow into the pipes, which give
forth a hollow, drawn-out sound. Anyone who gets in the way
of the mb(s6am is seized and fined a bull or ten goats. Generally,
however, the mbceâm is heard far and wide, and outsiders keep
out of the way. Then the conductor's village is reached, where
all the men have assembled; the women may not be present, but
go to sleep in their huts. Deep silence prevails, and even so
inconsiderable a noise as a cough or a hawk is punished by the
imposition of a fine of several goats; only the mbcBQam is heard.
The conductor asks why they have come there, and adds that
^ Leguminosse sp. which blooms on the naked twig.

no children are left there. After the singing of some songs, the
mbcsOam is taken back to its hiding-place, without the asi'ggz having
seen it. The rnbceOam may be said to correspond to the » bull-
roarer* of the mysteries of the Australians and other peoples.

The same night, the asi'ggi are led to the selected place; they
are clothed, or rather unclothed, in the same way as the novices
in the above-described nzobko. As in this nzaiko, they have pro-
tectors, aQimkti, one for every two asi'ggi. These aQwhkii are
men who have already gone through these rites. They give them
all sorts of instructions, warn them to do all that is demanded
of them, and on no account to refuse to do anything, or they
will pay for it with their lives.
Besides the a6imhz, there is another category of functionaries,

the so-called ^g'a/a, younger men, whose duties are to plague the
asi^gi. l^gala means both 'spark' and 'flea' ; thus they must
annoy the novices with the same persistence as that shown by
biting fleas. In social rank they are lower than the aGwiktt.
On the place where the performance takes place, several fires
are lighted, one for the asz'ggt, one for the 'ggala, one for
the aQwikn, and one at which sit the elders, members of the nzama
(see chap. IX). The divisioninto groups is thus based on ranks, and
no one may sit by the fire assigned to a group which is higher in
rank than himself. The elders have good supplies of meat at their
fire, for the ast'ggt have paid for the privilege of going through
the ceremony, besides which the men take this opportunity of
buying a higher rank in the community, and this costs a bull
or a certain number of goats, which are eaten in common. The
animals are cut up according to certain principles, since mem-
bers of the lower ranks may not eat of all parts of an animal.
This point will be considered in a later chapter dealing with age-
and rank-classes. None of the meat set apart for consumption on
this occasion may be taken home to the villages. Only the elders
may crack the bones to get at the marrow, and all bones are
collected at their fire. Anyone who breaks this rule is fined se-
veral goats.
When the feasting has proceeded for some time, the hour
arrives for the ast'ggt to begin their proofs. Their eyes are
bound, and they are led by their protectors to the sandy place,
where they are ordered to throw themselves prostrate. They now
begin to sing certain songs, some of which I have recorded,

but I have not been able to translate them. As they sing, they
throw up sand with their hands and feet. Soon the hollow, bel-
lowing sound of the approaching mdceOam is heard. The ast'ggt
are ordered to lie immovable, and not to look about them they ;
are also told to shout: ulu, ulu, ulu. Their protectors form a
ring round them, and throw sand on them with their feet, as though
to conceal them from the monster. The bringing up of the
mbcEdam is only intended to instil respect into the novices, and it
is soon borne away again.

The asi'ggt are then given a few pieces of meat to eat. If
any of them crack a bone while eating and they are closely —
watched —
it is looked upon as a grave offence, and the father
must pay a fine of a goat. Then they are permitted a short
sleep, and this they enjoy beside the aOztnkiis fire, as a protection
against the l^gala.
On the following day come the real tests, some of which
give the impression of pleasantries. They must, for example, suck
up sand through a tube, pretending that they are drinking beer.
Then they pretend to be drunk and create a disturbance and fight
with sticks.
The 'ggala make natural noises (break wind), upon which
the asi'ggi must give vent to long-drawn aah's, an expression of
reverence and respect which is used by a young person in answer
to an older man's greeting. Further, the l^gala take a lump of
anything, often of human excrement, order the must'ggi to open
his mouth as wide as possible, and push the lump into his throat;
the lump must be swallowed, however inclined the victimma y
be to vomit.
There is much to be said in favour of the supposition that
this method of procedure is not a fortuitous method of tormenting
the novices, but that it is connected with a magic rite, as a great
many facts indicate that human excrement is considered in many
quarters to possess a magic power. In the myths of the Kwakiutl
urine is used as a means of making the children grow up quicker,
and in the Australian initiation riles the youths have to eat the
excrement of old women ^.
^ See K, Th. Preuss, Der Ursprung der religion und kunst
Globus 1904, p. 326.
These burlesque games, however, are quite insignificant com-

pared with the actual tests, some of which mean real torture to
many of the victims. Each one must throw himself headlong on
the ground, roll in every direction, and then walk with the help
of head and legs, without using his hands. If he does not
his
walk enough, the 'ggala beat him. A pointed peg is driven
fast
into the ground, and each of the asi^gi must pull it out with
his teeth. The feat is rendered very difficult by the position
which the performer must adopt: he must squat (not sit) on
the ground, and then, without help of his hands, bend his head
and seize the peg. It often happens that he falls forward in
doing so, and wounds his mouth on the peg. If he does not
pull the peg out quickly enough, he is beaten until he does
accomplish it. Sometimes, however, his protector intervenes and
peg out for him.
pulls the
Next the ast^gi must run between two lines of the "ggala,
who are armed with sticks from two to three meters in length,
with which they beat the runners. It is said that, if a musi'ggi
is disliked or if he has enemies among the 'ggala, it often happens
that he is crippled or even beaten to death.
Following these games come obscenities, which my informant
described to me with obvious embarassment, repeatedly laying
stress onfact that the whole performance was nothing but
the
fun {ggui). Each of the asi'ggi must hold up his penis until erection
ensues. A lump of wood is then bound to the member, and he
must then march round in this plight, amid the continuous laughter
of the audience. Next a hollow, some ten centimeters in length,
is scooped out in the ground and filled with water. This repre-
sents a vagina, and in it all the asi'ggi must perform the act of
copulation. When water is used up, the hollow is filled in.
the
These tests are mentioned also by Mr Pfitzinger, who adduces
other similar ones. For instance, »each one must perform upon
the other, to demonstrate how he has sexual intercourse with a
woman ».
For forty-eight hours they remain in the remote spot engaged
in such performances, and during the whole time the asiggi get
nothing to eat beyond a scrap of meat. At the expiration of this
period, they are led home amid singing. The songs are of an
indescribably lewd content. When they arrive in the village,
Arch.Or. Lindblom S
they are condescendingly greeted by the ^gala with waha,

kana ka 'Good day, you child' (wakia is a greeting to children
from their elders the respectful answer is aak). When the asi'ggt
open their mouths to reply, they get their ears boxed, or else get
all sorts of things stuffed into their mouths. Or else the 'ggala
relieve themselves, and when the excrement appears, the asz'ggi
must again say »aah». A multitude of such » pleasantries » are

enacted. Among others, every must'ggi is told to call his father
to him,and he must then place his penis in the latter's ear. Any-
one who refuses to submit to this is fined a bull.
That night the asi'ggi may sleep in their homes, and the
parents must have sexual intercourse.
On the following morning begin the great dances, which con-
tinue for five or six days. During the first days, the asi'ggi re-
main in the plantations, where they live on food which their
mothers have put in a certain place for them, but without
saying anything about The food may not contain any
it to them.
salt. They have been provided with long sticks by the aOwikii,
and with these they beat all the women and others who have not
undergone the third nsatko, who cross their path. Mr Pfitzinger
says: »The asingi are not afraid of striking our own boys, messen-
gers, or herdsmen. Even an askari (soldier) could only save himself
by threatening to shoot them. Everybody is afraid of the sticks of
the asingi*. When the women go to the river to fetch water, they
are fallen upon, their calabashes are smashed, and the girls are
raped. My informant strongly emphasized that asi'ggi under the

third nzaiko are not regarded as human beings, but as animals,
niamu. Without any doubt all these ceremonies and performances
are intended finally and definitely to raise them from the condition
of children without tribal rights. In a similar way, the neophytes
among certain Australian tribes are looked upon as dead. The
same is the case also in West Africa.
In reply to my question as to whether they would dare to
assault a European, they answered that they would probably refrain
from doing that, but they attack a native of another tribe without
hesitation.
If a stranger coming along the road is attackedby the asi'ggi
and kills one of them in self-defence, he cannot be made respon-
sible for his act. It is as if he had shot a gguli, a baboon, and
the father of the victim may not even ask who is the perpetrator
of the deed. Instead, the muOwiku of the murdered man is blamed,
and then he gets no remuneration for his work. For he is conside-
red responsible for the mishap, since he has not given his pupil
sufficiently precise instructions.
Thus, that the neophytes may with impunity break the rules
established for the peace and order of the community is typical of
all must subscribe to the following remark of van
initiation rites. I
Gennep: »Pendant toute la duree du noviciat les liens ordinaires,

tant economiques que juridiques, sont modifies, parfois meme net-
tement rompus. Les novices sont hors de la societe, et la societe
ne peut rien sur eux .»^, . ,
In order to escape being attacked, those who have gone

through the third nzmko have secret signs by which they can be
recognised. Probably these signs differ in different districts, but
for Kikumbuliu I have made a record of the following:
A figure resembling a trident is drawn in the sand, and the
attacked are asked what it is. The answer is, mbcsQam. Or they
take two small twigs, each in the form of a hook; they hang
one on the other, and hand them to the one that is to be tested.
If he is initiated, he seizes the lower one which is hanging freely
and turns it round. If he takes hold of the upper one, he thereby

shows his ignorance, and receives a beating. Another way is to
lay a stick over a path: the initiated then move it to such a po-
sition that it lies along the path. In another district again, the
stick must be moved so that it points towards the conductor's vil-
lage. Or finally, a little sand-heap is scraped up, and a stick is
stuck into its side. The stick must be moved over to the oppo-
site side.
After the expiration of a day or two, the adwhkii take home

their pupils, who have not, in the meantime, been allowed even
to speak to their mothers or brothers and sisters, but have been
looked upon as animals.day they are home, they do
The first
not speak to their parents, but sleep for the most part, and their
mothers bring them food^. Then they wash and put on their
clothes and ornaments, and a little hair is shaved from their
^ A. van Gennep, Les rites de passage, p. 161.

^ Reintegration rites. In the Congo, for instance, the novice is-
fed like a new-born baby.

foreheads, mtcenîd ast'^gi 'we have shaved the ast^gi\ they say ^.
The asj'ggi are now born again (kusiawa) and have again become
human beings. The sticks which they have carried up till now
are broken up and burnt by the aGwikit, so that the smaller
children may not get hold of them. The ceremonies are now at
an end, and the parents are happy over and proud of their sons,
who have now advanced to the dignity of real men. Now dances
(nzuma) are indulged in with zest and abandon. In these dances,
however, no uninitiated may take part; for a breach of this rule
the fine is a goat.
The third nzmko is held in great dread by the uninitiated,
and the women are heard to express their apprehensions that their
sons may return from the tests in the wastes as cripples, or even
that they may be
killed there. People from Ulu who come east-
wards during the nzaiko time, do not dare to remain in the
vicinity of the place where the ceremonies are being celebrated,
but prefer to wander forth into the night, braving lions and rhi-
noceroses. It is undeniable that these customs are a plague for
a large proportion of the people.

As has already been indicated, this nzohko does not occur
at all in Western Ukamba, the real home of the tribe, for which
reason it is certain that it is not an original custom. Whence
the people to the east have acquired it, is unknown to me; the
Akamba themselves do not seem to possess any traditions about
it. Possibly it is a local extension of the second nzmko.
4. The occurrence of secret initiation rites and secret

societies in these parts of East Africa.
Like all ordinary initiation ceremonies in general, the rites
of the- three nâiko are very similar to the rites of initiation into
secret societies. Examples of such initiations are frequent in
Africa (The Congo, the Guinea Coast), and are, as regards their
^ van Gennep says:de I'enfant pour indiquer

»on rase la t6te
qia'il entre dans un autre le traitement qu'on fait
stade de la vie . . .
s.ubir aux cheveux rentre tres souvent dans la classe des rites de pas-
sê», loc, cit. p. 239.
origin, difficult to distinguish from ordinary initiation rites ^. The

Akamba have no secret societies, and even if those who have
passed through the third nsatko experience a certain feeling of
affinity, yet, when the ceremonies are once over, this feeling
obtains no practical expression — that is to say that, unlike the
secret societies, it plays no role in their economic and political life.
If we now pass to the neighbours of the Akamba, I cannot,

in the literature on the subject, discover any definite indications
of anything corresponding to the third nza'hko. Accounts dealing
with the Akikuyu and the Masai contain nothing of that nature.
Among the Amwimbe of Eastern Kenya, who are kin to the
Akikuyu, it seems that for some time previous to circumcision^
the novices have to undergo a special course of instruction and
initiation in a special hut in the forest^. As far as concerns the
Wapokomo, on the , Tana, it is known that among them »exis-
tieren organisierte geheimbiinde, deren zweck ist, den einzelnen
zum mann zu machen»^. If we proceed from Ukamba eastwards,
we find that there exists a type of secret society among the
Wagiriama*, as also among the Wa-Rabai, both in the hinter-
land of Mombasa^. We have seen in chap. I that the old trad-
ing route of the Akamba to the coast passed through these
tracts, and that there is a considerable Kamba colony near Rabai.
There is therefore a conceivable possibility that the Eastern
Akamba have been influenced by their eastern neighbours in the
matter of their secret initiation rites. At all events, it is scarcely
probable that they alone practise such rites as those belonging
to the third nza'hko. I have no knowledge of the state of things
among the Wataita, south of the Uganda railway.
On the whole, very little is known of secret initiation rites
^ inter alia, R. H. Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa, p.

See,
247 and L. Frobenius, Die Masken und Geheimbunde Afrikas, p-
ff.,
117, 218. H. Webster's Primitive secret societies, N. York 1908, I

have not had access to.
2 Man
1913, p. 137.
^ S. R. Steinmetz, Rechtsverhaltnisse von eingeborenen Volkern
in Afrika und Ozeanien, p. 291.

Described by Rev. W. E. Taylor in his Vocabulary of the
*
Giriama language, a work to which I have not had access.

^H. B. Johnstone, Notes on the customs of the tribes occu-
pying Mombasa subdistrict, p. 265.
and secret societies in East Africa. From this point of view, the
present chapter — as supplementing Hobley's account — would
seem to possess considerable interest.
My account is now concluded, and further comments are

superfluous. We have been able to show the existence of proced-
ures which are typical of initiation rites all over the world. We
have thus been able at least to distinguish : i) a series of rites
which loosen the ties binding the novice to his former environ-
ment ; 2) other rites which cause the novice to return — as a new
man — to his ordinary milieu.
In conclusion I recall one circumstance which may be worthy
of mention. Teeth-chipping is practised among the Akamba, but
I have not been able to discover the least corroboration for Mr
Hobley's statement that »the teeth are chipped after the first
nzmko or and by the man that operates on that
circumcision,
occasion* The custom, which otherwise is certainly associated
^.
in some places with the rites of puberty, has nothing to do with

it in Ukamba, but is exclusively intended 'to improve the appear-
ance. It may certainly be considered a tribal mark, but is not

even obligatory; it is simply a fashion, which however plays a
great role as a means of making oneself attractive to the opposite
sex. Hildebrandt is right when he says: »Diese operationen
geschehen ohne begleitende ceremonien» ^. The operation is not
performed by any special person, the young men often assist
each other. Here and there, however, is found someone who is
specially skilful, and he is naturally relied upon for preference.
In a chapter further on I will describe and illustrate the proce-
dure.
Since chapter III was written, I have come across a detailed

account of the initiation rites among a tribe in Eastern Equatorial
Africa, namely »[Zauberglaube und] Manbarkeistfeste bei den Wa-
pare, Deutsch-Ostafrika* (nach den aufzeichnungen des Herrn J.
1 Akamba &c, p. 18. * loc. cit. p. 350.

circumcision and initiation rites •
71
Alberti bearbeitet von P. German) in Jahrbuch des stadtischen

Museums fiir Volkerkunde zu Leipzig, pp. 72 88, Leipzig, 191 3. —
The Wapare or Wasu, as they call themselves, inhabit the Pare
mountain, between Kilimandjaro and the Usambara plateau. I
visited North Pare in April 191 2. The ceremonies are held in
the woods about every tenth year, and are divided into two parts.
They last from 2 to 3 months. Much in the account is remini-
scent of the initiation rites of the Akamba, for which reason I
venture to append some citations: » Man hort eines nachts
im walde ein lautes gebriill. Nur eingeweihte wissen, das der
alte [the leader of the feast is a respected elder] diese tone auf
einem riesigen topf hervorbringt (p. 72). Der topf stellt den
lowen dar, — zur halfte mit wasser gefiillt. —— — Diese
beiden [an old man and an old woman] machen das »l6wenbrullen»,
indem sie mit holzrohren in die topfe blasen. Ueber sich haben
sie ein schwarzes tuch gehangt, das auch den topf verhiillt (p. 75).
Der knabe erhalt als mentor einen erwachsenen, aber ihm nicht
verwandten mann, der wahrend des ganzen festes ihm als berater
zur seite steht (p. 73). Die burschen ziehen nackt in trupps
im land umher In der steppe miissen sie eine bunte, grosse
eidechsenart fangen. Friichte und pflanzen stehlen die burschen,
was ihnen niemand verwehren darf. Tags iiber tanzen die burschen
oder werden von den alten gepeinigt man bindet an den
penis der burschen eine grosse, schwere bananenbliite, und so
miissen sie viermal zu den entfernt sitzenden alten laufen, ange-
treiben durch schlage ———
[The boys must promise not to
disclose the rites]. die alten zwingen den knaben den
penis in das loch [made in a calabash] zu stecken und den coitus
symbolisch auszufiihren» (p. yy).
The have nothing to do with circumcision: »Es ist aber

rites
das eigentliche pubertatsfest, durch das der knabe als mannbar

erklart und in stammesgemeinschaft als vollwertigen mann auf-
genommen wird» (p. 78). We have then social puberty, to speak
with van Gennep.
From this detailed description and the above-mentioned indic-
ations of similar customs among several other tribes, it would •
seem permissible draw the conclusion that secret initiation rites

to
are generally among the Bantu in Eastern Equatorial
practised
Africa, and that these customs resemble each other somewhat,
even in details.
Chapter IV. Marriage.
I. General Customs.
It is a mistake to suppose that among primitive peoples women

are usually given in marriage withoutany regard being paid to their
own inclinations. The Kamba women
have, on the whole, the
right of choosing for themselves their companions through life,
and the majority of marriages are founded on mutual attachment.
The suitor, therefore, always makes sure of the girl's consent ^ be-
fore he finally approaches her father. He does not usually go
himself, but sends his father to negociate the matter, or, if the
latter is prevented from going, he sends his eldest brother. The
eldest brother is in many respects a deputy for his father as regards
his younger brothers and sisters. If a favourable answer is received,
the first step towards paying for the bride is taken at once —
kwasm or kupoa mw^tm ('to buy a girl'), as it is called — two
goats being sent to the prospective father-in-law. They are called
mbwh sia nbeo {<pea 'to seek'), since through them the suitor
» seeks » knowledge of whether the girl and her father still hold to
their word. If the goats are returned, he knows that it is not

worth while to continue to k%vas\a; but if only the strap with
which the animals were fastened is sent back, this is a token of
consent. The despatch of these goats, then, corresponds to the
proposal among more civilized peoples.
The night after the goats are received, the girl's father must
sleep with his wife. The suitor then hastens to send a couple of cala-
bashes of beer and from 2 to 4 goats {kuOzktla ukz waQiktla mbwi

'to follow the beer which followed the goats'). On the receipt of
^ Examples of how the Kamba youth pays court to the lady of his
choice, that is to say, of the first step on the road to matrimony, have
been given by the author in a popular work, »Afrikanska str6ftS.g». p. 108.
Marriage 73
these, the parents-in-lawmust again have ritual coition. Then are

sent a further 5 or 10 goats and a buck (ndce^gd ia kwitea mbui
nbakamd nbt 'a buck to pour out blood on the ground for the
goats'). The latter must be slaughtered; if this is not done and
the buck subsequently dies from natural causes, the father-in-law
must send these goats back. More beer is now sent {wa upa-
mbyx nzeeld 'to wash the calabash vessels with'). On this occasion
the suitor is always eager to send plenty of beer, because his
father now goes to the prospective father-in-law to arrange about
the price to be paid for the girl in goats and cattle. Some time
usually elapses before any agreement is reached, and while the
negociations are in progress, the beer is drunk. If there is plenty
of it, the father-in-law's humour is improved, and in consequence

he becomes easier to deal with, when the suitor's father tries
to beat down the price. The one praises the girl, the other
finds her full of faults, and, among other things, calls her,
perhaps, kceletm ka 'that little girl' ^. Finally they come to an
agreement.
The number of goats to be paid depends on the financial
position of the suitor; on an average 40 to 50 are paid, besides

cattle, and a rich man may pay lOO or more goats. In compari-
son with their neighbours, the Kamba women command unusually
high prices, and it seems that prices were even higher in earlier
days, when it was possible to steal cattle with impunity from the
neighbouring tribes. They were also higher before the last great
famine at the end of the nineties, when the tribe was undoubtedly
richer than at the present time ^. Among the Akikuyu, for example,
the usual price 40 goats and 5 sheep (no cattle).
is
Though number of goats varies, the number of cattle is

the
usually constant, viz. 2 cows and 2 bulls (or oxen), one of which
is later on slaughtered to be eaten. If one of the cows repeat-
edly gives birth to bull-calves, the father-in-law has the right to
send it back and demand another; if one of the cows dies, he has
^ kceletm is the diminutive of mwhtiu; the diminutive is often used

contemptuously. Cf. my
Kamba Language», Uppsala 1917.
»Notes on the
* According to Hofmann, the Akamba living on the coast formerly
paid from 10 to 16 cows. Hofmann, Geburt &:c., p. 11. With re-
gard to the price of a bride in general in Africa, see A. H. Post,
Afrikanische Jurisprudenz.
also the right to receive another in its place. In Kikumbuliu

(South-East Ukamba), where cattle are not usually kept on account
of the tsetse-fly, 60 to 100 goats are paid for a bride. Some of
the Akamba living there, however, keep cattle in the higher-lying
tracts, and sometimes pay 2 cows and a number of goats.

Since money (Indian rupees) is in general use in East Africa,
the prices of the different animals may be quoted, in order to give
a better notion of the real value of the price of a bride. On an
average in Ukamba, a goat or a sheep sells for 5 —6 rupees; an
—
ox or a bull for 20 25 rupees; and a cow for 60 rupees or more.
Very fat animals command higher prices.
When the suitor may take home his bride depends more upon
the father-in-law's pleasure than on the time when the purchase
money isHowever, the bargain is not concluded until all
paid.
the cattle have been delivered, and the father can, in the mean-
time, take his daughter back when he likes. The time within
which the cattle must be delivered depends upon the financial
position of the suitor and also upon the father-in-law's greater or
lesser indulgence in the matter of enforcing his claim. A poor
man often spreads payment over two or three years, and I even
know a middle-aged man who has not yet finished paying for his
wife. When demanding the payment of such debts, it is by some
considered »good form» to talk in metaphors, which the Akamba
are apt to do on other occasions, too. For example, they rnay
say: »Bring me the kUm-s) ('the pot splinter'), or 'the eyes of the
black one' — both expressions referring to the eyes of the cattle,
pars pro toto. Another expression is: »Those who are tormented
by the rain».
It is not enough that a part of the price has been paid for
a man to be allowed to take his wife home. The members of
her family, and the mother-in-law especially, must receive consi-
derable preHminary gifts, which are not included in the actual pur-
chase price. The latter receives perhaps a goat, bananas, gruel

(usu), some pieces of meat, &c — in a word, a little of all sorts
of food, which are brought to her by the suitor's mother and
other women. This is called kupoka, and if a child happens to be
born in the village at this time, it is often called nboki. The
girl's brothers and sisters receive presents, such as beads or wire
to make ornaments of. Finally, the suitor, muas\a, must work
Marriage 75
in his prospective father-in-law's fields, in which work his friends

help him. On the whole, the opportunity is taken to fleece him
and get as much out of him as possible.
If too long a time elapses before the father-in-law delivers up
the girl, the suitor may lose patience and arrange with some of
his friends to help him to abduct her. One day when she is work-
ing in the fields or going to the river to fetch water, she is sur-
rounded and carried Those who come up on hearing her
off".
-cries, are kept at a distance by the suitor's friends by means

of long sticks, while others carry her off". Pretended (ceremo-
nial) abductions, which are customary with the Akikuyu, the
Akamba's neighbours to the west, are not usual among the
Akamba.
The abduction described here is quite an exceptional occur-
rence; which takes place more or less with the woman's con-
nivance, but it is probably this which has led Krapf and Hilde-
brandt to assert that the Akamba practise ceremonial bride-steal-
ing. The latter writes: »In friiheren zeiten war — '-
so erzahlt
man — bei den Wakamba brautraub mit blutigen gefechten ver-
bunden, gebrauchlich. Ein anklang daran findet sich noch in der
sitte, das am hochzeitstage ein bruder oder freund des brauti-
gams die braut, wenn sie sich vom hause entfernt, um wasser
am fluss zu holen, iiberfallt, ihr gesicht und schultern mit butter
salbtund dem erwahlten trotz scheinbaren straubens zufuhrt» ^. And
Krapf says: »The bridegroom must then carry off" the bride by
force or stratagem » ^. Neither the author nor missionaries living
in Ukamba know anything of this custom. However, experience
has shown that it is necessary to be on one's guard not to con-
fuse the rare cases of real woman-stealing and the symbolic bride-
stealing originating therefrom with running away with a girF. The
fundamental reasons for the ceremonies which are like the abduc-
tion of women, are, for the rest, the natural human feelings, such
as feminine shyness and timidity, and also grief at leaving the
paternal home, so that the accounts of ceremonial abduction
Hildebrandt ibid., p. 401.

1
Krapf ibid., p. 354. Cf. also the confused account in Hobley,

*
Akamba &c, p. 62.

' See also Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, p. 223.
which are found even in modern ethnographical works, must

be taken with great reserve in most cases ^.
When a man at last gets permission to take his bride home,
a certain day is agreed upon. The home-coming always takes
place in the evening. When everybody is asleep, the girl slips
out and goes with the man
where the mother-in-law
to his village,
smears her neck with fat, as a token of welcome (chap. XII). This
ceremony is certainly of religious-magic significance, and is intended
as a protection against the possible dangers which the marriage
just entered upon may entail ^. No special ceremony takes place,
nor has the language any special word or expression which could
correspond to » wedding ».
During the night the young wife sleeps in the man's bed,
but they may not have any intercourse. Early next morning,
while the others are still asleep, .she gets up, sweeps out the hut,
and makes up the fire for cooking, and then she goes to bed
again, since she is shy —
feels ndom, as it is called, for her
mother-in-law —
and wants to show herself to her as little as possible.
It would perhaps be too bold to describe this household work of the
bride as ceremonial, symbolic However this may

of her duty.
be, it is a good expression of the most important work of a wo-
man (next to child-bearing), namely, to work and keep house for
her husband ^.
Later in the day, her friends and playmates among the un-
married girls come to give her presents (bananas and other foods),
and they cry because they have lost her from their circle. The
songs they then mbapi sta maiw the songs
sing are called
of the weeping' (from i\a 'to weep'). She is now of the mar-
ried, and will never again join in the dancing or other merry ga-
'
mes. In assumed anger they break up the supports of the bridal
couple's bed, and take the husband's ornaments, which hang
on the bed; this he has no right to prevent them from doing. At
the same time they sing in shrill voices their songs of com-
^ Cf. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, pp. 350, 367; and Starcke,
Die Primitive Familie, 230 ff,
p.
* Cf. Crawley on »The mutual dangers of contact* in The My-
stic Rose, p. 325.
^ On »das Symbol der zuzubereitenden Speisen», see Starcke, pp.
274, 280.
Marriage 77
plaint, which are audible to a great distance. It sometimes hap-

pens that they return the next day and finish their work of
destruction.
The conduct of these girls can hardly be an expression of their
— or perhaps we may say an expression of the whole of their sex's
— reluctance to reUnquish one of members a man their to ; nor can
itbe a sort of sympathy (directed against the man) for the friend
who, from easily understandable psychological reasons, begins her
new-married life only with a certain shyness and doubt. Analo-
gous cases from other peoples render it more than probable that
it is a matter of pure ceremonial custom, in a way intended to
avert bad luck from the young couple ^.
The newly married man's liabilities towards the bride's family,

however, are not yet ended. Even after he has got his wife home,
he must send more presents to her family. The mother-in-law
receives a goat »to see the child* {mbm la kwona kana), that is
to say, in memory of the daughter who has left her home. The
father-in-law, his other wives, and the girl's brothers and sisters,
are also remembered with presents.
The newly married couple usually stay in the husband's mo-
ther's hut, at any rate until the first child is born, when they move
out and build their own hut. There are no definite rules on this
point, but it depends on the man's pleasure when he wishes

to move. As previously mentioned, the young wife is shy of her
mother-in-law at first, and some time usually elapses before she
can, for example, bring herself to eat in her presence. I know
one case where it took nearly a year for a girl to overcome her
iidom (see chap. V), to such an extent has the feeling become
part and parcel of the national consciousness. However, it greatly
depends upon the individual character.
As a rule, the girls are married between the ages of 12 and
18, the men considerably later. It sometimes happens, however,
that a girl is promised to a certain man when she is quite young.

Then she becomes so accustomed to look upon him as her pro-
spective husband that it never occurs to her to raise any objec-
^ See Crawley, p. 366.

tions to the match. We have seen that a young man follows his
own inclinations in the selection of a wife; but since he is depen-
dent on his father to pay the price, the latter has much to say
in the matter, and if he does not approve of his son's choice,
nothing comes of the match. This dependence of the son on the
father continues in many matters, as long as the latter lives, and
it is often said that a man's wife is not his but his father's.
Cases of child-marriage occur, insofar that a rich man often buys
a wife for his son without consulting him. However, no one can
be married before he or she has been circumcised. If a man has
several sons, a younger son must always wait until the eldest has
a wife, since the father can never be certain that he can afford
to buy another girl. As soon as all the sons have a wife each,
a younger one can, however, take a second, even if the elder son
has not yet done so.
If anyone has begun to pay for a girl and she should die
while she is still under her father's roof, the suitor has the right
to have her sister or to recover his property. If the father-in-law
is not in a position to pay back what he has received, his near-

est relations in the clan are bound to help. But if a man has
taken his wife home, and she then dies, he has no claim to any
compensation ; nor has he any if she should be barren, a '^gu^guUy
as it is called in the Kamba language.
That marriage is founded on mutual liking and that the Kamba
girl does not submit to her father's will without opposition, is
proved by many examples. If, for the sake of a large purchase

price, a father should marry his daughter to a rich old libertine
who is repulsive to her, he not infrequently runs the risk of losing
her altogether, since more than one girl in such a position has
taken her own life, and has been found hanging by a strap round
her neck to the roof of the hut, or to a tree out in the fields.
At best, her lover abducts her and conceals her somewhere else,
until a divorce is arranged.
2. Special Cases.
There are, of course, numbers of local variations of or addi-

tions to the above-described customs associated with matrimony. For-
merly there seems to have been in force in the region of Mukaa a
Marriage 79
custom that, when a woman married, all those with whom she had had
relations previously should give her husband a goat each. And in
Kilungu, when a woman became pregnant, a man could give two
goats as a present. If these were accepted, and the child was a
girl, she was looked upon as the donor's prospective wife, and he
took from 2 to 4 more goats and beer to the father; that is to say,
he began to buy the girl. In the course of time, he paid the
whole price, and, when the girl had been circumcised and thus
become entitled to marry, he took her to wife. If, on the other
hand, the was a boy, he was looked upon
child as the man's
special protege when he grew up.
When one of twin sisters is married, the other unmarried
sister is said to accompany her to the man's home and stay there
some days, to bring luck to the couple. This custom is probably
founded on the intimate bond which is thought to exist between
twins, and it is probably of more recent origin, since, as we have
seen, it was an old custom always to kill one of twins.
To this account it may only be added that marriage and
sexual intercourse are, on the whole, strictly exogamous. See
chap. VII.
3. Polygamy.
Every native desires to have many wives, since the number

of wives he has is to a material degree a criterion of his impor-
tance and wealth. Then he also gets many children, so that the
number of those he has authority over is increased, and thereby
also his importance ^. The fact that, at the beginning of preg-
nancy, all sexual intercourse between married couples ceases,
undoubtedly promotes polygamy.
^ Numerous proofs
are found that the natives are inclined to look
down on Europeans for our monogamy, and because many of us
us
are still unmarried even at an advanced age. Once when 1 was oblig-
ed to compel some oldish Kamba men to act as bearers for me, they
expressed their displeasure at being treated so by a young man who
had not yet been able to afford a wife. Barth tells that the Tuaregs
in West Sahara had nothing to complain of in him except that he was
unmarried. H. Barth, Reisen und Entdeckungen in Nord- und Central-
Afrika, I, p. 489.
The first wife is always the chief one, and is called hOett
kincend 'the big wife', or k^ku 'the old one', without necessarily
being old. The other wives call her mwattvi 'mother'. They also
have to obey her as children do their mother, and she superin-
tends their work. The head of the house tells her what he
wants done, and she then sets the » little » wives to work. The
latter's respect for her is shown by the fact that they may not call
her by her name; besides »mother», she is called sio'ggama, »N.

N's mothers, after her children. The latter are also called by the
» little* wives by names other than their own. This is a sign of
ndom (see chap. V). A young wife who has not yet born a
child may not eat porridge {ggzma) with one of her older fellow-
wives who has ceased to bear, or she will become barren.
Relations between the wives are generally good; if they quar-
rel, the husband may castigate them. Much dissension is preven-
ted by the superior position of the »big» wife, but especially by
the fact that it is usual for every woman to have her own hut,
prepare her own food, have her own cows to milk, and her own
fields to till. Cases of jealousy do occur, but the »big» wife usu-
ally likes to see her husband take more wives, because they lighten
her work. She can, on account of her superior position, leave
to them all the heavier work, such as hewing wood, carrying wa-
ter, shutting the cattle-kraals at night, opening them in the mor-
ning, &c. In this way a division of labour is often effected, so

that turns are taken at the different sorts of work. If a man has
only one wife and buys a young girl, the
later, when he is old,
latter usually stays in the elder wife's hut, and is treated as a
daughter by her, but must do most of the work under her direc-
tion. The hut-tax introduced by the British Government brought ^
about a change in the old custom of giving every wife her own
hut, since, in order to escape paying the tax, the natives put sev-
eral women in the same hut. Some years ago, however, the tax
began to be levied on the number of wives, instead of on the
number of huts, and there is no longer any reason for the natives
to reduce the number of their huts.
Since marriage is chiefly an economic question, it is not to
be wondered at that, in spite of the prevalence of polygamy, a
^ Three rupees per hut.

1
Marriage 8
largenumber of Akamba cannot manage to get more than one

wife. »The poor man is a monogamist all the world over», says
Weule aptly. The most usual number of wives is one to three,
and, if statistical investigations were made, the percentage of those
who had more than three would be found to be very low ^. We
should find the same state of things among most of the Bantu
peoples, so that the popular conception of polygamy, that every
man has a large number of wives, is far from being correct. Na-
turally, besides the economic question, one important factor is the
proportion between the different sexes; and therefore, as has often
been maintained, polygamy can never be the normal form of
marriage, since it would require twice as many women as men.
Seeing that warfare among the Akamba has ceased, it is pro-
bable that the proportion of men will increase, and that there-
fore monogamy will become more general. I append a list of 26
families (see p. 87) from Machakos district, but the number is,
of course, too small for any positive conclusions to be arrived at.
From economic reasons, some men must remain unmarried

a long time, and Hofmann says that, in the districts round his
mission-station, Ikutha, in East Ukamba, alone, he could count up
quite a respectable number of elderly bachelors ^. However, there
seem to be none who die as bachelors. As we shall see presently,
in case of need, a poor man can always get a widow for his wife,
or he can simply elope with the lady of his choice. Old maids,
on the other hand, are not met with at all.
A married woman can quite lawfully have relations with other

men, her husband often placing her at the disposal of a man of
the same clan, or of a friend, who comes on a visit and stays
over night. The language has a special word for this, kudtta.
The rich Kamba man is proud to be able to entertain a crowd
of guests in this way, each one having a separate hut at his dis-
posal. The same custom is found among other East African

peoples, such as the Masai, where the guest thrusts his spear
into the ground outside the hut, which, with all its contents, is
^ Kitilli (Kitui district), the richest man in Ukamba, was a great ex-
ception with his fifty wives, distributed in many places. Mbota, one of
the most important personages in the Machakos district, had seventeen
wives.
^ Hofmann, Geburt &c, p. 10.
Arch.Or. Lindblom 6
;
then at his disposal ^. Although such relations are considered law-

ful by the Akamba, the man who indulges in them must be puri-
fied before he can enter his own hut again. The purifying medium,
'gondia, consists of certain roots, which are pounded and mixed
with water. The man takes a little in each hand, and rubs them
along both sides of his body. He may now enter his hut again.
This ceremony must also be observed as regards one of his own
wives, if the man, after coitus with one wife, goes to another who
has a little baby; otherwise she refuses to receive him, saying:
»I do not want my child to die».
A remarkable fact, for which I have not been able to find
any explanation, is the following: If a man has several wives (A,
B, and C), and they have sons who are married, every man has
a right to have sexual intercourse with the wife of the half-brother
corresponding to him in age; that is to say, A's eldest son can
sleep with the wife of the eldest son of B or C; A's second son
with the wife of the second son of B-or C; and so on. A k^-
mwcemwd, i. e. a man who has no true brothers or sisters, has the
right to sleep with all his half-brothers' wives — presumably be-
cause he is, in a way, at the same time his mother's eldest,
youngest, and middle son.
4. Divorce.
Although, on the whole, it may be said that among the

Akamba a marriage is entered upon for life, yet divorce often
occurs among them, as is usual among a people at a low stage
of civilization. The reasons for this are many and various. The
husband perhaps thinks that his wife is not industrious or is not
a good cook, or he discovers that she is unfaithful ^. If he can
prove that his dissatisfaction is justified, he may send her home

to her father and repayment of the purchase money.
is entitled to
For this purpose he keeps a notched stick {kika k\a kutala mbu%
^ M. Weiss, Die Volkerstamme im Norden Deutsch-Ost-Afrikas,

p. 386. As is well known, this custom is found over the whole world;
cf. E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, p. 74.
^ Unfaithfulness seems, however, very seldom to lead to divorce
see chap. XI. i.
Marriage 83
'a stick to count goats with'), or a bundle of pegs, one notch

or peg for each animal he has paid. He can also change her for
one of her sisters, an exchange which the father-in-law is very-
anxious to effect, as then he escapes repaying the price of the
bride. It is not unusual for a woman to elope with a lover, and
then if the husband wishes to be divorced from her, it is an es-
sential condition that he takes her back to her father, if he

wishes to claim repayment of the purchase money. Macha- In the
kos district. Western Ukamba, many a married man has been
put to great trouble to look for his wife in the Kikuyu region in the
west, whither she has fled. The delicate question in divorce is
that repayment of the purchase price of the bride, and

of the
everywhere where women are bought, this is a contributory factor to
rendering marriages less dissoluble. If the husband is willing to
forego repayment, or if, on the other hand, the father-in-law is
ready to repay at any moment, there is usually nothing in the way

of a divorce at any time. Thus, in a way, the wife is as free as
the husband to dissolve the marriage.
A wife's unfruitfulness is among many
a ground for divorce
negro tribes; but among the Akamba it does not seem to be a
sufficient reason for a man to dissolve a marriage, for the difficulty
is got over by the man's taking another wife. On the other hand,
a man's impotence is good ground for a divorce, since it is a wo-
man's pride to have as many children as possible ^. An impotent
man is called a ndcBwa ('an ox'). It sometimes happens that a
young man who is suspected of being a nd(zwa, is challenged by
the unmarried girls to prove the rumour unfounded, or they will
have nothing to do with him.

Among all less civilized peoples, I believe, the children are left
in the charge of the mother after divorce, and this is the case also
among the Akamba. The father can keep them if he wishes to, but
then he forfeits the purchase money. This is quite just according to
the native view, for a man takes a wife chiefly to get children,
and if he keeps the children when he is divorced, he has got
value for the purchase money, and has nothing more to expect.
^ The unfruitfulness of the husband seems often to be good ground

for divorce among Bantu peoples; Wissenschaftl. cf. e. g. Weule,
Ergebnisse meiner Ethnograph. Forschungsreise in den Sudosten Deutsch-
Ost-Afrikas, p. 61, 97,
From the same point of view, the husband who has paid for his
wife is the owner of a child which she gets by anyone else. Sir
Charles Eliot relates that, during the great famine at the end of
the eighteen-nineties, many Kamba women ran away from their
homes, and, to obtain food, went and lived with Hindoo workmen
on the Uganda railway, which was then in course of construction.
When the famine was over, their husbands came and tried to
claim the children that their wives had had by the Hindoos. The
women themselves were a minor consideration. Eliot says aptly:
»lt is characteristic that the legal owner of a woman is regarded
as the owner and father of her children, whoever the real proge-
nitor may be» ^. This conception of the right of ownership in
children seems to be typical of the Bantu peoples among whom
paternal right prevails ^.
5. Widows and the fatherless.
According to native law, when a man dies, the widow {muka

wa ndiwa < tia 'to leave over') goes to his eldest brother. The
latter may, if he likes, make her over to another person, who then
has to pay the owner for her. If she is old, so that he does not care
to keep her himself and has no prospect of selling her, he may
lend her to someone. Thus, Machakos region, elderly widows
in the
are given to men of the Kikuyu tribe, many of whom work

there for the Akamba. A poor man who cannot afford to buy a
wife is glad to take over a widow. Children which are the fruit
of such an alliance, however, belong to the owner of the woman,

which agrees with what has been mentioned above. If a man
leaves many widows, it is usual to divide them among his brothers.
If, again, he has no brothers, the nearest heir has the disposal
of them.
Although all the father's wives are regarded by the children
as their mothers, it is not unusual for a young widow to be
given to one of the man's sons by an older wife, with which son
^ C. Eliot, The East Africa Protectorate, p. 125,

^ Some examples are given by J. Kohler, Rechte der
further
deutschen Schutzgebiete, IV. Das Banturecht in Ostafrika.
Marriage 85
she is more of an age. This is, however, conditional upon her

never having had sexual intercourse with the deceased husband
(the father). If such is not the case, a man with many wives
can transferone of the youngest to his son during his lifetime ^.

For reasons for the origin of the custom that a brother inherits
a deceased brother's wife, see »Law of Inheritance » (Chap. XI. 2).
With her owner's permission, a widow may also return to her fa-
ther. However, she is only deposited with him, so to say, and
her owner has no right to demand her purchase money back
again. If he makes any such claim, the father-in-law says: »My
daughter is your wife; if you do not wish to keep her in your

own house, it is your own business*. If, on the other hand, any-
one else wishes to have her now, he must buy her from the fa-
ther, who then hands over the purchase money to her husband.
In the event of a widow not going to her brother-in-law, but
to a stranger, she must first go through a ritual coitus with another
elderly man {muiumia), otherwise her prospective husband's earlier
wives will become barren, or her children will die. The difference
between this coitus and that which is customary as an ordinary
purification after a death (Chap. VII. 2) is not clear to me.
I take the opportunity to point out, in passing, that such ri-
tual coitus is particularly often practised by Akamba, in prac-

the
tically all conditions of life. It can only be performed by a man
who has gone through all the phases of a Mukamba's Ufe. He
must have had at least as many experiences as the woman he is
about to purify. If, for example, in the case just mentioned, the
widow has circumcised children, a man who has not yet taken
his own children to be circumcised cannot perform the ceremony
with her.
He who takes over his brother's widow, looks upon her child-
ren in everyway as his own. If they are girls, he receives all the
purchase money when they are married ^. However, the children
always call him mwcsndwasa 'uncle'. What is more interesting
is that, if he himself gets any children by the woman, they also
^ It is quite usual in polygamous families for a son to inherit one

of his father's widows, who is not his own mother; cf. Westermarck
ibid. p. 512.
- As we
shall see in Chap. XI, he cannot, however, to his own
advantage, dispose of the sons' inheritance from their father.
say mwcFndwasa, and not nan 'father'. We shall see below (Chap. XI)
that the property of a dead man who was childless does not
go to the brother, but to the son the latter may have by the wi-
dow. Thus it can be said that, in a way, the deceased is looked
upon as the child's father. The question then is whether the son
is upon as actually begotten by the dead man
really looked the —
idea does not seem to be altogether unreasonable in the case of
a people that worships ancestral spirits — or whether the essen-
tial factor is the right of ownership, which may be supposed to
continue even after death. The last assumption is supported by,
and can be considered as an extreme consequence of, the natives'
conception of the right of ownership in children, which is clearly
and concisely defined by Eliot in the citation given above ^.
Thus, even if the boundaries seem vague, there is reason to
maintain that a form of levirate exists among the Akamba, side
by side with the custom for the brother to take over a dead man's
widow on purely practical and economic grounds. We shall revert
to the point in Chap. XI. 2.
6. Statistics of Families.
The table on the opposite page shows a surprising excess of

boys over girls, but the figures can only be considered as approxi-
mate, since do not know the proportion between the sexes of the
I
dead children. Hobley gives the following statistics for 38 Kamba

families^: wives 117, male children born 195, female children born
197. Here the girls are slightly in excess, a state of things which
is more appropriate for a polygamous people. According to the
work of Hobley cited below, however, the number of boys among
the Bantu-Kavirondo (north and east of Lake Victoria) is in excess,
or 57)5 % °^ ^^^ total number of children. It would be interest-
ing to study how polygamy can exist under such conditions.

As far as the Akamba are concerned, my material is too slight
to allow of reliable conclusions to be' drawn from it. It must,
however, be borne in mind that, even if it is the case that
more boys than girls — or at least an equal number of each — are born.
^ Cf. Starcke's treatment of the question of levirate in »Die
Primitive Familie», p. 150 ff.
^ Hobley, A-Karaba, p. 12.

Marriage 87
Number of child- Number

Number ren ving
Name of Father 1
of child-
of wives
£ ren dead
5
Wa mbua wa ? 2 5 3 ?
Mbithi wa ? 4 4 4 —
Matata wa Kiambi I 2 4 6
Munge wa Kavala 2 3 4 2
Bwana wa ? 2 4 3 3
Katumo wa Mulomba 2 4 6 I
Muniambu wa ? I 2 I
3
Kituku wa Mulomba 2 3 2 2
Ngotho wa Nguli 3^ 2 I 4
? I
— I
3
Mukula wa Kisangi 6 4 5 3
Ngao wa Kiambi 3
2 3 9(?)
Seke wa Niaa I 4 I 2
Mbonge wa Kithome I
— 3 2
Nthenge wa Nguio 2 4 I
—
Musuva wa Munene 2 6 3 3
Nsau wa ? 2 5 4 3
Kisoi wa Kiene I 5
— —
Munsu wa ? I 7 2 2
Muniambu wa Wakenia I 2 — 3
Nsau wa Kivati 2 5 5 I
Ndambuki wa Mbuo 2 6 2 4
Nginia wa Kaliu 2 5 3
—
Matuanga wa Nsau 3^ 10 6 2
Kitavi wa Ngavi 2^ 3
— I
Muli wa Inguli I
3 3 2
Total 26 52 100 70 61
^ Of whom one, as I to learn, was barren {'ggu'gguii).

chanced It is
not improbable that several among all the wives are barren, since bar-
ren women are rather numerous among the Akamba.
^ Besides one deceased.
88 Lin db loin, The Akamba
another factor must, in bygone times, have contributed to levelling

the numbers of the sexes, namely, the incessant feuds waged both
with their neighbours and among themselves. One may also venture
to assume that a greater number of boys than girls die in infancy.
The number of children that die is striking — according to

my statistics, more than 25 ^ of the whole As a
number born.
matter of fact, the death-rate among children is always high among
primitive peoples, and in Ukamba there is rarely a family to be
met with which has not lost at least one child. Most of them
die in early infancy, as a result of injudicious treatment and espe
cially owing to unsuitable feeding. All too early the natives begin
to stuff the children with the same food as they eat themselves:
boiled beans, maize, and such things, which for them are alto-
gether too indigestible. The children also suffer a great deal from
the cold. These factors are, however, hardly sufficient to account
for the high death-rate adduced above. The figures are, as a
matter of fact, misleading, insofar as a large number of these
children died during the great famine of 1897 — 99. All the fathers
of families are, it must be mentioned, middle-aged or elderly men ^.
Finally, I will here again point to the difficulty of collecting

statistics relating to polygamous families, whether the investigator
wishes to do it personally or contents himself with accepting the
statements of the natives. Just as the Akamba consider it is un-
lucky to count their cattle, so they think that the number of their
children should never be revealed to other people. If they do tell
the number of their children, or if the information is obtained from

other persons, it must always be remembered that a native in
most cases includes the children of a deceased brother among
his own, since by native law a deceased man's wife falls to his
brother, who then looks upon his brother's children in every
respect as his own.
^ According to by Hobley from the nilotic

the material collected
»ya-luo» (Kavirondo),on Lake Victoria, 44,5 % died out of 126. C. V.
Hobley, Anthropological Studies in Kavirondo and Nandi, Journ. An-
thropol. Inst. 1903, p. 255.
Chapter V. Relations between persons
connected by marriage.
I. The conception of ndoni.
As soon as a man marries, he assumes a certain position to-

wards and the members of their family, and has
his parents-in-law
a number of rules of conduct to observe towards them. Since
there is no corresponding custom with us, and it is difficult for
that reason to formulate a short definition of it, it is undoubtedly-
best to retain the native word, ndom, and later to give as com-
plete an account of its significance as possible. ndom really
means » shyness, feeling of shame », and is, both in meaning and
application, identical with what the Zulus and allied tribes call
hlonipa'^. Besides, as is well known, the phenomenon is not

unusual within exogamous groups. The person with whom one
stands in a relation of nboni, is called muponi (pi. apom) ^. Men
as well as women have their apom, that is, really, persons to-
wards whom they must appear »shy» — that is to say, they must
carefully avoid them in every way. To neglect this brings mis-
fortune, so that we are here in the presence of a sort of taboo.
The most important ndom-person is the mother-in-law. A
man and his mother-in-law must not mention each other by name;
if they meet on a path, the man steps on one side, or even both
do so. A woman covers her breast when she sees her son-in-law,
and they avoid looking each other in the face. When visiting
his father-in-law's village, he may not enter his mother-in-law's
hut, as long as she is inside it, but must remain outside. He
^ Cf. D. Kidd, The Essential Kafir, p. 236. Callaway, The
Religious System of the Amazulu.
^ Mupont wakwa or muponwa, 'my ntupont\
may talk to her from outside, but often he prefers to have an in-
termediary, if there is anyone present. If the mother-in-law

goes out or withdraws to the we (a part partitioned off in the
back part of the hut), he may go inside the door and sit
down, but may not go further in. If, on his arrival at his
father-in-law's village, he sees his mother-in-law outside it, he hides
himself in the bushes, and if she shows no signs of going away,
he goes off in another direction, to await a better opportunity. If
the father-in-law has several wives, all of them and their elder
daughters are his apom.
nbom relations when a man begins to
naturally begin already
pay for a girl — thus before she has been taken to his home as his
wife. One day I heard a youth call one of my servants muponwa
('my mupom), and I therefore asked the latter if they really
were apom. »No», was the answer, »but the mother of the girl
he is buying is called Kavuva, just as myself*. Although the
man in question was thus speaking to a person who was not
his prospective mother-in-law, and the latter was not present, he
could not mention the It may be
name they bore in common.
added that it is principally the first name, that which is given at
birth, which must not be mentioned with later ones it is not —
necessary to be so particular.
Among some peoples this restraint ceases with the birth of the
first child, but I have not been able to discover that this is the
case also among the Akamba. On the other hand, the ndom feeling
between mother-in-law and son-in-law is modified with time, so that
they can talk and associate with each other more freely. By making
certain payments to the mother-in-law, as for example a good
she-goat, the right can be acquired to sit by the fire in her hut,
when she is away or in the we. If the son-in-law comes on a visit,
she is ready to withdraw there, so that he can go to the hearth.
The acquisition of this right is called poa mwaki 'to buy fire'.
A modification such as this has certainly been brought about for
the sake of convenience. The distance to the parents-in-law's
village is often long, and the nights in the highlands of Ukamba
are often cold; perhaps it rains on the way, &c, and so the visitor
really needs to sit by the fire to warm himself.

Here may be cited an event by which the nbom relations
between a certain mother-in-law and her son-in-law were dissolved.
Relations between persons connected by marriage 91
or, as the natives say, » killed » (ua ndom) — as far as I know

a unique case.
Kisese, an elderly man living north of Machakos, took part
in a drinking-bout close to his mother-in-law's village. When
very drunk and incapable of recognising people, he went to
her hut in the evening, where he crept into the we and went
to sleep, not waking until the following morning. The conster-
nation of the people at this event was indescribable, and even
Kisese must have felt sheepish at first. Having been a leader
in the time of the wars, however, he was equal to the occasion.
He at once sent a messenger home for a fat ox and some goats,
which he presented to his mother-in-law, saying: »From this time
forth all ndom is over between us two». If he had been a youth,
it would probably have cost him dear, but as he was a rich and
influential man, he got his own way.
Kisese's action was highly approved of by several younger
married men, and I have heard them say that when they become atu-
ni'ia 'elderly men' (Chap. IX. i) they will do likewise. Perhaps they
will. If the example were widely followed, it would be an interesting
illustration of how an old custom is violated by chance, and

how the new one thus introduced gradually gains ground. To
make this possible, the originators of the new ideas must be in-
fluential persons; but the matter is undoubtedly facilitated if the

old custom is irksome and oppressive, or felt to be so at least
by reasoning individuals.
For further and more usual methods of » killing* other kinds
of ndom, see below.
All the elder sisters of a man's wife are also his apom, as is
also the case with a woman and her father-in-law and her husband's
elder brothers. Between a man and his wife's younger sisters
there is no ndom —
they may even lie in his bed, but naturally
without any intercourse. This difierence is indicated by the lan-
guage —
an elder sister-in-law is called mupom, but a younger
one mivamoa, mwamu, mwamwd ('my, thy, his younger sister-in-
law'). A woman calls her elder brother-in-law ukulu or mukud
waitm 'our old one', also asa 'father' (often with munim 'the
little', added to distinguish him from the head of the family)^.
^ ukulu and mukud are no doubt only different formations from
the root kulu.
She calls his wife inxa or mwattm 'mother'. A younger brother-

in-law, though not mupom, she does not readily address by name
if he is present, but employs some other expression instead. If
two brothers are married, the elder is mupom to the wife of the
other. They have their places on opposite sides of the fire-place,
but the woman likes to take refuge in her bed when her elder brother-
in-law is there —
it often happens that two sons, who are both
newly married, live together in the mother's hut.

A kind of ndom exists also between women, namely, between
a young wife and her mother-in-law, her husband's elder wife, or
his elder sister. This ndom feeling is, however, not mutual, but
is only felt by the young wife, and finds expression in a sort of
exaggerated timidity for the persons mentioned. Undoubtedly this
is to a large extent due to a purely natural shyness. She dares

not even eat in their presence. To banish this shyness it is usual
for the older wives to take a bowl of fat each and smear their
new » colleague* which it is considered that the
with it, after
timidity will soonShe must not address her husband's
vanish.
elder sister by name, but must call her ukulu (cf. above). However,
of all her apom, a young wife shuns her mother-in-law most, and
to be able to enjoy more intimate relations with her, she must
pay some small tribute. As mentioned before, a young couple usually
live in the husband's mother's hut, until the first child is born. For the
right of sitting beside her mother-in-law on the hearth, the daughter-

in-law gives her bananas, &c previous to this, they sit on opposite
;
sides of the fire-place. The daughter-in-law, however, may not yet go

into the we; if she wants anything out of it, she must get it with a
stick or hook. The right to enter the we is obtained by a further
gift of bananas, in return for which, however, the mother-in-law
makes her daughter-in-law a small present, such as beads or other
articles of adornment. Some time usually elapses before this right
is acquired. I have met women who have been married 2 or 3
years, but who have never set foot in the mother-in-law's we. In
such cases, the reason is usually to be sought in the younger
woman's temperament, for some can only with difficulty overcome
their ndom feeling, whereas the mother-in-law usually seems to
have no objection to bringing about freer intercourse, for she can
then with less difficulty avail herself of her daughter-in-law's ser-
vices. Parents-in-law are not each other's apom.
The man who does not observe his ndoni obUgations, such
as going to one side when he meets his mupom &c, is looked
upon as a mu^cendu^ an obstinate and incorrigible fellow, and no
woman who knows about it will give him her daughter in marriage.
It is, however, obvious that the nbom relations in regard to
avoiding one another must often be irksome for the natives, and
this is probably why they can be done away with in the less im-
portant degrees, as, for example, between a man and his younger
brother's wife. This is called ua 'ggeam 'to kill the. mutual
refusal'^. The woman presents her male mupo?ii with a couple
of bunches of bananas {ndumba), and receives perhaps a goat in
return, and then they agree not to avoid each other any more.
They can now converse freely together and sit beside each other.
This relaxation, however, is not possible between a mother-in-law
and her son-in-law, and the case cited above must be looked upon
as exceptional.
2. Taboo of Names.
It has already been indicated that a])om may not mention each
other's names. A synonymous word isemployed instead. From
an other side, if a muôms name is the same as that of some
object or such like, the object in question must, in conversation,
be referred to by another name for it. As, for instance,
for kwko 'to-morrow', is substituted um 'to-morrow'

» k'hlonzo 'noise' » '^guaâ
» 'hlondu 'sheep' » 'gondu 'sheep' (same root)
» nûki 'bee' » ndo'go'gi
» nzoka 'snake' » mantu 'ha ndt 'the animal of

the earth', or MVilu 'lizard'
» wa mbua 'of rain' » ndupu

» 'ggomo 'chisel' » ^*^^^^^*(<^<?^^^«' to sharpen').
Anexample may illustrate this name-taboo and the ingenuity

which is sometimes shown in surmounting the difficulty. In British
East Africa small change, called mbesa (kisuaheli peso) among the
Akamba, is provided with a hole in the centre, so that it can
^ ^geano < leana 'to refuse one another'.

be threaded on a string. Once when I had bought something

from a woman, she said: »Give me one ear-ring {i6vuh)», instead
of, »Give me one ml>esa», because her mupom was called rnbesa.
If a man is called mwceu 'the white', his muponi cannot, for
example, say: ^gua m nzaii 'the stuff is white' {nzau is the
n-form of the root -ceu), but must search for another word, such
as ndeuOu {<peu6a 'to be clean'). On the other hand, I have
not found the taboo carried as far as, for example, among the
Zulus, \vhere it sometimes applies to parts of names, namely their
emphatic syllables^.
It must also be due to a sort of ndom that a woman may
not mention her husband's name, nor a younger wife that of an
elder one, or even those of the latter's children. The observation
of these things has, among certain peoples, given rise to a special
language for women, but in the case of the Akamba, I have only
found slight traces of this.
The Kamba wife's method of avoiding mentioning her hus-

band's name is the same as that used among apom, e. she uses i.
an expression with a corresponding meaning, often made up by

herself. For instance:
for pomd 'plot' she uses i6u6eoni 'place to make a fire on'.
» mwatm 'beehive' » » mwa^go 'beehive'

» 'itwiku'^ 'gorge, ravine' » » wmuka
» mwei 'moon' » » musesia nh 'a person who looks
at the ground from a protected
place'.
If a woman is questioned about her husband's name, she lets other

people answer for her, if they are present.
Even if the word pqmd 'plot' is not a personal name, many
married women will not utter it, presumably because this place is
so closely connected with their husbands, who spend a great deal
of their time there, talking and drinking beer or making weapons
and tools. Instead of it the wives say muumalqm 'the place on
which one comes out' or ^6u6eom (cf. above).
For the method by which the co-wives and apom mention a
^ Kidd ibid. p. 237. 2 q{ twbka ^to burst'.

Relatioas between persons connected by marriage 95
young, newly-married wife and an elderly wife with children see

also the end of chap. VI. Her husband's younger brothers, on the
other hand, who are not her a])om, call her by her name.
To use such periphrastic appellations is called to kwiua.
The taboo-ing of relations' names is found all over the world.
Frazer has made a collection of such phenomena^, the reason for
which he, for his part, assumes to be in all essentials the same as
that which renders a person unwilUng to mention his own name,
that is to say, »a superstitious fear of the ill use that might be
made by his foes, whether human or spiritual* ^.
From what has already been said, it is almost self-evident
that apom may not touch each other's personal belongings, such
as clothes, &c. Nor may they sit on each other's chairs. It
sometimes happens that, when drunk, a man violates this regu-
lation in the case of one of his less important opom. Then he
must pay a number of goats and an ox, which is killed and eaten.
The ndom is then considered to be at an end between them.
A certain degree of ndom also exists between cousins of
opposite sexes, although they are not aponi to each other. They
may not approach too near to each other or touch each other's
clothes, &c. However, an interesting exception is the relation
between a man and the daughters of his mother's brother (mama).
He can associate with them freely, sit on their chairs, &c. »They
are just like his own sisters* (Kioko). The cousins may also take
each other's belongings, and the owner may not object. A man
may take great liberties with his mother's brother's wife, and it
it is said he may even flog her without incurring any unpleasant

consequences. As far as I can discover, however, his privileges
do not extend to the point that he may treat her as his wife,
which is the case among the Baronga at Delagoa Bay^. Similar
curious relations between a sister's son and his mother's brother and
family are observed among so many Bantu tribes that they may,
perhaps, be looked upon as survivals from common customs of
^ The Golden Bough II, p. 318.

^ Ibid. p. 349.
•"^
H. A. Junod, Les B-a-Ronga. Etude ethnographique sur les
indigenes de la Baie de Delagoa.
ancient times, when matriarchate seems to have been prevalent

among the Bantu peoples ^
Finally it may be mentioned that the word muponwa (my
mupom) is used as a form of greeting between apom; the an-
swer is muponwa.
If we now take a final survey of what has been said about
the ndoni feeling, we find that it may vary both in quality and
intensity. Strictly speaking, ndom comprises a number of mutual
observances between certain individuals of opposite sexes who are
in some way connected by marriage; the intensity depends upon
who the individuals are. ndom can be removed, and it is worthy
of note that a breach of its rules gives rise to its removal. Another
form of ndom is that which a young wife feels in the presence of
her mother-in-law and older sisters-in-law; this is not mutual, and
its intensity depends upon the character and temperament of the
person in question.
We now come to the reasons for this custom. For the son-
in-law's avoidance of his mother-in-law and vice- versa, at least three
different theories have been put forward (Howitt and, after him,
Frazer, Lubbock, Tylor). Crawley has shown that these, even if
probable to a certain degree, hardly give the prime and funda-

mental reason for phenomenon. He himself bases it upon
this
the relations between men and women, for which he introduces

the name » sexual taboo », considering the custom in question to,
be of a religious-magic character, »a horror religiosus, rather than
a horror naturalis». In woman's general »dangerousness» for man
we ought, according to him, to find the fundamental factor^. The
relations between a young wife and her father-in-law will, then, be
.of same religious significance. Finally, a fifth theory has been
the
advanced by Reinach, who criticises Crawley and earlier investi-
gators ^.
None of these theories seems to solve the question satisfactorily,
and, as regards the Akamba, I must content myself with saying
that they themselves regard at least some of the ndom restrictions
^ Cf. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy; and Junod, The Life of

a South-African Tribe, p. 253.
^ E. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 391 ff., and (in a concen-
trated form) K. Th. Preuss, Die geistige Kultur der Naturv6lker, p. 72.
^ S. Reinach, Le Gendre et la Belle-m^re,
p. 649,
^
as intended to put a check on undue sexual intercourse. However,

this may be a secondary explanation, and hardly explains the
matter in the cases when it is exclusively a question of women
avoiding each other. For an explanation of such a case, I have
searched in vain in the authors mentioned above.
3. Avoidance between a man and his daughter=in

law or daughter.
this connexion I will also mention the avoidance which

In
exists between the father of the family and his daugther-in-law
or his grown-up daughter. This avoidance is also a kind of nboni
and seems to be designed to prevent improper relations between
the persons mentioned, when they are in daily contact with each
other by living in the same hut. Thus the man avoids associa-
ting with them unnecessarily, and within the hut he has at the
hearth his prescribed sittingplace, which is diametrically opposite
the mentioned women. If possible he even avoids sitting at the
fire in their presence, but retires into the we. In cold weather
he then warms himself with an apparatus consisting of embers
laid on potsherds. He even likes to take his food for himself into
the we or, in fine weather, out on the plot {])omd). He may not
approach the sleeping-place of his daughter or daughter-in-law, but
if he wishes for some objects which is on or under this, some-
one else must get it. If the father is not in, the women can sit
where they like.
The other members of the family also have their fixed places
at the hearth. The mother sits on the right of her husband, at
the entrance to ive and near the pan, which she watches.
the
The sons may where they like, a grown-up son, however, not
sit
too near his grown-up sister. Usually he sits at the outside of

the hearth, nearest to the door, so that he can rush out without
any hindrance in case any wild beast should try to get into the
cattle craal. During the times of the attacks of the Masai he
occupied this place also on account of them. The son may sit
beside his mother; he may even go into the we to fetch something

^ A description of the different places for the members of the
family is given farther on, in connexion with the account of life in the
hut and the village.
Arch.Or. Lindblom '

If the fathcir of a family should for once in a way go to the

young people's dancing-place and take place in the dancing, and
his daughter is present, he pretends not to see her. Under no
circumstances may he dance with her, which is explained by the
erotic excitation which is a result of the dance.
Chapter VI. Terms of relationship/
It is now generally recognized that a knowledge of the na-

tives' method of indicating the conditions of their relationship is
of great importance for obtaining a clearer conception of their
social organization. For this reason the author gives here the
terms of relationship which he came across in his daily inter-
course with the Akamba. Unfortunately I must content myself

with noting them; the lack of access to literature prevents a
closer analysis. It may be mentioned, however, that several of
these terms occur also in Kikuyu language (according to
the
McGregor's vocabulary). No resemblance to those used by the
Masai (given by Merker) is to be found.
Note the many terms with possessive suffixes in the following
list. They are never used without such a possessive.
Father: small children say naij;, sometimes tata. The father

of another child is an 'your father'.
Elder children and grown-up persons say asa 'my father', ipd
is the father of another person: *^9 wa kilonzo 'Kilonzos father'.
Mother: a male calls the mother mwaitui 'our mother' (evi-

dently a possessive), plur. mwaztiu. A female says ima, na, which
also means the mother of another person, mivcenm (possessive)
'Your mother'. Small children sometimes call the mother nana.
More seldom nmkwd is used for 'mother'.
(My) brother: mwanaa%a 'the child of my mother'; (my) half-
brother: imvqnaasa 'the child of my father';
the brother of another person: mwqnacBpd 'the child of the
father'.
' Cf. Brutzer, Handbuch der Kamba-sprache, p. 74.

loo Lindblom, The Akamba
Sister: mtvifuiaia 'the girl (or daughter) of my mother'.

Half-sister: mwitui-asa 'the girl of my father".
The sister of another person: mzvitm(wa)inia 'the girl of the

mother'.
My elder brother or sister: tnukuwa "|
, ,
-, ,
only used as possessives
Your » » » » mukiiu } ,r , , , , ,
,,. ,
(from the root -ku old).
His » » » » mukud )
The eldest one of the brothers and sisters 'hki^q])i.
The youngest » » » » » » Uumaita.

My younger brother or sister : mwinawa \
Your » » » » mwinau \ only used as possessives.
His » » » » mwinad J
The diminutive forms, kahnawa, kalinan etc., are also used. *
mwana-mukwo 'child of the mother' (cf. above) is sometimes used

for brother or sister.
inwqna wa imvaitw, 'the child of our mother' is also used for 'my
brother' or 'my sister'.
Husband: mwimcewa or mutiinfha zuakzva {mutumia 'old man')

'my husband', mwimcsu 'your husband'. The terms are only used in
these possessive forms. As a woman is not allowed to pronounce
the name of her husband she will ofteri, if she has to refer to
him, call him »the father of So-and-So»: ipd tva muh, 'the father
of MuH'.
Wife: mulia {w)qkwa, mukqkwa 'my woman'; kiOcpti kmktva,
kiwandu^ kuiktva, 'my wife'.
Grandfather: umq, umaii wqkwa 'my grandfather'; umaiiy
umad 'your, his grandfather' possessive forms. —
Grandmother: susu, usii. usiid 'his grandmother'.
Grandchild: nzukulu\ musukua, musukii, musukud 'my, your,
his grandchild' — possessives.
Uncle, paternal: mwcendwasa 'my uncle', mwcendwau 'your

uncle' (< an 'your father'), pi. amzvcsndzvan. — mzvcendiuipd is the
uncle of another person ^.
Uncle, maternal: mama, mwtdau, inaemiii. The maternal uncle

of another person: znaiimd (cf. imâ 'mother', -um3 'male').
^ This word is heard rather seldom and is only used to address

elder wives.
^ Is this connected with the verb cemla 'to love^?
Terms of relationship loi
Aunt maternal: mzvcendia (> na 'mother'?), pi. mwcsndxa, am-'

wcBndia; mzv^ndtva-mukwd , mwcendzva-mia (cf. mother) ^.
Aunt paternal: mwcEndwau?

Cousin: inwiGawa 'my cousin', pi. ceGqiva. — mnn6au 'your
cousin' etz. (possessive forms).
Nephew, niece: vide » cousin ».
Father-in-law, mother-in-law, elder sister of the wife: inu-
pom, muponzaa, muponu, mupom 'my, your, his father-in-law' etc.

The father-in-law of my child: srttawa. sntaii is 'the father-
in-law of your child' (possessives).
Younger sister of the wife: mwqmwa, mivamu. mwqmwd
'my, your, his sister-in-law' (possessives).
A woman calls the elder brother of her husband
married
ukulu mukud waUm 'our elder brother' (cf. » elder brother»).
or
She also calls him asa or asa niunim 'my little father', in distinc-
tion from the head of the family. His wife as well as her mother-
in-law she calls nnvaitm or %nia 'mother'. The elder sister of her
husband she calls ukulu.
The prefix ^«-: a young wife who has not yet a child is
often called after her father 'ga-'ggama 'the child of So-and-So'.

'ga-kioko 'the child of K.' The prefix which occurs in several
Bantu dialects^ is no doubt a derivative of some older form of
the verb sia 'to bear' (cf. the Tete-dialect at the Sambezi River nyd).
The prefix sio (< sui 'to bear') : a married woman is often
called after her first child sio-'ggama 'the mother of So-and-So'.
sw-nmliis 'the mother of Muli'. If the other wives of her hus-
band may not mention her name they often address her in this way.
Almost all terms of relationship may be used as greetings:

viuponzva! Answer: muponzva (my mupom).
Cousins greet each other with: mzvi6au or tnatvuu or mmwi-
6azva. Answer: m mama (cf. the maternal uncle). Cousins who
are children of two sisters say: zva mzvcBnd\a! Answer: zva mzvce-
^ Is this connected with the verb cenda 'to love'?

" See v. d. Mohl, Praktische Grammatik der Bantu-sprache von
Tete, Mitteil. des Seminars fur Afrikan. Sprachen, VII: 3, p. 56, and
P. G. Adams, Die Sprache der Banoho, ibidem X: 3, p. 39.
I02 Lindblom, The Akamba
ndial umaii! — uman! is used as a greeting between grandchildren

(cf. grandfather).
Parents-in-law greet each other with: sntqwa — sntawa.
Chapter VII. Death.
I. Burial.
A burial and all the ritual connected with a death can only
be carried out by old men, atmma, who are quite conversant with
all the customs of the tribe. When a man lies at the point of
death, some atumia are summoned to watch the dying man during
his last hours, and especially to prevent the rats from touching
him, in the event of his dying during the night. They take up
their positions, one at his head, one at his feet, and one on each
side of him. If the rats succeed in getting at him, even in touching
him but slightly, another death will shortly occur in the village. If
however, it does happen that the rats gnaw the corpse, a piece
of mutton damped with the juice of a certain tree, and laid on
is
the place. The old watchers are not particularly awed by the
vicinity of death; they wile away the time with noisy chatter,
and help themselves to snuff from the dying man's snuff-box. The
women, on the other hand, really mourn, and their lamentations
are audible far and wide. For from two to five days they do no
work in the fields, and on the day the death takes place they eat
nothing. It is usually considered unbecoming for a man to show
his feelings, but even a man may be seen to weep.
After death has supervened, the old men go to dig the grave,
which is made in the neighbourhood of the hut. They often
quarrel over it and try to get out of the work, especially if the
ground is Nor is the hole dug very deep, they content
hard.
themselves with making it just deep enough to prevent the body
being scraped up by hyenas. The minimum depth may perhaps
be set at one meter. They first dig straight down and then out
at the sides, so that a round hole is The corpse is then
made.
laid on a bier of sticks and carried out by two atufma. One man
steps down into the hole to receive the body and lay it in the
I04 Lindblom, The Akamba
round cavity. Immediately

and before the limbs have
after death,
had time up towards the body, a custom
to stiffen, they are bent
which is very prevalent among Bantu peoples, and general among
more primitive nations^. The dead man is laid upon his right
side, with his head resting upon his hand, as though he were
sleeping. A woman is laid in the same manner, but on the left
side*. The face is turned to the east or th^ west. The body is
naked, except for a piece of cloth or an old blanket over the head,
to keep the earth from the face. None of the belongings of the
deceased are placed in the grave. A low mound is raised over the
grave. In former times especially, they often put an earthernware vessel
on the mound, to mark out the place. If the village is afterwards
removed, there is nothing to prevent the place being cleared for
tillage, but the mound is not touched, and stones are laid on and
around it, whereby the site is more distinctly indicated. A grave

is avoided after dark, for there is said to be a risk of meeting its
owner.
In Ulu it is customary, before the atutma begin to dig, for
the grandson (son's son) of the deceased, if he has one (however
young he may be), to turn the first sod with a grave stake. If
the grandson is only a baby, a little stick is placed in his hand,
and he scratches up a little earth. This is called Oulultlia. The
^ Cf. R. An dree, Ethnologische Betrachtungen fiber Hdckerbe-
stattung, Andree here gives a survey of the spread of this method of
burial among living as well as prehistoric peoples, and reviews the
different hypotheses as to the origin of the custom.
^ This method of burial, with the head on the hand, must be a
very old custom, if an)' conclusion can be drawn from the language
and the natives' own statements. For the Akamba assert that it is from
this method of burial that the local expressions for »on the right hand»:
kwoko kwa aiirnd = 'the men's hand', »on the left hand» kwoko kwa aka — :
'the women's hand', are derived. Probably this is a secondary interpretation,

and the right hand is probably called »the men's hand» on account
of its superiority over the left. I may mention in this connexion that
Miss A. Werner, after investigations into 37 Bantu languages, discovered
that the right hand is often called »the male hand», and sometimes
»the strong hand», &c. The left is sometimes, though not so often,
called »the female hand» and also »the inferior hand». See A. Wer-
ner, Notes on the Terms used for »right hand» and »left hand* in
the Bantu Languages, p. 112. This paper has been supplemented, as
far as the Congo languages are concerned, by Stapleton, Journ. Afr.
Society 1904, p. 431.
Death 105
importance of the act is shown by the fact that the person con-
cerned receives a cow, which is given by the father's (or grand-
father's) married sister.
Only the atumia may be present at a burial, and only they

may touch a dead body. For others it is taboo, and to violate
this brings on the disease called paOu; but the old men who
have carried out the burial need not be purified'. They must
then perform a rituahstic sweeping of the hut where the man
died, a cleansing process which may not be performed by women.
In payment for their services they receive a goat, which is killed
and eaten on the spot.
The prohibition for persons, who are not entitled to do so, to
touch a corpse, also extends to parts of the skeleton. Originally
the prohibition seems only to have applied to deceased members
of the same clan, but since it was impossible to be certain of this,
the prohibition has been extended to embrace the whole people.

A corrcrete example of this dread of touching a corpse is afforded
by the following incident. During my visit to Ikutha, I had one
day collected some skulls in a sack, and ordered my servant Kioko,
a man of about thirty years of age, to carry the sack to the camp.
He dared not refuse, but immediately afterwards came and asked
permission to return to his home, about five days' march distant,
to be purified. And yet he had not come into direct contact with
a single skull, but had only carried the sack. I could not do
without him then, but later on, when he had an opportunity of
undergoing purification, was obliged to present the necessary goat.
I
On the other hand, even ayoung person may touch a dead per-
son of another tribe than his, or her, own. Another case which
was related to me in Machakos is the following. A youth who
was out hunting shot an arrow, which hit a corpse. For this his
father was fined five cows, and the boy had to be purified.
A married woman is buried in the cattle-craal, nza, if the hus-
band has no other hut but hers. If he has, she is buried in her
hut. It does not matter if a man dies indoors, but when a woman
dies in her hut, it is shut up. All serviceable domestic implements
are first removed, and then the hut is allowed to fall into decay.
This takes place quickly enough, and in a few years nothing
'
This is contrary to the custom in, for example, Tonga, Portuguese
East Africa. See H. Junodp. 143.
io6 Lindblom, The Akamba
remains but a heap of sticks. Sometimes the hut is burnt, but

this is not necessary. A hut thus deserted on account of a
death is called mbea. The reason for this custom is that a
woman's soul or spirit, km, is thought to return to the scene
of her activities during life, and therefore there would be no peace
for the survivors in such a hut. The husband would never be
able to persuade another woman to move into it. According to
the natives' own account, the reason why a woman is so attached
to her hut is that the roofing of the hut is her own work. The
wife and not the husband is looked upon as the owner of the
hut. But if a wife has been in due order separated from her hus-
band, and subsequently dies somewhere else, it is not necessary
for a hut built by her to be shut up. Her late husband has no
longer anything to do with her.
When a married woman dies, her children are given to another
wife, as well as her calves and goats. A woman is buried naked
too, but her ornaments are not taken off until she is lying in the
grave; the other women say that they could not bear to see her
deprived of these things.
Little children are not buried by atumm, but by old women.
When a child dies so young that it has not had the two middle
front teeth in the lower jaw knocked out, the atutma do it after
death ^, for it is considered that no one ought to have all his teeth
left when he dies. When a child dies, its parents must, according
to general rule, have ritual coition. But if a man has two wives,
and, for example, one of the » little » wife's children dies, then the
man may not personally perform the ceremony with her, if the
»big» wife has not yet lost a child. He must then employ another
man, or the »big» wife will contract pa6u, a, ceremonial disease
which I monograph.
shall describe in another part of this
The above remarks apply chiefly to the region of Machakos^
Western Ukamba. In the eastern part of the country, the customs
are somewhat different, the dead are often not buried, but dragged
out into the bush and left to the hyenas. This applies especi-
ally to women, younger men, and children. The latter particularly,
I believe, are after death regarded as impotent for good or ilU
just as they have been during Hfe, and consequently it is no use

^ The Akamba sharpen from 2 to 6 teeth in the upper jaw and
knock out the two middle ones in the lower jaw.
Death 107
troubling oneself with them. It seems as though the custom over

the whole of Ukamba was originally to throw out all except a
mutumia and his first wife (the »big» wife) ^ This practice was
also found formerly in the Machakos region, but nowadays even
little children are buried there. The explanation may perhaps be
found in the fact that the population is so much denser and vege-
tation sparser in those tracts, so that there are not such suitable
thickets to place the dead in as there are further to the east.
Even around Kitui, practically everybody is buried, even little child-
ren, while in Ikutha, further to the south, throwing-out is extensi-
vely practised (Hofmann). According to Sauberlich, economic con-
siderations also play a role in the method of burial, since some
people are not in a position to pay the atuima for their work in
digging the grave.

Finally, individual differences in funerals, burial, or laying out
the body, occur all over the country. Thus, if several persons
die at the same time in a village, the occurrence is readily ascrib-
ed to the method of burial then in vogue, and a change is made.
Ifup to that time the bodies have been buried, they are subsequently
thrown out, and vice versa.
According to Hofmann, the mortally sick are sometimes carried
out into the thicket, where they are left to die. A fire is made, and the
sick person is placed beside it with some food, and left. This
practice seems, however, to be only exceptional; I, at least, have
never heard of it in the region of Machakos, in spite of careful
enquiry; but it occurs in the Kikuyu country. Another difference
between the Machakos district and Eastern Ukamba is that, in
the last-named country, they let the dead have some of their
possessions with them in the grave ; the man especially his belov-
ed snuff-box, ha'ogz^ and perhaps also his bow and arrows; the
woman her grinding stones, the household implements she has
used most, &c. In a vibea the owner's household chattels are not
taken, but left as they were when she used them last. Her stool
stands at the hearth, the pot over its three stones, the grinding
stones lie in their places, &c.
I have a note of the following practice from Kikumbuliu, the
^ The theory that throwing-out was the earliest practice seems to

be supported by the custom of throwing out a stick, mentioned below.
io8 Lindblom, The Akamba
south-eastern part of the country, more exactly the district of
Kibvvezi.
All married people are buried in the cattle-craals, others are
thrown out. The dead are laid in their graves on their sleep-
ing-skins, ndawa (on every bed there two
are one for theskins,
husband, and one for the wife). Ornaments and personal house-
hold appliances, but not a man's weapons, are thrown away, or
broken up and laid in the grave. Before this is filled in, the eldest
son and heir goes to the edge of the grave, and scrapes down a
little earth with his foot. As a protection against hyenas, large
pieces of wood are often laid on the grave, and goat-droppings
{mbtvi) on these ^.
2. Purification after a death.
Before the atuima who have had charge of the burial have
completed their task, and before they go away, they prescribe for
the inhabitants of the village their rules of conduct; no one may
have sexual intercourse until the village has been purified. All the
inhabitants have become unclean on account of the death, and anyone
who offends against the directions given, contracts paOu, a disease
which often just the person who has become ceremo-
overtakes
nially unclean. The purification is performed by an old man {mu-
tinma %va makwd) who is specially versed in such matters, and it may
not be undertaken by anyone and everyone. As this ceremony of
purification is one of the most usual of its kind, and is also per-
formed on other occasions when purification is necessary, we will
describe it here. It is carried out in the following manner: The

old man who is performing the rite, slaughters a goat, which is
consecrated by being given some purifying medium (ôndtu) to

drink ^. The idea is probably that the animal must be purified be-
fore it can be used. The contents {nm'ho) of the small stomach,
^ This agrees substantially with Brutzer's description of the Akamba

living in Rabai, in the hinterland of Mombasa. E. Brutzer, Der Geis-
terglaube bei den Kamba, p. 4.
^ A
very common species of Solanum with yellow round fruit,
found in East Africa, is called 'ggondw, and this is undoubtedly what
led Hobley to state, incorrectly, that this fruit » plays an important part»
in purifying medicines. Hobley, A-Kamba, p. 67.
Death 109
which is called ktpatm, are taken out and mixed in a calabash

with 'gondiu, (certain sorts of plants) ^. Those present all sit on
their hams in a circle, and the old man first sprinkles them with
the mixture, and then the walls and the bed in the hut where the
death took place. There is not any fixed day for this purification,
but people are naturally anxious to get it over as soon as possible.
An important essential in the process of purification still re-
mains to be carried out, before life in the village can return to

normal conditions: the widow must sleep with the dead man's
brother or successor, as her husband ; or, if he has no brother,
with a mutumia among the dead man's relations. This is called
kuseuQ\a ki6(ett 'to purify the wife'. If there are several widows,
the »big» wife only need undergo this ceremony. When a woman
dies, the husband must purify himself with one of his other wives;
and if he has no other wives, he must find another woman whose
husband has recently died. When a child dies, the parents must
have coition.
There is no time specially fixed for the carrying out of these
purifications. As is evident from what has been said above, they
cannot be performed if the owner of the village is away. If some
other member of the family is not present when the death takes place,
a stick of the length of the dead man is taken and kept in the
hut where the death took place, until the absent one returns; then
it is given to him with words something to the following effect:
»This is N. N., who died while you were away». The stick is
then carried out of the village and thrown away — way a

in a
second and fictitious burial. Although the new-comer was away
when the death took place, and the village has been purified since
then, he is also obliged to undergo the purification, before he can
enter it 2.
During the time which elapses between the death and the
purification, the village is naturally not visited by anyone. Even
inanimate objects are not taken into it. Formerly, when the natives
^
Among many other East African peoples (e. g. among the Wa-
taveta at KiUmandjaro) the contents of the stomach play an important
part in the rites of purification. The stomach is called kitasra in Ta-
veta language.
- Cf. Hobley, Further researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Be-
liefs and Customs, p. 422.
iio Lindblom, The Akamba
went out on a plundering expedition, the stolen cattle were kept

in another place until the purification had been carried out, and
even then, for safety's sake, the cattle were often sprinkled with
ônditi, before they were taken into the village.
When a man who has a married daughter dies, the son-in-law
is callad fmvitui 'girl, daughter', for a time, because he has taken
the daughter of the deceased as his wife. The latter ought not, of
course, to visit her father's village before the purification has been
carried out, and she may on no account taste any food there;
she would then become unclean, and if she returned to her hus-
band and had intercourse with him, it would be calamitous for
them. Thus a dead man's village ought not to be visited, and
to eat there is absolutely forbidden.
After the rites of purification following on the death of a
rich man have been performed, it is at times customary to kill
an ox, the blood of which, together with beer and the vtwho men-
tioned above, is poured out over the grave. This is an offering
which is thought to flow down to the dead man, and a prayer to
the following effect is directed to him: »We give you this, may
you bring luck to the village and our cattle !»
Awidower may not shave his head till the consequences of
the death are removed by sprinkling with -ôndm and the subse-
quent coition ^. In the same way a widow must let her hair grow
until the brother-in-law has had intercourse with her or with the
»big» wife, if there are several widows. No outward sign of mourn-
ing is borne it —
may happen that the woman cease their
work in the fields for a day or two. In olden times in Machakos,
when the corpses were customarily thrown out, their heads were
shaved, »so that the hyenas could not so easily drag them away».
It was not, however, considered quite right to do this, and it was
not done in the village, but at the place where the corpse was
left. It ought not to be done before towards sundown.
^ The Akamba's style of hair-dressing is very varied. Thus many

go periodically with their heads shaven, and then let the hair grow again.
p. II
SOCIOLOGY
Chapter VIII. The Clan system and Totemism.
By the term clan, we here mean a part of a tribe, the mem-

bers of which are related or in some other way connected by
means of a common bond. Apart from the common de-
belief in
scent from a real or mythical ancestor, the most common type of
such a uniting bond is a common totem. As is well known, by
a totem is meant some animal, or less often some plant or inani-
mate object, which is thought to stand in a certain relationship to a
certain group of individuals. As to the relations between the indi-

viduals and their totem-animal, the following features may be con-
sidered to be of general occurrence:
i) The totem applies to a certain group of individuals (a clan),
between whom marriage is forbidden.
These individuals believe that they are in some way akin
2)
to the totem, often that they are descended from it.
3) There exists a mystic bond between the individual and his

totem-animal. He believes that in the hour of need his totem will
protect and help him, and he always exhibits a certain reverence
for it. This reverence is generally so shown that he will not in-
jure his totem in any way, will not kill it, eat its flesh, and so on.
We shall find from what follows that the general definition of the
terms »clan» and » totem » given here is entirely appropriate in
the case of the Kamba peopled
^ The strongly totemistic clans that are encountered among the

Akamba are not a peculiarity of this people. On the contrary, totem-
ism is met with in its tribes wherever
characteristic form in many
the Bantu peoples are found. For a comparative study of Bantu-totem-
ism, see van Gennep's excellent bibliography in » Religions, Moeurs
et Legendes» II, p. 62. Brief information about totemism in German
East Africa may be found here and there in Zeitschrift f. Rechtswissen-
schaft. e. g. in vol. XXI, p. 358 (1908), vol. XXIII, p. 209 (1909).
Arch.Or. Lindblom s
I. The Kamba clans and their totems.
In Kikamba the word for clan is fnda>, which is also used for
» tribe, people, race, family », in extended meaning (see further be-
low). I have been able to make a list of 25 chief clans, and it
is not unlikely that there are more. Many of these clans fall into
sub-clans ^ I append the list of the clans I have found (see p.
136), most of which seem to be named after the ancestor, his
origin, or his employment. Thus, for example, the clan viba-apa'gga
(from mupa^ga 'sand'), the founder of which is said to have been
a smith and to have collected iron from the sands of the rivers
{mba is a prefix indicating plurality, collectiveness; inba-cepa'gga
are 'all the members of the (Spa'gga clan' collectively; anakd 'young
men', mba-anakd 'all the young men' collectively; atunfka 'elderly
men', mba-atumia 'all the elderly men', and so on). On the other
hand, this prefix cannot be used with the name of a tribe; one
could not employ the combination mba-akaniba, for example. The
same prefix with a collective force is met with in other Bantu langu-
ages. To mention a Swedish author in the same field, the mis-
sionary K. E. Laman records the same prefix with the same sig-
nification in his Congo grammar: mindele 'white men', mba-mindele

'the whites, Europeans' ^. To return to the question of the mean-
ings of clan-names in Kikamba, we have further, for example, the
clan of atwi 'smiths', the founder of which clan is also said to have
been a smith. But the members of this clan are not still smiths,
nor is there any special smith-caste among the Kamba people. An-
other clan is that of the atrnvtj or amw^x; the founder is said to
have borne the name of mzvcsi ('moon') because he was born at
full moon. In one or two cases, I have found clans with two dif-
ferent names, but the names were synonymous.

The members of a clan do not live in the same place, but
The only connected and comparative work on African totemism is,

however, Ankermann's Verbreitung und Formen des Totemismus in
Afrika in Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie, 191 5, in which A. has collected
information from the literature which appeared after Frazer's Totemism
and Exogamy (19 10) and also offers views on the problem of totem-
ism in General.
^ Although the Akamba reckon descent through males, I employ
the term clan and not gens.
^ K. E, Laman, Larobok i KongosprSket, p. 36.
The Clan system and Totemism 115
are spread over the whole area occupied by the tribe. Thus I
have met with several thousands of the clan ceombd; but then this
clan is one of the largest. On the other hand, smaller clans will
be found limited to a less extended area. Those belonging to the
kanq clan live in Mumomi, the most northerly part of Ukamba,
and in the region of Kitui, but when I asked about the clan in
other parts of the country, they did not even know it by name which ;
is not surprising, when one considers how a clan is formed. For

the clan system does not seem to be by any means an antiquated
institution, but is still vigorous, and new clans often spring up.
When a man has many descendants, it is very common to employ
the prefix mba- in speaking of them: inba-mbota 'Mbota's clan'.
Thus the words mbm and mba are also used in the sense of » fa-
mily*, and it is often difficult to understand, when a person speaks

of his mbm^, whether he means clan or large family (»grossfamilie»),
to which are often reckoned married sons with their wives and
children, or family in the ordinary sense. Thus a new clan arises
by degrees — in this case a sub-clan of Mbota's own clan. Quite
independent clans readily come into existence also. Marriage within
the same clan is, of course, forbidden, and if a man should take a
wife from thesame clan, they are at once separated from the clan,
and so they become the founders of a new one.
Among twenty-five of the chief clans, I have found 19 totems,
but for several have not been able to find the totems, though such
I
presumably exist. The may, however, also have been forgotten and
have then disappeared. As is to be expected in the case of a people
that is have originated from a hunting tribe,
practically certain to
most of the totems of the Akamba originate from the animal king-
dom. Of these totems there are two each possessed by two clans
in common: there are two lion clans and two hawk clans. On the
other hand, there is one clan, the clan andunzu, which has two
totem-animals, the porcupine and the bat. Generally, however,
when a clan has two totems, one of them is of lesser importance,
for which reason it is called the sub-totem. Unfortunately I have
not been able to make out the connection between the porcupine
and the bat as totem-animals for the clan andunzu, but it appears
that the bat is only the totem of certain famihes within the clan.
From the list on p. 136 it will further be seen that several clans
contain a number of sub-clans.
iio Lindblom, The Akamba
It may be mentioned, in passing, that I was in Ukamba for

over eight months without finding the least traces of the totem
system. These matters are so obvious and self-evident for the
natives themselves that, even when they are talking about the clan
system in other connections, it never occurs to* them to mention
the totem system, which is such an interesting field for the investi-
gator. was due to quite a chance circumstance that I disco-
It
vered it, though I had long been fully convinced of its existence.
I did not know how to set about making enquiries about it.
There is no special word in the Kamba language for totem; Ancker-
man also shows, that such a word has not been found anywhere
in Africa. The Akamba say niamu 'animal', and when anyone
wishes to know to which clan another belongs, he says, nyimu laku
m laii? 'Which is your animal?' or else rnbai laku m mu 'Which i'
is your clan?'
Hobley incorrectly renders totem with ktndti hpuku or npuku
'forbidden thing', more exactly and literally something bad, in-
jurious'. Without doubt he has been led to this erroneous con-
clusion by the fact that, when one asks a native why he does
not eat his totem, the invariable reply is m upuku or m hndu
kipuku It is injurious', by which he refers to the results of such
a violation of the totem.
Clan animals: the lion, the hyena, the bushbuck, the long-
tailed monkey (Cercopithecus), the baboon, the jackal, the leopard,
the bat, the crow, the hawk, the vulture, the green parrot, and a
small black bird with a forked tail, called kmdah ^ Curiously
enough, neither the elephant, the rhinoceros, the giraffe, nor the
crocodile, appear as totem-animals. It is not surprising that the
hippopotamus is not taken as a totem, since it is not found in the
country at present inhabited by the tribe, viz. Ukamba. Yet it lives
in the Tana river.
According to what the natives say, there is on the mountain

Kivauni, west of Athi, a clan that does not kill a certain sort of
snake, but I have never come across them.
There is only one
instance of a totem being taken from the vegetable kingdom, and
that is the wild fig-tree, miimo, the totem of the amiimom clan.
I have only discovered one totem chosen from inanimate ob-
^ By the kindness of Prof. E. Lonnberg, I am able to identify
this bird as probably being the drongo (Dicrurus).
jects, namely kUea sand containing iron', which is the totem of the
above-mentioned clan cepa'gga, the founder of which was a smith.
I have no record of any totem for the atmvce'h, but it is clear
that the moon {mwcsf) stands in some sort of connection with the
clan (cf. p. 1 24) \ It is very rare to find heavenly bodies as to-
tems. Frazer cites only two cases of the moon being taken as
totem, both from India ^.
Besides its proper name, a clan is as often referred to by the

name of its totem: the asi are also called inba-muniambu 'the clan
of the lion'; the awini are called niba-nibiti 'the clan of the hyena',
and so on.
What Frazer calls » individual totems » are not found among
the Akamba, nor totems for the different sexes.
2. The relations between a person and his totem.

(The religious side of the totem system.)
For lack of a better term, I here use (after Frazer and others)
the expression »the religious side of totemism », though I shall endea-
vour to show that the totem system of the Akamba can scarcely be
said to contain any religious elements. The question certainly de-
pends very much upon how the conception » religion » is defined (for
it is by no means clear what really belongs to religion), but it would
seem that in general the religious role of totemism has been greatly
exaggerated, a circumstance that has, indeed, been pointed out
by many investigators. Frazer says that the religious side of to-
temism » consists of the relations of mutual respect and protection
between a man and his totem». But »mutual respect and protec-
tion* may also be said to be characteristic of the relations bet-
ween members of the same clan, though there is no temptation on
this account to maintain that there is anything rehgious in such
relations. And, furthermore, the most usual form of worship among
primitive peoples is the ofifer of sacrifices, but the Akamba never
^ Hobley (Akamba p. 4) states that their totem is »all dead animals*,

never heard of this.
Cf. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy.
ii8 Lindblom, The Akamba
sacrifice to their totems. Indeed, it has not been possible to prove

that any Bantu peoples offer sacrifices to their totems ^.
I shall now proceed to describe more what I have

in detail
ascertained as to the relations between a person and his totem

among the Akamba. The members of a clan are considered to
possess the characteristic qualities of the totem animal, and some-
times also other of its peculiarities. According to the natives'
account, the lion does not eat livers, but leaves those organs un-
touched after a kill. Hence those belonging to the lion clan {m6a-
asi) do not eat livers, and will not even touch them, but use
sticks to remove them, when animals are slaughtered. Other-
wise, the result is an affection of the eyes. The prohibition
against liver goes to such lengths that, for example, if anyone is
roasting liver during a hunt, and the wind carries the smoke to
the place vv'here a man of the asi clan is roasting other meat,
this meat thereby becomes unclean, and he can not eat it.
The members of the lion clan are as courageous and spirited
as the lion itself in fight, when an attack is being made. The
lion is looked upon as a particularly intelligent beast by the Akamba:
»It is quite like a human being », they say. It is well-disposed
towards its human kinsmen, and sometimes tries to help them.
When men of this clan are out hunting and have met with no
success, but have reconciled themselves to going to rest with empty
stomachs, it sometimes happens that they hear the subdued roar
of a lion. He has killed, and now wishes to share the prey with
his relations. In full conviction of this, the men now proceed in
the direction from which the roar was heard, and when the lion
sees them he withdraws, »in order not to scare them*. They

take as much meat as they require and then go away, after which
the lion returns to finish his meal.
The hyena clan {awim) is by perpetual greed.
characterised
If a man belonging to that clan company and hap-
is sitting in a
pens to smell roasting meat, he involuntarily rises and proceeds

in the direction of the meat.
Those belonging to the crow clan are very cowardly, and
are always ready to take to flight, when there is a prospect of a
^
Cf. E. Reuterskiold, Sakramentala maitider med sRrskild han-
syn till totemismen, p. 62.
fight, just as a crow sitting in a tree flies away, when he sees a

hunter approaching with bow and arrows.
Members of the hawk clan are considered to be particularly-
thievish, and, just as the hawk hovers in the air on the look-out
for something that he can swoop down upon — for exemple a piece
of meat outside a hut — so they sneak about prying after something
to steal. As has been mentioned, there are two hawk clans. One
is called tnba-mulela (see list A, 8a), its members are specially
greedy for meat, and when they discover that meat is to be found
in their vicinity, they often try to steal it in the night. To this
end they have recourse to .sorcery, for they can put the inhabitants
of the village from which they mean to steal into a deep sleep.
It is .said that they formerly used to eat meat raw.
Normally a native may not kill his totem animal, nor eat of
its meat; nay, he may not even touch any part of it (taboo). On
one occasion I was able to turn this to good account, when I had
a new »boy» belonging to the bushbuck clan. The lock of one
of my cases had got broken, and in order to secure its contents
against any possible pilfering on the part of the youth, I laid a
piece of bushbuck's skin over the things. Every time he had to
fetch anything out of the case, he asked me to remove the skin
first. Similarly, if a man of the lion clan finds a dead lion, he
cannot take the skin. Exceptions from these general rules are,
however, to be met with, and there are individuals who kill their
totem animals without provocation — » respect for the totem lessened
or lost», as Frazer has it. Thus, one day I met a man of the
long-tailed mbnkey clan that had made himself a bag from the
skin of his totem animal. Those who offend in this manner,
however, are thought to bring misfortune down on themselves:
they themselves or their cattle fall sick and die, &c. Only in one
case is it permissible to kill the totem animal, namely when it is
an animal of prey and attacks a member of the clan, or his cattle.
There is, therefore, no objection to killing lions and leopards,
which steal round the villages at night, or long-tailed monkeys
and baboons, which commit damage in the fields. To the native
mind, this is exactly on a par with an offence committed by a
relative or a member of the same clan.
As an illustration of the close relations between a native and
his totem-animal, I will cite the following concrete example, which
I20 Lindblom. The Akamba
is among my own experiences. It must not be looked upon as

an example of totemistic sacrifice.
One evening I had pitched camp on the River Athi. During
the afternoon, I had shot an antelope, anci my bearers were enga-

ged in stuffing themselves with great quantities of the meat. Then
we heard the repeated roars of a lion, a few hundred meters away
in the bushes. saw that one of the bearers rose, took
After a while, I
a large piece of meat, and walked forth into the darkness. I was surpris-
ed, and wondered what the fellow was at, for the natives are gene-
rally afraid of the dark, especially when they know that there is
a lion in the vicinity. man came back,

After a few minutes, the
and I at once asked him what he had been doing. He answered:
»You heard the lion roaring? I belong to the lion clan, and
heard a kinsman calling me. He is certainly hungry, perhaps old
and feeble, so that he can no longer kill, as of old. Is it, then,
not my duty to share with him my superfluity, when I sit here
by the fire in comfort, and have more meat than I can manage
to eat.f** And so, without fear of the darkness, the fellow had
wandered in the direction from which the roaring had been heard,
convinced that his kinsman in the bushes would come and eat the
piece of meat he had placed out there for him.
One of the most important obligations which the members of
the same clan have towards each other is to help each other in
all straits, and this obligation holds not only between human mem-
bers man and his totem-animal. I will
of a clan, but between a
cite an example One afternoon I had started out
to the point.
with some Akamba to shoot guinea-fowls, when we suddenly came
across a long-tailed monkey, which had been caught in a trap. To
my surprise, one of my companions went and liberated the ani-
mal, although the natives usually hate these monkeys, on account

of the damage that they do in their plantations. In reply to my
question why he had not killed such a mischievous animal, he
replied: »I belong to the clan of the long-tailed monkey, and it
was therefore my duty to help her when in distress. If I had

found her on my fields, I should certainly have killed her, but
out here in the woods she does no damage, and it is not her
fault that she got caught in the trap.»
The natives think that totem-animals help their human kins-
The Clan system and Totemism I2i
men on occasion, as is clear from what is related above about

the lion (p. ii8).
The dances of the Akamba have no connection with their
totem-animals. In the descriptions of the initiation ceremonies, we
have seen that candidates during the ceremonies are looked upon as
animals —
baboons; yet I have not been able to discover that
this conception has anything to do with totemism.
In this connection it may be pointed out that the totem sy-
stem has nothing at all to do with the fact that several clans —
or individual families within certain clans — do not eat the flesh
of the bushbuck (ndzaaia), although that animal is not their totem.

Such a partial prohibition is, for example, laid on the mda-atit'i.
It is only that they are persuaded that, for some reason or other,
the meat is For the same reason, certain families in the
injurious.
Machakos do not eat the flesh of the hartebeeste i^gondi),
district
and cannot be persuaded to touch the flesh of this antelope. On

the other hand, the bushbuck is the totem of the mba-hpumbd.
3. Relations between persons of the same totem (clan).
(The social side of the totem system.)
Although, in the case of men in a primitive state of society,

it is very difficult to distinguish between religious and social phe-
nomena, yet such a division has its justification, and it must be
admitted that in practical life totemism has a much greater social
than religious importance. In the social sphere, the most impor-
tant expressions of. totemism are exogamy and
mu- the obligation of
tual help, the most pregnant expression of which is blood-vengeance.
Marriage between individuals of the same clan is strictly for-
bidden, even if the parties live in different parts of the country
and have never heard of each other before ^. If such a forbidden
union between members of the same clan is entered into, it is a
very grave crime, and the culprits must submit to a process of
purification (by means of 'gondm), which is carried out by an old
man who is specially versed in such matters. This marriage-pro-
^ According to Hofmann, the Akitutu constitute an exception from

the general rule, and marry within the same clan.
hibition is easily understandable, if it is remembered that a clan

originally springs from one man, and consequently, from the nat-
ives' point of view, its members are near of kin. It is, however,
to be observed that the usage is sometimes a little unsettled, and
it may happen that a man without objection marries a girl of

his own clan, if she belongs to a distant branch of the clan, with
which he has nothing in common but the clan-name. In most
cases, however, such marriages are contracted in ignorance of the
existing kinship. If one ventured to enunciate a general rule for
the case when marriage between members of the same clan might
be considered permissible, it would (according to various statements
obtained from natives) possibly run as follows: When parts of
the same clan aro so distantly related that they do not help each
other in paying fines for manslaughter, marriage may take place
between individual members^.
At the dancing festivities celebrated by the young people, a
young man may not dance with a girl of the same mbai. This
prohibition seems to be natural enough when it is remembered that
the dances, which are generally celebrated at night and when the
moon is full, usually end with sexual practices. Apart from this,
dancing together often leads to mutual affection and marriage,
which is out of the question between members of the same clan.
Exogamy is the negative aspect (the »Thou shalt not») of the so-
cial side of totemism: we now come to the positive aspect —
»thou shalt». It is the absolute duty of the members of a clan to help
each other in in all sorts of distress. Their most important duties
are to bear their share in the raising of fines for manslaughter,
and, in case of need, to revenge each other's deaths by blood-
vengeance (of. Chap. XI).
^ About the relations between sub-clans and the chief clan, and
between the sub-clans inter se, Hobley writes as follows (p. 64): »Now
originally members of these sub-divisions were not allowed to marry,
but curiously enough they could marry back into the original stock».
Hobley does not give any explanation of this, and during my investiga-
tions I have not considered such a case, for which reason I shall not
venture to offer any opinion. In the case of an insignificant sub-clan
of iaba-mulata-i6ia, however, I have recorded a statement of a single
individual that members may take wives from the original stock, which
seems to support Hobley's assertion.
I will cite an example of this feeling of solidarity, which is
characteristic, although the cause was somewhat trivial. A man

came on a visit happened to quarrel with
to a place, where he
another man. Somecame up and were about
friends of the latter
to settle accounts with the stranger, but he was undismayed and
shouted: »Come on then, enemies to ... and here he mentioned .
—
the name of his clan —
here you shall see one who is not afraid !»
There was by chance among his assailants one of the same clan
as the stranger, and when he heard that they were clan-kinsmen,
he immediately went over to the stranger's side, and helped him
against his own friends!
4. Further peculiarities of particular clans.

Among other characteristic peculiarities of particular clans, I
have made a record of the following:

All the members of the anhu- clan are considered to have
the misfortune to possess the kxcem, that is to say »the evil eye».
It is born with and they themselves have nothing to do
them,
with it. Yet it can be employed by an ill-disposed person in ter-
rible ways. Those who belong to the clan cannot praise anything
or anybody which they are looking at without its leading to
misfortune for the person or thing praised. An expression of ad-
miration of e. g. a herd of cattle is enough to bring sickness or
death down upon the animals. In order to turn away ill-luck, a
mivanzm spits when he expresses admiration of anything. Generally
speaking, spitting has a religious-magical significance among many
peoples in Africa, even outside the Bantu groups.
Belief in the »evil eye» is met with, I think, all over the
world, even among civilised peoples, and seems to be as old as
humanity itself^. It is necessary, however, to distinguish between
the intentional and the unintentional evil eye, with the latter of
which we have to deal in our case here. In their effects both
are identical.
^ Cf. R. An dree,
Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, p.
35. InterA. says (p. 44): >In Schotland kannte man das bose
alia.
auge als The ill ee (The evil eye); man glaubte, dass es in bestimm-
ten familien vorkomme und in diesen erblich sei. Der besitzer ver-
wandte es gegen seine feinde, aber man konnte es auch gegen be-
zahlung zur rache an dritten personen verwenden».
124 Lindblom. The Akamba
One of the largest clans is anzaum, which is specially known

for its beautiful girls. There is, however, one drawback, and that
is that a woman of this clan brings ill-luck on the man that
makes her his wife. According to the natives' own account, it is
very usual for a man who has taken a wife from this clan to die
a few months any ostensible cause. This might
later without
lead one to think that these would find it difficult
ill-starred girls
to get married, but this is by no means the case; the temptation

to marry them is too great, on account of the good looks they
generally possess.
Further, we have amwcsi, whose ancestor, as has been men-
tioned, is said to have been called imvcBi ('moon'). They may not
sweep out the hut on the last day of the month, insofar as the refuse
may not be thrown out of the hut on that day, but only swept
together in a heap.
Next we come to the niba-kipumbd Their women may not .
make pottery, a task which otherwise falls to the lot of the women
among the Akamba.
It is not seldom found that the peculiarities distinguishing cer-
tain clans are put to practical use. A task of the sun clan, among
the Bechuana, is to produce sunshine on dull days. Of especial
interest are the »intichiuma» ceremonies among the aborigines of
Australia, by means of which the members of some animal clans
think that they are able to increase the supplies of the animal
which is their totem ^. Traces of a similar utilitarian employment
of a clan's members I have found in two cases among the Akamba.
The above-mentioned asi, of the lion clan, can heal burns. A
musi must, with an empty stomach, chew the leaves of Cajanus
indicus (Kik. 7nusu) and then smear his saliva on the burn. In
this connection must be mentioned also mba-rnbua (inbua = 'rain').
In times of severe drought in Ulu, it was formerly customary to

sacrifice a child to the spirits (cf. Chap. XII). It is characteristic
of the members of this clan that they are very fond of bathing, and
are not afraid of the coldest water. When infants are washed by
their mothers, they generally make grimaces, but the little ambua
only laugh, and thoroughly enjoy themselves in the water.
^ Cf. Spencer and Gill en, The Northern Tribes of Central Au-
stralia, p, 283 ff.
According to tradition, the oldest clan is mba-knmu or inba-

aimu {aimii = 'spirits of the forefathers'), who trace their descent
back to human beings. According to the myth, Mu-
the earliest
lungu, Supreme Being, who has created all things, cast the
the
man and woman from which the clan was descended down from
heaven. They fell down on Nsaui, a rock south-east of the province
of Kilungu, and the clan is called inba-mulata-tQia {%Qia 'stone'). An-
other name is mba-acEi. Even in play, it is forbidden to take up a
child of this clan in one's arms and swing it, otherwise it will
immediately rise into the air and disappear.
In olden times, when a severe drought was experienced in
East Ukamba, it was usual to sacrifice a child of the clan to the
spirits of the forefathers ^.
Apart from the above-mentioned taboo and prohibitions, which

are binding on the whole clan, there are innumerable other pro-
hibitions, which affect perhaps only single families. Strictly speak-
ing, these have nothing to do with the clan system, and are alto-
gether distinct from the restrictions of totemism, but they deserve
some mention in connection with a treatment of such phenomena,
if only to show that, when we meet with such cases, we must
not be misled into formulating from them general rules for the
whole clan. I will only cite a single example. As we have seen,
when a child is born in Ukamba, a great feast is held, an ox is
killed, and beer-drinking is indulged in. In the Machakos district,
however, there is a large family of the mba-kipumbd clan which

does not observe this custom. The reason for this is simply that
this familyonce lost three infants one after the other, which disas-
ter was considered to be due to the observance of the custom,
for which reason it was changed. As is well known, the native
can extremely seldom find a natural explanation of the misfortunes
which afflict him. The case is also of interest as showing how a
custom can arise; for it is a fact that, in spite of the tenacity with
which natives cling to tradition, changes are often made when
circumstances seem to warrant it ^.
^ Cf. »Religion», Chap. XII, for further particulars.

- According to my experience customs may be divided into three
kinds: i. those in force over the whole tribe, 2. those in force among
single clans (mostly prohibitions), 3. those in force in single families
(self-imposed prohibitions).
ia6 Lindblom, The Akamba
5. The admission of individuals to a clan.
A stranger can be admitted to a clan. He and the head-man

of the family to which he wishes to be admitted both strike the
so-called c\an-ktp!iiu (see Chap. XI: 3), promising to avenge each other's
deaths and in case of need to pay their shares of the cattle which
must be delivered by way of fine in the case of manslaughter; in
one word, to fulfill all the obligations of a member of the clan.
The new-comer now belongs as completely to the clan as if he
had been born in it, and consequently he cannot choose his wife
from among its members. In the most westerly part of Ukamba
live some Akikuyu; some of them work for wealthy Akamba,
and some have come there because they thought there were
too many white settlers in certain parts of the Kikuyu country.
Most of these strangers have gained admittance to Kamba clans.
On the other hand, it would seem that an individual cannot
be expelled from his clan; at least none of those whom I asked
about the matter knew of any case. They thought that such a
procedure would bring grave misfortunes down on the clan.
Sometimes the Akamba are heard to refer to a Kikuyu man as a
member of such and such a Kamba clan, without his having been
admitted to it. The reason for this is that some Kikuyu clans
are said to be identical with others in Ukamba. Annrn is said to
be the same as anhu, and to possess the same »evil eye». The
two words are, indeed, identical, but on the other hand, their
totems are different. According to Hobley, the former clan has
»the elephant and all birds », the latter a small black bird,
kmdald. The names of other Kikuyu clans given by Hobley pre-
sent no resemblance to those of Kamba clans ^. K. Dundas also
states that »many of the Kikuyu' clans claim descent from cer-
tain particular tribes, thus the Akkachiko and Achera from
. . .
the Kamba » ^.
^
C. V. Hobley, Kikuyu medicines, p. 82.
" K, R. Dundas, Notes on the origin and history of the Kikuyu
and Dorobo, p. 136.
The Clan system and Tolemism 127
6. The taboo=ing and worship of animals of

non-totemistic origin.
The confusion of totemism with animal-worship and other similar

phenomena is often met with in literature dealing with such subjects ^.
»Le totemisme (sous son aspect religieux) est de la zoolatrie; mais
toute zoolatrie nest pas du totemisme », says van Gennep aptly.
As we shall see, animal-worship is not practised directly by
the Akamba, but only indirectly. In order to avoid misunderstand-
ing and to emphasize strongly the difference, however, it may be
mentioned here, while dealing with totem animals, that there are
a number of animals which, although they are not totems, may
not be killed or eaten. Such animals may be divided into two groups:
i) individual animals, which are held to be reincarnations of
ancestors' spirits; and
2) whole species, which, for different and often unknown rea-
sons, have been taboo-ed.
A python (itq) which comes to a village is not killed, but
milk is set out for it, since it is considered to bring good luck
and increase to the cattle; this belief is shared by many Bantu
tribes. Some Akamba do
not seem to know any reason for the
custom. According to others, again, the atmu, or spirits of de-
parted kinsmen, sometimes take up their abode in a python or
green mamba (ndan), and for this reason these snakes are not killed,
when they are found in the neighbourhood of the villages. If we

compare the attitude assumed towards pythons by other Bantu
tribes, everything points to the fact that this is the correct explana-
nation of the way in which they are treated. In passing, it may
be pointed out that we have here an example of the fact that the
origin of a custom may be forgotten, while the custom itself con-
tinues to exist. On the other hand, a python which is encountered
in the woods is killed out of hand. All pythons are not inhabited
1 Soderblom sums up briefly and succinctly the difference

between totemism and animal- wo rship »i) As a rule totemism embraces
:
a whole species, while animal- wo rship is confined to a single animal.

2) The totem animal is sacred to its clan, the worshipped animal to
any number of people. » N. Soderblom, Ofversikt af Ailmanna reli-
gionshistorien, p. 11.
.
by spirits, but only those that, by going into a village, show that
they indubitably take a special interest in it^
Tortoises (jignj) are not eaten, and if a youth, for example,

should eat one, his fellows sing lampoons about him, calling down
curses upon him. A man who has eaten a tortoise finds it difficult
to get a wife, and yet the tortoise does not seem to be regarded
as an unclean animal.
What has been said about the tortoise, also applies to the
porcupine (wie), as regards some people. No doubt, this animal's

peculiar covering places it in a unique position.
A general characteristic among Bantu tribes is that they do
not eat fish; fish are looked upon as being akin to snakes.
The hammer-bird (Scopus umbretta) is not killed, and the
natives do not even dare to climb up into the tree in which it
builds its great nest. To do so would bring on the disease called
musa/d, a sort of eruption.
Various other animals are regarded in a similar light. Some
are bearers of omens and are therefore not killed; chief of these
is the woodpecker, '^gomakonii^
7. Rudiments of a matriarchal community.
Among Bantu peoples, even among tribes that reckon relationship

exclusively through the male, isolated customs are met with, which sug-
gest the matriarchal system. Probably we are here in the presence of
survivals from olden times; at least there seem to be no signs of
a development towards a system of mother-right, while on the
other hand, there are no objections to looking upon descent through
the male line as the younger system^.
^ Cf. further » Religion », Chap. XII: i.

- Cf. further Chap. XIII: 6, XIV: 3 and G. Lindblom, Ofvertro
och liknande forestallningar rorande djur bland Ost-Afrikas negrer, speci-
ellt bland Kamba-stammen. In this paper, a considerable number of
animals are considered. A considerable, though somewhat unsifted, mass
of material for comparison is found in J. Weissenborn 's Tierkult in
Afrika. Although W. takes the term animal-worship in a wide meaning,

yet he mentions nothing of totemism in Africa.
^ On mother-right in Africa, see A. H. Post, Afrikanische Juris-
prudenz, p. 13 ff.
: ;
The Clan system and I'otemism 1

29
Anioiii^ the Akamba, I ha\ e foiincl the following; features indi-

cative of matriarchate
I. A man's position in respect to his mother's brother is
peculiar in several respects:

a. About his relations to his mother's brother's wife and
daughter see p. 95.
b. At the division of blood-mone}-, the brother of the
mother of the victim receives one cow (see Chap. XI: i).
c. In the festivities which are celebrated in honour of a young

and brave warrior, after his return from a successful expedition,
the mother's brother plays an important part (see Chap. XII).
d. In Kikamba » uncle > (mother's brother) is which
inavia,
word is al.so employed as the reply to a greeting between cousins
(the children of the mother's brother).
II. If anyone happens to kill his own child, lie pays damages
to its mother (see Chap. XI: i). It is unknown to me whether, in
such a case, the child's uncle (mother's brother) interferes, as
happens sometimes in other places.
III. If, as I think ver\- probable, matriarchate has really once

existed among the Akamba, we might, further, expect to find
some traces of it in such an ancient and original institution as
totemism. Indeed, I venture to beliexe that I have found such
traces, nameh- the following:
The prohibitions (taboo) which are imposed upon a certain clan,
also become binding upon the man who takes his wife from that
clan. Thus, if I marry a woman of mba-asi, I ma\' no longer
touch liver; if my wife is of the mmucei: clan, I may not clean up
the hut on the last day of tlie month; and so on. The prohibi
tions are not, however, binding on the children of the marriage
they belong to the father's clan in everything. For example, a
woman of niba-asi may not eat liver, nor ma\' her husband, but
the children may do so.
8 The Clan Marks.

Clan marks are used on horned cattle, arrows, and bee-hives.
a. Clan marks on Such a mark is called kiQ

cattle.
(< oa to mark with the clan mark') and is branded on the ani-
mal's skin with a glowing iron. Originally these marks were certainK'
Arch.Or. L indblom 9
employed for practical purposes, to indicate ownership and pre-

vent theft. In the old days, the Akamba were incorrigible cattle
thieves, and even stole from each other. In more recent times,
Clan marks for cattle.
r^5^^^
17.
19-
17. (Cpa'gga (i — 2 sides). 18. ak^ptimba (on both sides).

19. anzaunt^. ao. ambua. 2,1. repa^ga (on both sides).
22. afaggiva ma mha kateti (on both sides).
the practice seems to have improved considerably, and the natives

themselves say that the reason is that times are safer. They no
longer dare to steal cattle for fear of the P^nglish Government,
I employ the term »clan mark», although it would perhaps
be better to say » family mark», since every head-man of a family
seems to have his special mark. If the natives are asked anything
*
Goats and sheep are said to be marked in the same manner.
Hobley gives a great many clan mari<s for cattle (Akamba etc. p. 24).
about a certain mark, however, they always reply that it is a km

for such and such a clan; so that from the mark it is possible
to see to which clan a family belongs^. Hence the expression
»clan mark > seems to be fully justified. Yet, great confusion
prevails concerning the use of these marks, partly because they
are no longer necessary, and partly for other reasons. For
instance, if a large number of a man's animals die without any
discoverable cause, he possibly comes to the conclusion that it is
his kw that has brought him his bad luck, for which reason he
chooses another. I have been told that he then often takes that
of his mother's family. Or he contents himself with simply mak-
ing an alteration in the old one. The ataf^gwa, in the district of
Machakos, have two parallel curves on the animal's two sides (see
fig. 22). As, however, once upon a time many calves belonging to
one family died, their animals were marked only on one side thereaf-
ter. In many respects, these marks are becoming decorations pure
and simple, which appears from the fact that, if a man sees a k%q
which appeals to him, he just imitates it. This contributes, of
course, further to increase the confusion.
Only horned cattle are marked with the kw. It is seldom
that all the animals are marked, but the proportion marked de-
pends upon the whim of the owner ^. As a rule, goats and sheep
are marked (cut) only on the ears, and only exceptionally in the
same way as the horned cattle.

The Masai, the Akikuyu, and the Atharaka, the Akamba's
neighbours, employ similar property-marks^. Probably they were
Hobley says the same, ibid. p. 22.

^
With regard to this point, Hobley (p. 22) makes a reservation, for
^
which I have found no confirmation: »Curiously enough, all the cattle

are not branded, but usually only those sent away to buy a wife with,
or those paid as blood-money for a death ». On the other hand, it seems
to me quite probable that among the marked cattle are aKo those
used for the purposes mentioned by Hobley. In the event of their
having to be returned to the owner, the fact that they are marked
would prevent any confusion arising as to which they were.
^ Merker, Die Massai (reproduction on plate I, p. 163): »Die
marken der rinder und esel zeigen an, zu welchem geschlecht bezw.
untergeschlecht der besitzer geh6rt». Routledge, The Akikuyu, p, 45:
»Each clan has its own cattle-brand » A. M. Champion, The Atharaka,.
.
p. 88.
132 Lindblom. The Akamha
Clan marks on arrow heads.
^.^\
26.
V \J U
27. 2S. 29. 30.
23. <i'omhd uia tnba-mululu. 24. (£0)iib,> inn mba-inai. 25. Another
subclan of rfoiii/>.>. 26. a/e^/timiba. 27. apnfign. 28. nn'zaitm.
29. ((taiig-aut. 30. a/ntiitii.

The Clan system and Totemisni 133
1/
33- 34-
v
35- 37-
31. akltutit (Ikutha). 32. avi-a'ilu (see list B). 33. asi. 34. akitoiuio.
35. knnij. 36. amtitfii. 37. awtm (East Ukamba).
'34 Lindblom. The Akaniba
borrowed b}* the Akamba. Hobley says: »Tliey say that the
practice of branding their cattle onl\' dates back a generation or
two, and was copied from the Masai '. I have not found anything
Clan marks on bee-hives.
39- 40. 41.
//-
42. 43- 44-
>^
45- 4<.. 47-
48. 49.
50. 51-
39. a(t)ta^gwa. 40. anibiia. 41. ansaunt. 42. atmtttda.
43. aiunktî (Kikumbuliii). 44. knnq. 45. an.bjt.

46. akt/ondo. 47. aktpnmbn.
to confirm this assertion, but I consider it very probable that the

Akamba have taken the idea of marking their cattle from the
Masai. Tradition and other circumstances point to the fact that they
'
Hobley. Akamba, p. 22.
were originally a people of hunters, and further, according to many

accounts, they got their cattle from the Masai. It is a fact, too,
that, at least in the Machakos district, their cattle are for the
greater part descended from cattle stolen from the Masai.
Clan marks on arrow-heads. On arrow-heads (uOa/iu)
b.
the clan marks are scratched on the iron points themselves, be-
sides which the small arrow-shafts have a special mark (cf. figs.
23—38). On the wooden-pointed bird arrows no marks appear.
Every clan has its special mark, which, however, varies in diffe-
rent parts of the country. As is the case with other marks, this
mark serves a practical purpose. Often they do not know each
other's marks, to avoid possible imitation and consequent quar
rels as to who has killed an animal. Since the natives are now
forbidden to hunt the larger animals, they have no longer an}-
reason for marking their arrows, and especially round the two
government stations, the practice is rapidly disappearing. The
same confusion reigns in the matter of arrow-marks as in the mat-
ter of property-marks on cattle, and here also they are nowadays
often used purely as decorations. The loose little wooden shaft
especially is marked largely according to taste.
c. The clan mark on bee=hives. The oblong wooden cy-
linders which, with but slight variations in shape, are used as bee-
hives over the whole of East Africa, are marked at one end with
the owner's mark. Even
same clan, each owner has
within the
his special mark (see figs. 39—51), for which reason these marks
cannot exactly be called clan marks. These marks are sometimes
scratched in with a knife and sometimes branded on with a glov\ -
ing iron.
Finally, I will add that earthenware vessels are also marked.
These marks, however, have nothing to do with the property-
marks; they are a sort of manufacturer's mark, and are put on
by the women who make the vessels. All Kamba women are not
experts at pottery- work.
If we compare the three different sorts of marks — those on

cattle, those on arrows, and those on bee-hives —
we find that
they do not seem to present any definite likeness to eacii
other. According to the accounts of some, which I men-
tion with reserve, cattle and bee-hives originally had the same
136 Lindblom, Vhc Akaniba
9 List of clans and their totems

A. Machakos
Clan Totem
I. aiieni^, .sj>. uiuneui
2. an-auni, .sj>. munzauni The jackal {nibm'd)

3. ansiu, s<j[. tiiunziu The kmdaii bird (Dicrurus)
4. aivim The hyena {mbiti)
5. toonib,), .s<4. mxi'iovilh) Tlie long-tailed monkey (^gima)
a) ffomb) ma mba-niai
b) » » » -niululu
6. ahpumb.) or aknmi The bushbuck (ndwaia)
^ \ apanga or
Sand containing iron {hied)
i 'fpaMa,
^ sg. mialiaiiga
8. ceta'ggzua, sg. mmtaîgzva The baboon {^guh or */<7^)
a) ata^gzva ma inba mule/a The hawk {nibulusHi)

eller ;w^« Ugî'^^g^^^f^
b) ata^gzva ma mba kateti

c) » » ' miijxek.)
d) » » ^ mnkuda
9. «J?, SJ>. 7////J/ The lion {mmiuimbii)
10. awm » »
1 1 . ahtutu The hawk (^mbulusxa)

12. <?/7£7, sg. nrntcvi
13. amivn or annocei
14. akUondo The crow i^gu^gim)
a) ahtondo ma mba mbuh
b) » » » ntiimba
I 5 . amumoni The wild fig-tree {nmmo)
16. ambua, sj^,. niumbiia

17. akitno
\ (otvani or
Tlie leopard (g^''^)
( (P/ivam, sg. munvani }
19. amunda, sg. mumunda

a) mba-muêjna
b) niba-nzalu
20. amuti
21. amtitiei The secretary bird {ndei)
22 . «<î or mba-mulata-i^ha or >«/5rt-
knmii or mba-anzikwa
23. antiuntiii Porcupine (nl«) and bat {tiCmOu)
^ atreni is the clan's name = niba-atênt; mtsaimi or mbn-auzaiini tVc.

The Clan svsteni and Totemism 137
collected by the author,

district.
Remarks
The founder of the tribe is said to have come from the ste])pe
in the west {rcnem 'on the steppe).
Very large clan.
Large clan; the name from adj. -root -lu (black), in the n-class ntru.
(Originally from Kilungu. Large clan.
Founder of the clan called k>fmmb<).

Founder of the clan was a smith, he got iron from the sands of the
rivers (magnetite), cf. mupa»ga sand'.
From le/a 'to hover in the air like a bird in search of pre}''.
From 7fmku0a nail'. v
Do not eat liver.
Nearly related to the above.

mutun smith'. Founder a smith.
inwcei 'moon'; name of the founder, who was born at lull moon.
mbuhy more usually mbia goat'.
< mnmo wild fig-tree'. Formerly the same family as nr. 6. Foun-
der born at the foot of such a tree, therefore called inntno.
< mdua rain'.
<k>tuo 'shoulder'.
< mxviiva thorn'.
Cf. munda 'tilled field'.
amutce\ from ^>de^ (root -tei).
Cf. aimu 'forefather's spirits'; t'ka stone'; ]nka 'bury" (from

kisuaheli .o/k(7:).
munent 'a member of the clan of nttem\

C38 Lindblom, The Akamba
marks. According; to Merker, the hunting tribe of tvandorobo had

the same mark on bee-hives and arrows^.
Have these marks anything to do with the totem, or were
they really the original totem mark? Only one mark seems to
speak in favour of this, namely, the lion-paws which the asi^ (lion
clan) set on their arrow-heads (see fig. 33). A similar case is that
of the wolf clan among the Delawares, who painted a wolf-paw
on their huts^.
B. Kikumbuliu (district of Kibwezi). Of the above-men-

tioned clans, I have, from this district, noted nos: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9,
10, 13, 14. 16, 19. Additions: ammlu, ^v\i-Qi2ia o{ (vombd {aotnbd),
which is said to come from Nsaui in Kilungu; akttondo (14) are
also called mba-'ggu'ggtm (cf. above 8) here.
Further, anlh, which clan Hobley includes in his list of the
Mumoni clans.
C. Ikutha District. Of A I have here found nos: i, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 1 1, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22. The acBi are also called aeim, the
locative form; anzi (see B) is here called andi_.
O^ (ômbJ is here found the sub-clan aw?/?/, presumably =amwtlu

(B). The asi (9) are here also called mba-mule-itema {lea 'refuse',
and %tema 'liver').
D. Kitui District. Here are found, besides many of the

above-mentioned clans, ttiba-kUitkuand the large clan of viba-'ggo.
kitiiku (quiver decoration of ostrich feathers) is the name of the
founder of the clan, as is also the case with ^go 'leopard'. This
clan must not be confused with the crivani (A 1 8), the totem of which
is the leopard. What the totem of the clan itself is, I do not
T<no\v.
E. Mumoni. In this part of the country, I have found two

clans which seem to be otherwise unknown: ay^gokt and kana, or
acei. The latter, however, is found also in the district of Kitui.
Its totem is a small green parrot {yi^givcBi). The anî (B, C) are
here said to be a sub-clan of aimvcs\ (A 13).
'
M. Merker, Die Massai, p. 226.
- Frazer. Totemism and Exogamy I, p. 30.
10. The origin of the totem system among the Akamba.
The difficult and much-discussed problem of the origin of the

totem I will only briefly touch upon, and concerning the Akamba,
I will in much subscribe to the following expression of opinion by M.
P:n Nilsson^: »For my part, I am largely inclined to support the old
view that the totem originated from the names by which the pri-
mitive tribes used to designate each other. These names were quite
naturally taken from surrounding natural objects, and especially from
the animal world, with which savages are so well acquainted. From
the principle of the magical connexion between a name and its
bearer — according to the primitive conception, a person not
only has a name, but he is what he is called — the various phe-
nomena of totemism can easily be explained, particularly the funda-
mental idea of mutual connexion between a group of persons
and the species of animal or the class of objects or the natural
phenomena which bear the same name». This name-theory, however,
must not be confused with H. Spencer's rationalistic explanation,
that totemism is founded upon a mistake: the memory of a fore-
father, »the wolf», fades in the course of time, so that in the end
the belief emerges that a wolf really was the founder of the clan.
At the beginning of the chapter, mentioned that a clan seems
I
to originate from a single man, whose name (sometimes his occu-

pation) was often afterwards associated with the name of the animal
or object which is the totem of the clan. Thus the founder of
the clan of amwcex was called mwcî ('moon'). The amumom 'those
at the fig-tree', are said to spring from a certain mnmo (fig-tree),
and so on.
The old assumption that the sacredness of the totem animal
is due to the fact that it is believed to be the habitation of the
spirits of the forefathers, seems now to have been generally aban-
doned in science. As far as the Akamba are concerned, I venture
to think that I have shown with sufficient clearness that no such
belief exists among them, even if there are circumstances which,
on a superficial consideration, support the idea.
1 Primitiv religion, p. 44.

140 Lindblom, The Akaniba
II. Fictitious Relationship.
A. Among the Akamba themselves. Another class of re-

lationship is that of sworti brotherhood. Just in the same way as
the bonds of natural relationship are very strong and the feeling
of affinity within the family (clan) stands out in violent contrast
to the old hostility and dissension between the different parts
and districts, so does sworn brotherhood unite men with strong
bonds. If two men wish to become blood-brothers, the prelimi-
nary step is the mutual exchange of presents, consisting of beer
and goats, which latter they kill and consume together. The final and
conclusive ceremony consists in their meeting in the hut of one
of them: a calabash of beer is produced, out of which they alter-
nately take mouthfuls of the liquid, which are then ejected back
into the vessel. Then each makes a slight incision in the back
of the right hand, and sucks the blood which wells forth from the
hand of the partner. The blood brotherhood is now sealed, and
if either of them afterwards breaks it, he will be overtaken b}-
misfortunes and certain death. Even if both should tire of the
friendship, they cannot sever the bond without incurring calamitous
consequences.
This relationship seems to be equally binding and to have
the same consequences as the natural relationship, of which it is
probably an imitation. The children of the parties look upon

each other, and are looked upon, as brothers and and may
sisters,
not marry together. Two men united by such a bond are under
the obligation to render each other mutual help. If one of the
foster-brothers is a party in a law suit, or if he is charged
with some crime, the other appears at the trial, even if he has
important affairs of his own to see to. For example, if the son
of one of them receives a blow at the dancing place — during
the dancing, the youths engage in violent rivalry for the favour of
the girls, and hence blows are often exchanged — the sons of
the other family come to his assistance.
B. With individuals of another tribe. The above account
applies to sworn brotherhood between two Akamba. but if a Kamba
desires to become a blood-brother with a man of another tribe,
the following is the method of procedure:
The Clan system and Toteniism 141
A goat is killed and cut into pieces. The two men make a
little scratch on the inter-clavicular notch and on the chest. The
blood which issues is caught on pieces of the goat's flesh, and each
man eats a piece with the other's blood upon it. bôm the goat's skin
which they place on each others fingers. The cere-
are cut rings,
mony has the same effect as an oath sworn over a strong k^Jntur >
,
and the breaking of such an oath brings with it death (see Chap. XI: 3).
They are now as brothers born of the same mother, show each other
the greatest and one of them cannot deny the other
hospitality,
anything , said an old man to the author. Should one of them
be killed while on a visit to his blood-brother, the latter claims
the blood-fine from the culprit.
When the Akamba used to pass to and from the coast for
trading purposes, the cunning Swahili and Arab traders used to

profit by this custom, by entering into blood-brotherhood with them,
and Akamba would sell their ivory cheap to their new
then the
kinsmen. Although they had reached a higher stage of civilisa-
tion, this was the only way in which the people of the coast could
cheat the washenzi» (the savages'), for the latter possessed too
much business capacity. But the otherwise greedy Akamba's con-
ception of the significance of blood-brotherhood caused them to lose
sight of their own advantage.
Another variant of sworn brotherhood, which probably exists

both between two Akamba and between a Kamba and a man
of another tribe, is the following:
A person who is sorely persecuted by an irreconcilable enemy,
who aims at his life, can not only save his life but even turn his
foe into a friend, if he can manage to get an opportunity of
sucking the breast of his wife or daughter, even though the latter
may be but a child'. The two then become more than friends:
they one another as brothers-. Their children may not
regard
marry, but on the other hand, they may have sexual intercourse,
^ Among several peoples women are regarded, in a way, as asy-

lums, according to E. Westermarck » probably from fear of the magic
power attributed to their sex». See W:s article Asylum in Encycl. of
Religion and Ethics.
- We should rather expect, from this .'jymbolic suckling, that the
relation would be that of father to son.
which, of course, is out of the question between real sisters and

brothers, or between members of the same clan. It seems that no
other obligations, such as mutual help &c, are imposed on the
children.
Another method of entering upon a sort of sworn brotherhood
is mentioned by Hildebrandt, but it has not been met with by the
present author. It consists in the smashing of a small earthen-

ware vessel, specially made for the purpose. By the performance
of a certain ceremony, the bond thus formed can subsequently be
dissolved by one of the parties, without the knowledge of the
other ^.
^ See further Hildebrandt, Ethnographi.sche Notizen, p. 386.

Chapter IX. Social Organisation.
I. Age- and Rank^Classes.
The terms for persons of the opposite sexes, of different ages

and social grades within the community, are as follows: kana
'child', kaQ'hsi 'little boy', k'iGm 'boy', kizlcetiu 'little girl', mwttu(
'girl' (also a young wife who has not yet had a child), imvanak<)
'young unmarried man, warrior', iidcel<) 'young married man', kiGcstr
wife with children', mutumm 'elderly man'. This classification
is, however, very general, and more detailed explanations and
additions are necessary.
No special test or ceremony is required for a kiOisi to be-
come a rnwanakd. The circumcision feasts have nothing to do
with it. It is his general maturity, or, let us say, the beginning
of puberty, which decides the question, and when his father thinks
him old enough and intelligent enough, he gives him the orna-
ments which are distinctive of a mwanakd, and then he soon
gains recognition as such. Hence the assumption of the orna-
ments is not enough in itself, and if a very young boy should
appear decked out in them, he would not become a mwanak,>
on that account.
Even a married man remains a mtvatiakd, as long as he takes-
part in the dances of his unmarried contemporaries. When he
grows tired of them, in them for some
or ceases to take part
other reason, upon as a nbceld. The birth of his
he is looked
first child might perhaps be looked upon as a determining factor.
Mr Hobley says, incorrectly, that »a nthele can only have one

wife»^. The number of wives plays no part in these distinctions,
but is purely an economic question. It sometimes happens that
a well-to-do man buys a wife for his son, while the latter is still
^ C. V. Mobley, Akamba &c, p. 49.

144 Lin db loin. The Akamba
a kiOisz (though he must have been circumcised). For the same

reason, it is possible for a mwaiiako to have two or more wives,
although it does not very often happen. A woman does not
become a kiOcsti immediately on her marriage, but is still called
vmntui, till her first child is born.
Age-classes and rank-classes above ndcelo are composed of
4.iUim\a (sg. mutuvna '). The above classifications can, strictly speak-
ing, only be considered as classifications of age-classes. Now, we
meet besides with a social grade, since anyone who wants to be a
mutuuna must make a payment to those who are already muttitnâ.
This dignity is usually reached at an age of 40 to 50. There are,
however, younger atuima, and, on the other hand, there are middle-
aged men who have not yet made their payments. Out of politeness,
these are, however, called mtituima in everyday speech, although
the}- have not yet attained that dignity. The outward sign of a
mutuvna is the little round stool (rnumhii), which he carries every-
where with him, usually hanging by a chain over his shoulder.
When he wants to sit down, he places the stool on the ground.
Younger men have no right to use such stools". However, all
atumia are not on the same level. The highest in rank are those
who administer the government of the country and watch over
the religion, attimta ma nzama and atmma ma i[>cembo. They
carry a pronged staff {maka) as a symbol of their dignity. If
anyone else ventures to carry one, he runs the risk of being

ridiculed.
According to their rank, the atumia consume different parts
of the animals which are killed at public feasts and on the places
of sacrifice. The attainment of a higher grade among the atu-
mia is chiefly a financial question. The lowest grade is easily
reached by the presentation of a goat to the members of the nzama.
The person concerned has now the right to eat a goat's head, and
is called mutumm iva mutzvo (^mutumta of the head'). The next
^ Among the Akikuyu, the neighbours of the Akamba to tlie west,

mutuuna curiously enough means »a married woman who has at least
one circumcised child ».
- The stools are often prettily wrought; I shall revert to the subject
more fully in the of the Akamba.
description of the material culture
Hobley has pictures of some fine specimens (p. 34), He does not,
however, emphasize the fact that they may be used only by afumw.
Social Organisation 145
step is bull, which entitles him to the meat of the

to bring a
animal's lower leg. Another bull gives him the right to the upper
parts of the leg. When he is in a position to present still one
more, he advances a step further, to the loins and brisket. Some
time usually elapses before he advances further than this. How-
ever, a fourth bull entitles him to eat from the hump of cattle
{k%ad)^ which is considered great delicacy.
a A fifth and last
step now remains: another must be paid, before he may eat
bull
of the tongue and head of cattle. Further he cannot advance,

for a mutuntia of the fifth grade has gained the right to eat all
kinds of meat, that is to say there is no one of higher rank than

his. To pass through the different grades in this manner is called
kukula, and in East Ukamba kukusa. Of course, everyone cannot
attain to the highest grade. It is not permissible for anyone to
touch the meat which falls to the share of those of higher grades,
even if the latter are not taking part in the feast. Their portion
is, in that case, put away, and taken to their village by the anakd,
who, on these occasions, slaughter the animals which are going to
be eaten, and attend to the preparation of the meat.
Women and youths also may only eat of certain parts of an
animal, whether they are at a big public feast or at a purely
private meal in their own family circles. To the women's lot fall
one of the legs, the stomach, the meat on the sides of the belly
and on the ribs {itulo), while the men take the neck, lungs, liver,
kidneys, and heart. The last-mentioned portion and part of the
brisketusually go to the anakd. The hams, the back, and the
meat on the shoulder-blades {mama ia kiûo, from kifuo 'shoulder')
fall to the atum'ha. When the animals are slaughtered at home in
the village, the father of a family eats from the hams, and the
eldest son from the back. Once the latter becomes mutmma,
the father may no longer touch the head or the hams, nor may
he eat with the other atum'ha at public feasts any longer: it seems
he is considered too old.
The eating regulations now described must only be taken
as approximately correct, since I have received very different
statements from different persons in the course of my enquiries.
However, that they are considered to be very important questions,
is shown by the fact that anyone who without permission — —
eats what does not fall to his share, can be cursed; thus, for
Arch.Or. Lindblom 10
example, a youth who presumes to eat the head. Hence this is

taboo for him.
To return to a consideration of the mufumia-digmty, we have

seen that neither age nor the number of wives possessed is de-
cisive for promotion to a higher rank, but a necessary condition
is payment, the animals paid being then eaten by those entitled
to them. Hildebrandt cites something similar from the Wanika,
on this side of Mombasa, and Schurtz correctly regards this phe-
nomenon as a step towards the formation of clubs ^. In reality
clubs do exist among the Akamba, though in a rather undevel-
oped form. I allude here to what the natives call îsuka. This
signifies a gathering of atumâ and nbceld^ who meet together for
amusement, to eat meat and to drink beer, which is provided partly
by the entrance payments of new members, and partly by pur-
chase for the k'hsuka. Those who have not made their payments
— I to
3 goats and some beer seems to be the minimum may —
not be present at the meeting. There are also different grades with-
in the kisuka, which are attained in the same manner, and carry
the same privileges, as those described above. Hence those who

have paid only a little may not eat all sorts of meat. Unfortunately,
I have neglected to gather information as to whether these two
payments for attaining a higher grade are made independently of
each other, but I think that the grade which is already attained
in nzama entitles a man to enter a corresponding grade in k'hsuka,
without further payment. Most of the members seem to be

at »men of the head», that
least is to say they belong to the
lowest grade among the atum'ha. In East Ukamba the hsuka
seems to be exclusively a sort of club, while — as we shall see
later — in Ulu the members have duties to perform in the
public service^. Finally I must also mention that I have not
discovered that the k^suka is in any way of the nature of a
secret society, either as concerns the outside world or as concerns
the different grades inter se. Age-classes and secret societies are
^
J. M. Hildebrandt, Ethnogr. Notizen, p. 400. H. Schurtz,
Altersklassen und Mannerbunde, p, 133.
" According to C. Dun das, it is, in the Kitui district, members of the
fcisuka who carry out the burials. seems to me that, at any rate in
It
the Machakos district, this can be done by any of the older afumiOy
whether he belongs to the kisuka or not.
Social Organisation 147
in no way so closely allied in East Africa as they are in West

Africa, where the one implies the other ^. That outsiders are not
admitted to the kisuka is due entirely to the fact that no one
may take part in the festivities who has not contributed towards
them. Neither are women admitted, nor may they even prepare
the meat which is eaten at the meeting.
There is no special hut (club-house) for these feasts, but they
are held in different places out in the open air^. Nor is there
any hut for the unmarried men (»mannerhaus»), though they may
not, as a rule, sleep in their parents' huts; they must sleep any-
where where they can find shelter. They often take refuge in
the provision sheds {^kumbi). Among the Akamba, the nearest
approach to a public hall is the dancing place (kiOuio), common
to several villages, where the young people meet for dancing in
the evenings. On the return home from these dancing meetings,
free love is usually indulged in.
Just as different rank-classes are found among the atumm,

so are found among the married women {tGceti) such as take
a higher position than the bulk of the women, namely zdcett s%a
ipcembo or s%a nzama, who have obtained the right, together
with the atutma, to administer the cult on the places of sacrifice
consecrated to the spirits of their ancestors. For particulars as
to the acquisition of this privilege, see Chap. XIII.
It has already been mentioned in passing that the division
and personal adornment.
into age-classes implies differences in dress
However, since these differences are of very slight importance or
interest, they may be passed over here. I shall, instead, deal
with these matters in the following chapters on the material culture
of the Kamba people.
In this chapter it may be appropriate to discuss also the con-

ception of nka. The word is best rendered by »age-class», since
^ Cf. Weule,
Negerieben in Ost-Afrika, p. 370.
^ The
meeting huts which have begun to spring up during the
last few years here and there in Ukamba, have come into existence
entirely on the initiative of the English civil servants for use in legal
proceedings and other public meetings. They are called mhalasa (from
Kisuaheli baraza).
an nka includes approximately all persons of the same age, inde-

pendent of sex. The word ndukd is used side by side with iika.
The division has no connection with circumcision, as, for example,

is the case with the age-classes among
and seems to the Masai,
have no practical have never heard the
significance; at least I
word used except when ages were being compared, when two per-
sons who were of the same age were said to be of the same itka
or ndukd. According to a statement which I have not checked,
it seems, however, that in former times in the war expeditions,
warriors of an nka formed a separate division, which, when pitching
camp, had —among other things — its own fire, which is remi-
niscent of what Merker calls »corporalship» among the Masai ^ The
nka-d\.v\s\ox\ is to be met with among several tribes in British
East Africa, as, for example, the Wataveta at Kilimandjaro, where
the conception of irika is more exactly defined: is founded on
circumcision, embraces a limited period of fifteen years, and is
of practical significance".
^ Merker, Die Massai, p. 49.

^ Cf. Lindblom, Anteckningar ofver Taveta-folkets etnologi, p.
160. The Akikuyu have also the word irika, which Routledge in-
correctly renders by»clan». In the Kikuyu language »clan» is called

muheriga: Routledge, With a pre-historic people, p. 20. K. R. Dun-
das (Kikuyu Rika, Man 1908) gives for the Akikuyu of both sexes six
rika or age-classes.
Chapter X. Government and Administration.
From early times, a patriarchal form of government has pre-
vailed among the Akamba. Every mututma exacts obedience from
the members of his family, and he has absolute authority over his
sons, even long after they are grov^-n up and have families of their
own. Questions which concern several villages or a certain stretch
of country, that is to say, questions of more general interest, are
dealt with and decided by a local assembly of elders, called nzama.

There is no special leader or chairman of this assembly. Some
descriptions of how the heads of families generally, though unoffi-
cially, intervene to maintain public discipline, as, for instance, when
the frenzy of dancing threatens to demoralise the young people,
are given in my >Afrikanska stroftag» (p. 154 ff.)- There have
never been any chiefs, although occasionally a rich person with a
commanding personality has succeeded in attaining to the leader-
ship within an extensive territory, as did Kivui in Kitui^. Kivui
lived in the time was personally known to him.
of Krapf, and
He was practically a kind of chief, a position which he had gained
through his higher intelligence and his great physical strength.
At the same time he was a great medicine-man, and possibly pro-
vides an illustration of Frazer's theory that kings and chiefs have
their origin from medicine-men, whose social influence sometimes
advances them to the position of chiefs'. He made his people
victorious against their enemies, and many Akamba are said to
have paid him taxes, and so even the Masai livmg at Donyo Sabuk.
In times of war, however, experienced warriors were selected
and aptam, but their authority was
as leaders, the so-called asilih
only temporary, and in times of peace they occupied no public
position in the tribe. On account of their great reputation, how-
^ Krapf, Reisen in Ost-Afrika II, p. 264.

* Frazer, The Golden Bough I: i, p. 332.
ever, they often represented it in transactions with the Arabian

merchants and other trading caravans which came up to Ukamba
from the coast. They usually decided whether the caravans should
be allowed to pass unmolested, and the leaders of the caravans
were anxious to enter into a sworn brotherhood with them, ac-
cording to the usual Kamba custom, so that they might thereby
obtain protection for themselves and their property.
The home government is in the hands of a council of the
elders, neama, of which only atuntha are members. This corpo-
ration is of a purely local character, and there is no authority for
the whole country. The 7f/uûmia-grade does not in itself carry
with it the right to a seat in the nzama, for which a separate and
special payment is exacted. The most important function of the
nzama is to act as a court, in which all cases are tried and decided.
It also decides on wars of aggression (plundering raids); h'gold,
lynching, which is practised by the Akamba, may also only be

ordered by the nzama. Next to its duties as judging authority,
its most important function, however, is the care and maintenance
of the religion, the offering of sacrifices, &c. For an account of
these matters and a description of how the aiimna share this right
with the old women, see Chap. XIII.
To the religious duties of the nzama pertains also that of
carrying out the ceremony of purification, on the advent of all
public misfortunes, such as the outbreak of epidemics, cattle-
plagues, &c.
These old men and women of the nzama and the ^pcembo (place
of sacrifice) are the custodians of the tribe's traditions, in the manners
and customs pertaining to which they are well versed. They see that
they are maintained, and they have, on the other hand, authority to
prevent the rise of customs which they consider harmful, and can
even abolish customs which are already in existence. Anyone who
is in doubt as to how he ought to proceed in a certain case,
according to the custom of the tribe, goes to a muiumm wa nzama

for information, for which he pays a small fee, such as a goat,
or, if he is a rich man, a bull.
This short description of the system of government, however,

no longer taUies with the actual facts, since there is no sphere in
which contact with Europeans so quickly makes itself felt on the

old order of things as the political. Englishmen certainly follow
Government and Administration 151
in their colonies a principle of allowing the old order to remain as

far as possible, and in consequence, among other things, the nzama
still remains as the judging authority; but by the side of it, a
system of chiefs has been established, the country being divided
up into small districts, each having a »chief» (and under him
> headmen »), who for the payment of the hut-tax
is responsible
within his district. most influential man in a district
At first the
was appointed chief on principle. However, since the older men
seemed to have a difficulty in understanding and appreciating the
reforms for which they are required to work among the people,
during the last few years intelligent younger men, who showed a
better understanding of the new order of things, have been appoin-
ted. A ^government school* has been established in Kitui, and
to it are sent the sons of these »chiefs», to learn to read and
write, in order that they may succeed to their fathers' offices.
Perhaps in time a hereditary chieftainship will be established in

this way. The institution is still quite new, and most of these
chiefs find it very difficult to assert their authority over the other
atumia, who have never been accustomed to acknowledge any other
authority than the nzama, of which, indeed, they were usually mem-
bers themselves ^
The following little episode may serve as a typical example
of the feeling of independence among the Akamba: Pfitzinger,
missionary of the Leipziger Mission, who began to work among
the Akamba about 20 years ago, at first took it rather amiss that
the older men addressed him simply by name, without using the
Suaheli word bwana ('master'), which is, otherwise, the usual word
of address for Europeans in East Africa. He tried to give the per-
sons in question a slight hint through his servants, but got the
reply: » Among the Akamba there is no master !» Nor has the
language any word for »master».
^ Hobley does not treat of the system of government in his work,

but mentions that the Akamba have chiefs,and even hereditary chiefs.
From his description one inevitably gets the incorrect idea that chief-
tainship is one of their original institutions, while in reality it is very
characteristic of the political organisation of the Akamba that they have
never had chiefs.
Chapter XL The administration of the law
and judicial customs ^
One of the most strongly predominating features of the negro's

intellectual endowment seems to be his legal mind. Thus the
negroes have legal customs and prescriptions connected with the
administration of the law, which testify to extreme penetration and
a good power of judgement. The punishments inflicted are often
surprisingly humane and Negro law has, accordingly, attracted
just.
the attention of investigators, and many of modern Europe's jurists

have not found it beneath their dignity to spend time in studying
it; nay, new ideas have even been obtained from this source, which
it has been possible to incorporate into the law systems of Europe,
and this is of especial interest for the history and philosophy of
law. It is scarcely necessary to add that many of the Bantu peoples'
legal customs are not specially typical for them, but are of a
general nature.
To go to law iykwani) is one of the most exquisite enjoyments
in existence for a Kamba negro, and in what a number of actions
every old man has been a party! One of the most ingenious
riddles of the Akamba — in their own opinion — runs thus:
»Tell me a case which is disagreeable »; answer: »The case of him
who has vermin in his hair». Such a riddle would, of course, have
no meaning, unless it was generally considered rather enjoyable
to take part in More than once during my wanderings,
a law-suit.
I have met an old man whose face was beaming with satisfaction,
the reason for his good humour being that he was on his way to the
law-court. For a case which is not decided, they use the expres-
sion "hkwani yanxwa manzi 'the case drank water'. »To judge » is
^ For a comparative study of legal customs in Africa, see the account
— which is purely descriptive, but comprehensive and systematic —

given by Post in »Afrikanische Jurisprudenz*.
The administration of the- law and judicial customs 153
sila or stlzla, but there are, on the other hand, no words for »law»,
» prescription*, &c.
Since there are no professional lawyers, every man pleading
his own case, at least every elderly Kamba man is familiar with
the law and legal customs of his Although unwritten andtribe.
only carried down by oral tradition and by practical application,

some of these laws are constant and of general application, so
that they well deserve to be called laws. A knowledge of them
is one of the most important items of a negro's education. It can
thus with good reason be asserted that, relatively speaking, judicial

education is infinitely wider spread among the negro tribes of
Africa than among the civilised peoples of Europe.
The organisation of the judicial system of a people depends
on a lower stage on its general political and social organisation.
As has already been mentioned, the most important function of
the nzama form a court which deals with and decides all
is to
kinds of cases. There is no superior court. The meetings usually
take place in the open air, and a crowd of interested listeners
flock to them. The word nzama means 'secret', and has possibly
come to be used as the name of the court, because, after the disputing
parties have been heard and the case debated, the oldest and
most experienced aiufma withdraw to decide on a verdict. Little
weight seems to be attached to the evidence of witnesses, but the
verdict pronounced on the evidence of the disputing parties.
is
The do not hesitate to make wrong statements, so that it

latter
is a very difficult and lengthy business for the judges to arrive

at a decision.
The executive authority in Ulu is discharged by the k>suka
(cf. p. 146), who have thus, when necessary, to put into effect the
decisions arrived at by the nzama. If, for example, the plaintiff
refuses to be present at the trial, members of the >^w«>^« go and fetch

him. When anyone persists in disobeying, they {kisuka) may
be ordered to impound a certain number of his goats, &c. The
men of kisuka are present when cases are tried, and sit and listen,
so that they may later on, in their turn, gain admission to the nzama,
if, for example, one of its members should die. The hsuka is thus a
preparatory institution for entry to the nzama. I have already shown
that, in East Ukamba, the hsuka have no such official position, as in
Ulu. However, a similar executive body is also found in the east,

though under another name, viz. nibalasa. But the foreign ring of
the word is suspicious; probably we here have an instance of the
attempts of the EngUsh to re-organise the native law.
On the whole, the judicial and political life of the Akamba
very much resembles that of their neighbours and kinsmen, the
Akikuyu. Thus nzama corresponds very kmnia (from
closely to
the same root) among the latter. On the other hand, the Akikuyu
seem to have, instead of hsuka, an institution called niama, »a
practical executive police», according to Routledge^. Among the
Wataweta men
also, the oldest constitute an assembly called niama,
which is headed, however, by the chiefs^.
I. Criminal law.
Blood-money and blood=vengeance. The blood-money exacted

for a man's life in Ulu is ii cows and i bull, which latter goes
to the nzama\ in the east it is 13 cows and i bull. In Ulu, 10
of the cows comprise the fine for taking life and are paid to the
man's relatives, and the eleventh cow is especially allotted to the

widow as a sort of compensation. It is called 'gombd ya ndulota,
'the cow of the broken bow', since it is given to the widow as
compensation for her man's bow, which will never again, in its
owner's hand, go out on plundering expeditions and bring home

wealth to the village. »This cow is now your husband», the old
people say to her, meaning that the animal will contribute towards
her subsistence. She sells the milk, and so, if she wishes to, she
can employ a Kikuyu man to work in the fields for her. If a man
leaves several widows, however, only the »big» wife receives a
'goinbd m ndulota. Of the blood-money proper — the 10 cows —
one goes to each of the following: the murdered man's father,
father's brother, and mother's brother. Other relations receive,

perhaps, one between them, while the remainder go to the widow
in trust for the children. If there are several wives, they divide
the animals. They may not sell them, so that, when the sons
are grown up, those may not make trouble and say that their
^ Routledge, The Akikuyu, p. 198.

^ Cf. C. Ho His, History and customs of the people of Taveta, in
Journal of the African Society 1901.
The administration of the law and judicial customs 155
property has been dissipated. They are very particular in the

matter of cattle paid as blood-money. But if a young man who
has as yet no children should receive part of the fine, he may with
impunity sell the cow which may have fallen to his lot, for in
this case there are no children to make trouble afterwards.
It is very seldom that a murderer is in a position to pay 10
cows himself. In by far the majority of cases he is helped by his
relations; sometimes he only contributes a single cow himself^.
If he is very poor and has a daughter, he can, as a last resource,
sell his in that manner obtain

daughter to someone as a wife, and
the wherewithal pay his fine. The first cow paid as blood-
to
money must be paid by the murderer himself. Until he has done
this, his relations will do nothing, since the payment of this animal
shows the murderer's honest intention of settling the matter. The

cow is called 'gombd xa wumo (< uima 'to take out, to pay down').
When the cow has been handed over, the widow sleeps with a
mutumta.
About half as much is paid for a woman's life as for a man's
— in Ulu 4 to 5 cows + one bull to the atMma\ in the east, 7
cows + I bull. For children the same is paid as for adults of
the same sex.
The man who is unfortunate enough to kill his own child, pays
fines to the mother and his nearest relations, since through his
act he is considered to have injured the whole family. If a man
kills his wife, he pays blood-money to her father, who then repays
the bride price. The relationship between the parlies is then dis-
solved. This, however, upon circumstances,

seems to depend
and chiefly upon whether the wife has borne her husband children
or not. In the latter case she has not, according to the opinion
of many, fulfilled her chief duty as wife; her father has been
paid for her once, and has no further claim.
It occasionally happens that a man refuses to pay blood-
money, and it then becomes the duty of the murdered man's re-
lations (or clan) to demand blood-vengeance on the murderer and

his family. There is no obligation to take blood-money, and it
seems to be rather usual for the dead man's relatives to refuse the
fine, and to prefer to follow the principle of »a life for a life».
^ Cf. Post, Afrikanische Jurisprudenz I, p. 71.

The younger men especially are glad to follow the old rule, while
the older and more
and prudent atutrna of both parties
discreet
try to arrange They are by no means
an amicable settlement.
always successful in this, and a state of actual war arises between
the two families. They always go about armed, try to attack and
burn each other's villages, &c. The prevailing insecurity, however,
is felt by both parties, and the »war» is usually neither lengthy
nor bloody; the battles are fought at a respectful distance, so that
the loss of life shall not be too great. As soon as the party
aggrieved has succeeded in killing the murderer or one of his
relatives — blood-vengeance is only exacted from men — all excuse
for fighting is removed, theoretically at any rate. But if they have
killed two men, they have committed an offence, which must, in
its turn, be avenged by the relatives of the killed men. Thus blood-
feuds have quite a different character from other feuds. It might
perhaps be thought that the combatants ought to be able to cry
quits, when one man has
fallen on each side, but such is not the
case — blood-money must be paid for both those who have

full
been killed. It must be admitted, on closer consideration, that

this is quite just. The largest share of the blood-money goes
to the murdered man's family, who ought in all fairness to have
some compensation for the loss they have sustained ^.
Blood-vengeance is only exacted for crimes which result in
death. The fines given in the following list are considered normal
as compensation for bodily injuries caused by assault or other
means. No amounts are absolutely fixed, but the defendant's
economic position is taken into account; if he is a man in a good
position, the fine is likely to be increased:
loss of one finger i goat to i bull
> » two fingers i bull
» » one eye i bull + i goat
» » one arm i cow + i bull
» » one leg 5 cows
» » both leijs about 8 cows.
^ Bruize r gives a description of a family feud among the Akamba

in Rabai, in his Since the Akamba have
»Begegnungen mil Akamba» (p. 3).
passed completely under British control, there are no longer any family
feuds.
Anyone who is slightly injured, but recovers without suffering

any subsequent ill-effects, receives no compensation. A somewhat
remarkable method of procedure, which is sometimes practised to
prove a right to blood-money, is the following:
Suppose that a person has been badly maltreated by another,
but has recovered, without suffering any lasting ill-effects. When
he dies, perhaps many years later, it is possible that the relations
open the body to see whether the injury the dead man once
suffered has possibly caused his death. If they really can prove
that this is the case, they can claim full blood-money. The heir
makes the first incision with his knife, at the post-mortem exa-
mination; this possibly makes the action legal.
Anyone sending a person on an errand or other commission

is responsible for any accident he may suffer in the execution
of it. A case which came within my personal experience is
the following: An old man sent a neighbour's son home to the

village with an axe. The boy tripped and cut his foot. They
went to law over the matter, and the father of the boy claimed
compensation, saying: »I did not tell my son to take your axe.
If you had not sent him, he would not have injured himself*.
The other man had to pay a goat.
For rape the fine is a goat. If the woman dies as a result,
or becomes pregnant and dies in child-birth, the full blood-money
must be paid as for manslaughter.
If .an unmarried woman gives birth to a child, and her lover
cannot or will not marry her, he pays a goat. The matter is

usually settled privately, and is not dragged before the nzavia. If
the culprit is a youth, the girl's guardian sends another mututma
to his father to demand a goat. The youth is asked whether the
child is his, he does not readily acknowledge the paternity, only
recommending that the goat be paid. The mother keeps the child.
The reason 4ooked
for the smallness of the fine is that the child is
upon as considerable compensation. But if the woman dies while
she is still pregnant, the lover must at any rate in Ulu — —
pay 4 cows and i bull to her father; that is to say full blood-
money.
Adultery. The lover usually gets off with the payment of a

goat, even if the woman gets a child. This belongs to her hus-
band (cf. p. 84), who soon comes to look upon it as his own.
If the lover continues his guilty relations with the woman, he is
said to »show contempt for» her husband, and then open hosti-
lities are liable to break out between the relations of the two men.
In the Kitui district, the lover has to pay a bull, not because the
value of cattle is less there, but because the older people wish to
prevent such irregularities. The unfaithful wife receives no punish-
ment, except such as her husband himself thinks fit to administer
to her.
Illicit relations between a young man and an old woman who
is past child bearing, are thought to result in the youth's becoming
impotent, probably from the belief generally prevalent among pri-
mitive peoples that »like begets like». Therefore both of them

must undergo the u.sual ceremonial purification (with 'gondm). The
two goats which are required for it are paid by the lover. As
far as know, such alliances are only exceptional and mostly take
I
place by mistake. For at night a youth often steals to his lady love's
hut and to her bed, without making a sound, so as not to wake
the other inmates of the hut. It seems really to have happened
that a man out for that purpose has come upon an older woman,
who was by chance spending the night in the girl's bed.
The fine for indulging in coition from behind is one goat;
the parties concerned must be purified, or they will become sterile.
Sodomy seems to be unknown among the Akamba, but occurs
among the Masai, where, according to my Kamba informants,
small boys use sheep for the purpose.
Theft. Even a cursory glance at what has been written about

the judicial system of the Bantu peoples, is sufficient to show
that well-nigh everywhere the punishment for theft is surprisingly
severe. It is not unusual for a thief to be condemned to death,
though he usually gets off with the payment of heavy fines, often
— and especially on a repetition of the offence of many time —
the value of the stolen goods ^. We shall find similar principles
among the Akamba. The reason for this can hardly be an appre-
1 Cf. Post, Afrik. Jurispr. II, p. 85 ff.

ciation of the fact that it is wrong to steal, but rather a strong

feeling of the sacredness of the property of the individual or
family.
The nzama can — or, strictly speaking, could, because nowadays
it is forbidden by the government — condemn a thief to death, but
it is most usual for him to be condemned to pay for the damage
(usually double the value), and also to give the judges one goat
or more, some beer, &c, in payment of costs (depending on the
magnitude of the theft). Anyone who is not in a position to pay the
fines, must here also have recourse to all sorts of expedients; he is
often obliged to sell his daughter or sister cheaply, in this way to get
together the necessary sum. Formerly capital punishment seems
to have been inflicted more than at the present time, when it is
scarcely ever resorted to, except in the case of an incorrigible thief.
The was shot with poisoned arrows, or hung up in a tree,

thief
where he was allowed to remain »as a punishment and a warning
to others». Parents used to take their children to the place and
show them the end of a criminal, as a warning example to them.
To a certain extent, it may be said that the Akamba difter-
entiate between and petty larceny in deciding on punish-

theft
ments. The punishment just mentioned is only inflicted when the
theft is of such articles as are required for everyday use, and which
are the result of work and industry: cattle, the products of the
field and foods prepared from them, honey, &c. Less severe is
the punishment inflicted for the theft of such articles as are only
used occasionally, and thus are not essential for the maintenance
of life, and which would in any case have ceased to be in a few
days. In these are included beer and meat, for the Akamba live
principally on vegetables. Although they are very fond of meat
and have large herds, they can very seldom, except on festal occa-
sions, bring themselves to kill one of their beloved oxen, and still
less a cow. On the other hand, a goat or a sheep is slaughtered
now and then. Anyone stealing, for example, some pieces of meat,
is readily forgiven, in supposing that he had such a great longing
for meat that he could not restrain himself (something which every
Kamba man can sympathise with). Even if the thief is discovered,
the owner will probably not insist on proceedings being taken, but
will often rest content with recovering the stolen goods, when a
slaughter takes place in the village where the thief lives; and the
i6o Lindblom, The Akamba
incident is closed. If the case should be taken before the nzama
by someone else, the owner would very likely simply declare that
the matter was already settled.
The theft of honey from the bee-hives is considered a very
serious offence, and is very severely punished. I have recorded
a case where a man was finefi i bull and 5 goats for it. For a
second offence the fine is doubled, for a third trebled, and so on.
The reason why the fines are so high would seem to be that the
bee-hives are usually hung out in the wilds at a long distance
from the owner's village, so that it is impossible to watch them.
Hence very heavy fines have been fixed to protect them. A honey
thief is an extraordinarily despicable person, and this has pene-
trated so deeply into the national consciousness that, even if a man
is nearly dying of starvation, he can only in extreme cases
bring himself to take honey from the bee-hives wîthout permis-
sion. Honey-stealing is punished very severely also among other
East African tribes. was told in Taveta, near Kiliman-
Thus, I
djaro, that it was formerly the custom there for the number of cells
in the stolen honey to be counted, if it could be found, and the
owner was entitled to demand a goat for each cell. And of the
Akikuyu, Routledge says that » theft of honey is a recognised
offence of a serious character* ^.
Other punishments. The African system of punishments

seems to be based, on the whole, on the principle of compensation,
and the accounts given above show that most crimes can, and
usually are, made good by fines among the Akamba also. Capital
punishment is only inflicted on persons who are dangerous to
public safety and hence to the whole community, such as sorcer-
ers and incorrigible thieves. Since the establishment of the
English rule, however, the native court cannot condemn to death.
Imprisonment is unknown among the Akamba, but the nâma
used occasionally to banish people for sorcery and theft. Slavery
has never been a native institution, and hence is not resorted to
as amethod of punishment. According to Krapf, there were many
slavesin his time, but some were prisoners of war, and some
were brought down from the coast. Most crimes are committed
^ Ibid. p. 58. Among the Kimbunda in Central Africa, honey-
stealing is considered to be one of the four worst kinds of theft. Cf.
Post II, pp. 92, 188.
The administration of the law and judicial customs i6i
under the influence of drink; when sober, the Akamba have that
respect for the law and the constitution which may be said to be
general among the Bantu tribes.
Torture to extort confession is only resorted to in private
within the family circle, as for example when a husband suspects
his wife of unfaithfulness. He makes a loop in his bow-string
and puts one of her fingers into it — a very usual method of extor-
ting confession in many places in Africa. Or he may hang
her up to the roof of the hut by a tendon tied round one of her
little fingers.
mukod is the name given to a person who, without commit-
ting any actual crime, for some reason or other makes himself so
despised and hated by everybody that nobody will have anything
to do with him. As the name implies, he is compared with saliva,
spit {makoa), and is considered equally worthless. And still more,
just as it would never occur to anyone to take up the saliva he
had once spat out, so there could never be any question of allow-
ing that man to regain the place he has lost in the community.
Even if he should arrange a beer-drinking bout, something much
appreciated by the older men, he could not expect to have a
single guest. Completely isolated and boycotted, he usually can-
not endure it very long, but moves to some distant locality, where
he is unknown.
The fines are the same, even if a crime is committed by a
madman, by a drunken man, or by accident. But accidental man-
slaughter does not give rise to a blood-feud. To kill anyone acci-
dentally is called apa mundu na mba'gga. It appears that among
the Akamba extenuating circumstances can hardly be said to exist,
at least where human life is concerned. This seems to be true of
African law in general. No consideration is paid to the motive
for a crime or to theway in which it was committed, but only
to the result. The damage is just the same if a person has, for
instance, been killed accidentally or murdered.
A man is responsible for the acts of his wife and children,
and consequently he has to pay their fines, when they commit any
offence. This is easily understood, since a woman has nothing to
pay with; »her only possessions are her clothes and ornaments,
her grave-stake and bast sacks », as a native aptly said to me.
Although I have no records on the point, it is probable from
ArchOr. Lindblom 11
what has already been written, that the head of the family is also
liable for any debts contracted by any member of it.
2. Civil cases.
One of the commonest sources of dispute among cattle-raising

tribes is and innumerable law suits occur in connec--
the cattle,
tion with them. If a man buys an animal and it dies without any
ostensible cause, and therefore probably of a complaint it had

before it was bought, he has the right to demand another of the
seller. The animals skin must, however, be sent back, as well
as something else as compensation for the meat. If the purchaser
refuses to agree to this, the buyer proves his right by swearing on
kipttiu (see below). In the same way, anyone who has had a cow for
many years, can demand another in her place, if she only gives
birth to bull-calves. The owner then says that he has »not yet
begun to taste the milk» of the cow in question. It is not unusual
to see the skull of a cow or a bull placed in a tree in a Kamba
village. It is then almost certain that it is from an animal which
is the object of a law suit still in progress.
I once attended a law suit over cattle near Machakos, and
the cause is I cannot refrain from mentioning it.
so illustrative that
The had exchanged a cow, which he believed to be sterile,
plaintiff
for some goats; but with her new owner the cow soon proved
herself extremely fruitful, so that the original owner repented the
exchange and wanted it cancelled!
Law of inheritance. As regards the law of inheritance,
nothing is found among theAkamba that is not also found among
many other Bantu tribes. When a man feels that his end is near,
he puts his house in order, tells his dependants what outstanding
claims he has, his debts, &c. The eldest son of the »big» wife
is heir to the cattle and other property. If she has no son of
the »big» wife, the eldest son of the second wife takes the lion's
share of the inheritance. If the children are under age, the father's
brother becomes the head of the family for the time being, and,
as such, he is the guardian of it and its property. Therefore he
takes charge of the children and their inheritance, which he ma-
nages; but he must hand it over to them as soon as they are
grown up, although the brother's widow falls to him by law.
Even if the deceased was childless, the brother still does not get
the inheritance, but only has to manage it in trust for any children
which he may get by the widow. But if she should die childless,
then the inheritance is his. However, if he has any brothers, part
of it. goes to them.
The inheriting of a dead man's wife has already been men-
tioned (p. 84 fif.). Seen from a judicial-economic point of view, it is
hardly surprising that, among buy their wives, the
a people that
widow should go to a deceased man's brother. She cannot simply
return to her parents, since they have been paid for her, but she
belongs in a way to her husband's family and family group, just
as does a piece of property. Especially when her son (if she has
one) is under age, she is in need of protection and support, and
the nearest relative to aftbrd these is her husband's brother, and
marriage is the form under which this protection is given. The
matter does not, however, seem so self-evident when the widow
has grown-up son who could take care of her. It would then
a
seem more suitable for the son to look after his mother. But it
is the woman's first duty to bear as many children as possible to the
family to which she now belongs, and therefore it seems to the prac-
tical negro to be nonsensical that a woman, who is perhaps still in
her prime, should cease to perform this duty, just because she hap-
pens to have become a widow. Her son, otherwise the heir to the
father's property, must be excluded from consideration in this
connection, and so she falls to the nearest prominent member of
the family — that is to say her deceased husband's brother. This
is only a conclusion founded on general Kamba conceptions, but
I believe that a more thorough investigation on the spot would
make it clear why this custom prevails among the Akamba. Un-
fortunately the question is one of the many which present
but
themselves only when one is desk at home, working up
at one's
the material collected^. My presumption that a man's inheritance
of his brother's widow is founded, in the first place, on the con-
ception that a woman is property — for which the family has
made a large outlay and from which it wishes to derive as
much benefit as possible — seems to be supported by the fact that
^ Cf. Starcke's investigation about »The brother's inheritance* in Die

primitive Familie, p. 164 ff.
a son can inherit one of his father's younger wives (p. 84). We
have also seen that a father can present one of his younger wives
to his son, during his own lifetime. In both cases a fresh outlay
for the purchase of a wife is saved.
Weapons, especially the chief weapons — the bow and arrows —
are important legacies, which a dying man usually presents person-
ally to his son. When he hands them over, he spits on them,
which act will bring good luck to the weapons. If the father
cannot do this before he dies, the son ought not to use them
before the atuima — probably to avert the consequences of the
death — have purified them with 'gondui.
A woman only inherits her mother's ornaments and house-

hold articles, but not real property, such as cattle and fields, since
she herself is nothing more than »property». In reality, if she
were able to inherit anything, it would go to a strange family on
her marriage.
The extensive authority which the head of a family has
over it descends, when he dies, to his eldest son, if he is grown
up. He then occupies the position of a father towards his brothers
and sisters, and has control of the property belonging to the fa-
mily, especially, of course, of the cattle. Even when they have
been divided among the sons, they are still looked upon, in a way,
as family property, in the disposal of which the brothers are
dependent upon one another. Even if they are all married, have
built their own huts, and provide for themselves, the consent of
the others must be obtained before one of them can dispose of
a piece of the herd he has inherited, or even kill it for his own use.
3. Land tenure.
On uncultivated and between the villages

uncleared land
everyone has the and cultivating. In the
right of building huts
Machakos district it was formerly the custom for those who wished
to settle down in the neighbourhood of a village, to buy permis-
sion to do this by presenting the elders of the villages with a
goat, called mbui ui mapanh 'the goat of the fence'. By means
of this he acquired the right to put up mapanh, i. e. the thcyny
branches which form the cattle kraal, or, in other words, to build
a village for himself.
Each man owns the land he and his family cultivate. Those
who have more fields then he thinks necessary at the moment
usually hand over those that are superfluous temporarily to a
friend or neighbour. On removing from the place one of the
family is left behind to look after the fields, or they are left in
the care of some relative or neighbour. Or else they are sold
for one or two goats or two to six rupees each, according to their
size. A serviceable hut is sold for two to five rupees, according
to its age.
The boundaries between fields, which belong to different ow-
ners consist of a kind of ditch, a shallow trough-like excavation
which comes to be used as a path. Sometimes there is
usually
no sign of a boundary at all, sometimes again the fields arc separa-
ted by uncultivated ground {iihli, pi. mandili).
The same owner rarely has his acres together, but the are
scattered, one part up on the slopes of the hills, others, again,
down on the level ground, if possible on damp ground. This
splitting-up is usually intentional. By it they hope, if there is a bad
crop ^jn one place, to get a better one in another where the na-
ture of the ground is different.
Wells and waterplaces seems to be common property. There

are, howewer, private wells. Thus, for instance, I saw in East
Ukainba how during the dry season holes were dug in the dry
bed of the R. Tiva for the cattle, and then fenced in so that
other people's cattle should not come there.
This is all I know about the ownership of land. Other de-
tails are given by Hobley (Akamba, p. 82).
4. Kipitiu and the taking; of oaths over it.
The most interesting point in the legal life of the Akamba,

and the most important for the natives themselves, is undoubtedly
the use of k^pitiu, or as it is called in East Ukamba, munta In '.
trials, the judges, when they cannot come to a decision in any other
way, resort to kipttui as a last resource, and let both parties swear
that they are right. The breaking of an oath sworn over k-hpitiu
is considered to be followed by death, and the consequence is that
^ Probably from ptta 'to bind fast', 'strangle', and uma 'to bite,
to curse'.
5 -
<A
the guilty party either confesses or refuses to swear, in which case

he is at once adjudged guilty. In this way Tctpzim is used espec-
ially to discover thieves. At the end of a trial, both parties
often swear that they will perform exactly what has been imposed
upon them. They also used to swear to their honest intention,
in the case of internal feuds, to keep to any agreement entered into.
An oath over hpitui can even be sworn apart from a law suit or
trial, i. e. in order to avoid one. With this object, on the return

from a plundering expedition and before the distribution of the
booty, an oath was always taken that every man should be content
with his share and not make trouble afterwards.
What, then, is the appearance of this object, for which the
native has more respect than for anything else in the world?
The hpitui appears in many forms. A very usual form is the tusk
o( a warthog {"^ge) or an antelope horn, filled with all sorts of
things, more often field-products and food prepared from them, a
little earth collected before the first rain of the year {kimeu), &c.
The kipitm had the good fortune to secure near Ikutha
(fig. 52) that I
(East Ukamba) was about 2 decimeters long, and consisted of a

dark, earthy mass, bound round with osiers^. According to all
accounts, had been bought from the Atharaka, the small tribe up
it
on the Tana, which is considered very skilled in black magic.

In Ulu, the ki^pitia are often obtained from the medicine-men
in Kikuyu. The price of a hpttui is rather high, and con-
sists of one or more oxen, or something of equal value. There
are also old k'hpitm, which have descended from one generation
to another.
Of the ingredients used in the construction of a hpitm occur,
besides foodstuffs such as beans and maize, Ricinus seed (rnbaxki),
rust, slag and similar refuse from the smiths' workshops — called
by the way »the irons's excrement» {nia% ma ked) also fat from —
dead people.
Besides these real hpiiiu, which are possessed by private indi-
viduals, who procured them at great cost, there are others of less
potency, which almost anyone can construct for himself. They
are principally used for protection against theft, placed, for in-
^ Now in the collections of the Ethnological department of the

Swedish State Museum (Riksmuseum).
;
stance, in the fields, thus a kind of amulet. We shall return to

similar types in the chapter on magic.
The technical name for swearing over kipitm is kuna k^pitm
('to strike kipitm'), or still more generally kuia hpttm ('to eat
kipitui')^. The ceremony is as follows: The hpittu is laid on three
small stones. It is important that it should not touch the ground,
probably so that the ground may not be injured by the destructive
magical power which dwells in the hpttiu. Round it are laid some
twigs of miva., a sort of acacia. Some stones are laid by the
side, on which the person who is about to swear, stands while he
takes These stones are indubitably used for the same
the oath.
reason as the three mentioned above, and perhaps also to give
greater strength to the oath^. The number of stones seems to
vary. On the only occasion I was present at the taking of an
oath, seven were used; this number is also given in my notes,'
which are based on oral descriptions. C. Dundas mentions seven
to eleven in Kitui, and Hobley only two. When two parties are
going to take the oath, as at the conclusion of peace, they stand
on opposite sides of the hpttui, each on seven stones. Immediately
beside them sit the atuntta ma nzama, to see that everything is done
as it should be. The one that is going to take the oath, takes
a twig and places himself on the stones, when the judges ask
•»nutonia ktim hpttmr Are you in a position to eat hpztiur'\
We will presume that he answers in the affirmative, and further
(to take a definite case) that it is the case mentioned above, of which
I was an eye-witness. It was about cattle; the plaintiff was
awarded one cow and was made to swear afterwards that he would
^ »To eat», in this sense, is also used by the Nilotic Nandi,

in the highlands northeast of Lake»The form of
Victoria. Hollis says:
oath which is binding on all Nandi men is to strike a spear with a
club and say: 'May the blade eat me!'» Hollis, The Nandi, p. 85.
Among the Wasuaheli »to swear» is knla amini (i. e. 'to eat the oath').
This expression probably comes from some sort of eating by which,
formerly, a man proved his innocence. Thus klpttm was originally
simply an ordeal. Oaths and ordeals seem often to have been identical
in primitive practice. Other examples of »to eat» in this sense are
given by Crawley in The Mystic Rose, p. 123.
- Frazer says: »The common custom of swearing upon a stone
may be based partly on a belief that the strength and stability of the
stones lend confirmation to the oath*. The Golden Bough I, p. 160.
:
not begin another suit to get more. He then took this oath
mukance^ga, 'gombd irnvB. mkisôka kwcenda lugi itma, 'ggaiwa ni
ktiul 'You shall give me a cow. If I come again and demand
another afterwards, may I be eaten by this!' At the same time
he struck the hpztiu with the twig he held in his hand. This was
repeated twice more in practically the same words. The twig must
be from the mukulwa bush, otherwise the oath will be of no force.
In a case of theft, the suspected person who wishes to prove his
innocence says that, if he lies, he may be eaten b\' the kipiini.
After that no further action can be taken against him.
Finally, a common example of swearing over kipttiu to prevent
further strife is the following: When blood-mone\- has been paid
for manslaughter, and the matter has been arranged, the relations
of the deceased man swear that they intend to let the affair be
forgotten, in something like the following words: mundu wakwa
uttpala 6tu, ^gaiwa m km, tnswka umzvitia kindu k%'^^gi ttma,
^gaiwa m km! If my man is not quite finished with, may I be
eaten by this! (the k^pitiii is then struck with the twig). If I come
back later and demand anything else from you, may I be eaten
by this!' (the kipitiu is then struck again with the twig.) The
party who are paying also promise that they will not take the
matter up again »when they have drunk beer». This is because
experience has shown that, at drinking bouts, when the parties
have become intoxicated, they are very disposed to take up old
quarrels and law suits which have lain rankling in their minds;
innumerable fights and deaths have come about in this wa}'.
When the hpitui has been struck, a case is fini.shed and the
nzama disperses. The judges receive from the contending parties a
goat or an ox, which is killed and eaten. As has been mentioned,
anyone refusing to swear is adjudged guilty. It is believed that
if he perjures himself he will shortly die. If he does not die
within a month or so, he is held to be innocent, even if the evid-
ence against him was very strong. The culprit must then be
sought elsewhere.
On account of the destructive power which is supposed to
dwell in the kipttui, it is never kept in a village or near to culti-
vated land, but out in the wilds, where it is thought that no man
can stumble on it. It is usually laid in a iiû^ga, a hole or
depression under some large stones. Anyone requiring a k>pitui
applies to the owner of one, from whom he can borrow it for some
remuneration — as a rule, one goat. Different ktpttm have vary-
ingly great reputations for power and efficacy, and a man may
go several days* march, as from Machakos to Kitui, to obtain a
famous one. Some are said to be so powerful that the grass on
the place where they are kept withers and never grows again.
Again, rats and snakes that have got into the holes where hpitm
are kept, die because of its proximity. The owner, always an
old mutm'ha^ loans out his khpttiu with extremely minute instruc-
tions as to how it is to be treated, especially while being taken
to and from the place where it is to be used. For this the fol-
lowing may be said to apply generally:

On no account may it be touched with the naked hands.
The bearer smears his hands with mutton fat as a protective
medium; then he binds the kipitm with bast from the muscsnzeh
tree, and carries it by the bast. He may not change hands; if
he has, for example, begun to carry it in his right hand, he must
continue to do so the whole way. If he gets tired, he may put
it down on the ground^, while he rests, but he must put it down

on the same side of himself as he has carried it in this case —
on the right. Anyone approaching is shouted to from a distance
that woi (sorcery) is on the road, and then the new-comer turns
off on the other side of the track, no matter how difficult it may
be to get along. If he neglects this precautionary measure and
then has coition with a woman, he will infallibly die. The bearer
of a kipztm must also abstain from sexual intercourse during the
journey. On the return journey, the same rules are observed as
have just been described. In addition, every ktpitui has its own
special rules which must be observed. With one the bearer may
not take snuff or eat with the hand which he uses to carry the
k'hpttm^ with another he may not take snuff at all; with a third
he must, on crossing the firston the way, sprinkle it with a
river
little water, and at the second river, with a little sand, and so on*.
During my visit to the district of Ikutha, I managed to
bribe a broken-down old individual (the one mentioned in the in-
1 That is to say, as long as he is in the wilds. Near villages

and fields it is not readily put down without special precautionary
measures being taken.
- Cf. Hobley, Akamba &c, p. 169.
troduction) to show me where a ktpttm (the one just described)

was kept. It lay in a crevice under a rock. The man laid goat's
hair over it before he poked it out, and afterwards rubbed his
hands with the milky juice of the hlu'ggii plant. Even my servant,
who had not touched the thing at all, purified his hands in the
same way. The old man was very anxious for me to handle the
k'hpitvi according to his instructions, and was very alarmed when
I took it up without further ado: he expressed the opinion that I
should die at the end of a month.

When the hpttm has been struck, the litigating parties may not
perform coition until the action has definitely* been brought to
an end, the outward sign of which is that the judges consume
the ox which they have received. Before this, sexual intercourse
is believed to be followed by death.
A woman may not own or carry a ktpitui\ neither may she
take an oath over one; that is to say she may not have anything
to do with one. As has been mentioned above, a man is re-

sponsible for the acts of his wife and daughters, and there-
fore, when necessary, he takes the oath over a Hpttia on their be-
half. If he refuses, the woman is naturally held to be guilty of
what she is charged with.
As a result of the power which dwells in a k^ptim, it can be
used for magic purposes. Thus a man can strike a kipttiii when
he is alone, and at the same time curse an enemy. A person
in Kitui was robbed of a cow, and so he struck a hpttm, saying:
»Thief, when you drink of the milk of that cow, may you be
eaten by this hpztm!» No secret is made of it when a kipttia is
used in this way, and so the news of it soon reaches the thief,
who. in most cases, is so terrified that he returns the stolen pro-
perty. The man who has struck the k'hpttM may not have sexual
intercourse until he knows that the other man has.
A hpitiu may not be struck during the rains, while the crops
are still growing in the fields. If an action is already proceeding,
it is suspended until the next dry season. This seems to be due
largely to the action of the women, who say that otherwise the
and in addition grasshoppers and other plag-
rains will not come,
ues will upon the fields, and destroy the crops. In
descend
most cases the importunities of the women prevail. There are,
however, those who are very loath to break off an action; but
i
17a Lindblom, The Akamba
then all the women go to such a man in a body and categori-

callycommand him to interrupt it. They generally get their own
way, for when they combine together and are roused, the women
are seldom opposed. Only in urgent cases is the hpitia struck,
before the harvest is done at a respectful
gathered in, and then it is
distance from the fields. These and the hpttm are then sprinkled
with a purifying medium, 'ôndw, for which purpose a sheep or
goat is killed. The meat of the animal is eaten by the aturma.
The use of kiplttu in actions between persons who are

related to each other. It has already been said that perjury
over a hpttm. is believed to be followed by death. It must, however,
be noted that this consequence is not confined to the person who
commits the perjury, but may also — and this renders the kipttni so
much the more terrible fall on — other, perfectly innocent, mem-

bers of his family or clan. Therefore a real k'hpttm is not used in
actions between persons who are related to each other. They

either rely on each other's word or have recourse to the existing
ordeals, which are only intended to discover the culprit, but have
otherwise no consequences which are disastrous for him or his
relatives (for ordeals, see p. 173). However, in such cases,
an oath is sometimes taken over an object called ndundu, which
is very like a k^pttui, though it has not quite the same dangerous
properties, since only the guilty person loses his life, if he has
perjured him.self; but no evil befalls his relatives. This ndundu
is made fresh every time it is to be used, and in the follow-
ing way:
A bull is killed, and a small piece of practically every part
of the carcase is cut off. The points of the heart and tongue
and the neck-bone, "ggata, are specially important ingredients of
ndundu. Everything is gathered together, mixed with blood in a
calabash, and packed into the gall-bladder; the ndundu is now ready.
Branches of about one meter in length are then cut from the long-
thorned species of acacia called mwea or mwq, and these bran-
ches are then stuck into the earth, and the ndundu placed upon
them. The branches correspond to the stones upon which the
kipttni is placed, and, like the latter, the ndundu ought not to
touch the earth, or it loses in strength. The man who is to
swear takes a long acacia thorn and, according to the usual form-
ula, says that, if he did so and so, he may be eaten by the ndundu.
At the same time he pierces the bladder with the thorn and licks
its point. This act is probably symbolic — in the event of his
perjuring himself he will burst like the bladder ^
Just as we interpret the stones as a symbol of stability, giving
enduring force to the oath, so can the use of the acacia be consi-
dered in the same way. Certain kinds of acacia are extremely
hardy, almost the only tree which thrives in desert-like districts
poor in water. Also because of the fact that the acacias, con-
trary to many other trees, do not lose their leaves even during
the worst droughts, the native easily come to look upon them as
something especially permanent and vigorous; as little likely is a
stone or an acacia to perish entirely, as for the power of the oath
to be annihilated.
The
use of the k^pitia has been adopted by the English civil
servants on the Government stations at Kitui and Machakos, in
cases which are brought before them, and which they cannot clear
up by hearing witnesses or in any other way. During my visit
to Kitui at the end of 191 1, all the suspected persons in such a
case readily struck the kipttui, although the Commissioner, Mr Scole-
tield, said was convinced that one of them was guilty.
that he
There is therefore some doubt whether, in spite of their obvious
terror of the hptttu, the natives do not sometimes perjure them-
selves over it. However, it is not impossible that Mr Scolefield's
native assistants had, perhaps intentionally, made some mistake,
so that the influence of the hjntiu was nullified.
4. Ordeals.
Even the use of hftitui may, in a way, be looked upon as a

sort of ordeal. But an essential difference is that perjury over the
kt'pttm entails immediate death, while the ordeal is only intended
to disclose the culprit, the puni^ment being afterwards decided
upon by the court. Another difference is that the medicine-man,
mundu mud, generally conducts the ordeal ; members of the mama
are certainly present, but only in the capacity of controllers. The
^ Brutzer describes something of the same sort in Der Geister-

glaube bei den Kamba, p. 14.
Akamba themselves do not distinguish materially between their

various methods of discovering a criminal, and the ordeals described
below are often heard spoken of as kifntm (for example the first
is called hjntui kta kiOtu 'the kipitia of the knife')- Otherwise

they are called after the objects with which they are chiefly carried
out; no general expression for the idea »ordeal» is to be founds
As has already been pointed out in passing, a primitive stage in
a people scarcely differentiates between oaths and ordeals.

Among the Akamba, I have found the following five ordeals
in use. The first of them at least is sometimes used by both
parties, that is to say the complainant must also submit to the test.
A. kipitm k\a k^6m (the 'kipitm of the knife'), an ordeal widely

spread in Africa, in which the suspected person has to touch a
red-hot iron. Among the Akamba it is carried out in the follow-
ing way: Suppose that a person has been robbed of a goat. A
knife, which he or the medicine-man has treated with magic me-
dicine, mupcsa, is put in the fire. When it is red-hot, it is taken
out, and the suspected persons have in turn to touch the iron
with their tongues, saying: cepwa ninoseto mbm ui 'ggama, h6iu
mhOie ('If I have taken N. N's goat, may the knife burn me!').
The natives believe that only the guilty one is burnt. The
fact of the matter probably is that the guilty man betrays him-
self by obvious signs of fear, or prefers to confess at once, when
he sees that he cannot escape; while the innocent, believing
implicitly that they cannot be hurt, go forward calmly to lick the
knife. It is thus that the medicine-man, in most cases a fairly
good psychologist, soon sees clearly who is guilty.
B. Another ordeal which is also used very much in the
dark continent, and which may be looked upon as a variant of
the preceding one, is to make a needle red-hot and stick it through
the under lip of the suspected person, near the corner of the
mouth. »If he is innocent, he feels nothing, and the wound does
not bleed; if he is guilty, the -needle does not get far in before
he confesses ».
C. k\uma (the bead) is an ordeal which is said to originate
from the Kikuyu district. The suspected persons sit in a circle.
In the Kikuyu language, the word for ordeal is muma, that is

to say the same word as is used in East Ukamba for kipttui.
The officiating functionary, the plaintiff or the medicine-man, rubs

his hands with magic medicine {mupcsa) and white earth {ea), and
smears some under the eyes of the suspects. Then he takes two
china beads, of the kind which are ordinarily used in the manu-
facture of ornaments, and goes from one to the other, saying:
kmrna, andu a ondd, umbonyd niundu wi na mbux takwa (bead,
show me who has stolen my goat among all those who are here')
— the words are taken from a special case, when a goat had
been stolen. When he has said this, he blows on the beads. In
front of an innocent person, the beads lie still in his out-stretched
hand; but in front of the culprit, they are said to fly violently
towards his eyes, stick, and can only be removed by
where they
the medicine-man.The principle for discovering the guilty man
is, of course, the same in this case as in the previous one the :
medicine-man knows pretty well, or soon discovers, who is guilty.

Besides, the result of this test naturally depends chiefly upon his
good pleasure.
D. ^gumko is used specially for discovering thieves. The
word signifies 'plug, lid'. A small calabash, about the size of a
snuffbox, is filled with water, in which the medicine-man has mixed
» medicine », after which the opening is smeared over with bees'
wax. A narrow tube or a hollow straw is passed through it.
The medicine-man goes from one to another of the suspects, and

when he comes to the thief, the water spurts forcibly out over
him through the tube. Brutzer also describes this ordeal from what
was told him by another missionary, but in this case the calabash
was fitted with a stopper without a tube, and there was a hole
in the bottom, over which the medicine-man put his finger^.
When he comes to the guilty person, the stopper is forced out,
and the water flies over him. In this case also, the medicine-man
has no doubt discovered in some way or other which the guilty
man is, and then lets the water spurt out over him.
E. The poison test is very widely employed in Africa.
We will merely recall the generally prevalent w««z^z-drinking in
Central Africa. The Akamba use the bark of a tree, mbcggolo,
which is pulverised and mixed with water; the suspect must drink
the mixture. The drink has a strongly intoxicating effect, but I
* E. Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube bei den Kamba, p. 14.

do not believe that it is fatal. If there are several suspects, they

must all drink and then sit down and wait for the poison to take
effect. The one who is the first to be affected is thereby proved
guilty of the crime in question. He sometimes behaves just like
one possessed, imagines that someone wants to murder him, calls
out »Let me go!> and so on.

F. Finally, according to Brutzer, ordeal by fire is employed
also among the Akamba^. The suspect has to run through a fire.
I have not met with this ordeal, but it is mentioned in an animal

fable of which I have made a record:
hyena and a hare are a
suspected of having stolen a ram, and must prove their innocence
by jumping over a big basket which is on fire. From this story
we may be entitled to draw the conclusion that the fire-test was
employed among the Akamba formerly at least.
Hildebrandt cites some ordeals, which he asserts originate in
Ukamba. They come, however, from the people on the coast, as
is indicated by their Suaheli names 2.
5. The administration of justice by lynch-law (hôh).
Among the Akamba, there exists a custom which unconsciously

reminds one of the so-called lynch-law in the United States of
North America, although, as we shall see, the comparison is not
exact in several particulars. Persons who are suspected of causing
the death of other people by means of zvot (that is, witchcraft)
and are thus dangerous to the public safety, can be killed with
impunity by the united intervention of all the adult male inhabitants
of the district. The same is also true of incorrigible thieves. Yet,
action is not taken simply on the accusation of a single individual.
They go to work quite soberly and, according to the native con-
ception, quite legally, since the n~ama must first give its consent
to the execution. To ascertain whether the person suspected is
really guilty, members of the ktsuka are sent to several medicine-

men in different districts, who, with the help of their divination
apparatus, discover who is, and tell the several mes-
the guilty person
sengers. When they get back, they must go singly, without holding
^ Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube, p. 14.

*
J. M. Hildebrandt, Die Wakamba, p. 388.
any communication with one another, to report before the nzama,

and to swear over kiiptttu that they have truthfully reported the
words of the witch doctor. If all the medicine-men have indicated
the same person as guilty of the many deaths which have occurred
in the district lately, then all is clear, and the ehiers consent to his
death ^ Without these, the h'gold — so the lynching mass is called —

can do nothing. Under the leadership of a mutufma of the nzama, the
kisuka and the young men betake themselves to a remote spot
in the wilds. None of them may stay at home, all must take
part. They tell the women and children that they are going on
a warlike expedition, for example to steal cattle from the Masai;
they take weapons and provisions with them. S"metimes, in order
that their departure may be the more secret, they seize the op-
portunity while the women are away working in the fields. When
the latter return, they find that their husbands and sons dave
disappeared, and with them all the food that was ready prepared.
The atutma, with the exception of the leader of the kt'gold mentioned
above, remain at home. They constitute the judicial authority,
while the young men constitute the executive authority.
The young men are now all gathered in the wilds. They
still do not all know who the guilty man is, till the leading elder
says to one of his near relations: »Give us an arrow out of your qui-
ver*. No more is neces>»ary for all to understand. The handing over
of the arrow is an acknowledgement of the lawfulness of the deed
on the part of the family of the doomed man, and strictly speaking
the man may not be put to death until the arrow has been de-
livered. This arrow must be one of the first to pierce him. They
stay from four to five days in this remote spot, an ox which
has been brought with them is eaten, and each man binds himself
by oath over kipitiu to obey the leader implicitly.
They then go to kill the victim in his village, in the fields,
or wherever he may be. With wild cries of »*/*«, mg.'» the
throng rush forward, and arrows are let fly at the unhappy man.
When he sinks to the ground dying, large branches of trees and
stones, if such are handy, are thrown at him. Afterwards, as if
pursued by furies, all rush back to their hiding-place, sprinkling
their heads with ashes on the way. The use of ashes in puri-
fying rites is known in many different quarters.
^ The same procedure is described from Loango. Post II, p. 153.

ArchOr. Lindblom 12
In civilised countries, at military executions, it is the custom

forsome of the rifles to be loaded with blank cartridge, and the
marksmen themselves do not know who fired the fatal shot, so
that none may have pangs of conscience. Something similar
happens sometimes when the k^ôld is carried out, especially if they
can approach close to the doomed man unobserved. No one
may then shoot first, but on a given signal for example the —
holding up of the leader's staff a shower of arrows —
is let fly.
But we return to the hôld, which has gone back to its hidden
refuge. All the members now » unclean », as is indicated
of it are
by the ashes, and they cannot return home until they have been
sprinkled with 'gondm, that is to say, undergone a purifying pro-
cess. As has already been mentioned in another connection, such
a process is always carried out by a mutumâ specially versed in
such things. A deputation consisting of members of the hsuka

is sent to the elders to ask for 'gondui. When they get near to
the village, they call loudly to the elders, say that they have
completed their work, and now wish to be purified, so that they
can return to their homes. They must sit at a long distance from
the elders, and if there is a river or stream in the neighbour-
hood, they place themselves on the opposite side of it. The
nearest relatives of the executed man have to provide the goat
or the goats necessary for the purification. No lamenting may be
indulged in; if the victim's women-folk cry, the family must pay
another goat. An old man versed in matters connected with 'gondm
takes the goat to the ki'gold hiding-place, and purifies the members
They may now return home, though not all at once. In separate
groups of two or three, they go towards the village by different
tracks. The act is over, unclean blood has been let out of the
body of the community.
No blood-money is paid to the relatives of a person killed
by h'gold. It is usually old women who are the victims, less often
old men; we are thus in the presence of veritable witch-processes.
Young people are not usually considered to be versed in the
black art. It is certain that many innocent old people have met
with a fate at the hands of a hgold, but many poisoners
tragic
have met with well-deserved punishment. Occasionally the
also
doomed man gets wind of his danger in time, and saves himself
hy flight; but it has also happened that a member of the h'gold has
been disagreeably surprised to find himself the one pointed out

by the medicine-men. It has also happened that a reckless dare-
devil has fortified his village, provided himself with food and
water, and simply threatened to shoot down anyone who dared
to approach. To endanger their lives unnecessarily in open battle
is foreign to the nature of the Akamba, and fire is absolutely

powerless against the green thorn hedge round the village. So
the ki'gold perhaps thinks it as well to give way, and to pardon
the person concerned, on a promise of amendment, especially if
he offers to pay fines.
This is, in the main, the course of the method of punishment

which may be called » African lynching*. If one is critical, the
expression is faulty. When we talk about lynching, we usually
mean the proceedings of an incensed crowd, generally a mob,
who, in unbridled fury and generally with great cruelty, administer
justice on their own account. As we have seen, this is not at
all the case with the ki'gold, which, on the contrary, acts by order
of the leading men of the community, the elders, and can thus
be looked upon as the reaction of the protective instinct of the
community against a threatening danger.
As is well-known, witchcraft is considered a particularly grave
offence in Africa. That so many innocent persons fall victims is
another matter, and may be traced to the superstition of the people.

Other motives, such as jealousy and a desire for vengeance, often
have something to do with it. The reason why the k'h'gold is, in most
cases, only resorted to in self-defence is that it cannot kill a single
victim, but waits until there are two or more suspects. If there is only
one, he is either driven from the place or must promise improve-
ment. Thus it has happened in a place where the kiôld was or-
dered out, that the condemned man has saved himself by flight,
but after a time, when the storm has blown over, has returned
home, since a ki'goL) could not be sent out against him alone.
Immediately outside Machakos lives an old female » medicine-
man » called ka6n6a, with whom I am acquainted personally.
Several years ago, she was accused of having killed two of her
neighbours by witchcraft, and was condemned to death by
ktioold. She got wind of it in time, and fled with her husband
to the fort, where she lived some years, until the affair was for-
gotten. About twenty years ago, a woman was killed who was
i8o Lindblom, The Akamba
said to have taken the life of her brother-in-law. She was in an

advanced stage of pregnancy, and when she fell to the ground
pierced with arrows, she gave birth to a child, which, however,
did not survive. Mr Kanig, of the Leipziger Mission, mentions a
case at Ikutha in 1900 when an old woman was killed^.
Mr Sauberlich told the author of a man who for some reason
was condemned to death, but got to know of this in good time, and
instead of flying resolutely supplied himself with food, water and
arrows good time and strenjjthened the hedge round his hut.
for a
A number of men came to seize him, but stopped at a re-

large
spectful distance when he threatened to shoot the first who app-
roached. No one would risk his skin, and after reflecting for a
time they thought it best to leave him in peace, especially as he
made overtures and offered to pay heavy fines.
Nowadays, when the whole of Ukamba is under British
rule, k'b'gold is forbidden. However, some of the officials think
that it is still practised in the more remote places.
6. The intervention of the women in the administration

of justice.
On the whole, the Kamba woman goes through life calmly

and quietly, doing her duty and suitably subservient to her hus-
band. Her most important work is looking after the fields, for
the weal or woe of the people depends principally on the result

of the harvest. Therefore, when something happens which, seen
from the women's superstitious point of view, threatens the grow-
ing crops or the village itself, -they may be worked up, jnto a
fury, and if they consider that the men take the matter too calmly,
they conspire together to enforce their views by their own efforts
=— and they generally succeed. As an illustration ot this, I
•will cite a particular case.

As often happens, a man had lent a field, which he did not
at the time need himself, to another man. When he wanted it
back later, the wife of the other man refused to agree to his
^ G. Kanig, Dornige Pfade eines jungen Missionars in Ukamba,

p. 20.
The administration of the law and judicial customs 1 8 i
having it. In the meantime, however, the owner sent his wife
to set the field in order, but the other woman went there also.
In vain she was exhorted to give in. According to the women's
ideas, the controversy would bring bad luck to the crops on
all the neighbouring fields, since it might cause the rains to
fail. Therefore they decided to take the matter into their own
hands, so as to get it settled as soon as possible. They urged
the husband of the obstinate woman to present a goat, so that
the fieldsmight be sprinkled with 'gondm, but he refused. Then
the women beat their big drums {kipcsmbd) and met in council.
A deputation of two old women was sent to the refractory man

to demand the immediate presentation of a goat. He still refused,
and the women became and went in a body to let him
furious,
hear — in none too mild language their opinion of his be- —

haviour. He did not dare to refuse any longer; and indeed it
is seldom that a man dares to oppose the women when they

come in that way. The goat they demanded was delivered and
carried off in triumph, to be slaughtered on the field in dispute.
If anyone persists in his defiance, the women strew leaves

in front of the entrance to his hut, and then the owner cannot
enter until he has submitted.
When the women come thus in a body, beating their drums
and carrying boughs in their hands, men try
the to keep out
of the way as much as possible. Anyone coming across their
path is showered with derisive and insulting epithets; and in
the district of Kitui it is even said to have happened that the

men have been assaulted and maltreated. Only the oldest atumm
escape unmolested, but even they hide their faces in their blankets
while the crowd of women is passing.
It may be maintained that, by such behaviour, the women
interfere in a way in the administration of justice, desiring to get
a dispute which is injurious to the community settled more quickly
than it would be if the law took its normal course. Seen from another
point of view, their conduct bears a religious stamp, since the
spirits (aimu) are thought to be incensed at such disputes. After
the contents of the goat's stomach have been used for the pre-
paration of 'gondm, therefore, the rest of the animal is offered
up in the usual way on the place of sacrifice {ipigmbo) to con-
ciliate the spirits (see Chap. XIII).
:
1 8.2 Lindbloni, The Akamba
It is interesting to observe the submissive attitude of the

men, when such proceedings take place. The reason is perhaps
a tacit recognition of the justice of the women's demands. The
women are more conservative and superstitious than the men, and
in many things have their own rules to observe, which are re-
spected by the men, even though they often do not attach much
mportance to them.
7. Curses.
As far as I know, the use of curses is really confined to the
family circle, within which they are used by a father or mother
against a refractory son. Though my observations on family life
are to be included in a subsequent chapter, I have, however,

found it suitable to append here some remarks on the use of
curses {kmmo) to the section on criminal jurisdiction proper.
The head of a family in Ukamba has patriarchal authority
over his children. For example, he has control over his son's
earnings. It is not unusual, nevertheless, for some to be dis-
obedient, and when the parents can in no other way either b)- —
gentle means or chastisement —
master an insubordinate son, they
fall back on the last and most terrible resource a curse. —
A. A father's curse. An occasional reason for cursing is
that, without his father's consent, a, young man begins to drink
beer {uki), and continues to do so, in spite of the express pro-

hibition of his father. For, according to an old custom, youths
{anakd) may not drink beer before they have purchased their
father's permission, by making him certain presents. It also hap-
pens that, in order to take away from his son all desire for un-
lawful beer-drinking, a father utters a curse in advance, which is
to come into operation if the son ignores the prohibition. A

common way of cursing is the following
The father takeswhich the cattle are
the iron {kio) with
branded, and places is hot, he takes it
it in the fire. When it
out, and, holding it over a calabash, he urinates on it, saying: '^
»I who have begot you do not wish you to drink beer, since you
have not yet begun to pay me. May you be destroyed thus»
'^
As is well known, the human excrements play an important
part in the superstition and magic of all peoples. For a closer study,
see J. G. Bourke, Scatalogic rites of all nations.
:
(as the iron hisses from contact with the fluid) ^. Then he takes
the calabash and flings the urine from it to the west (» towards
the setting sun»), uttering another curse: »I have begotten you
with this my kea (penis), may you go down like this sun!»'
Anyone who does not improve, or who is not released from this
curse, is said not to live long — at themost a few months^.
B. A mother's curse. A mother can also curse her son,
if he takes no notice of her directions or does not perform the
tasks she sets him, but instead blindly devotes himself to the
favourite amusements of the young men, lounging about and danc-
ing. She cannot, however, curse in the same way as the father,
but proceeds as follows
She takes a small quantity of different sorts of vegetable foods,
some grains of maize, a little millet, Eleusine seeds &c, puts them
in a calabash vessel, and sets this in the fire. When the vessel
crackles and is consumed, she says: »I, N.N, gave birth to you;
I have suckled you and washed you and carried you and removed
your motions, when you were a child. But now, when you have eaten
and grown strong, it is may you be destroyed
I who curse you:
thus (like the food in the you and your children !»^
fire),
In my collection of Kamba folk-lore, there is a tale of two

brothers, the sun and the moon, the latter being originally the chief,
because he was the elder. He misbehaved himself, however, and
drew down on himself his mother's curse. She laid it on him in
the manner just described.
For a more serious transgression on the son's part such •
—
^ The words are taken from a special case in the neighbourhood
of Machakos; they run thus: cBpwa nimd nukustana, na ndtkwcetida uki-
mwa ukt, na ndunamba undam woktam(ajou.
- Kikamba: cepwa ninp nuustand na kea ki h\akwa wopoa na swa nu.
^ Among the Wadjagga, curses by members of the family and
relations are considered specially dangerous, those of the father and
mother always entailing death. B. Gutmann, Fluchen und Segnen im
Munde der Wadschagga p. 302. A. E. Crawley shows (article on Curs-
ing and Blessing in Encycl. of ReUgion and Ethics) by examples from
different times and peoples how generally the curse of the parents,
especially of the father, is particularly strong.
^ Kikamba : nakustaip na ggikwo^ga na '^giupambui
nints, 'ggania,
na 'ggltua, na ^gitua inbtaiaa^ mai maku, wb kana, na yen,
^gukiioetd
ivam Omta ninid uknuma, watoleka^gon na smna siakti!
as, for example,

stealing his mother's milk or one of her cows
— mother can lay a more serious curse on him. She
the
washes her ndamt (the small rectangular loin-cloth worn by the
Kamba women) and throwing out the water violently, so that
it splashes in all directions, she says: »May you splash thus, as I
have given you birth with this my kinoh (the name of the female
pudenda)^.
The missionary Kanig tells of a mother who, in anger at her
daughters disobedience, took a brand from the fire and stuck it in
a \essel of water, so that the hissing wood was extinguished. At

the same time she ejaculated this curse: »May your life be ex-
tinguished like this wood!»^
C. How a father revokes his curse on his son. The youth
who has been cursed by his father, seldom dares to continue in his
refractoriness, but tries to get the curse removed as soon as pos-
sible, and endeavours to obtain his father's ble.ssing {kiapimo)
instead. His method of procedure is as follows:
He buys beer and takes it to his father as a present, asking
for his blessing. If necessary he repeats this, until the old man
is propitiated and yields. Then the father mixes milk and Eleusine
seed together in a calabash bowl — without these accessories the
blessing is ineffective — and orders his son to stretch out his
hands. Taking a sip of the milk, he spirts his son's hands and
chest with it, saying (the words were addressed to a son who was
cursed for drinking beer without permission): >I give thee my
blessing! but not too much; do not pick quarrels
Drink beer,
with people either, when you have drunk beer!» The son rubs his
hands dry on his face, and the father spits a blessing into the
calabash. The curse is now removed, and the young man has
gained the right to drink beer.
D. Curses used by young people. The youths and young
girls among themselves can also employ a sort of curse, which
they lay on an unpopular person. If a girl gives evidence of
'ggulu 'self-wiir — for example if she refuses to take part in the
dancing of the young people or the excesses connected with it —
the young men assemble and strike their hpttiu, consisting of a
^ Kikamba: womtnzukou, cepwa ntnp nausmn9 na ktno ki kiakwa.

^ G. Kanig, Kambakinder, p. 6.
:
red china bead (kito). They all strike once with a stone, saying
»N. N's girl gives evidence of '^gulu. If, after this, I dance with
her, accompany her on the track, or even speak to her, may I
be eaten by this k^pitm!* The girls treat their comrade in the
same way, and then the poor thing is absolutely isolated from
the other young people. She cannot go to other people of the
same age elsewhere, for as soon as they hear what has happened
to her, they also shun her. Her position soon becomes unbearable
— her parents also suffer — and sooner or later she gives way.
Then her father goes to their dancing-place and arranges (kttutd),
a day with the young men for his daughter to be allowed to come
and be received into the young people's circle again.
On the appointed day, the girl goes to the dancing-place,
taking with her two bunches of bananas {ndumba) and two large
calabashes full of porridge, mixed with a lot of fat. The former
are presents to the men, the latter to the girls. She stands apart
from the others, and a youth asks her if she is willing to abandon
her defiant attitude. The answer is in the affirmative, and she
may now choose out four youths and four girls, who bless her by
spitting on her. The curse is thereby removed.
What makes this curse so dreadful is the belief that a woman
who is under such a curse, can never, even if she manages to get
a husband, be certain of being able to have children. And this
implies something infinitely terrible to every Kamba girl.
Chapter XII. Warfare and customs connected
with it .
and plund"
In the greatest part of Africa the continual feuds
ering between the tribes belong already to the past.
expeditions
It is now too late almost everywhere to carry out any practical
studies of the natives' methods of war, and concerning these

things ethnology has, for the most part, to rely on the statements
of older people. In the abundant ethnographical African literature
one finds, as a rule, this side of the native life treated in a sur-
prisingly cursory manner, except in the case of tribes with real
military talent, such as the Zulus in South- and the Masai in East-
Africa, among whom there exists a real military organization,
capable of attracting interest. One is therefore compelled to make
use of the only way left out of the difficulty, namely to collect
accurate information from older men who have themselves at one
time taken part as warriors in the feuds of their tribe. But these
sources should be used as soon as possible, as when the old men
of the present generation have died it will be too late, the younger
men having already grown up under the new conditions.
In Ukamba a >pax brittannica» has already prevailed undis-
turbed for a decade. My description is, on account of this, ex-
clusively based on oral information from former leaders of the
Akamba's predatory expeditions against their neighbours, the
Kikuyu and the Masai tribes. Careful comparison and veri-
fication of the different statements made should give the descrip-
tion a certain correctness. The Kamba negroes have certainly
never been a warring people of note, but yet we shall find that
they were not quite strangers to the idea of tactics. We shall
'
The chapter is translated, with alteration and additions, from
Ymer 19 14.
Warfare 187
see that for attacks a force was divided into several parts, each
with its definite task, that the various divisions were arranged
according to certain principles, that there existed a rudimentary
form of searching and guarding, etc. Although the description is
that of a period that is past, we may be allowed in our account

to use the present tense.
I. Preparations for an expedition.
Most of the native campaigns are from our point of view

pure plundering expeditions, as they are undertaken almost ex-
clusively to steal cattle. They serve partly to satisfy the desire
for meat, Another important reason
partly to increase the herds.
for them is that many
buy wives for themselves and
are too poor to
so they wish by means of a campaign to procure in a rapid and
congenial way the cattle necessary for this purpose. As is to be
expected from the character of these expeditions, no formal declara-
tion of war is made, the successful issue of the enterprise depend-
ing to a great extent on its being a surprise. For an offensive war
is needed the consent of the assembly of the elders, the nzama\

the leaders are some old and experienced warriors, called asihli.
As soon as the nza?na have given their assent to a campaign,
the asilili get an almost dictatorial power, while in peace time
they do not exercise any special function in the community. They
are, however, prominent members of the rtzama ^ Liability to
serve as soldiers falls first on the unmarried men {anakS), then
also on the younger married men (iiticeld). In a manner it may be
considered that universal compulsory service prevails, inasmuch

as no one can accompany the army, as soon as the
refuse to
asilih have obtained the nzamds assent to the war. Those who
for some reason are away from their village, are informed and
have to come home as soon as possible. If anyone stays at home
without a good excuse (sickness, etc.), he is at best insulted and
may not come out with the other people to meet the returning
conquerors, but must hide in his hut. It has even happened that
such a man has been killed. Usually, however, it was the younger
element who were eager to be ofT plundering and stormed the
^
Cf. Chap. X, p. 149.
members of the nzama with requests to go. The latter then in-
quire of the astlih about the prospects of success for the sug-
gested enterprise, and if they consider the occasion unsuitable,

usually nothing is done.
Once the decision for a campaign has really been made, the
asihli go to the medicine man {mundu mud) to ascertain if it is
undertaken under favourable auspices. If this is not the case, it
may happen that the carrying out of the plan is put off. For
our description here, however, we shall assume that the answer
is favourable. Then they get protective war medicine from the
medicine man, and other » medicine* to rub on the cattle they
hope to steal, so that it will follow them »like dogs». If they
are pursued and have to run, the cattle do the same; in a word,
they will have no trouble at all in driving them away. On the
instruction of the medicine man the asihh then offer sacrifices to
the spirits of their dead forefathers, especially to the eminent
warriors of former times, at the sacrificial places that are dedi-
cated to them.
2. Armament and equipment.

Before going further a few words on the warriors' armament
and other outfit may be given here. The Akamba's arms are
the bow and arrow and the sword; they do not use spears, clubs
and shields, which are the principal weapons of their neighbours
in the west and south-west, the Akikuyu and Masai ^. On their
heads they wear a kind of cap made of skin or imported blue
calico, mbcekd {kafiiki in the Suaheli language), which is obtained
by Arabian or Suaheli traders from the coast, and in earlier times,
when cattle were plentiful, was paid for by a goat for a little piece.
Round the brow there was also a strap, and to this were fastened
pieces of leather, from which some long white ostrich feathers proudly
streamed^. Resting on one shoulder and running diagonally over
the chest was worn a kind of oval frame {wed), made out of the
For more about the weapons see the chapter » Weapons ».

^
On the other hand they do not, as Hildebrandt states, use the

-
frame for the face with short black or white ostrich feathers which is
well-known among the Masai. J. M. Hildebrandt, Ethnographische
Noiizen iiber Wakamba und ihre Nachbarn p. 358.
Warfare 189
mane of the giraffe or zebra. Round the waist they liked to fix
a bit of red cloth (mukumbd), reminiscent of the belts worn by the
native military police {askari) in the service of the government.
Their insteps were adorned with the strips of the colobus monkey's
black and white skin, so well-known in many East African tribes.
Probably we have in this a borrowing from the Masai's war

costume. A difference lies in the fact that the latter wear the
points turned backwards, but the Akamba have them pointing
forward. They also used to fix bells on their knees, to increase
the noise as they rushed forward to attack ^. On longer cam-
paigns the warriors did not wear their ornaments on the march,
but kept bag of leather {gguso) which was carried in
them in a
a strap over the shoulder. Only when they came into the proxi-
mity of the enemy did they take them out. Their usual every-
day ornaments, armlets of metal, etc. they prefer to leave at
home, as they lessen their activity, make it more difficult to run,
etc. Provisions, such as batatas (sweet potatoes), flour and gruel
{usii), them on the road. When the warriors' food
are taken with
is got ready at home in the village, on no conditions are unmarried
girls allowed to take part in the preparation. This would cause

injury to the warriors, a belief which must doubtlessly be considered
as a kind of sexual taboo, as the girls would certainly have inter-
<:our.se with the youths at home, and then the food prepared
by them would »get into the legs» of the warriors and make
them heavy.
3. The attack.
us accompany a pillaging expedition against the Masai

Let
kraals,which were formerly situated on the steppe south-west of
Machakos. My iniformants are chiefly two old men in the Ma-
chakos district, who in the days of their strength had been cap-
able asiltli. As objects are seen a long way round on the steppe,
a halt is made at a long distance from the kraal which is to be
^ I do not know if these bells were worn on any definite prin-

ciple. Among the Masai those who took part in the fights wore large
bells on their legs, so tliat the sound might help to call the troop together.
Merker, Die Masai, p. 87.
attacked, e. g. 5 —8 kilometres, according to the nature of the

ground. Protected by the darkness of the night spies are sent
out (apzam), preferably older warriors, often some of the asihli
themselves, as they do not believe that the young warriors are
capable of displaying the necessary calm and caution. The most
important task of the spies is to find out the place of the war-
riors' kraal, the situation of the other kraals and how the cattle
is kept^.
On their return the spies do not inform the warriors of the
result of their search, as if they did it might easily happen that the
younger and more eager men would, if the prospects for the attack
were very good, immediately rush forth and so perhaps spoil
everything. Among the » medicine* that the asihh have ob-
tained before they set out there is usually a magic soporific, which
causes the enemy to fall into a deep sleep, if it is placed in his
fire. The medicine is fixed to a long stick, and, on the night
when the attack is to take place, a musthh steals forward to the
warriors' kraal, breaks through the wall or door of a hut and
with the help of the stick lays the medicine in the fire.
Before the attack every man has to take an oath on the

kirpitiu that he will not fly, but will obey the leaders' orders
(»If I fly, may
I be eaten by Then they vie with
this hpttiu!»).
each other making bold promises: »If I do not kill a Masai to-
in
day, may this kipitrn eat me» {ggahiva m hpttm hu), says one.
Another makes the bold promise to force his way into a hut and
compel a Masai woman to give him milk, etc. The doubtful
and faint-hearted ones are encouraged by the asihh, who hold
out prospects of a rich booty: »Are you afraid.? Be men! We
can't get cattle for nothing. If you only go forward bravely and
obey our commands, each one of you will bring home fine, fat
oxen and pregnant cows, which your mothers and wives will milk
in the cattle kraals. But if you are cowards, so that we must
turn back again with our errand unaccomplished, the women will
laugh at you, when you come back again to the village.* The
asilili do not take part in the actual fighting, but when every-
' We must remember among the Masai there are special

that
kraals for the married people and others for the warriors. The cattle
are kept at night in an enclosure, situated in the middle of the closed
circle which is formed by the huts.
Warfare 191
thing is arranged and the advance begins they remain behind.

Their work is to make plans and to organise, they are usually
too old and heavy to fight. The command is taken over instead
by some younger experienced and capable warriors, who will some-
time succeed the asilih in their office.
The attack itself is usually started at daybreak, as soon as

it is sufficiently light to seize the cattle. The hostile force is
now divided into different parts, each with itsname and special
task. If we suppose that the objective of the attack consists of
a kraal for the married and at some distance off another for the
warriors, the Akamba's grouping will be as follows:
The point of greatest danger is of course the warriors' kraaL
and so they direct against it a section called niuena^ consisting
of picked warriors, the best shots, half of them young men, anakd,
half younger married men, ntf(zh. The reason for this intermix-
ture that the young men, left to themselves, are altogether too
is
impetuous and thoughtless. For the task of this group is not to

engage in hand-to-hand fighting, but, on the contrary, to try to
keep the Masai warriors at a distance with their arrows and in
this way prevent them from coming to the help of the others.
Against the other kraal is sent a section called ^gila. Its
task is and bring them to a third section, ttUy

to seize the cattle
which is waiting behind and takes no part in the fighting. It will
then take the booty away in safety. The grouping has been carried
out and the advance begins. To give the signal for this it is
said that light-signals were sometimes used, i. e. the reflection of
sunlight by means of mirrors. It is clear that the people of East
Africa have used mirrors for a very long time; these were for-
merly obtained from the Arab and Suaheli traders, and still earl-
ier they bought them themselves in Mombasa. Absolute silence
is enjoined; it is important to get as far forward as possible un-
perceived. But as soon as they are discovered, a mighty shout
is raised and they let the piercing notes of the war-flute {gguli)
ring out-. The war-flutes are carried by a number of men in each
1 Similar principles are followed by the Masai. Cf. M. Merker,

Die Masai, 2 aufl. p. 87.
- The ^guh consists of a decimetre long piece of horn of a smaller
antelope species. It is blown at the wider end. while the thumb is
held against the turned-down mouthpiece. I have got the same in-
section; the Akamba do not like to fight without this music, it
has an inciting effect on their senses. The fluteshave been

smeared with medicine by the
medicine man before the depart-
ure from home. A number of
signals, such as »Haltl» are blown
with them. There are attempts
at the construction of a code of
signals, as a number of old men
can with the l^guh reproduce cer-
tain words and expressions, which
are understood by others. When
a Masai troop approached the
villages, they blew, for instance,
aka-6t, aka-6t, mce-kuka, mce-kuka,

'The Masai, the Masai, are com-
ing!' The flute blown
is also
in case of an attack by enemies
so as to call the men to arms,
as well as at the ceremonial entry

of a hunting-party into the villages
on their return from a successful
elephant hunt.
The battle-flute is blown at
the wider end (b, see fig.), and at the
same time a finger is allowed to

oscillate against the end that is
like a mouthpiece (a). It is car-
ried by means of a strap fixed

Fig. 53. Warflute i^^gidi) made of round the waist or to the quiver,
the horn of the Thomson gazelle As has been stated, the war-
Nat, size. riors' kraals (Kikamba mbilj) are
Riksmus. Ethnogr. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 106. Surrounded by a section, the mu-
ena Without bows and arrows
the elmoran are, in spite of their formidable spears, pretty harm-
less, if they can only be kep at a distance. The boldest of them
strument from the Waduruma, a sub-tribe of the Wanyika, in the

coast-land within Mombasa.
Warfare 193
try, with shields in front of them, to break out, and if the

watching Akamba are not powerful men with good bows, they
succeed in their purpose, and after that it is very difficult for
the attackers to get clear. They are thus quite aware of the
danger and in front of the warriors' kraal are placed the best
shooters, who are able to pierce the shields with their arrows.
As soon as any of el-moran try to break out, they get an arrow
through the body. It is, of course, still more favourable for the
agressorsif the attack can be effected so completely that the
Masai have no time to come out of their huts, which is the case
if the Akamba succeed in getting into the warriors' kraal unper-
ceived and dividing themselves before the entrances to the huts.
During this time the second section, the 'ggila, is busy
driving the cattle away. Everyone tries to mark as many animals
as possible by giving them a slight sword-cut in a certain place
or by hanging their leather bags {ggusu) round the animal's neck,
etc. By this means they consider that they obtain a right to
the animal at the coming distribution of the Sometimes it
spoil.
falls to the one who first strikes it with his bow. Men and married
women, especially pregnant women, are killed without mercy, »so that
they may not be able to give birth to more enemies >. The girls
who Uve in the kraals of el-moran as their paramours are also

killed, if an opportunity offers itself. The men's ornaments are
taken home as trophies. On the other hand a woman's orna-
ments are never taken; they bring no honour: >It is like taking
things from a corpse, for women cannot fight», said an old war-
riorto me. For the same reason women are not shot, but their
heads are crushed with a sword or the first suitable weapon, such
as their own axes, a bit of wood or a stone. To waste an arrow
on a woman is away; arrows are
almost equivalent to throwing it
needed for more important work. Quite young girls and children
are collected together and driven away by the third section, the
Ua, at the same time as the cattle. The muena and %gila have
to stay behind and keep the enemy in check, if the latter is
strong enough to pursue, until the 'ita have had time to get a good
bit of the way home with their plunder^. There is also another
reason for not making the force which has to watch the cattle
^ tta also means 'expedition, plundering expedition'.

Arch.Or. L indblom
Fig- 54. Warrior's breast ornament {ivea) made from the mane of a zebra. Riksmus.
Ethnogr. collect. Inv. 12. 7. 109. ','3 nat. size.
Warfare I95
too namely the wish to avoid disputes as to the distrib-

strong,
ution of the
booty. Such disputes have occasionally led to a
battle between the conquerors themselves. Even the admirably
discipHned Masai often find it difficult to abstain from them.
When the ita with the cattle and prisoners have got an adequate
start, the other sections also retire. If the Masai are numerous and
pursue, the attacking party run an obvious risk of being outflanked

by them, the ita being caught up and the cattle being recaptured.
During the retreat they usually have, on this accouijt, a rough
form of escort which is arranged in this way: on both sides of
the line of retreat patrols are sent out on a rather broad front;
they warn the others if the enemy attempts a flanking movement.
If the attack is unsuccessful they do not wait for the enemy,
but try as quickly as possible to get back. On such occasions
their tactics are to spread like chaff before the wind and after-
wards perhaps to collect again at some definite place, often chosen
beforehand. By means of this the pursuit is obviously made more
difficult. A certain signal on the war-flute can make the fugitives
stop. During the flight fine and self-sacrificing features may be
observed, based on the strong feeling of interdependence and of
the duty of helping their kinsfolk, which is so characteristic of
the Akamba. Thus, for instance, a man runs to his brother-in-
law, who is wounded and quite exhausted and can only with
difficulty drag himself forward. Although the former is in good
condition, he stops all the same, takes his relative's quiver as well
as his own and tries to keep back the pursuers, thereby perhaps
saving the other man's lifeat the cost of his own.
Even if there is an opportunity, the Akamba do not bury
those who have fallen in battle, not even those who come back
wounded to the village and die there. For they believe that for
each fallen man that is buried another warrior must die.
Dead enemies are not mutilated, at the most an arm may be
chopped off in a hurry, when there is no other way of taking its
ornaments off. Of the following statement of Hildebrandt, I have
been unable to find any confirmation at all, as far as the Akamba
are concerned: »Als siegestrophae emasculieren die Gala und
mehrere Somalistamme die erschlagenen feinde. Dieses thun auch
die Wakamba und Wanika, schneiden auch andere gliedmassen,
hande und fiisse, ab, die sie, siegreich nach hause zuriickgekehrt,
in die dorfbaume hangen»^. The customs in this case could not

have altered since H:s time, as his statement is disputed by many
old men, who remembered very well Bwana Ndege (Kisuaheli
'Mr. Bird'), as H. was called by the natives, the chief object of
his journey being to collect birds.
But to return to our raiding expedition. When the Akamba
have arrived so far on the way home that the danger of pursuit
is no longer present, a halt is usually made and the booty divided.
In the Machakos district this was done by some men out of each
tika or age class being appointed to divide up the cattle, while
the great mass waited at some distance. Before the distribution
was carried out, an oath wâs taken on the kipttm to the effect
that no one would begin to quarrel afterwards. The asibli ob-
tained more than the others, as the result of the enterprise had
been due to a great extent to their plans for it. Among the
i common men» those who had specially distinguished themselves
obtain more than the others. If, for instance, the booty is so
small that there is only one animal between five warriors, two
asihh get one between them, etc. Thus the asihh, despite their
important position, have no further great advantages over the rest,
a manifestation of the feeling of equality which characterizes the

whole of the Akamba's social life. Little attention is paid during
the division to the above described method of denoting posses-
sion that is employed during the attack itself. Only leaders
and spies might, if they urged their claim vigorously, be allowed
as a result of their merits to keep the animals they had succeeded
in marking. A distribution of booty rarely passed off to the
satisfaction and in spite of the oath on the kiîtm num-
of all,
erous actions were brought about cattle that had been marked by
one person and afterwards fell to another. As late as 191 1 dur-
ing my stay Machakos district I heard of an action by
in the
which an was given back to a man who several years
old bull
ago during a raiding expedition had struck it with his bow but
who had afterwards lost it at the division of the spoil.
Prisoners are treated well on the whole. The girls become
the conquerors' wives, the captured children are soon looked upon
^
J. M. Hildebrandt, Ethnographische Notizen fiber Wakamba
and ihre Nachbarn, p. 386.
Warfare 197
as their own, » These are my children, which I produced with

my bow», they used to say jokingly. Often, however, the prisoners
were sold as slaves to the trade caravans from the coast.
4. The homecoming of the warriors after a successful

plundering expedition.
We have seen that the warriors who most distinguish them-

selves get a somewhat greater portion of the booty than the others.
The man who brings home as a sign of victory a Masai spear,
i.e. who has killed a Masai
. warrior, is esteemed above all others.
He is then called mutz(Btumo, an title of honour which is used
instead of his ordinary name for the rest of his life. A man who
has taken a sword, an ol-moranis leather dress, etc. also gets a
title of honour for these tings; his reputation is, however, not so
great as the muti^tumo's ^.
As trophies from a successful expedition the warriors bring

back weapons and clothes from the enemies they have killed.
These things, now called matuso, may not be immediately taken
into the villages, but must first be treated in the following way:
Weapons and other captured objects are hidden in the wildness,
and an expert old man is sought out to tula mba'gga 'break the
peril', as it is called. He gets beer as a gift and gives the
warriors instructions to build an enclosure at a certain place and
there take all the plunder. The old man takes his place there,
and each of the warriors who has taken a Masai spear bends the
point of one of his arrows and then shots a wooden arrow, an
imitation, constructed for the occasion, of the real arrows, against
it or the spears he has brought back, saying: »These spears be-
long to X's son» (mentioning his fathers' name). The old man
who has conducted the ceremony must afterwards have connec-
^ The etymology of this word is uncertain. It is clear that it is
a contraction of mutta (= ?) +
iiumo (= spear). The missionary E. Brutzer,
Handbuch der Kamba-Sprache, arbitrarily translates the word with »speer-
trager». Speaking of a warrior coming home with a trophy they used
for instance to say: »'^gama ntitwtd {'^ nutustd) uta 'X. has taken pos-
session of (?) a bow' (< kutwa 'tear off ?). Of other appellations of the
same kind I have found mutiota {uta 'bow'), muttoOm (uv6iu 'sword'),
tnuha'ggua (^gua 'dress'), muttaptaka (ptaka 'quiver'), tnuttando (ndq
'scabbard').
tion with a woman and finally obtains a big, pregnant cow and
an ox for his trouble. As far as the warriors themselves are con-
cerned, I have not obtained any information to the effect that
they undergo any special purification ceremony, which otherwise
is often the case among African tribes ^ (cf. however just below).
After this treatment of the booty comes the principal feature
in the festivities which follow every sucessful campaign. The
warriors go in a procession with their trophies round the villages to
be admired and to receive presents from their relations and friends.
This custom is called to kwa'gga In this triumphal procession
^.
a mutKBtumo takes the place of honour. Let us follow one of

these after his arrival home to see the reception he meets with.
The homecomer is smeared with fat by his mother. This is
certainly considered to purify him after contact with inimical, and
therefore injurious, persons and weapons. The father slaughters an
ox in honour of his son. From the skin of the animal he cuts a
long strip, in one end of which a hole is made, while the rest is
split into several flaps. A strip of this sort, which is called
ukualo (pi. '^gwald), is placed on one of the mnttcPtumo's index
fingers, another on the shaft of the spear. After getting this out-
ward token of his dignity he is ready to begin to kwa'gga, followed by
his friends and comrades. Amongst those who are visited his
maternal uncle, tnaumd, seems to be the most important. He
gives him a bull and places a leather thong on another of his
fingers. A man who has captured more than one spear seems to
have been allowed to hand one over to his maternal uncle. From
his paternal uncle, mwcsndwh^d, he gets a bull in the same way.
It has happened that when one of these near relations has had
no cattle, he has given his daughter in marriage to one of his

friends and as an advance of the price of the bride has demanded
a bull to present to the muti(§tumo. From other relations he gets
some goats, from one two, from another four, all according to the
resources of the giver. Some give nothing at all. His father also
gives him goats, if he has no horned cattle, perhaps about ten.
In this way the muticBtumo can get together a whole little flock,
a part of which he slaughters for a feast to his friends.
^ Cf. Frazer, The Golden Bough 2, p. 172 ff,

^ Presumably the same word as kwagga 'stroll around'.
Warfare 199
When the mutKgtumo and his band, going round kwa'^ga-xwg,

approach a village, they strike up songs of victory, which extol
the exploits that have been achieved. A song of this sort,
which has probably been more general use, runs as follows

in
when translated literally: »You wonder: he who sings the song

of victory, who is he? He is mutKBtumo X. (here follows his real
name), who has fought with the men of cattle, but if we had not
helped each other, he should not have come out of it success-
fully, aaaaahb^ ^ The women of the village greet those who are
coming with shrill cries: ///z, /z7/, lili, lilH, the women's usual way
of expressing their joy and delight about something 2.
The other conquerors, the mutiota and the rest, march round
in about the same way but with more modest forms.
Each successful raiding expedition is followed by intense feasting,
forwhich a part of the captured cattle is slaughtered. The older
men are assembled for great drinking-bouts, and when the beer
begins to go to their heads, they outbid each other in boasting
about their sons' exploits. was hard then for a man without sons,
It
who perhaps did not even have any relatives at all to show
off, to sit silent listening to the bragging of the other old men.
Many a time, said one of my informants, such a man killed a
young mutKBtumo by magic, merely to escape hearing the others'
jubilation.
By showing courage and recklessness in battle a disreputable
man may win back his good name and reputation. Ngila, an old man
near Machakos, been in his young days such an
is said to have
incorrigible was decided to put him to death as an
thief, that it
individual who was a peril to the community, but he saved him-

self by paying heavy fines. During an expedition against the
^ By »the cattlemen* are meant the Masai, who are nomads and
live principally by their flocks, while the Akamba, on the other hand,
practise agriculture. The song is as follows in Kikamba: mutkuha:
usu wma'ggakqh n'u? kot(E muttcBtumo ^gania waukittd na mundu wa
'gombd, na kceka kutmptwa, ndadtta, eaaaah!
* The same is true about the Djagga women in Kilmandjaro:
thing
» ——— der weiber [at a successful birth], den sie auch
jubelruf
sonst bei anderen freudigen ereignissen ausstossen: bei rtickkehr der
manner aus dem kriege, bei erlegung eines wilden tieres u. s. w. Es
ist ein helles jubilieren and trillern auf dem vokale i = lilililili». B.
Gutmann, Dichten und Denken der Dschagga-Neger, p. 83.
Masai which was carried out shortly afterwards he was so reckless

that hecame back with two spears. From that moment his fame
in the district was great and is so to this day. On the other hand,
a man who is cowardly in battle, has for a long time to put up
with many an insulting epithet. He also finds it difficult to get a
wife, for few girls will bear to hear such things about their future
husband.
Finally one more detail: a young man who has fought his
first battle may not have coitus on his arrival home before his
parents have had it. If he does so the cattle he has brought
home die, or he is unsuccessful next time: mtusgu6)d uta wa mwana,
»we shall purify our son's bow», says the father.
5. Defensive fighting.
According to the accounts of older travellers the Akamba for-
merly guarded their boundaries against their old enemies, the

Masai and the was done by means of look-out
Akikuyu; this
sentries. Whether these sentries were permanent and relieved
according to certain principles, the accounts do not show, but
according to M. Schoeller, who saw such sentries on the boundary
of the Kikuyu country, the were »hoch organisiert» ^. S. came
across similar sentries among the Wasotik, up towards Lake

Victoria and south of the Uganda railway, and Dr. G. Kolb
saw at the south boundary of »the Kitu country*, on the southern
slope of Kenia, permanent frontier guards in clothes made of grass,
with shield, spear, bow and arrow ^. Now the tribes mentioned
are more or less hillfolk, and Schoelkr assumes that their custom
of having frontier guards is due to the fact that people in a
mountainous country have greater difficulty in observing the ap-
proach of an enemy than in open ground. One might equally well
think that the people who observe such precautions feel inferior
to their neighbours; besides, the mountain heights with their good
views invite such arrangements. The Akikuyu, who might also
be correctly called a hilltribe, seem, however, not to have used
frontier sentries.
^ M. Schoeller, Mitteilungen uber meine Reise nach Equatorial-

Afrika und Uganda 1896
^
— 7, U, p. 181.
Petermann's Mitteilungen 1896, p. 227.
Warfare 201
In spite of this vigilance it often happened, of course, that

the Kamba villages were surprised at night time by the enemy or
that pastured flocks were taken away. The hedges of thorn and
the barricades which surround the villages and which we shall
describe in detail later on, did not always form an effective pro-
tection. The agile way over these, among other
Masai made their
ways by spreading skins over the As the huts are kept
thorns.
closed during the night, the Masai used sometimes, when they
were not discovered, to wait silently till the inhabitants woke up,
and when they, suspecting nothing, emerged, they were struck
down with the long spears.
But even in broad daylight the Masai attacked succesfully in
open combat. They crept forward to the barricades, protected

by their shields, which they pushed in front of them and which
the Akamba's arrows could not as a rule penetrate.
When the Masai troops were reported to be in the neighbour-
hood, the alarm was sounded on the big drums and the women
set up cries. The cattle were driven near the villages so that in
case of need they could be taken within the barricades. From the
hills they carefully watched the enemy's movements, and the
younger men went to meet him, while the attitma, who were
no longer capable of fighting, stayed at home in the village to
defend it.
6. Civil feuds.
When was a question of an attack or defence against other

it
tribes, the Akamba were

always united. But when no external
danger threatened or prospects of booty did not bring about a
union, perpetual internal quarrels and feuds prevailed. One little
kiOalo or district was in more or less open feud with the other,
and there was usually a certain risk attached to going beyond the
brook or hollow which divided two adjacent districts. When cattle
were put out to grass, the risk was run of having them carried off
by their own countrymen. The young men of a district risked
being attacked, if they went to other dancing places and danced
with the girls there. Only the women could go unhindered wher-
ever they liked. Finally, as we already know, the different fam-
ilies and clans, although their members are spread in different
quarters, composed, and still compose, independent groups, within

which blood-vengeance prevails. An offence against one member
is an offence against the whole family.
The civil fights were concluded with real treaties. The
leading men from both sides then often met at the boundary
between the inimical territories, a stream or the like, unarmed,
yet rather afraid of each other. Peace was sworn on the ktpttui.
The negotiators from the one side then accompanied the opposite
party's representatives home and a feast was partaken of. For
the killed the full mulct for manslaughter was levied on both
sides, prisoners were liberated on the payment of the same blood-
money as for those killed, which in Ukamba is eleven cows and
a bull. These fights became in reality, perhaps chiefly on account
of the mulct for manslaughter, pretty harmless, and were fought
out preferably with arrows at a respectful distance. After a fight
with other tribes no blood-money was paid nor was peace confirmed
by any definitive act.
A peculiar position is taken in these internal combats by
the Kilun'gu district in the south-eastern part of the country ^. The
dwellers there were of old known for their wildness and rapacity
and continually had feuds with the rests of the tribe. They are
considered almost as strangers, inasmuch as no compensation for
men was considered necessary. With regard to their
killed in battle
speech as well and partly in their manners and customs the people
in Kilun'gu are somewhat separate from the other Akamba. The

characteristic of the Kilun'gu men's warfare is the extraordinary
cruelty with which they behave. The prisoners, for whom they
can hope for no ransom, are tortured by them in a way that calls
to mind Indian torture. Of this I have been informed as follows:
The victim is laid on his back on the ground with arms and
legs stretched out. Through his hands are struck pointed wedges;
his feet are fastened firm by piles driven in. Over the head of
the unfortunate man was fastened a branch so that he could not
raise it. He was then left to his fate.
Another popular method was to cut the prisoner's noses off
or to skin them. This was done by taking off small strips of
skin from the forehead right down to the feet of the poor wretches.
1 On the special position of Kilun'gu see p. i6.

:
Warfare 203
who were then driven out into the desert with scornful ejaculations
»Go back home and tell your people that here in Kilun'gu all is
well. Here there is no one ill or weak». Most of those tortured
in this way died on the road.
Sometimes, it is said, they used to tell a prisoner to imitate
the bellowing of cattle. If he did was spared for a
this, his life
ransom. To extort this more quickly they had finally, among
other customs, that of fastening the prisoners close to a fire.
This description is now almost ended. I shall only add an

attempt at a brief analysis of the Akamba's skill in war, compared
with their neighbours, the Masai. The latter have in East Africa
played the same military role as the Zulus in South Africa and
have been at all times a scourge to the resident negro tribes. It
is consequently very interesting to observe how the Akamba seem

to have been able to keep them pretty well within bounds. And
they did not always content themselves with a succesful defensive
in their own land, from the heights of which they had certain hopes
of defending themselves with their arrows from the Masai armed
with spears. We have just seen how they ventured — a thing
that probably would have dared
no other tribeto go out on —
the steppes and attack the Masai kraals, often with great success.
The names muticstmno, muttqta are not infrequent, and many a stolen
Masai woman lives as a wife in the Akamba's huts. In the Ma-
chakos district there are various half-blood Masai, the product of
such marriages. On the plain just west of the present govern-
ment station of Machakos there were formerly some Masai kraals,
but the Akamba were troublesome and the Masai had to move
farther out. Presumably, however, these Masai were numerically
inferior.
I have had the opportunity of discussing this subject with a

man who already in the beginning of the nineties lived among the
Akamba and who has witnessed many of their expeditions, namely
Sauberlich, the missionary in Ikutha. He confirms what I have just
said about the Akamba's ability to defend themselves against the
Masai, but declared that this was only the case with the peoples
in West Ukamba. He remembers vividly how one day about 20
204 Lin d bio m, The Akamba
years ago the Masai, while the Kamba warriors were away in
another direction, hurried and took their cattle. But the Akamba
came back, caught the plunderers up, took their animals back
and killed a great number of the Masai. At that time, however,
the Masai's might was already greatly broken by severe plagues
among the cattle.
In East Ukamba, on the other hand, the ravages of the Masaf
had more results. The population here showed the usual terror
of them and fled merely at the rumour of their approach. At the
last Masai attack in the district of Ikutha mission station they all
fled to a steep where they used to take refuge in such cases,,

clifl",
and Herr Sauberlich relates how one man was so afraid that he
could not walk, and so his wife had to carry him away on her
back. I think that the cause of the Machakos people's brave con-
duct was their proximity to their hereditary enemy. In numerous
fights they had learnt that the whereas
latter was not invincible,
those who lived where the Masai did not come so
farther east,
often, did not even dare to make an attempt to test the worth of
the halo which shone round their name.
In hand-to-hand fighting with the Masai, according to Herr
Sauberlich' s statement, two Akamba usually tried to attack one
Masai. One, with sword in hand, engaged in a feigned skirmish
with the Masai and tried to capture his attention, while the other
waited for the occasion when the warrior, who was protected by
his big bufialo-hide shield, should expose himself, when he im-
mediately placed a poisoned arrow in his body.
East Ukamba is separated from the Tana river by a terri-
tory, 1 60 kilometres broad, uninhabited and poorly watered. The

Akamba went over this very often to the glen of the Tana tO'
plunder the Galla and Wapokomo, two tribes rich in cattle, the
latter a small peaceable Bantu tribe ^. They were a terror to-
these people and extended their incursions very far. In Mkunumbi,.

a little port north of the mouth of the Tana and just west of the
town of Lamu, some Galla told me how plundering bands of the
Akamba had found their way even as far as there. Yet it is
nearly 150 kilometres as the crow flies from there to the Akamba's
eastern boundary.
1 Cf. above p. 19,

Warfare 205
The Kamba warriors never employ in battle artificialmeans

to raise their courage and desire for battle, as was the custom,
on the other hand, among many of the Masai. The latter drank a
decoction of the leaves of the ol umigumi (Pappea capensis?) and by
means of this were able to get into a veritable Berserker rage. The
Akamba told me how solitary Masai warriors were seized by such lust
for battle that they sprang madly from their section and rushed
on beforehand so as to get to blows as quickly as possible, upon
which they were shot down by the Akamba. Although the latter
know of the ol umigumi tree —
it is called mu6a in the Kamba
language —
they do not use it, however, in the same way as
the Masai warriors. On the steppes west of Machakos there are
some of these trees, whose bark is here and there cut away on
the stem, which the Masai are said to have done when they went
forth to fight against the Akamba.
Nowthe grass grows on the Akamba war-paths, the battle-

cry no longer sounded from savage throats and the swords have
is
almost in the real meaning of the word been transformed to

plougshares; for they are often used for clearing work in the fields.
The native pastures his humped cattle in safety at the foot of the
hillocks of his homeland. Do not think, however, that they fully
realise the value of the new order of things; many heartily wish
the white men to leave the country so that the old plundering
life may begin again. The young men listen with longing looks
to their fathers' tales of ancient plundering expeditions. My own
cook and retainer, the most inteUigent and the finest native I
know, who has for several years been an askari (soldier) in the
government service and in many things showed an astonishingly
intelligent apprehension, often used all the same to lament the
fact that he was nearly thirty years old and had not yet killed
a Masai. He almost despised himself.
p. Ill
BELIEF AND SCIENCE

Chapter XIII. Religion.
In the foregoing chapters we have seen that religion and mor-

als are intimately connected with individual and social life; now
we come to the religious conceptions of the Akamba, in the strict
These tally on the whole with those found

sense of the expression.
among most of the Bantu peoples in the east and south. Thus
they consist of:
1. a developed worship of the spirits of their ancestors (^/w/^);

2. a vague belief in a Higher Being {muhi'ggu, 'gga)).
I. Spirit=worship.
Spirit-worship is based on the conception of the continued

life of the soul after death. The word for »soul» is km, which
is often used in the sense of »spirit», that is to say the soul of a
departed ancestor (cf. aimu below); pam only means »life» in a
purely physical sense, synonymous with iudcsOa 'breath', paiu has
been adopted by the missionaires, who, in translations of the Prayer
Book, render » eternal life» by paiu utakapcela (lit. 'the life that
will never end'), km also means »shadow», and in reality thereis
a certain connection between a man's soul and his shadow ^. After

death the body is buried or thrown out, and is then torn to pieces
by the hyenas' (»everyone can convince himself of this with his
own eyes»), but the soul immediately goes down to the nether
regions, where most of the departed spirits (which are called aimu
in their new state) live after death. Their existence there is an im-
mediate continuation of what they experienced during life. He who
^ This is one of the reasons for the well-known dread of the
natives for being photographed. They believe that they then lose their
shadows, and anyone doing so must die. No other superstitious con-
ceptions seem to be connected with the shadow by the Akamba; it is
not, for example, considered dangerous to tread on it.
ArchOr. Lindblom U
2IO Lindblom, The Akamba
was rich in this life continues to be so in the spirit world; he who

died unmarried gets married there; the women perform their usual
tasks, For amusement they dance the special dance of the
&c.
spirits, hlumj. There is no separation of the bad from the good.
The female atmu are not inferior to the male. Animals are also
considered to possess souls, which is quite natural if we take into
consideration how near to themselves the natives consider animals
to be. However, their souls are thought to die with them, and
are thus quite different from the souls of human beings.
The conceptions just described are general throughout the
whole of Ukamba, though in the southern and eastern districts
(Kikumbuliu and the southern parts of the Kitui district) the
spirit-world is not located under the earth, but on the unpeopled
mountain Kyumbe, situated in a north-easterly direction from Kili-
mandjaro, between that mountain and the Uganda railway. Kyumbe
is thought to be a meeting-place for all spirits from many parts
of the country. The mountain is shunned, and no one will go
there without good cause, because the aimu do not like to be
disturbed by human beings^.
Anyone passing the mountain must on no account speak
of as Kyumbe; if they must mention it, it must be by the
it
name of mulwggu or '^ga^, the name of the Supreme Being, of

whom more below. The bold man who dares to approach the
home of the spirits is often stopped by voices, which ask: » Whi-
ther goest thou? What brings thee here?» &c. This conception
of Kyumbe as the favourite mountain of the spirits seems to be
Unknown in Ulu.
Many tales about the mountain are current among the in-
habitants of East Ukamba. To illustrate the conception, a note

that I have made may be inserted here:
A man was once going there from the Kibwezi district to
look for wild honey. Then he heard a voice: »Who goes there ?»
He stated his errand, and the voice told him to go to such and
^ found in many East African dialects (muzimu,

The word aimu is
mulimu, «&:c). Kikamba, sg. ntnti (which is, however, not so

atmti in
often used) is possibly derived from tma 'to dig'; the corresponding
expression in Kisuaheli is msimu, cf. kuzima 'to extinguish, to put
out'. A. Le Roy derives all these from the root -ima 'etre droit, 6tre
vivant'. Cf. Le Roy, La Religion des primitifs, p. 138.
Religion 211
such a place and cut into a ceitain tree, where he would find
much honey. On the following day he was to go home without
turning round to look behind him. He was also to tell the people
that it was the mountain of the spirits, and that they did not wish
to be visited. Concerning Kyumbe and aimu, a foimer missionary
in Ukamba says: »Dort leben man von feme wohl
sie. Dort sieht
audi ihie feuer und hort ihre unterhaltung. Von da werfen sie
nach dem voriibergehenden mit steinen. Geht man aber na-
her, so verschwindet der spuk, und man sieht weder kohle noch
asche. Von diesem hiigel aus ziehen die geister im ganzen lande
umher, um krankheit und seuche zu bringen» ^.
Apart from Kyumbe, there are found all over Ukamba soli-
tary places, especially mountains, which are believed to be the
abodes of the azmu. Such are Kivauni, immediately to the west of
the river Athi; and Muutha, on the eastern border of the settled
country^. At the foot of the mountains and on the slopes are
villages, but the heights are inhabited by ainiu, and people are
very loath to ascend them. They believe that they often see the
lights of fires on the top of Kivauni.
The aimu always show a great interest in the living race, and
are thought to keep themselves informed of everything that hap-
pens among them. The native feels a close bond between him-
self and his dead, and the latter often come at night to visit
their old village. They can be talked with, though they are not
usually visible. The strongest proof of such an intimate bond
is the belief that the ai7nu decide as to the reproduction of the
race, since they form the foetus in the woman. There are many
barren women among the natives, and, as has been seen, sexual
connection between a man and a woman is not always enough
to produce children^. However, every birth does not seem to
be regarded as a re-incarnation, as is the case, for example,
among the Central Australian natives, among whom the theory of
birth is simply the theory of the re-incarnation of an ancestral
spirit*.
G. Kanig, Domige Pfade eines jungen Missionars in Ukamba, p. 17.

^
Hobley, Akamba p. 86, mentions several.

^
^ Cf. Hobley, Akamba p. 20, about spiritual husbands.
* Spencer and Gillen, The native tribes of Central Australia.

Spencer and Gillen, The Northern tribes of Central Australia, p. 174.
Occasionally a spirit appears to a barren woman, and announ-

ces to her that .she is going to give birth to a child, and some
time afterwards she actually does give birth to one. A barren wife
in Machakos district one night heard a voice which said to
the
her: »Thou shalt give birth to a child 1». She got up to see what
it was, but saw no one. When she had lain down again, she
again heard the voice, and once more got up, but to no purpose.
The next morning she told her husband, but he said: »Nonsensel
Dreams have no meaning* {ndoto ni sm mand). However, a year
later the woman gave birth to a child. It has already been men-
tioned that, before it has received a name, a baby is called kntnu.

A word may be inserted here about the natives' conception
of dreams. The appearance of ^2;«« just described, of course takes
place in which are considered actual events. It is also
dreams,
thought that dreams come from the spirits. On waking up, any-
one who has had a bad dream takes a firebrand, puts it out, and
throws it away, saying: »May my bad dream go out like this
fire-brand !».
Among the Bantu peoples is found an undeveloped belief in
the transmigration of souls, and this is also the case among the
Akamba. In the chapter » Child-birth » (p. 30) it has already been said
that the aimu readily allow themselves to be born again in a child,
and here we have the common notion that ancestors are re-incarnated
in children. Sometimes this is apparent at once from a birth-
mark or someting else that was characteristic of the deceased.
However, a spirit which will allow itself to be born again, usually
appears to a pregnant woman in the family circle, and tells her
who it is and that it intends to take up its abode in the child
to which she shall give birth, and that therefore the child shall
receive the name of the spirit. Further, the aimu very often take up
a temporary abode in human beings, especially women, who then
become liable to hysterical attacks, and do not regain their peace
of mind again until the spirit has been driven out. We shall
revert to this point later.
The worship of animals. It also happens that aiinu take
up their abode in animals, frequently in snakes, such as pythons
(see p. 127). It does not seem that the natives think the spir-
its dwell permanently in these animals; they only occasionally
avail themselves of this method of visiting their living relatives.
Religion 213
A wild cat sometimes used to come in the evenings to a village

near the mission station of Mulango, and a
little food used to be
thrown to it. The people said that it was a deceased relation

and even mentioned the name. Many similar cases could be cited.
The explanation is the same as in the case of the pythons:
when a wild animal so far departs from its usual habits that it
approaches human beings fearlessly, it is thought that a special

reason must exist. It cannot be an ordinary animal. These ani-
mals must not be confused with the totem animals; very few of
them are among the totem animals (neither the python nor the
wild cat are), which, moreover, are not considered to be re-incar-
nated atmu. Totemism and animal worship are two different ideas.
Thus we come to the important conclusion that among the
Akamba there exists a belief in the transmigration of souls side
by side with totemism, and independent of it. Frazer cites some-
thing similar from the Bahima, east of Uganda, and with reason
indicates that the conception is strong evidence against the theor-
ies that would trace the totemism of the Bantu peoples to the
belief that the souls of the dead take up their abode in animals.
With the conception of ai7nu is also combined that of various
animals who are looked upon as the domestic animals of the
spirits or even as their household property. Thus the elephant is
sometimes called the »spirits' cattle», and the medicine man, as
he more than any other is in communication with the spirit world
and is the connecting link between it and mankind, may not kill an
elephant. The common little land tortoise is said to be used by
the spirits' wives as a grindstone when they grind their seed into
flour. It is beheved that this, like the elephant, cannot die a
natural death. The praying grasshopper (Mantis religiosa) is u.sed
by the male spirits as a snuff-box (!) and a smaller species by
their women ^. This is thus called in East Ukamba simply mwa'ggt
wa aimu 'the spirit's snuftbox', to which the etymology of mu^-
gaimu, the term in use in the west (Machakos), may also be re-
ferred. That in this word as well we are dealing with atmu, the
spirits, is obvious at once. Further, the spider's net is called the
^ I remember in passing that Mantis plays a certain part in the

religions conceptions of the Bushmen and also of the South African Bantu
peoples. See, for instance, Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe II,
p. 312-
sack {kiondo) of the spirits. woman

These small insects are not
killed without reason. A
good many of the conceptions asso-
ciated with them seem nowadays to be partly regarded as jokes.
They also seem to be dying out and are probably relics of older
superstition, now almost forgotten.
From what has been said, it is seen that the aimu can show
a certain friendly interest in their descendants. For instance, they
sometimes give information, through a medium, of an impending
attack by the Masai, and in the next chapter we shall read how
they play an Akamba's treatment of the
important part in the
sick, as all knowledge about healing plants is thought to come
from them and to be communicated by them to certain persons.
The most characteristic feature of the conception of atmu is,
however, that they are considered to expect constant attention
from their living relations, in the form of sacrifices. The sacrifice
is a which the atnm need; by it also the connection with
gift
them is maintained and strengthened. The least inattention in

this respect is avenged by the sending of all sorts of misfortunes
down upon the negligent one," such as diseases of both men and
domestic animals, and even death. Therefore, when an accident
happens, it is feared that it is caused by the atmu. A case that
came under my own notice may be cited. Once, on paying a
visit to a hut, I found that a little child that had been running
about and playing, had chanced to fall into the fire. The child's
father then went to the medicine-man to find out whether, for
some reason or other, the spirits were angry.
The result of these beliefs is that the natives never know whether
they have sacrificed enough, and so they live in a constant state
of anxiety lest they shall incur the displeasure of the jealous
and capricious spirits. and from experience
Judging from this fear
of many primitive peoples in other parts of the world, one might

be led to suppose that the Akamba avoid naming deceased per-
sons, so that their attention may not be unnecessarily attrac'êd.
I haye not, however, found anything to support such a supposition ^.
^ According to Frazer, The Golden Bough II, p. 353, J. M.

Hildebrandt points out a similar fear among the Akamba of mention-
ing the dead by name. On the page quoted (Ethnogr, Notizen &c, p.
405), however, Hildebrandt speaks of the Masai, not of the Akamba.
Religion 215
In spite of the native's respect for the aitnu and their power to
do practically anything, he also believes that he can deceive them
when necessary, and often by very simple means. This is undoubt-
edly on account of the everyday human traits ascribed to the
spirits. To quote an example, I once asked a woman why she
called her boy mbitt 'hyena', for hyenas are loathed above
little
all other animals by most African peoples, since they eat corpses.
She then said that she had already had three children who had
died in infancy. In her opinion —
and every other native would
reason in the same way —
so many deaths could not be natural
occurrences, and for some reason or other the aimti must grudge
her her happiness. So when her fourth child was born, she called
it » hyena », in order to give the spirits the idea that she cared
no more about the child than about a hyena. The idea was that
the atmu would, as a consequence, not consider it worth while
to take that child from her also.
It may be indicated as still another feature of the concep-
tion of aimu that they are considered to be subject to the laws
of mortality. Those who have existed for a time are believed
to disappear and to be replaced by new ones, which vanish
in their turn. The reason is probably that when one generation
of natives has died out, the spirits that they believed in and fear-
ed are soon forgotten, since the succeeding generation have others^.
Hobley says that the aimu » never are seen in human form».
However, one very often meets with natives who assert that
they have met spirits at night-time. They most often appear in
human shape, and the forms in which they like best to present
themselves are those of unusually tall, one-legged beings. On the
mountain Kaani, on the road to Kitui, it is said that two one-
legged spirits often appear, one a youth and the other a girl.
^ » Their life after death is vaguely dependent on the memory of

the living. When people forget an ancestor, he practically ceases to
exist». Kidd, The Essential Kafir, p. 88. The Wadjagga in Kili-
mandjaro even designate the spirits of the present and past times with
different names. »Das sind die jfingeren vorfahren, zu welcher die
kenntnis der Jebenden noch hinabreicht. Man nennt noch ihre namen
Oder wenigstens ihre wurden. Altere geschlechter der toten, die dem
gedachtnis der lebenden entschwunden sind zeigen sich auch den . . .
menschen nicht mehr»: Gutmann, Dichten und denken der Dschagga-

neger, pp. 144, 145.
6
21 Lindblom; The Akamba
They stop travellers and ask them where they are going. Many
places, especially of course the places of sacrifice, the special
haunts of spirits, they dare not pass at night; though the Akamba
themselves say that the spirits do not appear nearly so often since
the arrival of Europeans in the country. The American mission
station at Machakos is built on an old place of sacrifice, and the
atmu are said to have been specially troublesome just there be-
fore the arrival of the missionaries, while they have now com-
pletely vanished. The popular conception of ^zw« much resembles
that of our ghosts, and like the latter, the aimu preferably appear
before midnight. The information that is to be obtained on these
matters from other sources .supports the assertion that the idea
that thedead occasionally reappear is generally spread among the
Bantu peoples^.
2. The cult of sacrifice.
What has just been written with regard to the fear of the atmu
and the necessity of constantly propitiating them, is an essen-
tial point in the manism of Akamba, and one upon which
the
their cult of sacrifice is founded. The sacrifices consist entirely
of food, and stress must be laid on the fact that the spirits are
thought really to need material nourishment. They feel hunger,

thirst and cold, just as human beings do. Further, to show what
a general human conception the Akamba associate with aunu, the
following interesting account may be quoted from Brutzer. A
medicine-man is giving instructions to the atunfha: »Geht auf den
opferplatz des N. N., baut die hiitte des N. N., welche einge-
fallen ist. Er schlaft draussen, und weil er draussen schlafen
muss, wird kein regen fallen, damit er nicht votn regen beregnet
werde. Bringt ihm auch speise, er hat grossen hunger. Bringt
ihm auch samen zum saen»^. The signification of part of the
above is explained by the account given below.
In addition to these sacrifices, made with the more general
purpose of keeping the spirits good-tempered if the expression —
may be used —
sacrifices are also made with a definite pur-
^ Cf. Gutmann ibid. p. 144. A. Werner, British Central Africa,

p. 66. H, H. Johnston, British Central Africa, p. 449.
^ E. Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube bei den Kamba, p. 7,
Religion 217
pose, in difficulty or distress, or when something particular is
desired, which can be obtained with the help o^ atmu. In a poorly

watered country, such as Ukamba, with its oft-recurring droughts,
which, as we have seen, bring famine to thousands and thousands-
of people, they have, unfortunately, all too often great reason for
offering sacrifices for rain, of which more later on. On the whole,
the Akamba are diligent in offering sacrifices, and it would be-
^^' 1 r'J>-
i,'^
1
.V
Fig. 55. Sacrificial hut, situated in a grove. It contains a sacrifice im

the form of corn and at the entrance is placed some sugarcane.
(The white object is the author's hat.)
difticult to give an exhaustive account of all the occasions on which

sacrifices ought to be made. We content ourselves with appen-
ding a summary of the most important and typical cases. For
the sake of surveyability and clearness, we divide the sacrifices
into such as are offered by private individuals or families, and
such as are offered by all the inhabitants within a certain radius.
This principle of division cannot always be said to apply, and
sometimes it is difticult to differentiate.
A. Sacrifices by individuals. Among the Bantu peoples
in general, the cult is intimately bound up with family life, andi
2i8 Lindblom, The Akamba
is exercised by the fathers. In every Kamba family offerings

are made regularly at every meal. They consist of a little food
and drink placed on the floor of the hut. This is done by the
father; a son cannot offer sacrifices as long as his father lives, nor
can a woman, except in special cases, and then only when the
medicine-man so directs. When meat is eaten, fourteen small
pieces are offered; if a male relative is there on a visit, he offers
seven pieces and the host seven. At drinking-bouts, beer-brewing,
snuff-making, &c., a little is The beer that is offered
also offered.
is called k'hâ'^^gona kyx uki. The medicine-man in particular, when
he is drinking beer, always pours out a little as a gift to the atmu.
We have already seen that family sacrifices are made on other
occasions — births, deaths, &c.
When passing a place of sacrifice they usually throw a little
food there, such as a pinch of tobacco or some other trifle, espe-

cially if they are out for some real purpose, such as seeing to
their beehives out in the desert. It is also very usual for them
to throw a stone there, a custom that is, of course, known among
various races. To this ritual use of stones we shall return at the
end of the next chapter.

Anyone undertaking a long journey offers several sacrifices
on the way. He offers the first at home in the village, and the
next at tê exit to the village, just as he is leaving it. When
crossing the first river he comes to, he offers a little of the food
he has with him for the journey on both banks. The quantity of
the offering is always insignificant: a few grains of maize, a pinch
of flour, a few drops of gruel from the travelling calabash, etc.
This is not, as Hobley suggests \ an act of worship of the spirits
of the river; as far as I can discover, the Akamba have no con-

ception of such spirits, nor indeed of nature spirits in general.
Instead the sacrifice is, as is usually the case, offered to the aimu
•or "ggax, which here means some well-known deceased caravan-
leader, to obtain protection during the journey. In olden times
especially, when they used to take ivory and cattle down to the
coast, often in large caravans, they used to offer sacrifices at many
places on the way. The great caravan-route to Mombasa led (in
East Ukamba) over the mountain Mwathe, south-east of Ikutha,
^ Hobley, Akamba, p. 57.

9
Religion 2 1
and there travellers used to smear a rock with fat, as an offering

to the departed caravan-leaders who in old times successfully led
their following to the journey's end, in spite of lurking Galla and
Masai. The old highway fell into disuse when the Uganda rail-
way was built, but the cave on Mwathe is still smeared with fat
by those who journey by.

B. Public sacrifices. In addition to the private cult of sacrifice
practised within the family circle, is found another, more public, cult,
which is con;imon to all the inhabitants within a certain area. Prominent

among these sacrifices are such as are occasioned by special con-
ditions, such as a threatened epidemic, a delay in the rains, &c.
Offerings are then made to a deceased medicine-man or some
other prominent person, who, during his life-time, played a part
outside his immediate family circle. To these atmu, sacrifices are
offered at ^cemba 'to
certain places of sacrifice, called i^cembo (<
sacrifice'). Sometimes these places are situated on or beside the
grave of the person in question, sometimes on some other spot
which is supposed to be a haunt of aimu, and which is usually
a thick copse with one or more large trees, preferably wild fig-
trees (inumbo or mumo, different species) 1. In East Ukamba,
where these trees are not so common, sacrifices are offered among
the rocks, or at the foot of baobab trees, where the dead are
often laid. The places of sacrifice have names. Thus one at
Machakos is called simply mumbom, at the fig-tree' another ;
is called kasumbani, 'by the little hut' (diminutive of nvumba

'hut'), in reference to the little hut which is often built over
graves. There are an abundance of tpcembo, and near Machakos
there are several with only a few minutes' walk between them.
Families living close together (those who have a common open
place or pomd) not infrequently use one and the same place of
sacrifice.
Even seem to be used as places of sacrifice. As least
cellars
the author knows one near Ngelani, north of Machakos, va which
they were said to place offerings.
One searches through the whole Bantu world in vain to find
any fixed or periodically recurring religious festivals that are
^ The fig-tree is sacred in many parts of Africa, and also beyond

the bounds of this continent. Cf. A. Werner, The natives of British
Central Africa; and Frazer, The Golden Bough I: 2 (see Index).
celebrated by the whole tribe. The Kamba medicine-man usually

decides when it is time to offer sacrifices within a certain district.
He may not, however, officiate at the sacrifice himself; this is man-

aged by certain old men and old women called atutma ma
ipcBinbo and tQcBtt s\a ^pcembo, or t6{sti*sxa nzama^. Only older men
and women can attain to this dignity. Besides, the leading men in
the nzama ought also to be the most prominent at the ipismbo, so that
fig. 56. Place of sacrifice at the foot of a figtree.

Note a skull and bones of sacrificed animals.
the atumia of the nzama and the atuima of the vpcembo can hardly
be looked upon as two separate groups. On the contrary, I have
shown in Chap. X that the management and exercise of religion
are among the duties of the nzama. Consequently those who, by
paying large fees, have become prominent in the nzama, also play
a role at the places of sacrifice. The fees paid fall partly to the
tpcBmbo and its members; if the animals are not all sacrificed at
^ The expression iQcett sm nsama is somewhat misleading, and

must not be taken to mean that these women are attached to the courts
which is not at all the case.
Religion 221
once, they are kept till another time. A father and son cannot
belong to the tfeembo at the same time; the son can only become
a member when the father has retired on account of natural infirmities.
If a woman wishes to be k'hQceti kia nzama, her husband must
present the male members of the ipcejnbo with goats and beer, and
the female members with bananas, beans, and other field products.
When the new member of the tizama goes to the ipcembo for the
first time, her husband gives her a goat to take with her. The
people then see her new dignity and say: »Look! N. N's mother
has become k^GcEti kha nzavia^->. An old woman described to me
the occasion when her mother and the women of the same genera-
tion obtained entrance to the nzama. A festival called mboka was
celebrated. The woman procured beforehand a great number of
bananas, »to the value of from three to four goats», which were
put into calabashes and, in the usual way, put down into the
earth to ripen. On the day appointed, the old women who al-
ready belonged to the »?ia»m, came to the village, danced kUtam, and
slept there overnight. The next day the atumta of the nzama came
to drink beer, large quantities of which had been brewed, and
the youths and girls also gathered in the village for dancing.
The owner of the village slaughtered an ox, of which the men
ate one side and the women the other, sitting by their respective
fires. The members of the nzama slept in the village. The next
morning the young people returned to the village to dance, and
then the bananas, mboka (i. e. vegetables), from which the festival
with its accompanying dances has got its name, were eaten. Now-
adays bananas are not so extensively used as formerly, because,
it is said, they are too expensive, nor are they so plentiful as
they were^.
A sort of novice grade for atum%a of the ^pcsmbo is anakd of
the tpcBjnbo, also called atmma amm 'the little atumia'. Their func-
tion is to help the older ones. They buy up beer on their ac-
count and take it to the place of sacrifice. There they flay the
sacrificial animal, roast the meat, and wait on the atmma while
they are eating. It costs only one goat to obtain this dignity.
^ As memory
of this custom the word mboka is still used by
a
the older women
with the signification of dancing in general (instead
of the otherwise usual wapt), an expression which one cannot under-
stand unless one knows of the old custom just described.
What is the method of procedure, then, wheri offering at

the }pcembo} The sacrificial animal, whether goat^, bull-calf, or ox
(they grudge killing cows being
a cow-calf even for the spirits,
their most precious possession, which they can give up only in

case of absolute need) is killed by a mutmma in the usual way,
by suffocating it, after which it is flayed and cut up. The skin is
given to a member of high standing, but he often has to pay a
goat for it. The meat may only be cut by a mutufma. Part of
it is laid at the foot of the tree as the sacrifice, and blood and
beer are poured on the trunk. The greater part and, as I think
I have shown, the best pieces, are eaten by those present, for a
sacrificial meal is part of all primitive sacrifices. For the persons
offering sacrifices to appropriate the best pieces themselves is
nothing new; on the other hand, religious historians do not agree

as to the reason for this, and I do not venture to put forward
any hypothesis in the case of the Akamba^. After the atmma
have sacrificed, the old women offer various products of their
work, in the field (maize, sorghum, beans, flour, &c), after which
they march in procession round the tree. Not infrequently a little
hut, about a meter in height, is built on or near the grave to
which the sacrifice is being made, and then the offering is laid
there. Such huts are simplified models of the ordinary dwelling

huts, but they are quite bare.
During the sacrificial meal which now follows, the members
of the nzama sit nearest the tree, men and women separate. A little
further away sit the other married persons, and finally, behind
them, the young people. Those who do not belong to the 'kpcsmbo
may not approach the tree, even if they are atumta. The viola-
tion of this rule is punished by a fine, usually a goat.
The medicine-man occupies a unique position at sacrificial
feasts. As has already been mentioned, he decides when they
shall take place, since the spirits speak through him, but other-
wise he plays an unimportant part in them; and even if he is an
old tnututma of high standing, he may not present the sacrifice
or cut the meat. In many ways he is in the position of a minor;
»he is like a child » {ni ta kana), as the natives say.
^ As is well known the goat especially is in Africa used to a

great extent as a sacrificial animal.
^ Cf. P:n Nilsson, Primitiv religion, p. 124.
Religion 223
On the whole, all sacrificial ceremonies are carried out in the

same way, but no fixed rites or formulas exist.
The Akamba are diligent sacrificers, and round the ipcembo there
lie many skulls and bones of sacrificed animals, and the ground is
covered with a thick layer of mouldered grain &c, especially at
an ancient place of sacrifice that has been used for generations.
However, the sacrifices are not excessively costly; from ten to
twelve atwma, perhaps, have a share in the sacrificial animal, and
besides most of them
that, take part in the meal. Formerly the
herds seemhave been bigger and then it was not unusual for
to
one man alone to offer a goat, which does not happen so often
nowadays at the public sacrifices. Sometimes animals other than
goats and cattle are sacrificed, such as sheep and fowls; though
in such cases it is always the medicine-man that gives express
instructions to this effect. Milk is offered on behalf of the cattle,
so that they may not be mauled by wild animals.

An ipismbo may be moved from one place to another, which
is done by the atuima who officiate at it. At Machakos, where
the African Inland Mission Station on a place of sacrifice,,
is built
the latter was moved, so that they might be less disturbed. At
many tpcsmbo's, a clay vessel is found buried in the ground, containing
a goat that had been buried by suffocation.
alive in it, or killed
This vessel moved when the place of sacrifice is changed.
is
Brutzer describes how a private place .of sacrifice, built by a

man in memory of his dead wife, was moved from the mission
station of Jimba, situated at the coastland within Mombasa^. The
man had moved and now wanted to transfer the sacrificial place,
which was situated under a shady tree, to his new dwelling-place.
He made his appearance, accompanied by his three wives, began
to dig the ground up and after some searching found the objects
he wished to take with him, which turned out to be three small
stones and three sticks. »The stones were pieces of the three big
stones on which the deceased had prepared food. These are the
essential things. They are a symbol to show that the woman is
still present at the place. The three sticks either belonged to her
hut or were the remains of the little place of sacrifice that the
survivors had erected over the three small stones and in which
^ Brutzer, Begegnungen mit Akamba, p. 16.

they have been accustomed to place sacrifices to the spirit. » The

women took possession of the and then the four went ofif
relics,
to build up the sacrificial place again in the neighbourhood of

their new village.
The sacrifice of children was formerly practised in times of

severe visitations, when it was necessary to propitiate the spirits
in an exceptional manner, especially in cases of continued drought.
The child required for the purpose was kidnapped, often from the
Kikuyu country. Round Machakos,
a child was taken from the
rain clan {mba-tnbua), and the mother received goats in compensa-
tion for her loss. The child was smeared with fat and buried
alive with the goat, also alive, at the t^cetnbo^. In East Ukamba a
child seems always to have been taken from the ae\-c\z.w, also called
mulata tGta (see p. 125), which has on this account been given a
third name, mba-nzikiva {<])ika 'to bury')^.
It is' an acknowledged fact that everything new and strange
inspires fear in primitive peoples. At the sight of or on meeting
anything new and unusual, the Akamba generally offer sacrifices,
so that the new thing' may not excite the wrath of the spirits.
Such an event was the building of the Uganda railway, since it

was thought that »that rope of iron» laid across the country
would prevent the rain from coming. Sauberlich, the missionary
in Mulango, told me that some years ago a lame native with an
unusually small, dwarfed foot passed through the country. He

was stopped and not allowed to proceed until he had paid a
goat as an offering to the aimu. And when the flag-staff at the
•Government station at Kitui was raised, sacrifices were diligently
offered in the whole country round' about. This long thing that
pointed straight up into the air would certainly keep the rains
away, it was believed. Krapf tells how the Akamba said that,
^ Rubbing with fat, which, as we have already seen, is practised

on many occasions by the Akamba, is also found in other places, and
has undoubtedly a magic-religious significance. Cf. Me in h of, Afri-
kanische Religionen, p. 32.
^ I have not heard the word used in Ulu, but both J. Hofmann
and S. Watt include it in their vocabularies (W6rterbuch der Kamba-
sprache, 1901 —
in M. S. — and Vocabulary of the Kikamba lan-
guage). Loan word from Kisuaheli?
Religion 225
on account of his arrival, the rains would not come, for which
reason they killed a sheep and sprinkled the path with its blood.
For the sake of clearness, I will make an addition to

the above description of aiinu. In the Akamba's rich treas-
ury of folk-lore there is a characteristic type of story, in
which the leading role is played by a monster called nmu, who

usually appears in human or some similar form. This monster
also appears in other East African peoples' folk-lore; in spite
of the similarity of name, seems to have nothing to do with
it
amtu, spirits. This is confirmed by the Kikuyu language, in which

the word for spirit is 'ggoma, while the fabulous figure is called
ilimu^. The Akamba's fables about nmu seem most nearly to
resemble our own about giants and ogres. The heroes in the
former are usually of supernatural strength, but at the same time
stupid, just like the giants in our fairy tales. They are also often
man-eaters. JTuman beings get into diff"iculties through them, but
nearly always extricate themselves by their ready wit.
3. Tales about flfw«-spirits.
In order to illustrate further the conception of amiu, I may be
allowed to insert some tales about which are considered by

spirits,
the natives to be really true and not legendary. These tales may
lack scientific value and tend to give the treatise the character of
a mere assemblage of material, but since no one seems to have
discovered them before me, their insertion here may be to some
extent justified.
I. Near the railway station of Kibwezi there is a rubber
plantation belonging to a German company. Some time ago the
manager decided to enlarge the area planted with rubber trees, and
therefore began to clear a piece of forest. One day when the
work was in full swing, the native workmen heard a voice, and
^ Cf. Routledge ibid. p. 315 ff., which contains a couple of

tales about ilimu. For iritnti among the Wadjagga, cf. Gutman,
Dichten und Denken der Dschagga-Neger, p. 59.
saw a little man sitting in a tree (a rather usual form of appari-

tion for the atmu in these tales). He asked why they were
clearing the ground, them to touch certain
and sternly forbade
trees, among them was sitting. They reported
the one in which he
the matter to their master, but he gave them strict orders to
proceed, and they dared not refuse to do so. The result was
that all the workmen died at their work, and the remains of their
bones lie there to this day. Some time afterwards, the European
fell ill —
the climate in Kibwezi is very unhealthy went to —
Mombasa to be nursed, but died there.
2. One evening a woman in the neighbourhood of Machakos
heard the dull sound of the women's spirit-drums, and decided
to proceed to the village from which the sound seemed to come.
When she there, everything was quiet and still, but she
arrived
clearly drums
heard the a little further away. She continued to
follow them, but the same thing happened again, and then she
realised that it was the spirits.
3. One evening a youth was sitting alone at home in his

hut. Then someone outside called him by name, and said: »Let
us go to N. N's village, where the others have gone!» Believing
it to be one of his friends, he went out to see, but no one was
there.
4. Mbota, an old man of repute in the neighbourhood of Ma-

chakos, and one of the Government »headmen», woke one night
and saw a form sitting by the nearly extinct fire with its back to him.
Thinking it was his wife sitting up late and working at plaiting a bast
sack, he took his bow and struck her. When the supposed wife
turned round, he saw a human, half
wonderful creature, half
animal. »Why do you it asked. Mbota asked
strike me?^>
pardon for his mistake, and the spirit disappeared. The next day
Mbota slaughtered a bull and began a feast of atonement, which
lasted several days; but before the end of the year one of his
sons died.
5. The following is a story that shows how the spirits can
sometimes help their relations who are still living:
Quite near the mission station of Mulango at Kitui there is
the little hill Nengia, surrounded by cultivated fields. From olden
times the hill has been a place of sacrifice and aimu are believed
to haunt it in great numbers. One evening shrill cries of help
Religion 227
were heard to come from there, and when people rushed there,
they saw that the ripe crop in the field at the foot of the hill
was in There were, however, a whole lot of people al-

flames.
ready there trying to put out the fire, which had started because
the proprietress of the field had lit a heap of dry leaves and
other rubbish. Of the people who were putting it out a number
were recognised as recently deceased relations, all the rest were
unknown. But it was understood that they were spirits who had
gathered togheter to stop the destruction that threatened their
dwelling-place. The unknown people were thus spirits of earlier
generations, who had died so long before that no one
persons
then living remembered them. The woman who had caused the
fire was sentenced by the elders to pay a goat, which, to propi-
tiate the spirits, was killed on the hill, and this was sprinkled with
The following stories are more avowed fables.
6. Into the River Tiva, a little north of Ikutha, falls the

stream Witu. The word is the collective form of the word (ztui
'girls', name which the stream, previously nameless, is said to
a
have received from the following circumstance: A number of girls
were once working in the adjoining fields, when they were sur-
prised by a violent thunderstorm, from which they sought shelter
in a cave by the stream. Then an ant-lion {kakwoOwggii^) came
creeping towards the entrance, but was driven back by some of the
girls. The animal again tried to enter, but was again driven out.
When this was repeated, someone said: »0h, this is the owner
of the cave. Let us go away,
must be a spirit*. In spite of
it
the bad weather, several of the girls went out again, but those
who had driven out the ant-lion did not trouble to move. The
girls had scarcely got out, before the walls of the cave collap-
sed, so that of the entrance only a narrow crack remained. The
other girls ran home at and
what had happened.
once related
The atuni'ia at once set out for the place, but nothing could be done.
For a time the imprisoned girls were kept alive by having food
passed to them with long spoons, but at last they all died. Thus
was their unkindness punished by the ant-lion.
^ < kukwa 'to die' and ttOu^gu 'lie'. So called because it pre-
ends to be dead when one touches it.
7. A couple of hours' journey east of Kitui lies a solitary

high and steep rock,Nsambani ('among the males'). It is
i>hunned by the Akamba, because it is considered to be a haunt

of aimu. Anyone offering sacrifices to them and then walking
round the rock changes sex; thus a man becomes a woman and
vice versa.
8. In the neighbourhood of the above-mentioned rubber
plantation at Kibwezi there is a round pond, which is regarded
with superstitious fear, and considered to be the haunt of de-
parted spirits. The legend of this pond is as follows: In by-gond
limes a village stood here, whereas now there is only a muddy
sheet of water, at times disturbed by a crocodile or two that
3urk in the depths. One dark and rainy evening, a frog came
hopping into one of the huts. Among the Akamba this is an
evil omen, and the frog was driven out by the children it came ;
back and was again driven out. It tried another hut, but with the
same result. In a third it was driven out once, but when it came
again, the mother told her children to leave it in peace and let
it warm itself quietly by the fire. The frog warmed itself by

the fire and then began to talk to the woman: »Take as many of
your household goods as you can carry, and leave this place with
your children without delay, I shall destroy the others for their
unkindness; I am a spirit». The woman obeyed, and when they
reached the pomd (the open place outside the village where the men
usually sit), they heard a rush as of an enormous volume of
water. They saw the village sink into the depths and all the
inhabitants drowned. However, they still live down there, for in
the morning is often heard the crowing of the cock or the bleating
of the goats, and in the evenings the light of the fire on the pomd
sometimes shines up. The owner is called Kilui, and the place
Kilui's pond. It is shunned, and no one will clear a field at its
edge, although water is so scarce in these parts. In times of
severe drought, the elders take a goat to the spot and bury it
alive there, as a sacrifice to the spirits.

Hobley has recorded several »legends connected with azmu
beliefs »^
^ Hobley, Akamba p. 86 ff
Religion 229
4. Spirits other than aitnu.
A sharp distinction should be made between aimu, the spirits

of ancestors, and mbcedo, though many Akamba do not trouble to
make any distinction in everyday speech. The latter are spirits
from the neighbouring tribes, Akikuyu, Masai, Galla, Wanjika,
&c^. Spirits of Europeans are even met with. The Akamba do
not worship any of these spirits, but the latter often plague their
women, and must then be driven off with great trouble. To these
foreign spirits belong the aimu ma kUt'ggo, which were specially
troublesome some years ago, and caught people during the kies7i
dance, of which more below. These spirits came to the country
with the Europeans, and it is not known where they have their
haunts.
Hobley tells of anotfier sort of spirit: »It appears that, quite
apart from the ordinary aimu there is another class of

spirits aimu ya kitombo
called they are evil spirits, and
are supposed to be the disembodied relics of people who have
killed their neighbours by the help of black magic»^. In spite of
assiduous search, I have not found a native or a missionary who
knew anything about this sort of spirit. The only result of my
was the information that kitombo is a sort of dance, which
inquiries
went out of fashion about 1908^. Since, however, spirits of differ-
ent kinds make their appearance every now and again in Ukamba,
as, for example, the aimu ma k'hti'ggo just mentioned, and their
presence is expressed in dances, it is not unlikely that we are

here in the presence of such a temporary plague of spirits, which,
in all its varying forms, one may very well look upon as a sort
of psychical disturbance. In any case, the sort of spirits mention-
ed by Hobley is not generally typical of the Akamba's belief
in aimu.
In Kikumbuliu they also knew of another kind of possession,
called kisulia, which was also caused by foreign spirits, though I
^ Spirits from the last two tribes only seem to appear in the most
easterly part of the country. The Akamba in Ulu live too far away
to be able to have any communication with them.
- Hobley, Akamba p. 85.
3 According to Hofmann's dictionary, tomba means 'to bow'.
could never out which. This annoyance was particularly

find
feared, was considered that the woman possessed could be
as it
made barren. The spirit was exorcised in the usual manner by

drumming, and in addition a goat was killed, with the blood of
which the possessed person was smeared. When she fell on the
ground with convulsive spasms, she was given some light blows
with a stick that had been rubbed with maGuo, a kind of 'gondm,
prepared from several different plants and specially potent in its
effect. Only a few get to know its ingredients and the method
of preparing it, so that it commands a comparatively high price
(about 5 rupees). According to another description in a certain
case the inaGuo was placed in a vessel of water, a hen was killed,
and its blood, together, with three small feathers from the bird's
belly,was added to the ôndia. The vessel was raised three times
to the mouth of the sick person, but she ^was allowed to drink only
at the fourth time. During three days they then danced to the
accompaniment of the spirit drum, and on the fourth the patient
was washed with ma()uo over the whole body. As a protection
against a renewal of the attack she got three small amulet bags
(i}i6t^gi'u), filled with ma6uo.
Finally, for the sake of completeness, it should be pointed
out in this connection that, irrespective of manism and the belief
in ynbceGo, the Akamba do not seem to believe in other sorts
of spirits. Conceptions of demons and nature spirits, spirits in forests
and water-courses, among rocks and on mountains, &c, seem to

be unknown, unless one reckons the fabulous figure iimu dealt
with above.
5. Exorcism of spirits and religious dances.
A. Exorcism of attntl. In the Akamba's worship of spirits, danc-

ing is an important feature, whether it is a question of healing a person
possessed — that is to say, of driving away a troublesome spirit — or,
on the other hand, of getting into communication with the spit it-world
voluntarily, to question the spirits about something one wants to
know. This is done mostly by medicine-men. Thus in dancing
one gets into that ecstatic condition in which one comes into
communication with the spirits more easily. The ecstacy is cer-
tainly brought about principally by the music which accompanies
Religion 231
the dancing — the dull, monotonous sound of the great spirit-
drum, kipcsmbd. The use of the drum at spirit seances is, as is
well known, widely spread, and reaches its climax in the shaman-
ism of Northern Asia^.
The dance connected with the worship of the atmu is called
kilumi, and we have already seen that they believe that the
spirits themselves enjoy passing their time in dancing it. In con-
Fig. 57. Women assisting an exorcism of spirits.
sequence people often dance without any special object, just to

please the spirits, wherefore ktlumt should be considered a part
of the cult, especially as it is customarily danced when the sacri-
fice is produced
on the place of sacrifice, k'hhimt is danced by
the medicine-men and the older women, and a few atumta
\ usually take part also. But if a young girl is seen dancing kilumt
by day, she is certainly possessed of an atmu. This is shown by
hysterical epileptic fits of very varying degrees of intensity. The
^ Cf., for example, J. Stadling, Shamanismen i Norra Asien, p. 68 ff.

93^ Lindblom, The Akamba
most usual symptoms are spasmodic twitchings of the body and

the uttering of shrill cries of »iii, iii!». The spirit does not settle
in any particular part of the body, but the head is considered to

be attacked most, » since the possessed person behaves like one
deranged*.
I will now describe a couple of cases:
On July 5, 191 1, a great kilumi was held near Machakos.
Fig. 58. Women dancing the Mumi.
A very old woman had become possessed by airnu, who, using

her as a medium, conveyed to the people the intelligence that
they should stay at home for the next ten evenings and nights,
if they did not wish to risk meeting spirits in the tracks. The
medium was so feeble that she could not take part in the dancing,
in which the person possessed is usually the central figure, but
she was placed apart, surrounded by a few women, who carefully
listened to her disconnected talk — that is to say, what the spirits
were supposed to speak through her. In the kilmm, which was

held near the village of the person possessed, only a small
Religion 233;
number of women took part, though a large crowd stood and

looked on, or sat on the ground occupied with their handi-
work (sack plaiiing), or looking after their babies. A little way
off sat the members of the nzama, drinking beer, while at another
place the young people were engaged in dancing. The whole
thing gave the impression of a sort of popular festival, and was
only intended to please the spirits, and not to gain anything in
particular from them.

Machakos, August, 191 1. A woman became possessed of
aimu, and word was at once sent to the atuima of the nzama, who
arranged a ktlumi and dancing for the young people. Dancing
went on for five days, the women even dancing ktlumi at night.
On the fifth day, when the spirit was considered to be driven
out, the women put Eleusine seed and millet flour in their cala-
bashes as an offering to the azmu. The person possessed then
went in a circle round the whole assembly, accompanied by two
atuima^ who poured beer on the ground, and two old women of
the i])cembo^ who sprinkled flour. Thus a protecting line was drawn
round the crowd, and the was called upon to go elsewhere.
spirit
It did not matter whether went to trouble others! The attnina

it
killed a bull, and the meat was divided among the members of the
nzaina who where present. The hide was cut into strips, which were
given to their wives to make into carrying straps &c, while the
contents of the stomach were offered to the aimu.
At another exorcism of spirits, of which I was a witness,
vondui (the usual ceremonial purifying medium) was put on all the
paths that led to the village to which the spirit had come, in-
order to prevent its returning there.

It also to be still more certain that the spirit
happens that,
shall not medicine-man sends it into an animal, such
return, the
as a goat or a sheep. One of the animal's ears is cut off and
hung round the neck of the person possessed, food is offered in
the hut, and then the medicine-man says words to the following
effect: »This goat is yours. Stop troubling N. N. further, and
go into the goatl» This method of procedure is said to have
a speedy result; whether the medicine-man uses any incantation,
I do not know. The animal is then killed and the meat offered
as a sacrifice. Before the spirit is driven away a sacrifice is also
made. It consists of food and blood of the goat mixed together

in a gourd and then poured out on the ground.
B. Exorcism of spirits of the mbceOo-type. A few of the

essential differences between atmu and mbcsOo in the beliefs of the
Akamba are as follows: The latter only plague women, while men,
even if less frequently, can also have aumi. Further, the mbceGo-
spirit usually expresses, through the woman possessed, its desire for
a certain object, while atmu more seldom make such demands. It
is also characteristic of women who are possessed of mOcgGo that,

when they come into an ecstacy, they » speak with tongues ». Usually
only inarticulate sounds are uttered, but sometimes the medium is
said to utter sentences in the language of the people to which the

spirit is thought to belong. In the Kibwezi district I really did
hear Kisuaheli spoken by a woman who was said to have a Sua-
heli spirit in her body, and who could not speak Suaheli in a
normal state, though she had of course often heard it spoken.
Pfitzinger, the missionary of the Leipzig Mission, said that he once
saw a woman that was said to be possessed of an Avah-mbisGo.
Certainly she did not utter any real words, but only sounds; yet
among them was also r, which Kamba language,
is not found in the
and which it is almost impossible for a Mukamba to pronounce.
I have not met with this myself, but many natives have told me
exactly the same thing.

We have just said that women possessed of a mbceOo have
strange desires. Thus, saw a woman who bore
in Kikumbuliu I
on her person objects from the Wasuaheli, Galla, and Masai,

which objects had all been demanded by different spirits. A Sua-
heli spirit had demanded an embroidered cap of the kind usually
worn by Wasuaheli and Arabs; the woman wore it on her head.
The Masai spirits, often wish for a piece of red cloth or a knife.
Sometimes they ask for the most ridiculous things, such as a
European shoe or knife. One day a native came running breath-
less to Sauberlich, the missionary in Mulango: his wife was pos-
sessed and must have a European plate! Sometimes a spirit will

be satisfied if the woman can only see a certain object. In one
case of which I was a witness, a Masai spear was demanded.
Since the woman's hysterical fits do not cease until the object
demanded is procured, and it is believed that she would other-
"vvise die, her husband does everything in his power to fulfill the
Religion 235
spirit's desire. This is often a costly matter, and down in Kikum-

buliu, the district in Ulu which seems to be most afflicted with
these spiritual disturbances, I know some who have paid from
twenty-five to thirty rupees to satisfy the spirit's caprices — rather
a large sum for the majority of the natives.
Although the women are more superstitious than the men, it
does happen that an intelligent and artful woman may make use
of the spirits to get her own desires satisfied. For instance, she
may for a long time have longed for a piece of many- coloured
cloth, but her lordand master has not been pleased to grant her
desire. She pretends to be possessed, makes a terrible noise, and
says that the spirit can only be appeased with a piece of cloth.
To recover his lost domestic peace the otherwise dignified Kamba
husband gives himself no rest till he has found the desired object,
then the spirit disappears. Thus it may justly be said that, even
in East Africa, woman's artfulness is more than a match for man's
wisdom.
I will quote an example of such deceitful feminine tactics
from my stay in the district of Kibwezi.
A married woman developed a great desire to eat meat —
they live principally on a vegetarian diet — and therefore asked
her husband to kill a fat buck, for which she had a special fancy.
The husband had destined that particular
refused, saying that he
animal as an offering to the arniu, the next time that one was needed.
Persuasion was of no avail, but the woman did not abandon her
plans. Some days later she was attacked by epileptic twitchings
and uttered shrill cries of »iii», the usual symptoms shown by one
possessed. The husband asked what was the matter. »It is a spirit»,
said the woman. —
»Do you know what he vvants?» »Yes, he — :
wânts that buck we were talking about*. »So be it then! Now —

that the owner has appeared, I can no longer refuse ». Then he
slaughtered the buck. When this was done, he went to a neigh-
bouring village on some errand. As soon as he had gone, the
woman ceased pretending to be possessed. Beside herself with
joy at the success of her cunning, however, she could not keep
silent, but while she hushed her child, she sang a lullaby about
how easily she could deceive her husband and how she had only
pretented to be possessed. As
would have it, her husband
ill-luck
had forgotten an axe which he ought to have taken with him,

and came back to fetch it. The wife did not notice him, and he
heard her song. Enraged at her deceit, he at once sent her back
to her father.
Exorcism of the mbcBdo is usually carried out in the following
manner: The person possessed sits on the ground with her head
wrapped in a dark cloth (at least such a cloth was used at all
the many ceremonies that I saw, but I have unfortunately neg-

lected to find out why). Those present beat their drums and
sing. The songs seem to have very little meaning, and often
consist of only a few words, which are repeated again and again.
At the exorcism of a Suaheli spirit near Kibwezi, the following
was sung: »Suaheli, you are rich, you are Kamba's brother. Give
me bracelets! » Under the influence of the songs and the sound
of the drums, life gradually returns to the woman; she tries to
get up, but is often so weak that she cannot stand. When it is
considered that the drums have been beaten sufficiently, the spirit
is questioned as to who it is and what it wants.

The methods of exorcism naturally vary in details. One man
who had gone to the medicine-man to get help for his wife, who
was possessed, was told to lay three glowing coals in a little
water, and at the same time to say to the »Go away now
spirit:
and cease to torment my wife. I will give you what you want
as soon as I can afford to procure it».
I will conclude by describing the exorcism of a Masai-spirit

at Machakos, in May 191 1, at the house of the medicine-woman
Kavuva. The proceedings were typical.
One evening I proceeded to Kavuva's hut, as several hours'
intense beating on the spirit-drums had indicated that something
was afoot. On my arrival I found the hut full of people of both
women, those of the tJ)(Bmbo. A young
sexes, though principally old
woman —
Kavuva's daughter-in-law had become possessed by a —
spirit. She sits dumb and motionless in the middle of the floor,
with her head wrapped in a dark cloth. Some men are beating
with all their might on the drums and singing a song, and all
those present join in the chorus. The noise has an intoxicating
effect on the company; wildly and more wildly are the drums
beaten, and louder and louder rise the songs. The one possessed,
who up till now has sat absolutely motionless, now begins to move.
She tries to get up, staggers, and nearly falls; but she receives
Religion 237
support till she can stand. Her eyes are shut, her face absohitely
•expressionless; she resembles one intoxicated. They bind iron
bells {kmmbd) round her arms and legs, and she begins the
usual dance by moving her body in time with the music, slowly
at first, and then more and more spasmodically. Several times
she almost falls again. This continues for a time, and when the
drummers, exhausted, cease drumming for a few seconds, she
utters weird inarticulate sounds. Now^ she kneels and dances on
the ground on her knees. She says that the spirit desires red-hot
coals (jnaka), and therefore some are taken from the hearth and
thrown in front of her. She dances on them and takes them in
her hands, without seeming to feel any pain. They tell me that
she is not injured by them; and that she does not seem to be
affected by them in the least is explained by her exalted condi-
tion; besides, the skin on the soles of the feet and the insides of
the hands is thickened by work.
Hysterical and other abnormal mental states easily work on
others. This seems to be the case especially with women. Sud-
denly another woman, a young girl, springs to her feet with pierc-
ing shrieks and begins to dance wildly; she snatches up a knife
and swings it about during the dance. She also has her eyes
shut, and moves hither and thither like a sleep-walker, swinging
her knife, which several times comes dangerously near my face.
At last both dancers sink exhausted to the ground, and water is
poured on their heads, to bring them back to consciousness.
When the one possessed has recovered a little, the question-
ing begins. She is asked what spirit she has in her body and
what it desires. To compel the possessing spirit to tell its name
is always the first condition for success in driving it away. The
questions have to be repeated many times before she answers.
At last she says it is a Masai spirit, who desires a piece of black
cloth and a club. And, although she is quite exhausted, she says
that the spirit wants more dancing, which seems to surprise
everybody.
Now Kavuva, the medicine- woman, gets up. Neither she nor
any of the other old women have taken part in the dancing up
till now. She throws a little maize and some beans on the ground
as an offering to the spirits, and smears the throats and necks of
»
those present with fat^. Then the dancing re-commences, wildly

as before. The women have bound
cow- and zebra-tails round
old
their wrists These are nearly always used in such dances
(fig. 58).
by the old women, and are undoubtedly of magic-religious signi-
ficance. Tails are also used by most medicine-men as plugs for
their divinatory calabashes.
The drums are beaten furiously, and the violent movements
of the arms cause the bells to rattle with a hissing sound. The
dance goes on again until the afflicted person again sinks to the
ground. The spirit is now and the patient is smeared
driven out,
with fat and kiutii, a sort of woodflour taken from the hole of a
certain sort of woodpecker {^goinakoim), the smell of which is
considered refreshing. Then the woman goes away to sleep, and
the next day she works in the fields as usual, as though nothing
had happened.
H. Junod in his excellent and exceptionally complete mono-
graph on the Batonga describes a kind of possession that shows
essentially the same symptoms and is treated in the same way as
the psychical phenomenon we come across among the Akamba ^. The
possessing spirits in this case are, however, less often ancestral,
but are usually those of the Zulu and Ba-Ndjao tribes. With
song, music and noise they try to make the spirit reveal his
name, »after which it »The patient was
will be duly overcome*. —
covered with a large piece of calico during the drum performances*
(p. 443). —
»In the crisis of madness the patient sometimes throws
himself into the fire and feels no hurt.» »The spirit will claim —
some satisfaction: a piece of calico of such and such a colour.
Finally the possessed one sings »generally in Zulu, and it is asserted
that, even if the patient does not know this language, he will
be able to use it in his conversation, by a kind of miracle of
tongues I » (p. 445).
C. KlBSU. Time after time remarkable psychical disturbanc-
es of a religious character pass like epidemics over the Kamba
country, only to disappear as suddenly as they came. Such a dis-
turbance was the k%esu, which raged some years ago — according to
^ The religious significance of smearing with fat has already been

emphasized.
^ The life of a South African tribe, vol. 11, p. 435 ff., and
Bulletin de la Soci6t6 Neuchateloise de Geographic X, p. 388.
Religion 239
Hobley in 1906^. It is said to have originated in Mukaa (UIu)^

where a medicine-man said that he had been commanded by the
spirits to teach the people a new (reUgious) dance. It spread from
there like wild-fire over the whole of Ulu, and even east of the river
Athi. The symptoms consisted in going into convulsions at the sight
of a European or even a pith helmet or a red fez, such as is
usually worn by the native Mohammedan. The afflicted one fell
to the ground, writhing as if suffering from violent cramp, moan-
ing and groaning. The natives in the neighbourhood of Machakos
tried to avoid the attacks — when they saw a European in the
distance —
by wrapping their blankets over their faces till he had
gone by. The person attacked was also said to have an irresistible
desire to shake hands with anyone he met, a form of greeting
not natural to the Akamba. Many natives assert that greeting by
shaking hands, which is now fairly general, originated to a large
extent from this period, although the example of Europeans
has of course helped a great deal. These were the most striking
features of kiesu, which word, however, really means a dance. The
dancers carried knives in their hands, and when the fits came
upon them, they cut themselves with the knives, »without bleed-
ing*. Similarly they are said to have carried firebrands in their
hands without being injured.
C. W. Neligan describes a case of what he calls >^kijesu cere-
mony*, which he witnessed in East Ukamba in 1908^. The person

in question was a woman, and the fit, which lasted from three
to five hours, was caused by the sight of his pith helmet. The
following day the woman had entirely recovered and took no-
notice at all of the helmet.
The meaning of the word kusu is not quite clear. Saubcr-
lich 3 connects it with kisu 'knife' (Kisuaheli), and the dancers
certainly do carry knives. Others think it is derived from the
word »Jesus», a theory which I find rather probable. I have been
able to write down a record of part of a song which is sung
during these dances, and in it they mention vzvana jesu ('The
Lord Jesus') and also "^gai ('God') »who comes to earth to purify
mankind ». It seems very possible to me, therefore, that the kustc
^ Hobley, Akamba p. lo.
^ Man 1911 (with three photographs).
3 Mentioned to the author orally.
.
•zô Lindblom, The Akamba
arose in connection with the teaching of the missionaries. The

Akamba themselves say that the spirits which, according to them,
gave rise to ktesu, came from Ulaya (Europe). It seems that only
those who believe in them are attacked. The missionaries say that
the natives who attended services at the missionary station escaped.
At the end of 191 1, a certain mental unrest arose in Kilungu
(the district south of Machakos), and the Commissioner in Machakos,
who believed that the movement was directed against the Govern-
ment, had the leaders —
some medicine-men and older women
— arrested and taken to the Government station. I have for-
gotten what the affair was all was

about, but it is certain that it
only a case of one of these periodical psychical anomalies. How-

ever, the over-excited minds soon calmed down in prison, and
when the leaders were removed, the whole thing died away.
Madmen (cf. next chap.). In all times and among all races, mental
maladies, even epileptic and convulsive attacks, have been ascribed
to spirits or demons, who have entered into the person affected^
Mental disease, madness, is called ndoka, and is considered to be
caused by spirits, so that, on the whole, madmen are treated in the
same way as those temporarily possessed. A young man called Kitalu,
at Machakos, who was was said to have his
at times deranged,
uncle's spirit in his body. Once when
saw him in a fit, the I
upper part of his body twitched spasmodically, and he wanted

to start up incessantly. His speech was very confused. One day
he paid a visit to the mission station, where he had previously
worked in the garden, and said he was the owner of the whole
property. I have seen several mad people in Ukamba; some have
been so violent at times that they have had to be tied down. No

form of worship of mad persons exists.
Prayers and sacrifices to trees. It is not unusual for pray-
ers and sacrifices to be offered to a tree, but it always seems
to be done at the command of a medicine-man, and according to
his directions. Before we consider the significance of these pro-
ceedings, I will first give the material collected.
^ Cf. R. Andrea, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, Neue

Polge, p. I ff.
Religion 241
Some one goes, for instance, to the medicine-man, to ask for

advice about a disease. He is directed to dig up some sort of
roots with certain ceremonial observances. A man in the neigh-
bourhood of Kibwezi, who w'anted a cure for his sick son, was
told to draw four lines on the ground with his fingers, in front of
the tree indicated, and then to say: »Tree! I have a sick person
at home, mundu mud (the medicine-man) has told me to come to
you to get medicine. I pray you for hpa'ggona^^ ^ After that .
he was to dig up the roots and boil them in the gruel {tisii) the
invalid was to drink. Another person had to smear ashes with
three fingers on the trunk of a tree, that was pointed out to
him. Another rather usual method is, before digging, to throw
wiw^j-seed (Eleusine) against the tree, three times from one side
and four times from the other. Once I had the opportunity of
observing a man who, standing with his back to the indicated
tree, drove an awl into its trunk, at the same time directing his
prayer to the tree ". He then goes home, to return next morning,
when he smears the trunk with fat. Then he digs up the roots.
In this case they are only used as a sort of amulet, pieces of
them being bound to the sufferer's arms and legs; thus their use
is purely magical.
We have already seen how, during the great n.'â'hko, prayers
are directed to a wild fig-tree (p. 56).
Brutzer cites some very similar examples of sacrifices and
prayers being offered to trees. Since his work is rather difficult
of access and no one else seems to have made any observations
as to these remarkable and interesting customs, I take the liberty
of quoting him, thus assembling all the material in one place:
»Den mundu niuzve [= mud] fragt man um rat, und dieser giebt
das betrefifende heilkraftige oder schiitzende kraut oder baum an.
^ kipa'ggona means sometimes » sacrifice*, sometimes » magic

medicine ».
"•^
What the object of driving in the awl is, I do not know, but
it seems tome that here we have a certain resemblance to the West
African negro who knocks a nail into his fetish. I will therefore, for
the present, suggest the following explanation : the supplicant attracts
the attention of the tree (the spirit of the tree) by driving in the nail.
That the tree may not, however, be angry at the pain he causes it,
he stands with his back to it, to give it the idea that he has nothing
to do with the proceeding.
Man begiebt sich zu demselben mit getreidekornern [cf. above

Eleusine]. Sechsmal hintereinander bewirft man den baum mit
einzelnen kornern. Beim siebenten mal wirft man den ganzen
vorrat auf den baum, grabt dann die pflanze aus und bereitet das
pulver. Oder
Also ein opfer an den baum. man begiebt sich —
zum baum mit einem feuerbrand und wasser. Dass wasser stellt
man zu boden. Geht sechsmal mit geschlossenen augen um den
baum. Beim siebenten mal stellt man sich unter den baum, schaut
nach osten und spricht mit geschlossenen augen: Baum, ich
komme, dich um eine gnade zu bitten. Ich habe einen kran-
ken und weiss nicht, was ihn krank gemacht hat. Er hat mit
keinem menschen etwas vorgehabt. Ich komme, dich um eine
gabe zu bitten. Ich komme hierher zu dir, baum, dass ich ihn
damit behandle, auf dass er genese» ^.
Thus we find that sacrifices and prayers may be offered to

trees just as to individual beings. I have not, however, managed to
obtain any clear explanation of the circumstance. The natives
only emphatically deny that the tree is thought to be inhabited
by the spirits of the departed. It is very possible that here we
have a manifestation of animism to deal with an instance of —
the worship of trees resembling that which Krapf has already ob-
served among the neighbours of the Akamba in the south-east,
the Wanyika, who, according to him, believe that every tree has
its »spirit>, and in particular offer sacrifices to the cocoa-nut tree^.
The question then arises whether the tree is thought of as the
body of the tree-spirit, or rather, as its dwelling, a thing about
which the native himself perhaps has no clear ideas ^. My pre-
vious assertion that the Akamba do not believe in nature-spirits
of any kind, hardly conflicts with this conception, since it does
not seem to be a question of such spirits here, but rather of the
vegetative vitality of the tree — it is tempting to say its »soul»,
in accordance with primitive animism, but I avoid this word, since
the natives with whom I discussed the point, denied that plants
have souls.
On the other hand, what is evident from the above quotation
is that there is a strong magical feature in this worship of trees,
^ Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube, p. 12.

^ Krapf, Travels, Researches, p. 198.
^ Cf. Frazer, The Golden Bough i: 2, p. 44 ff.
Religion 243
which is not surpribing, since religion and magic go hand in hand

during the early stages, and no sharp boundary line can be drawn
between them. We find thus that the roots are not curative in
themselves, but onlybecome so when the tree is treated in ihe
method prescribed by the medicine-man^.
6. The conception of Mulungu (Ngai).
The most puzzling question that the study of the religion of

the Bantu presents, is whether they have any belief in a Sup-
reme God.
The expression mulwggu appears in forms which do not vary
very much {inuu^qu, muru^gu, &c), more especially in the eastern
Bantu dialects. According to Le Roy, the name is to be found
in at least some 40 dialects, and this figure is certainly a mini-
mum. From the most northerly Bantu peoples, such as the Akamba,
it is met with in most places down as far as the tracts south of
Mozambique, and further in the southerly parts of the west coast.

Even in the heart of the continent it is found, as for example
among the Warundi, north of Tanganyika. I am uncertain as to
the meaning of the word. Le Roy, without producing proofs for
his assertion, translates it as, »Celui d'en haut, Celui du ciel»-
(cf. below p. 246).
Among the Akamba, Mulungu is a conception which, both

as regards meaning and name, corresponds to what is known
from so many other Bantu peoples, viz. a divinity that seems
almost impersonal, since there are no conceptions or very —
vague ones —
of its being and characteristics^.
• In spite of this.
^ It would perhaps have been more whole

suitable to include the
on the rpagic of the Akamba,
of this description in the following chapter
- Le Roy, La Religion des primitifs, p. 176 ff.
^ The lack of concreteness in the Akamba's conception of tmdwggu
as a person, appears also from the fact that, in certain contexts, the
word appears in the plural, but then it is formed according to the
second class of substantives (prefix im-), which embraces objects
without independent individual life, such as trees and parts of the
body. Then it generally means 'luck, good fortune, chance' tuuhi'ggtt :
musceo 'good luck', m. mupttku 'bad luck'. There is, besides, another
word miiluggii in Kikamba, which means 'pipe, tube', thus primarily
it cannot be maintained that the Akamba, any more than any

other Bantu peoples, conceive Mulungu as a sort of impersonal
power; that would be to ascribe to them too great a power of
abstract conception. They look upon him as the creator of all
things, and therefore call him also inumbi 'the one who fashions,
the creator' (from tiviba 'to fashion', most usually employed in the
meaning of »to fashion earthenware vessels»)^ More seldom is
found mwatwa'âgi^ 'the cleaver' (from atwa'gga ^to cleave into
pieces'), since he originally formed all living beings, »as one hews
out a stool or some other object with an axe». He is above
both ainm and all the powers of nature.
Mulungu is not worshipped at all (or at least extremely
seldom) by offering of sacrifices, nor in any other way. He
dwells in the skies at an indefinite distance, is held to be well-
disposed towards human beings, but beyond that has nothing to
do with them. » Mulungu does us no evil; so wherefore should
we sacrifice to him?» say the Akamba characteristically. This
motive for not worshipping is found among many of the Bantu
peoples, who, from the religious point of view, are undeniably
somewhat cold and practical ^.
At most it is only occasionally, and then on some .special
occasion, that they pray to Mulungu. Thus at the birth of a child.

I once heard the following prayer: ^->mwnbi, thou who hast created
a piece of bamboo or some other hollow stalk. It is not, however,

altogether impossible that originally,- in » Primitive Bantu », the two
words denoted the same idea. For in the Zulu stories we are told
that Umkulunkulu, whom we probably have to conceive as identical
with multi'ggu, came out of tithlanga, which seems sometimes to mean
ôrigin, primitive race', sometimes, which is interesting to us in this
connection, 'reed'. The word is thought to have meant originally a stem
with numerous shoots. See further Kidd, The Essential Kafir, p. loo and
W. Schneider, Die Religion der Afrikanischen Naturvdlker, p. 64.
1 Le Roy p. 174 cites identical examples from elsewhere.
2 Cf. Gutmann, Die Gottesidee der Wadschagga am Kilimandjaro,
p. 128: »Trotz aller ihren ausserungen fiber Gott ist es aber nun
tatsache, dass die verehrung Gottes nur eine geringe oder gar keine
roUe spielt. Nicht nur well er trotz aller einzelzuge ihnen ein fremdes
femes wesen bleibt, wahrend die ahnen ihnen vertraut und nahe sind,
sondern auch weil fur gewShnhch von Gott ihnen keinerlei not und
trubsal droht».
Religion 245
all human beings, thou hast conferred a great benefit on us by

bringing us this child 1»^
This prayer is remarkable, inasmuch as it is not a request,
but a thanksgiving, something which hardly occurs among prayers
to the spirits. Above all, when the life-giving rains do not come,
prayers are offered up all over the world, especially in Africa.
It is obvious that it is upon the rains that the welfare of the
agricultural negroes entirely depends. Yet these prayers are really
addressed to the aimu, even though they sometimes seem to be
addressed to the Mulungu-Ngai. They are generally offered by the old
men and women when sacrifices are made at the ipcBmbo, the places
where offerings are made to the aimu. Such a prayer for rain, which
I heard, was offered to Ngai ^. In our description of the second
nzatko, we saw that the leader of the ceremonies poured out a
little oil same time sending up
as an offering to Mulungu, at the
prayers that the novices might turn out well. For the rest, no
prayers are offered unless there is a special reason. »One does
not pray 7nana^ (i. e. for nothing, without reason), said an old man to
the author^.
A very interesting question, but one which it is scarcely pos-
sible to answer, is that concerned with the origin of the con-
ception ofa God among the Akamba. The view has often
been advanced that the conception of Mulungu, among the Bantu
peoples in general, has developed from the worship of ancestral
spirits, the original ancestor of a whole people having been finally
All the champions of this idea employ the
exalted to a divinity.
same method of proof; one may be cited here:
»Dass nun diese gottesidee der Bantu,, die jetzt allerdings be-
ziehungslos neben dem seelenkult steht, dies einst nicht tat, son-
dern dass sie aus demselben entsprungen ist und also aus ihm zu
erklaren sein wird, lasst sich zur hochsten wahrscheinlichkeit er-
heben. Es sprechen dafiir zunachst sprachliche momente. Die

genuine bezeichnung gottes im Bantu scheint in dem kafferischen
^ Kikamba : mumbi, tila wiimbaa andti ondd, nutiviktd ncesa atue-

ted kana.
"
US^h '^^^ %etad mbua ncekaete andu, nno toka kuvova mbua: »Ngai,
thou who ? the rain and bringest it to men, we have come to
. . . .
thee to pray for rain».

^ For examples of Banlu prayers, see Le Roy p. 297 ff.
Unkulunkulu erhalten zu sein. Es ist dies wort das mit dem

prafix un- versehene und dadurch substantivierte adjektiv kulti,
'gross, alt'. Die verdoppelung ist steigerung des begrififs. Unkul-

unkulu ist also wohl soviel wie der 'uralte', der 'urahn'. Dies
adjektiv hat sich nebst dem dazu gehorigen verbum in fast
alien Bantuidiomen erhalten. Dasselbe wort Unkulunkulu ist in
•der gottesbezeichnung z. b. der Suahili, Wakamba und Wapokomo
erhalten: Muungu, Mulungu und Muungo. Demnach wird es nicht
2U kiihn sein, den gott der Bantu als den geist des urahnen zu
bezeichnen, so zwar dass der zusammenhang desselben mit den von
ihm abstammenden anderen geistern dem bewusstsein verloren
gegangen ist, und er dadurch eine singulare stellung erlangt hat.
So erklart sich auch der durchaus schattenhafte charakler des
Bantugottesgedankens. Das ist die gottesidee der Bantu. Eine
veranlassung, ihn durch opfer zu verehren, besteht fur den ein-
zelnen nicht, er steht zu fern, um ihm schaden zu woUen; er denkt
sich ihn als gut»^.
The same idea championed by Keane, who relies on such
is
authorities as Bleek, Duff MacDonald, and Bentley-.

I will not, from my own experience, give any expression of
opinion as to the correctness of this idea, as far as the Bantu
Iribes in general are concerned. Several circumstances, however,
seem to indicate the incorrectness of tracing the mulungu concep-
tion back to the spirit cult:
I. is drawn
Generally, though not always, a sharp distinction
between mulwggu and aiinii. »Wenn die geister so gut waren wie
Mulungu, dann stande es gut mit uns», said one man to a mis-
sionary^.
II. According to tradition, mulwggu created the first men,
thus also the original ancestor, for which reason, as we have seen,
he can be given such a powerful »nomen agens» as » Creator ».
^ Raum, ijber angebliche Gotzen am Kilimandjaro, Globus 1904,
p. 102.
* Keane, Ancestor worship, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
vol. I, p. 194.
^ Kanig, Dornige Pfade eiaes jungen Missionars in Ukamba, p.
17. — It hardly likely that the assertions of missionaries and Moham-
is
medan natives could have given rise to this distinction. At most, con-
tact with them may have helped, in individual cases, to render more
distinct and personified the conception of mulungu.
Religion 247
III. Mulungu, »The Maker*, existed before death came into

the world (cf. below, myth II, p. 253).
IV. Mulungu is thought lo dwell in the sky » among the
clouds* {maitim), while the atmu dwell in the earth or upon it.
This difference between Mulungu and the spirits, which I have
here tried to indicate, is also made —

and on similar grounds —
by B. Gutmann in the case of the Wadjagga, a people much
resembling the Akamba in many respects^. Gutmann suggests that,
at least to some degree, the Wadjagga have taken their conception
of God fiom the Masai, although they have not adopted the Masai
name for God, 'ggai, or as Hollis writes, Eng-di. On the contrary,
the Akamba have done this in some parts, chiefly in the west,
that is to say just in the parts bordering on the Masai steppes.
It seems to me, therefore, that here they make a sharper distinction
between mubi'^gii'ggai ^"^ aimu than in East Ukamba. Since,
however, in spite of Merker's assertion, the Ngai of the Masai
(see also seems to be almost as indefinite a divinity as
below)
the Mulungu of the Bantu peoples, the loan cannot in any apprec-
iable degree have affected the Akamba's old conception of Mu-
lungu. Even the Akikuyu, who have in many respects been con-
siderably more influenced by the Masai than have the Akamba,
have adopted the word '^gai. I scarcely think that they make
any general use of the word Mulungu^.
In spite of the fact, then, that (as I think I have shown) there
really exists a difference between mulwggu and a?mu, the expres-
sions are very often used indiscriminately: inulu^gu-'gga% is used
in the same sense as aimu, and the locative form tnulwggum in
the sense of »of the spirit-world, among the spirits*^. The Aki-
kuyu say makax (the collective form of ^gax), which must be un-
^ Gutmann,
Die Gottesidee der Wadschagga, p. 131.
Dichten und Denken der Dschagga-neger, p. 183,
»
- Routledge has only Ngai. Cayzac, La religion des Kikuyu, p. 31 1,
writes as a heading: »Dieu (Ngai et Molungu, indistinctemenl)», but in
his presentation employs only »dieu». It is to be observed that Rout-
ledge and Cayzac both say that the Akikuyu usually offer sacrifices
(and pray) to God.
^ It is probably this that has misled S. Watt, in his vocabulary,
into translating muluggu by » spirit of evil». On the whole, Watt's
work betrays a certain ignorance of Kikamba.
derstood as synonymous with 'ggoma, their usual word for the spirits ^
The same indifference with regard to the differentiation of ideas
is met with among other Bantu peoples^. It would seem, however,
that the native is conscious that he has committed a lapsus. Many
a time I have heard them speak of muluugu, meaning aiinu\ but
when they have seen my astonishment, they have corrected them-
selves and employed the latter expression.
A connection in which, in West Ukamba, Ngai (not Mulungu)
seems exclusively to be used, is in speaking of rain, which is
said to be sent by Ngai (but also by mumbi 'the creator'). And
when, sometimes, for certain reasons the rain may not be men-
tioned by its ordinary name, mbua^ they call it Ngai, if they have
to speak of it (cf Chap. XIV. 5). In this case it is clear that the
Akamba's Ngai is very closely connected with the Ngai of the
Masai, as this divinity is conceived by most investigators (who
do not adopt Merker's well-known theory), namely as a vague
sky-god or as heaven itself
It is true that in this study we have nothing to do directly
with the Masai's Ngai, but since the word at least, and with it
also part of its signification, has been borrowed by the Akamba,

I will recall the fact that some investigators have compared Ngai
with the Melanesians' niana, the Dacotah Indians' wakan, &c, and
with conceptions of »power» and »the powers» in nature^. This
comparison of "ggai with mana seems to be traceable to the oft-cited
assertion made by J. Thompson: »Their conception of the Deity
seems marvellously was Ngai. My lamp was Ngai»*.
vague. I
In a word, everything new and inexplicable to the Masai, was

^gai. It is more than probable that Thompson misunderstood
them^. The present author has not been sufficiently in con-
^ McGregor, English-Kikuyu Vocabulary.

^ »The word mulungu is also used to denote the spirit world in
general, or more properly speaking, the aggregate of the spirits of all
the dead»: Hetherwick, Some animistic beliefs among the Yaos ot

Brit. Centr. Africa, p. 94.
'^
See, for example, Crawley, The tree of life, pp. 51, 234.
^ Thompson, Through Masailand, p. 44.5.
This is
^ the opinion of Mr HoUis, the well-known expert on the
Masai language and on the Masai living on English territory, whom I
met in Nairobi in 1910. See also Marret, The Threshold of Religion,
p. XVIII.
Religion 249-
tact with the Masai, nor has he a sufficient acquaintance with

their language, to be able to form a reliable appreciation of the
conception of Ngai; but as far as the Akamba's ^gal is concerned,
I have never heard the word used with a similar meaning, expres-
sing a property, either alone or preceded by a particle. My ob-
servations lead me to the conclusion that, in spite of all its unclear-
ness, Mulungu-Xgai is at most »a relatively Supreme Being », to
use Andrew Lang's expression. How, further, the natives repre-
sent this Being to their own minds is another question, which it
would certainly be difficult to answer. To analyse the idea philo-
sophically and make distinctions is beyond their capacity. At most,
a few realise that Mulungu is the Absolute (as we use the word),
who is superior to all natural and supernatural powers. What we
must remember is only that we must not base a comparison
between their idea of a God and our ow n on our own conceptions.
We now come to those who entertain great doubts about the
Bantu peoples' belief in a Supreme Being, and instead attach to
Mulungu and similar conceptions the idea of a nature-religion, ani-
mism, and so forth. For a refutation of these ideas I refer the reader
to the above-mentioned work of Le Roy, whose general presen-
tation in the main tallies with my own observations within my
limited sphere of investigation. The facts set forth by this author,
of which the most important are statements of natives belonging

to different tribes, seem to afford clear proof of the natives' belief
in a personal God ^.
And yet Le Roy seems to have taken rather a one-sided

view of his task and to have attached most importance to the
material which supported his theory. But just as we can bring
together sufficient facts to afford a conception of a personal being
— as he has done — so can we assemble other facts which sug-
gest a vague and somewhat impersonal Mulungu. His significance
varies even within the same tribe"-. This contradiction, which is
1 Le Roy ibid. p. 170 ff.
' The Jao of Brit. Central Africa seem to provide a strikingly

good example of this: »The untaught Jao refuses to assign to the word
Mulungu any idea of being or personality. It is to him more a quality
or faculty of the human nature, whose signification he has extended so-
as to include the whole spirit world. Yet the Jao approaches closely
to the idea of personality and a personal being when he speaks of
;
^5© Lindblom, The Akamba
so inexplicable for us, assuredly does not exist for the negro
he does not make the same distinction as we do between the
personal and the impersonal. The investigator who has best
understood the inner essence of the Mulungu-type and paid due
attention to all the variations and changes in the conception, is
without doubt N. Soderblom. After having passed under consider-

ation original monotheism, the nature-hypothesis, and the ancestor-
hypothesis, he sets up his own theory of »the producer* (Swed.
'frambringaren'):
»The connection between the power-matter and the creator lies
in the fact that, in both cases, a cause is sought for what other-
wise cannot be explained. For us the distinction is as clear as
possible between a sort of impersonal power, material, electricity,
and a personal fashioner, producer, a supernatural creator or father.
Mulungu, wakanda, manitu, orenda, is now a mysterious some-
thing in beings and things, now certain objects, now spirits,
now a creative being. If the primitive conception vacillates be-

tween conceptions that (for us but not for them) appear as
mutually excluding alternatives, and if that which is common to
and constant in the expressions employed, is that these expres-
sions designate the cause of that which is to be explained — then
no very intimate contact with Christianity or Islam is necessary
for the »power» to become a personal creator*^.
»The more I have occupied myself with these beings belonging
to primitive faith that resemble animals or men, the stronger
has my conviction become that these beings which formerly, and
even to-day, are advanced as a proof of an original monotheisin,
and which have later been arrayed among nature-gods or ances-
tors, could not be squeezed into any of our existing categories.
They form a category by themselves. Their peculiarity must be
respected —
to keep them distinct from other conceptions the are
<:oncerned with and at the same time to express their essence,
I would suggest the name »producers» (urheber)»".
The natives' dim conception of Mulungu and Ngai is appar-
what Mulungu is doing and has done. It is M. who made the world
and man and animals ». See further S Hartland's article » Bantu* in
Encycl. of Religion and Ethics.
^
N. Soderblom, Gudstrons uppkomst, p. 89.
- Soderblom loc. cit. p. 175.
1
Religion 25
€ntly insufficient to enable them to form any idea of the appear-

ance of this being. This may be the reason why no representa-
tion of Mulungu has, as far as I know, ever been found. On the
whole, ornaments or sculptures in human shape, such as, for in-
stance, the West African fetish images, are, as a matter of fact,
very rare among East African tribes. I found, however, in Ukamba
a figure that a medicine man had cut out on his calabash and
which he claimed to represent Ngai. He would not give up his
calabash, so I had to be satisfied with drawing the figure. In
fig. 59 a is Ngai's eye, b is his penis, »the source of all life*, c is
his three legs. Around the neck of the calabash another figure
was cut out, a circle with strokes on the inside. It represented
Fig. 59. A medicine man's representation of Ngai and Mulungu.
Mulungu, >who lives in the sea». The man thus seemed to con-
ceive Ngai and Mulungu as two different persons. My attempt
to get a clear idea of his conception was, however, in vain.
I communicate this with the utmost reservation. I look upon
the case as an isolated incident, a manifestation of a productive
brain. I also learned that the man had lived for a time at the
coast, where he had occasion to come into contact with different
races and tribes.
Finally, a considerable number of customs connected with

religion have been described in different places in the chapters of
this work, but I have not considered it expedient to take them
out of their natural contexts. The influence of religious conceptions
upon social life in all its spheres is, of course, very strong among
all peoples living in a state of nature.
Lindblom, The Akamba
7. Myths as to the origin of the world.
If one passes in review the numerous collections of folklore

of the different Bantu peoples, one cannot but be astonished
at their great lack of any feeling that causes and motives must
be found, at their great lack of any feeling that the origin of the
most important phenomena of existence needs explanation. Thus
the Akamba and many other tribes are without any myths about
the origin of Heaven and earth. Only about the creation of men
and about death have they any original myths. The cause of this
must be ascribed to the overwhelming predominance of manism
in the religious sphere.
I here append, in all briefness, the two existing myths as tO'
the origin of things.

The Creation. Of the first men, one pair, a man and
I.
his wife,came out of a termite hole {mujmmhini). Another pair,

likewise a man and his wife (the ancestors of mba-atmii), were
thrown down by Mulungu from the clouds {matum), bringing with
them a cow, a goat, and a sheep. They fell down on the rock
Nsaue, south-east of Kilungu, and there built a village. Both
pairs had children, who married among themselves and formed
new families. From some of their descendants came the Kamba
clans; others gave origin to the Masai, the Akikuyu, &c.
On Nsaue are seen some marks in the rock, which are said
to be the foot-prints of the first men and their cattle; there are
also the marks of the head of the family.
stool of the
The assumption were originally two pairs has prob-
that there
ably arisen from the institution of exogamy.
The Jao tribe round Nyassa has a similar origin-myth: »Man-
kind is said to have originated at Kapirimtiya, a hill or, as some
say, an island in a lake, far to the west of Nyassa. Here it is
believed that there is marks like the foot-

a rock covered with
prints of men and animals, and that, when men were first created,
the island was a piece of soft mud, and Mulungu sent them
across it, so as to leave their footmarks there, before they were
dispersed over the world. One native account says that 'they
came from Heaven and fell down upon the earth': another that
they came out of a hole in the rock, which was afterwards closed
Religion 253
l)y the people of Mulungu', and is now in a desert place towards

the north »^
The coming of death to mankind. Death as something
II.
inexplicable is by different peoples attributed to the Creator.
When Mulungu created man, he resolved to endow him with

immortality. The chameleon was known to him as a certainly
slow but very reliable being, for which reason he chose him to
convey the important message to the- children of men. The
chameleon set off, took the matter lightly, and stopped now and
then to catch flies. At length, however, he came to the human
beings, and began: »I have been commissioned to, I have been
commissioned to .». . . He could get no further. For some reason or
other, Mulungu however had changed his mind and decided that man
should die, »like the roots of the aloe». The swift-flying weaver bird
was sent out with the new message, and he arrived just as the
chameleon stood stammering. The bird conveyed his message
quickly and concisely, and since that day mankind has been
mortal.
This myth is wide-spread in Africa, even outside the Bantu
group. Generally the chameleon is the messenger, as in the above
myth, while the second messenger is not always the same; some-
times it is the lizard, sometimes the goat, and so on. There are,
furthermore, a great number of variations of the myth; even in
the same place the tale is told differently by different narrators^.
Fresh and smooth wounds are treated by pressing the edges
of the wounds against each other and then on both sides narrow
acacia thorns are stuck through the edges. The thorns are placed
in pairs, crossing each other. Then the whole thing is fastened
Avith cords. This method of procedure, which, as a matter of fact,
has, of course, a resemblance to the newest methods of the modern

treatment of wounds, is probably the same as is practised by the
Akamba's neighboors, the Masai ^.
' Werner, The Natives of British Central Africa, p. 70.

^ Cf.Struck, Das Chamaleon in der afrikanischen Mythologie,
B.
174, and T. v. Held, Marchen und Sagen der Afrikanischen Neger.
3 Given in detail by M. Merker, Die Masai, p. 190.
Chapter XIV. Medicine men and magicians.
I. General characteristics of the medicine man.
The medicine man is called mundu niuo (plu. and), which

means »wise mud is identical with the root -m 'wise,
man», if
shrewd' {:Ugi in the Kikuyu language), from which we have the

noun wux 'shrewdness'. We must not confuse mundu mud with
mundu mwoi 'bewitcher, dealer in black magic' {woi 'witchcraft')^
which is discussed below.
It is not everyone that can be a medicine man, as a rule
only those who have shown themselves predestined to this posi-
tion from birthare eligible. The proof of this is that the child
should be born with what one might call appendages, which consti-
tute an indication from the ancestral spirits that he is to be a medi-
cine man. Thus some have been born with a little peg in their hands
and in the case of another new-born child there were found in the
afterbirth five small stones, such as the medicine man uses in his
calabashes for divination. These objects are taken care of by the
child's mother, who buries them or carefully hides them in some
other way till her son is grown up, when they are handed over
to him.
Even while he is growing up the boy begins to appear
different from other children. He
on well by himself and
gets
very soon has dreams and revelations, by means of which he gets
into communication with the supernatural world. Thus, to a great
extent, his development is the well-known one that is general for
the shaman in different parts of the world. It may also happen,
however, that a child who born without any remarkable con-
is
comitants begins later on to develop visions and a desire for soli-

tude, and in this way gradually to show tendencies to develop
into a medicine man. As far as one can see, the development
seems to take place without any guidance from older medicine
Medicine men and magicians 255
men, not infrequently concealed from outsiders, simply and solely

by communication with the mmii. It is chiefly from them that all
knowledge comes. dreams they give the would-be-shaman, as-
In
well as the finished medicine man, instructions about healing herbs
and other objects which he needs for his work. In the middle
of the night he feels compelled to get up from his bed and, like
a sleepwalker, neither fearing nor thinking of the wild animals, to
rush out into the woods to look for a certain plant, about which
he has received instructions in his dream.One evening the author
came across a case of this kind, an elderly man, who came run-
ning along and whom it was impossible to persuade to stop. He
had just recevied instructions from the spirits about a certain
object — I could never get to know what — and he had to
fetch it at once.
Brutzer describes the development of the medicine man in a
similar way. According to him the young adept is consecrated
for his work by his father with a special ceremony. As his paper
is rather difficult to get at, I quote from him.
»Solche personlichkeiten sind von geburt an zu diesem amt
gekennzeichnet. Sie sagen: wer mit roten beeren^ mbuu genannt,
in der hand geboren wird, ist zum mundu muwe bestimmt. Auf
das geschlecht kommt es nicht an. Die mutter nimmt die beeren
und hebt sie in einer langlichen kiirbisflasche auf. Das kind wachst
heran. Vom 14. jahr an^ findet das kind beim erwachen in den
geschlossenen handen wiederum die mbubeeren. Die mutter be-
wahrt die beeren in jener kiirbisflasche auf. Diese hat ihren platz
in einem bastkorb. Ist der sohn etwa 20 jahre alt, so erscheint
ihm im traume ein mensch, der ihm eine pflanze in die hand
giebt, indem er sagt: 'Nimm, das ist eine pflanze, menschen zu
heilen. Diese pflanze heilt diese krankheit, jene andere heilt eine
solche krankheit'. Er hort die worte, fasst die pflanze fest, und
beim erwachen findet er sie in seinen handen. Er giebt sie der
mutter, und diese tut sie in den bastsack. So geht es einige zeit
weiter. Darauf wird ihm von den aimu ein eregnis, das eintrefien
soil, mitgeteilt. Am morgen sagt er es den leuten, die dann
durch das eintrefifen das vorhergesagten darauf aufmerksam werden,.
^ Probably the red seeds of Aberis precatorius (Kik. ki6uti).

^ Itis certain that the time cannot be determined so exactly.
:256 Lindblom, The Akamba
dass dieser mensch etwas besonderes

sein muss. Sie fragen den
vater, ob sein sohn etwa ein niundii muwe ware. Der vater be-
statigt es und sagt, er wolle den sohn nun in sein amt einfiihren,
indem er den geist anbetet. Nun wird met gebraut. Man tut
Loofafrucht in^das gebraute, um
den met berauschend zu machen^
Man schlachtet eine ziege* die gross und fett ist. Blut und met
Averden zu boden gegossen zur verehrung des Ngai. Darauf berei-
tet man viel speise. Die leute des geschlechtes versammeln sich
zum mahl. Man isst Der vater betet zum Ngai
und
ist frohlicli.
und segnet die medizinen und sagt zum sohn: 'Jetzt ist es genug.
Heile und wahrsage'. Damit iibergiebt er dem sohn die kiirbis-
flasche mit den roten mbubeeren, aus denen wahrsagend er den
leuten rat erteilt, und den basti<orb mit den medikamenten.» . . .
From this alone we see that the two most important func-
tions of the nnindti mud are to cure illnesses and to tell fortunes.
When he has acquired a knowledge of these things, he is ready
to appear in public. Sometimes, however, the new medicine man
seems to have difficulty in obtaining recognition. He is received
Avith suspicion, sometimes with scorn, and is declared by many to
be an impostor pure and simple. It is related of more than one

eminent old mundu mud that in the beginning of his career he
had to overcome difficulties such as these.
The position of a medicine man is not generally hereditary,
but it appears to be easy for several members of the same family
to become medicine men. Thus I know of several cases in which
a son succeeded his father in this office, if we can call it so when
these people are not really officials and have no official position.
In Kikumbuliu I met a mundu mud whose deceased

had father
been a famous medicine man; his brother, also deceased, had
held the same position, and his son, quite a young boy, had been
born with a peg in his hand (cf. above) and had already begun
to have visions.
The hereditary character of the position of medicine man,
instances of which are found among many tribes (among others
the Shamans of the tribes in Siberia) may to some extent be due to
the fact that the stimulation of the nervous system, to which a
^
This fruit (of the Kigelia africana) is always used by the Akamba
for fermenting beer. See Beermaking. '
medicine man is continually exposed, is inherited by one of his

children and so makes him disposed to the profession ^
There are also female medicine »men», but they are more
rare. Near Muutha in the most easterly part of Ukamba I be-
came acquainted with one of these, Lunda by name, a stalwart
person, with a greater reputation than most of the men in the district.
Externally the Akamba medicine men have no special mark
of identification, and so it is impossible without some trouble to
see if one is dealing with one of them. In everday life as well as
on special occasions they occupy, however, in many respects a
special position, and I collect here some cases to illustrate this
which have come within my own experience:
i) If one is in the company of a mundu mud, it is considered
disrespectful to go in front of him on a path.
2) When the medicine man wants to build a hut for himself,
everyone in the district helps him. Before the work is started,
the danced by the female members of the nzama, and
kilumi is
the young people perform their dances, though, on the other

hand, dancing does not take place at the building of an ordinary
hut. Further details will be given in connection with the descrip-
tion of » Housebuilding*.
3) When a mundu mud is buried, the old men dance (at least
in Eastern Ukamba) alone at the place, the only occasion, as far
as I know, on which they dance by themselves and in corpore.
They then hold a carousal. As is the custom at the death of
important people, a big goat and some food is sacrificed at the
grave, and in a prayer to Mulungu (the aimu) they wish the de-
ceased happiness in the place »whither he has gone».
4) The position of the medicine man in relation to the

ancestral cult is of special interest. As is evident from the
preceding chapter, he is, together with the old men and the old
women, the guardian of this cult, and he tells the atumta when it
is time to sacrifice to the spirits and gives directions for the carry-
ing out of the rites. Curiously enough, he may not take any
active part himself in the sacrifice, but has, with regard to it, the
same subordinate position as the younger people and children (cf
pp. 220, 222). This fact, of which I can give no satisfactory ex-
1 Cf. further M. Barth, Die Medizin der Naturvolker, p. 59.

ArchOr. Lindblom 17
planation, is contrary to his great prestige in other things. As an

illustration of this I quote a statement of an old man, with whom
I was arguing about the chiefs of the Djagga tribe. He said:
»We Akamba have no chiefs and are not used to them. But if
any of us may be compared with them, it would be the mundu mud.^->
5) Finally a medicine man may not touch a corpse. In this
respect as well he is placed on the same footing as women and
children.
* *
The medicine man is consulted on all the more or less per-

plexing occasions of life. Here we shall describe the different
important branches of his activity. The two most important of
these, divination and the curing of illnesses, have already been
referred to in the account of his development.
2. Divination.
The main part of each medicine man's practice consists of

kuausia-'\ng, i. e., with the help of the aimu to predict things, to
state also whether a project will succeed ot not, find out the
cause of a thing, etc. ^ He gives, for instance, a remedy for un-
requited love, and is consulted in love-affairs especially, for illness
or death among men and cattle, before entering upon a long
journey; pregnant women wish to know if the foetus is getting
on well, whether it is a boy or a girl; he gives remedies for
sterility. To put it briefly he is consulted on all life's perplexing
circumstances and all its questions.
Kuausia-mg usually proceeds in the following way. The
medicine man spreads a leopard- or a goatskin on the ground.
He then takes the musical instrument, by means of which he
gets into communication with the spirits. It consists of an or-
dinarybow which has, however, a string of wire. Between this
and the bow there is placed a sounding-board consisting of a
calabash-shell with its outside edge against the string. The in-
strument may be said to be regulated, inasmuch as a notch on
1 The verb kuausia is also used about a person who consults a

medicine man and then it signifies » cause to predict, tell fortunes*. The
form (ending in -ia) is clearly a causative.
the calabash shows the point against which the string must be
placed so as to give the desired note, when it is struck with a
Uttle peg. The medicine man then strikes alternately on the two
parts of the string This is always made out of
with the stick.
the wood of the little bush called mulmla-mbia (Malvaceae, cf p.
52). The instrument (fig. 61), which gives a not unpleasant sound,,
is used exclusively by the medicine men.
After the medicine man has played in this way for a little
while, he takes the divinatory calabash {ktMi), containing seeds,
small stones and other odd things {mbii). After shaking the cala-
bash he pours out a part of its contents on this skin, saying
something like: »Calabash, tell me carefully ». From the number
of the objects which have fallen out he draws his conclusions, at
the same time questioning the applicant for help. Unfortunately I
could never understand his method, but as a rule an even number

is a good omen, an odd one bad. At one individual gathered
least
tlie objects into small heaps, five in each, and then drew his con-
clusions. According to Brutzer the mundu mud among the Akamba
in the hinterland of Mombasa collects the mbu into heaps of three
and five and gives his opinion from what are over^. It is prob-
able that at least a portion of the mbu have a certain signi-
ficance, just as, for instance, certain divinatory bones among the
Akikuyu and the Batonga, of which H. Junod has succeeded in
obtaining an admirably accurate interpretation^. A statement of

Hobley (Akamba, p. 99) points to this. The music and the shak-
ing of the calabash go on until certainty is arrived at. As a
conclusion the medicine man likes to spit on his calabash, so as
to give support and success to his statements. When handing
over medicine to a patient he also usually spits, so as to give
greater power to the medicine. A certain mundu mud spat three
times in his calabash, explaining to me that by that means he
»could see things more clearly*^. Another man, before he
^ Brutzer, Begegnungen mil Akamba, p. 10.
2 Routledge p. 268 Junod II, p. 495 ff.
—
;
^ Circumcision shows an additional example which, by an over-

sight, has not been given in its proper place in Chap. Ill of the —
beneficial effect that is ascribed to spitting. When the circumcision is
accomplished and the children are about to return again to their homes,
the circumcisor (mwaikt) spits over the crowd as a blessing so that
the pain of the wound shall be less severe.
began to kuausxa^ poured out a little beer on the four corners of

the skin as an offering to the aimu.
The method of kuausia-'va^ here described is the most usual,
but the details vary, so that it is safe to say that each medicine
man has his own particular method.
A divinatory calabash of this kind must never be entirely
emptied, or it will have an evil influence on its owner's powers
of divination. The seeds that are usually found in the cala-
bashes, are the big black ones of the wild banana and the beauti-
(I i
1
l^P^^^Sm
^^^^^^^^Hj
wzâ
*iTH
^^^^K'
.?^^^Hi
Fig. 60. Kuausia-ing. The medicineman is pouring out his
pebbles on a piece of leopard skin.
ful red ones (with a black spot) of the hOuti tree (Aberis preca-
torius), and others^. In the case of a man near Machakos I also
saw some pieces of glass and porcelain. All these objects are
collected by their owner according to the instructions of the
spirits; but in each calabash there are some mdu of special pot-
ency which the spirits themselves have brought to the medicine

man during the night while he is asleep.
1 The Aberis seeds are not infrequently used in African magic. In

South Africa they are well known as » lucky beans ». Junod says that
they are very much used in Thonga magic. Junod, The Life of a
South African Tribe II, p. 292.
The fact that a leopard skin is used to pour these mbu on is
explained by the impression of strength which the leopard gives.

Claws and also whiskers of leopards are generally used in the
practice of magic. When buying leopard skins from natives I
often found those parts of the skins removed. Sometimes they

are made powder and eaten in order
into to transfer something
of the courage and strength of the leopard to the eating person
(sympathetic magic). The use of the goatskin can scarcely be
explained in the same way, but we know that the goat is closely
connected with the spirits. It is the most usual sacrifice to them.
The remuneration for a consultation is usually only 4 pesa
(6 cents), formerly two arrows, or it was given in natura. But
then comes the fee for »the medicine* which the mundu ntu3 pre-
scribes and as a rule makes and sells himself. This may cost a
goat or even more, and it is by means of this that the medicine
man makes his living.
It sometimes happens that the client does not tell the medicine
man what he wants to know, but thinks that it is the duty of
and a proof of his competency, to say himself what the visit
the latter,
is about. The doctor then soon gets his bearings by a few questions,
which are usually reasonably simple, but at the same time can give
a proof of a skill in cross-examination of which an astute judge
need not be ashamed. If he is wide of the mark, he is scarcely
disconcerted, nor does it seem to shake the client's faith in his skill.
The Akamba state power of the mundu mud to

that the
predict future events has more than once protected them from
surprise attacks of the Masai. As we shall see from what follows
he also uses this power of his to take measures against impending
outbreaks of infectious diseases. Knowledge of this sort he seems
to gain, however, less by the use of his divinatory calabash than
by intercourse with the spirits in his sleep (in dreams).
Of the origin of the practice of kuausya-xn^ the Akamba tell
a story, rather an unimportant one, but possibly with some details

of interest:
»A man who had gone out into the desert to hunt heard a
sound: kasa, kasa (an onomatopoetic reproduction of the rattling
of a divinatory calabash). He went
what it was and no-
to look
ticed a little man (in the stories the spirits appear as very small
people), shaking out small stones and seeds from a calabash on
»
a6a Lindblom, The Akamba
a leopard skin. He asked him: 'What are you doing?' The little
man answered: 'I am just kuausia-mg — 'What is that?' 'Well, .
—
I am able to say fine words to you as to how you can become
rich.' — 'Then I should like to kuausha.' — 'Then give me two arrows'
(the fee). He gave him two arrows. And the little man shook his
stones out and said: 'You will be rich from hunting'. And he
hunted, killed elephants, and sold the tusks for many cattle.When
he came home he was asked what had happened, and he told
them. 'Let us go and kuausyx , said the others. And they went,
found the little man, and said to him: 'We want to kuausid .
—
'Give me two arrows!' They did so. He said: 'You shall become rich
by walking'. And when they went to hunt they found dead elephants.
The first man had such
good proof of the little man's a
power that others became eager to seek him out. It is exactly
the same, of course, in real life. The medicine man whose
divination appears to come true gets a big practice.
To inana, i. e. without any reason to touch a medicine man's
divinatory apparatus or the other objects which are connected
with his magic power, is dangerous, naturally because of the great
powers that are supposed to dwell in the objects. One may be-
come ill or die altogether. I remember a young man who happened
to touch a medicine man's medicine bag. When, in the evening
of the same day, he went to a dance, none of the girls danced
with him. The cause of this misfortune was, as he immediately
realised, that he had touched the medicine bag.
A medicine man will never sell his apparatus or dispose of
it in any other way. I have tried in vain to procure a medicine
bag with its accessories, the owner usually states as a reason
for his refusal that he himself or his family would incur some
misfortune if he gave it up.
When a mundu mud dies, the medicine bag and similar ar-
ticles are left undisturbed till the next new moon; then they are
taken out and each object smeared with cow-fat, after which they
are again put in their places. They remain there until the de-
ceased reveals himself to someone in a dream and makes known
his wishes as to what they shall do with these, the most
important of his effects. He often .gives directions for a certain
person to take charge of his apparatus.
As an appendix to illustrate and complete this sketch of the
medicine man among the Akamba I will describe certain medicine

men, partly those with whom I myself have come into contact,
partly others, whom the natives have told me about.
I. To camp at Machakos there came a mundu
the author's
mud from the Kitui district, who was just on a tour through Ulu.
His method of kuaus\a-\x\^ was very simple, inasmuch as he only
asked and did not use the usual divinatory calabash.
questions
When I wondered what was the cause of this, he answered that
that method was »bad» for him and that his »Ngai» (i. e. a spirit)
had taught him another. I let him tell my fortune and his sta-
tements included, among other things: »You own two villages at
home in Ulaya}. You have a wife there, she is well and you
will soon get letters with good news. In your body there dwells
the spirit of a deceased relation*. In the man's medicine bag,
made of the skin of the hunting leopard, there were only six to
eight small medicine calabashes, i — 1.5 dm. long. The small
quantity which one of these can hold is, however, sufficient for a
great number of patients, when one considers that each one gets
only quite a small pinch. In the bag there was, among other things:
a) a calabash containing nzceOu, a kind of black powder re-
sembling soot, very commonly

and prepared from certain
used
plants. Protects against lions amongst other things. In case of need
a pinch is taken in the hand and blown out in the direction of
the beast, who then goes off.
b) a calabash with powder resembling pepper. A pinch of this,
laid on the tongue, protects one against infidelity on the part of
one's wife or wives.

c) a calabash with powder from the roots of the mwa'h-tvee.
The forehead, cheeks and chin are rubbed with this powder, which
procures friendship among men and favour among women.
d) a calabash with white powder, which gives great fertility
to women.
As is obvious, only magic remedies. On the other hand, there-
was nothing against real illnesses. With a good knowledge of
human nature the medicine man takes care, in the first place, to
be provided with remedies that are thought capable of procuring
what is most desirable in the life of the native. It is thus with
' The Suaheli name for Europe.
these things that he earns most. The man in question, for instance,
gained in one week six goats and twelve rupees in ready money,
an income which was not considered specially big of its kind,
though representing several months of work for a native labourer.
And yet most medicine men seem not to be particularly wealthy ^.
2. When
was once stopping at a village a few hours north
I
of Kibwezi, was just in time to see a medicine man working.

I
A woman in the district had for a long time been ill, and as
she did not get better her husband brought her to this mundu
mud. After a brief examination he explained that the woman was
possessed by a spirit and undertook to try to expel it, of course
for a reasonable fee. He told her to lie down on the ground, covered
her with bags of bast, and ordered her to sleep. After having
struck on his musical bow by way of introduction and so got into
communication with the aimu^ he blew hard into her ears, armpits
and back part of the knee-joints^. He also placed a row of the
prickly branches of an acacia on the sacks which covered her body,
and round this some of the spherical yellow fruit of the Solanum
(fig. 61). He then took a stick with a long lash — the Akamba do not
use whips {munadti), except as toys for children — and ran several
times round the village cracking the whip the whole time'. The
seemed to consider this specially remarkable. When he
spectators
came back he trod all the Solanum fruits to pieces, one after the
other. He then took the whip again and went several times round
the woman cracking it, then changed it for the musical bow and,
1 Among the Zulus clever medicine men, often real phycisians,

are in the habit of travelling through the country from place to place,
often away from home for months. As rich people, owners
staying
to large herds of cattle, they then return to their villages. M. Barth,
Die Medizin der NaturvSlker, p. 59.
^ I cannot remember anything which supports the view that the
Akamba regard the breath as possessing magic power, but this method
of procedure makes one think of a statement of K. Th. Preuss, who
speaks of »die direkte abwehr von krankheit und tod durch den leben
gebenden, gewissermassen desinfizierenden hauch». Der Ursprung der
Religion und Kunst, Globus 86, p. 375.
^ Hobley, however, describes an old elephant-hunter named Sulu
— I know the man —
who had a sort of whip. » Before going hunt-
ing it is customary to crack the whip seven times, and it is believed
to bring good luck. » Hobley, Kamba protective magic, Man 19 12,
p. 4. Cf. also below p. 274.
striking on this, continued his circular motion. He now placed at

the woman's head a clay pitcher turned upside down and, laying
a rope around her, fastened it to the pitcher (to isolate her from
all evil influences?). Sitting on the pitcher he again struck on his-
bow for a little while. He then brought a little calabash with

magic powder {mupcza), which he laid in small heaps on the pat-
ient's body and immediately afterwards blew away, one heap after
the other, which happened in such a way that he kept running
iMr^ *'-^l/ -^*^ ^^ ^^^ft^T^ *
^Ti^^jBMffi^Ht^Vv^ nt^ u ji^l^l
i^^yi^^^lHîjHI^h
p
Fig. 61.
A .
Medicine man curing a possessed

^r^
^mBxmmm\
women
(mentioned p, 264).
and began alternately at the woman's head and feet. He now sat
once more on the pitcher, struck a few blows on his bow, and
then bent down and sucked on the patient's forehead (pretending
to suck something out?). Another careful sucking took place
at the little toes of the sickwoman.
The treatment described above lasted for quite a long time,
but the patient kept perfectly still the whole time. Her husband
seemed to think, however, that it was lasting rather long, for
he came up to me and asked in a whisper my opinion of the
effectiveness of the medicine man's method. As I was in a hurry
I asked the latter, who was working very hard, if it would soon
be finished. But he explained that it was a specially difiicult
case and that there was still a greatwent off.deal to do, and so I
3. During my stay near Kibwezi I had as an inseparable com-
panion a young mundu mud named Mbindya. He was an intelli-

gent and sympathetic man, but in the beginning our mutual acquain-
tance was due to sheer calculation. Mbindya was my neighbour
and I gladly took the opportunity of observing a medicine man at
all times day for a long period, so as to see to what
of the
extent work could be put down to conscious deception. On
his
his side he regarded my company as propitious, as at our first
meeting he had happened to find a rare plant {muQia wandiY,
which he had wanted for a long time but had sought for in vain.
Besides, the fact that he was intimate with a white man helped to
increase his reputation. Their position as medicine men and their
power to control secret powers were characteristics of Mbindya's
family, and he himself had developed into a medicine man in
the way which is described in the beginning of this chapter.
During the time we were together I studied my friend care-
fully, and was present when people came to ask him for advice,
etc. As far as he is concerned, I must answer the question as
to whether medicine men themselves believe in their vocation and
their power by saying that he gave one the impression of being
firmly convinced on these points. But he was, of course, still
young, 30 at the most. The only deceptions that he was consci-
ously guilty of, were such small conjuring tricks as are instanced
below, and these he frankly confessed to me to be of this charac-
ter, adding that they were performed only to strengthen the

people's faith in his power. Besides, prophecies sometimes, of
course, come true, and also a sick person often recovers after
being treated according to a more or less magical prescription,
and such things help to strengthen the faith both of the medicine
man himself and of others. On the other hand, there are always
single individuals who certainly look with scepticism on the medicine
man's operations — there have of course been doubters at all
times and among all people — but in most cases these people
^ A short red plant without leaves, with a long tap-root. It gives

one the impression of a round mass like a mushroom.
are anxious to keep their opinions to themselves, for it might be

unpleasant to incur a medicine man's odium. Hildebrandt tells
of a »chief» Milu in Kitui, who said to H. that »er hielte nichts

von ihren hokuspokus, konne aber nicht offen gegen sie auf-
treten»^.
As evidence of how easily the natives believe in their me-
dicine men's statements and find vahd explanations when they do
not come true, the following incident may be inserted. In January
191 2, when Mr. A. Champion, A. D. C. of Kitui, and myself
were on an expedition to investigate the course of the River
Nthua on behalf of the government, and were about to leave the
eastern frontier of Ukamba at Muutha and proceed farther east-
ward out into the desert, we had a visit from the above-mentioned
medicine-woman Lunda. She asked to kuaus%a for us and our
journey, and stated that the day after we found » remains of ani-
mals » we should kill » something big>>. Lunda's prophecy was
hailed with joy by our people and had at least the useful effect
of making them enter on the march out into the unknown with
glad confidence. All » remains of animals» which we passed du-
ring the next few days, they looked upon as those to which Lunda
had referred. Thus some hours after we left Muutha our native
hunters found a heap of excrement with a long intestinal worm
in it. They immediately thought that this had to do with the
prophecy, and the two hunters each eat half the worm and offered
a little snuff beneath the tree, where they found it. The fact that
we shot nothing on the following day could not disturb their con-
fidence; the medicine man had only meant something else. They
argued in the same way about another object which we came
across. The fact that we Europeans joked a little about this
had no effect. And when we found the thigh-bone of a giraffe
and the same evening shot one, the hunters were immediately
sure that it was this to which Lunda referred to from the first.
It is not difficult to be a prophet when one is supported by such
faith.
Many medicine men are accustomed to perform many small

tricks, pure conjuring tricks, which — as the above-mentioned
Mbindya explicitly declared — are designed to awe their clients
1 Hildebrand, Die Wakamba, p. 388.

as evidence of their power and thus to satisfy the demand of the

populace for »signs and wonders*. Thus I saw M. among
practise,
other tricks, the following: Appearing naked, he placed a
little bean
on head and stuck others behind his ears and in the corners
his
of his mouth, his armpits and the angles of his elbows. He then
shook himself so that all the beans fell to the ground, counted
them and showed that the number was the same as before. Then,
in addition, he took a bean from each eye.
Another innocent trick consisted in M. taking a peg, laying
it with one end on a level with the top of his little finger and
the other end reaching to the forearm, where a mark was made.
He then took the peg away, waved it in the air for the sake of
appearance, and put it back again in the same place, when it was
found to be a little shorter than the measured length. This was
repeated and the pin appeared to be still shorter. The secret con-
sists in a power to contract and expand the hand.
Some examples to illustrate the Akamba's idea of the power

of their medicine men to perform wonderful things are given here:
Old Ngunu near Machakos —
a man of great reputation, who
was consulted by people from a long distance from the Kitui
district —
was especially noted for his love-powders, by means of
which he was said to be able even to allure wild birds to him-
self and to make them perch on his knee when he sat outside
his hut.
Nthengc (the buck), a medicine man at Kibwezi who died
before my time, is said to have been able to »stretch his blanket
out in the air and then sit on it, floating in the air>. He is also
said to have roasted meat by hanging a crock with meat in it
on the ceiling of his hut. He then put » medicine » in the fire
on the hearth, after which the flames, without injuring the walls,
climbed up them and enveloped the jar till the meat was roasted.
Another person near Kibwezi whom I came across was said
to be able to transform a stick into a snake, and yet another
asserted that he could cut a goat's head off" and make it come to
life again. When

promised them a high reward for a proof of
I
their powers, they could only produce foolish evasions.

Tricks as the above-mentioned are called in Kikamba khama,
which is best translated as » miracles » performed by magic means.
3. The medicine man as a healer (of illnesses).
Illnesses are sent by the spirits, when they for any reason
are angry with the Uving, or they are caused by black magic on
they part of some evil-disposed person, or finally they may be real
illnesses, contracted in a natural way. This last cause, however,
seems to be regarded as the least usual. To get to know which
of these three is the cause of the illness one goes to the medicine
man, who ascertains the cause by divination. If the illness has
been sent by the spirits because they are displeased with their
surviving relations and consider themselves neglected by them,
the medicine man often prescribes no other remedy except ordering
that an ofifering should be brought and hlumt, the spirit-dance,
should be danced.
To cure an illness is called kwota in Kikamba. It does not,
by any means, form part of every medicine man's practice. Just
as there are some medicine men who are exclusively occupied with
kuaus%a-\v\^, so there are others who do nothing but cure illnesses.
A mundu mud who gives himself exclusively to this and does not
use divinatory calabashes is called an 'htinta. The individual me-
dicine man does not seem to be able to treat many different kinds
of illness; he appears rather to be what one might call a special-
ist. This may perhaps explain the great number of medicine men.
For different illnesses one must consult different people. It is
said that the mundu mu9 cannot cure his own children nor can
a man skilled in 'gondm do this.
The well-known method of a medicine man pretending to

take from a patient's body the objects which have caused the
illness, I have never seen practised, in Ukamba (cf. however the
sucking of the sick woman's forehead and toes described above).

Yet it seems to be practised, according to the statement of the
missionary Sauberlich, who informed me that, among other cases,
he once saw a mundu mud take out a tooth, after which the patient
immediately declared that he was better 1.
Madness in discussed on p. 240. I wish to add here that a
^ The Kikuyu medicine man sucks different objects out of the

sick person's stomach, e. g. glass beads, grass, leaves and other rub-
bish, put there by some enemy. J. Cayzac, Witchcraft in Kikuyu,
Man 1912, p. 127.
medicine man declared that he could cure madness in this way:

He dug a hole in the ground, in which the aftlicted person was
placed, and then covered the hole up and lit a fire above it. The
next morning the patient would be well. The author saw a man
treated in this manner and he seemed normal after the treatment.
To cure madness the medicine men also use a decoction of the
leaves of the creeper vtuGolo (Sapindaceae), which is given to the
sick person to drink and with which he is washed.
Quite a usual way to cure an illness is for the sick person
to sit on the ground and the mundu mud then sticks pegs in the
ground all round him and fastens them with a cord. In this way
all evil influences are shut out.
The terms muh and muf>cea. We have already often

mentioned »medicine», and it is necessary to explain a little
more what the natives mean by this. In Kikamba there are

clearly
two expressions for it, mutt and fnupcea, which seem to imply
a real distinction. The first expression is more our sense of the

word 'medicine, physic', and is certainly identical with muth 'tree,
bush, herb'. Most of the native remedies are, of course, prepared
from vegetable substances. These remedies, real or imaginary, will
be discussed separately later on, as they are not known merely
to the medicine men, nor are they — at least to any extent — used
in magic. They may thus be used by anyone. The muêea, on the
other hand, is more or less magic character. Now
a medicine of a
there are certainly a great many laymen who know that a certain
plant may be used as inupcsa for a certain purpose, and one is
therefore tempted to ask why they go to the medicine man, when
they themselves possess this knowledge. It is true that they know
forwhat purpose a certain mu^cea is used, but they do not know
how to use it. The result is that only those wo know >the key»,
so to speak, to a mu])cBa, its k^]îao, as the Akamba call it^, can
use it. An instance may be given to illustrate this. The mu6%a wa
ndi, a plant of somewhat rare occurence in the Kibwezi district, is

mupcea for in women.
sterility The patient is washed for some
days with a decoction of this, which is also rubbed on her head.
When next she menstruates, she has coitus with her husband and
can then have children. This medicine, however, has no certain
^
< pzaa 'perform the rites which give power to a mupcea'. ;
Medicine men and magicians aî
effect before its hpiao is used, and this is only known to the
medicine man. It consists of the latter placing a portion of food
round the plant as a sacrifice to the atmu, and at the same time
expressing a wish that the medicine should have the desired
effect. On p. 241 we have described the process of digging roots
for medicine and this is just a case of a hpiao. The roots alone
have not sufficient efficacy.
4. The medicine man as a practiser of public magic (for

the good of the whole community).
The removing of epidemics. When severe epidemics attack

people or cattle (e. g. rinderpest) the Akamba go to the mundu mud-
with their difficulty. In Machakos it has been the practice on such
occasions for the medicine men to order the atuvfha to pretend to
drive the young people out to the steppe, where they then per-
formed dances (their usual ones, but in this case with a religious-
magic purpose). Towards the evening a goat was taken there and
killed, and the young people were smeared with 'gondia, in the usual
manner. Then they have to run home to the villages, thus re-
turning in the same way as they came out. The idea is that the
illness has been driven out from them and left behind on the
steppe. The goat has possibly been regarded as a sort of scape-
goat, for if it were only to be used in and for the preparation of
'gondm, it would more convenient to kill it at home.
have been
There are examples of the goat being used as a scape-
several
goat among the Bantu tribes, e. g. in South Africa (according to
D. Kidd) and in Uganda^
It happens that the medicine man can prevent infectious^
often
epidemic diseases, as in his dreams he gets information from the
aimu that such diseases are coming, diseases such as ntwimu
(rinderpest, or, when it affects human beings, a tumour-like dis-
ease) or k%apz. was told of a medicine man in Machakos, called
I
Mbiti, who dreamed that he saw a crowd of people coming car-

rying sacks of bast, filled with the blood of cattle infected with
kiapi^ a sign that this disease was approaching. The dream came
from the atmu, who at the same time gave the man instructions
as to how the disease might be prevented, and because of this
1 Ashe, Two Kings of Uganda, p. 320.

a?* Lindblom, The Akamba
they proceeded to act in the following way, when he had informed

the elders of the danger which threatened:
In the evening themembers of the nzama gathered together
at the medicine man's hut, and the young people came and danced
there. In a crock a 'gondia was mixed, consisting of water, sugar-
cane, flour from the Penicillaria (mwcs) as well as mu>o, the con-
tents of the stomach, from a goat and also » plants, brought from
the wilderness*. The mixture was distributedby an old man and
woman and given to those present to drink. Next morning came
the others, who did not belong to the nzama, and the children.
They were made to drink of a similar mixture, but with other
ingredients. The former ot these two drinks was considered the
more potent, as the atuima possess greater magic power than ordi-
nary people. Besides, the medicine man is in closer relation to
the old people, with whom he often co-operates, and who give
him assistance on several occasions, such as the building of his
hut. On the other hand it is remarkable that the youths and
girls on this occasion, as well as in the foregoing purification
ceremony, are almost placed on a level with the oldest and most
experienced people in the community. This may depend on a
kind of influence of opposites: just because the young do not
possess any magic power, it is sometimes convenient to put them
on a level with those who possess this power in the highest
degree.
The actual distribution af the 'gondut beverage proceeds as
follows. The
pitcher is placed right in front of two adjacent ba-
nana which are connected by a garland fastened round them
trees
at about a man's height. This garland, which is made of the
plant musoka (Ipomoea), is also bound round the neck of the pit-
cher. Those who are present are made to take their places one
by one between the two trees, turn towards the pitcher, and, after
drinking, they have to move off" to the right, between the pitcher
and the banana tree on the right. Sometimes three banana plants
are used, in which case those who are to drink stand between two
and turn their back to the third.
Next day, the third, a goat of the colour that the azmu has indi-
cated is brought to an out-of-the-way place, as out on the steppe,
where all the people have assembled and where the young people
perform dances. Some 'gondm, in which mutq one of the most —
frequently used ôndm plants — is the chief ingredient, is prepared

from the goat, and the assembled people are sprinkled with it.
The flesh of the animal is eaten as at an ordinary sacrificial meal.

A part of it is probably also sacrificed to the spirits. Then they
all return home running. The disease — or in this case the danger
of the epidemic falling upon them — has been left behind on the
steppe.
The above-described method of driving away an epidemic
{kwindukm uwau) is called unika^^ a. word which is certainly
derived from the same root as isiuko 'ford over a stream'-.
The banana plants fastened together form quite obviously
a passage, a door, thus giving us a new example of the well-
known conception of the entrance or the door as a boundary
between the outer world with its many dangers and a region free
from these dangers, and then as a means of changing from
one condition to another. In the special case we have described
the people were both purified with ôndiu and then went through
the door, leaving all the evil influence behind them. This should
of itself be sufficiently effective, and the third day's procedure is
probably an addition from an originally independent purification

ceremony. Its resemblance to the above-described method is
in favour of this. In 191 1 near Engelani (Ngilani), north of Ma-

chakos, I saw a door of two banana trees.
this sort consisting of
About a dozen people, I was

had been suddenly attacked told,
by mwimu (a tumour-like disease), and the population of the
district were in great distress. Then one evening a man met an

one-legged spirit on a path, who said to him: »Go to Mbiti (the
medicine man) and tell him to take muw from a black goat and
purify the people ».
I have noted from East Ukamba two purification ceremonies
of this type, one of which is in the main identical with the forego-
ing. The door is composed this case of two trees or posts
in
driven into the ground, between which the plant musoka (Ipomoea)
is fastened. A goat is killed and 'gondm prepared from it. Each
The word is translated by Hofman (Worterbuch) as «der bogen

^
durch den der mtindu mua die leute schlupfen lasst, wenn er sic gegen
krankheiten feit».
^ The only verb sntka that I know means 'to waken from an ap-
parently dead condition, waken from death'. Cf. also swka 'to return'.
274 Littdblom, The Akamba
person drinks and then goes through the door and then, by means
of branches of mutq, is sprinkled with ôndui on the forehead,
breast and back. The medicine man then cracks with a whip,
(munaOu), upon which all present, without looking back, have to
run a good part of the way from the villages. On their return
they get a little bit of the skin of the dead goat, which
they fasten round the right instep with fibres of kxo^gwa (Sanse-
viera sp.)- The seventh day afterwards they go away from the villages
and throw the piece of skin away, saying: »Possessor of mwimu,
take it (the disease), here it is» {mzucBnd mwimu, osa nusu). The
procedure is called mwitano < kwitana 'to cure each other'.
In Kitui I heard an account of another kind of mwitano that
was vogue there. The medicine man ordered everyone of both
in
sexes and all ages to deposit on a path some red glass beads
{siuma ndund) and a little red earth {mbu) as an offering to Mwi-
tualali, an one-legged spirit who dwells on the mountain ot Mutitu,
about 30 kilometres north-east of the Kitui government station. This
spirit, say the Akamba, was an old man, who lived very long ago.
On the mountain there is to be found a pond in which he lives,
but which I could not find when I climbed up there. In the pond
there is also said to be a gigantic serpent, which sometimes sets
the water in motion and rises up in it. I could never find out
what was the relation of the spirit and the serpent to each other.
As far as the latter is concerned, however, it is of the type that
is one of the monsters of the popular imagi-
called inukwgga-inbua,
nation, a serpent of supernatural proportions, which devours hu-
man beings and cattle. It is said to appear in the Tana River,
the Naiwasha and Nakuru and some other places. Some
lakes
years ago an Englishman is said to have seriously sought for this
mysterious serpent, which is said to be so long that it » stretches

over mountains and valleys*. I immediately suspected that this
was a case of some old conception of the rainbow, and this is
suggested by the word inbua 'rain'. The Akamba, however, call
the rainbow utqpt. My surmise was confirmed when later on,
during my study of the Tharaka language, I learnt that the rain-
bow there is called just mukwgga-mbura. The Akikuyu call it by
the same name and also believe that it is a big serpent, a con-
ception which, in addition, is met with among different peoples
here and there in the world. Another kind of gigantic serpent.
which in the same way devours people, is said to dwell in a big

grass basket in a hole on the bottom of the little Manza just west
river
of Machakos. The natives tell of a Suaheli who passed by there at
nighttime and was drawn down into the depths, but succeeded in
escaping with the loss of his tongue and an eye.
5. The connection of the medicine man with agriculture.

Rainmaking.
The principal industry of the Akamba is agriculture, and the
women, who have the management of this as their lot, like to
consult the mundu mud concerning the time for sowing, reaping,
etc. Sowing depends of course on the arrival of the rainy season,
and as the rain is often late and sometimes fails entirely to ar-
rive, the women are naturally very anxious to get to know through
the medicine man when the fertilizing rain may be expected and
how they must act so as not to hinder or retard its arrival. His
instructions with have to be carefully followed, a
regard to this
breach of them might cause the complete non-appearance of the
rain. Sometimes, on his own initiative, he interferes in the
women's cultivation of the fields. Thus, during my stay in Ma-
chakos, a mundu mud forbade the women to drive the birds away
from the fields, saying that he would do it himself by a special
means. The medicine man appears also, with regard to agri-
magic for the benefit of the whole
culture, as a practiser of public
community, just as we have seen him doing the same thing, when
it was a question of preventing impending epidemics.
At the occurence of a drought which threatens the harvest

the women gather together, as we have already seen in chap. XI. 6,
when they thought the crop in danger. Beating their drums
{kip^mbd) they march from village to village, and each woman,
who has land, must join them. No one dares to stay away, and
those who do not come out quickly enough are loaded with in-
sulting epithets. sn na ^golano, 'the wives have a meeting',
^6(Bt^
the Akamba When

the band has grown to an imposing
say^.
number, they direct their course to the medicine man to hear his
opinion about the drought. All the young people and also the
^ ^golano: cf. kolania 'to heap up, assemble'.

atutnia prefer to keep away when the women come forward. In

191 1 I chanced to meet a band of women who were on their way
in this fashion to the above mentioned Ngunu. They were uttering
shrill cries (?z, >2, ut, ui) and singing songs the subject matter of
which was sexual. A part of these which I succeeded afterwards in
taking down, is as follows:
ea, e! ea, eeh!

tauma kwasa we come from afar
kumandea kino munxo to find salt for the ktno'^,
kana ha kmk>a. penis erigetur.
u, u uh, uhl
The meaning of this is: we come to get rain, so that we can

get food for our husbands, who cannot accomplish their sexual
duties, if they are weak from hunger.
Having arrived at Ngunu's village the women danced the
hlumt and spent the night there. No sexual intercom se with the
medicine man, however, enters into the programme; on the con-
trary, it is clearly considered injurious to the purpose in view, for
it is said that on a previous occasion of the same kind Ngunu
could not master his passions and that this is the reason why
•only out of about 20 children that he had are still living.
two
During the night the medicine man placed himself in communica-
tion with the spirits and received instructions from them as to
what should be done against the drought.
The dances were continued the next day, and then they
young people as well collected at Ngunu's village and performed
their dances.
As a matter of fact the role of the medicine man as a rain-
maker is in no way prominent among the Akamba, and one can
scarcely say he exists in comparison, for instance, with the rain-
makers in South Africa. The author has neither seen or heard
any mention of a medicine man using sympathetic magic to pro-
duce rain. His task in this case seems principally to be that of
finding a way to propitiate the spirits, as it is they who, from
malevolence or dissatisfaction with those who have survived them,
prevent the rain from coming.
A certain amount of rain magic of a more private kind is,
^ The female pudenda.

however, carried on. Some at least of the inverted jars, which

are seen here and there in the fields, are thus meant to cause
rain, on the other hand others are merely to frighten the

while
porcupines, which are to be reckoned among the most dangerous
enemies of the crops. Otherwise rain magic, both general and
private, is of a purely negative character and consists in the
avoidance of certain acts during the time of rain or when the
rain is expected. It is thus forbidden of old to boil in a crock
in the fields, and the boys who protect the ripening crop from
birds and other parasites bake their sweet potatoes, or whatever
they have with them for food, in moulds of clay or other similar
things. If anyone offends against this injunction and it comes to
the atunfhds knowledge, 'gondm is prepared and the field sprinkled
with it. owner has to supply the goat necessary for the puri-
Its
fication. This old custom is still observed in Ulu, but has fallen into
disuse in East Ukamba, at least in the Ikutha district, where the very
frequent droughts were explained to me as being a punishment from
Mulungu (viz. the aztnti), because the fathers of the Akamba living
there had neglected the old precepts. This is an attempt to ex-
plain the difference between the more abundant irrigation and
the more even rainfall of the western tract of land and East
Ukamba's paucity of running water and its more fitfully occurring
rainy seasons.
In Kikumbuliu during the rainy season they do not boil salt-
petre, from which salt is prepared and which is used in the manu-
facture of snuff. We have seen in Chap. XI that an oath with kipitu
may not be taken during this season. A further somewhat curious
observation is that, because of the rain, a man may never beat his
when they are sown. Finally on p. 223 examples
wife in the fields,
have been given to show how the natives consider that all un-
usual events have an injurious influence on the rain. Thus the
great famine of 1898 —
99 was generally considered by the natives
of East Africa to be due to the building of the Uganda railway,
and, when the work on the railway approached Kisumu on Lake
Victoria and the rain happened not to come even there, they
were still further strengthened in their belief. This idea, however,
was perhaps due less to the unusual incident per se than to the
rails, the »rope of iron» laid over the land. As Hildebrandt has
already pointed out\ no instruments of iron have, from olden

times, been used in the cultivation of the earth, and although al-
ready by his time a few iron picks had come into use, even to-
day one can see Kamba women, even in the villages just outside
the two government stations, using the primitive stake for digg-
ing. When, some years ago, in Kitui, a supply of iron picks
were ordered so that they might be given out gratis among the
most part it the station. The na-
natives, they remained for the
tive would not accept them. That in many cases iron is surroun-
ded by a taboo is a fact that has been known for a long time
and is wide-spread and presumably due to the fact that the
metal in question is considered as an object that has a special
power, which may have a strong, and often fatal, influence on
the things or persons that come into contact with it. For talis-
mans to produce or prevent rain see p. 288.
6. Magicians.
It is clearly unnecessary to recall the vital role which magic

plays in the life of primitive people. That this is the case also
among the Akamba may be concluded already from what has

preceded. It has been shown how, even in the simplest accident
which may happen him the native may suspect the influence
to
the an enemy or a rival, trying to injure him by means of woi.

The word may be conveniently rendered by » witchcraft, magic »,
this conception being then taken in both good and bad, protective
and injurious senses (white and black magic). The concrete means
is also called woi. When young persons suddenly die, this is
usually ascribed to the woi of some enemy. In such an unimportant
case as that of the goats going astray and running ofl" when they
are grazing, one may go to the medicine man to kuausxa, to find
out if it was an accident or brought about by some enemy; and
if, for instance, some one happens to fall from the tree and hurt
himself when occupied in hanging up beehives, it is certainly due
to wox. We can easily understand that this is thought to be the
case when something more unusual happens. It is thus considered
very suspicious and due to woi on the part of some enemy, if one
^ Die Wakamba, p. 372.
happens to be hit by excrement from a flying hawk or crow.

The author heard of a person to whom an accident of this kind
happened and who at once destroyed everything he was wearing
at the time and was also purified with 'gondm. How afraid the}'
are of coming upon U'Oi everywhere is shown, among other things,
by the fact that when guests are entertained, the host first tastes
what is ofiered so as to show' that it does not contain poison or
any magic power. This is the case especially with beer.
Destructive woi, black magic, is punished with death we —
have often seen it done by lynching, k>'gold if it is dangerous —
to the community. The mundu mud never meddles with this, he is
'Only a » white » magician; those who practise it are called mwoi
(the same root as in wo'h)'^. We have seen that, in general, one
can only become a medicine man by being born with a dispo-
sition towards it, while it is enough to be apprenticed to a
imvoi to become one oneself-.

The Akamba in Ulu look upon the people in the Kitui district
as more povv'erful in magic than themselves, and those in Kitui
who want to become really proficient in black magic go up to the
Athaka (Atharaka) and the Ambele (Ambere) in the north. It was
my intention to visit the former people, but my carriers refused
to accompany me. »We are not afraid of the Athakas' spear and
sword», they said, »but they will destroy us with their magic».
It is recognized as a characteristic feature of primitive people to
mistrust strangers and to ascribe magic power to them. The
1 Research into would certainly enable us to dis-
the literature
cover this word with
same meaning in a great number of Bantu
the
dialects, at least among
the East and South dialects. I have noted ntrogi
in the Kikuyu language and in Kisukuma (south of Lake Victoria),
molot among the Bechuana and Bavenda, mwabi in Kimatumbi (Kilwa
district, German East Africa), nyawi in Kimakonde (Lindi distr., G. E. A.)
and noyi (pi. baloyi) among the Batonga in Portuguese East Africa.
The verb loga in Kisuaheli and other dialects means 'to bewitch'.
Meinhof, Grundriss einer Lautlehre der Bantusprachen, p. 173, gives
a similar verbal root for sPrimitive Bantu».
^ Hobley expresses the difference between a mundu mud and a
mundu mwoi in a somewhat obscure way (Akamba p. 53): »A medicine
man is called Muoiin [in Kikamba no word ends in a consonant] or
Muoii The Muoiin is a person who deals in black art
. . . A mundu . . .
tntie is a more harmless person, he deals in what we may call white
magic ...» > ."

Akamba also go westwards, to the Akikuyu, and when formerly

the trade caravans came to Mombasa, they took the opportunity
of consulting the magicians at the coast. is done, how-
All this
ever, chiefly to obtain protection and advantages for themselves J
those who wish to practise black magic themselves are in the

minority.
We shall now give some examples of how this black magic is
practised.
A thief can obtain from a mwoh a magic substance which
will make the dwellers in the village, in which he intends to steal
at night, sleep so deeply that they do not waken after he has
stretched out his magic kipttm towards the village. This method
has also been employed by the Akamba in nocturnal plundering
expeditions against the Masai and Akikuyu, and thus as a general
magic recognized and practised by the community. Further Krapf
relateshow the Akamba with whom in 1849 he journeyed up
from the coast put ntupcea in the camp-fires to make themselves
invisible to their enemies. And a young man who visits his
sweetheart at night-time in her mother's hut, before he dares to
steal in, usually also produces deep sleep among those inside by
means of magic medicine. This is done by opening the door a
little and pushing the medicine into the fire with a long stick.
Those whose cattle are sick and who wish to damage their
enemies' flocks take the blood of a diseased animal and with it
smear the entrance to the others' cattle-kraals or pour the blood

on the path leading to them. This method may be called a kind
of contagious magic, though the effect, if there is any, is very
likely due to pure infection.
To get rid of a real or supposed enemy, when one visits a
beer party in his company- at some other person's hut, it is ne-

cessary, when a suitable occasion presents itself, to put the magic
medicine rapidly into his beer and stir it once, uttering silent curses.
A thing that I have not myself heard of, but which Hoffman^
relates, is that one can injure a person by undertaking some mani-
pulations with his footsteps, which is, as is known, a widespread
belief, not only among so-called primitive peoples. They smear a
thorn with woi and put it in the man's tracks.
1
J. Hoffmann, Geburt, Heirat and Tod, p. 20.
It has been mentioned that the word kipa^gona means, first
'sacrifice' (see p. 218) secondly 'magic medicine'^ (seep. 241). ku6-

andea mundu hpaggona, Ht. 'to plant k^paggona for someone', is
the standing phrase for the prevalent method of depositing magic

medicine for an enemy, for instance on the path to his hut or at
its entrance. When he treads on the » medicine*, he will soon die
or at least become ill.
A kipa^gqna must be used exactly as the medicine man or

magician prescibes. A depature from these instructions, even if
involuntary, makes the hpa^gona ineffectual, it is then »broken»,
as it is said (kutula kipaggona < kutula 'to break'). I remember
a case when two persons were ordered by a medicine man to

proceed in a certain way. While they were doing their best to
carry out his instructions^ a third person came to the place, and
so the k'hpaggqna »was broken*. It is obvious that, under such
circumstances, the witch doctor can easily find an excuse if his
instructionsdo not bring about any result. His client could not
have followed them sufficiently carefully.
But kipwggona is not always assigned to » black magic ».
kuGandea mwitm hpaggona, for instance, means to make use
of love medicine for a girl, for whom a man has an unrequited
affection, so as to arouse her love in return but not to injure her.
There are people who, merely by stretching out their index
finger towardsan objectionable person, can cause his death. This
power may even be possessed involuntarily (from birth by people .?)
who never use black magic; and to avoid mishaps, they keep their
hands closed, when they want to point something out {kwolotd),
and point with the knuckle of the index finger.
In former times, it is said, there were men skilled in ivoi,
who could kill an enemy merely by a look. A simple means of
causing an injury, which can be used by anyone, is to place magic
medicine in hand and blow it in the direction of an

the open
enemy, who is injured by it, even if he is a long distance away.
Some persons skilled in black magic have also the power of
transforming themselves into wild animals — an idea that we
^ These two different meanings of kipa'ggona are really not so
unlike each other. A closer study of the sacrifice shows us numerous
cases of a magical character and that, on the other hand, magic rites
may pass over into sacrificial actions.
a82 Lindblom, The Akamba
find among many African peoples — and in this form are able
to carry out their ghastly intentions with impunity. In Kikumbuliu
I heard of a man who was dragged away from his village during
the night by was nothing but one of his enemies.
a lion, which
The expert magic turns himself into a lion by daubing his face
in
with a certain kind of mupcea and by eating a small portion of the

powdered skin and claws of a lion. The people in Kikumbuliu
seem to occupy themselves a good deal with black magic, a part
of which is said to come from the Giriama tribe. It is said, for
instance, that an expert in 100% can take the life of an enemy he
fears by giving certain instructions to one of his cocks. The cock
flies to the hut of the man indicated, perches on the roof and
crows. When the man comes out to see what is the matter, the
cock moves, by means of the W(?^-power of his master, into his
body (1). The man dies, unless they can discover what is the
matter with him.
In Kikumbuliu I was also told of a little mystic figure like a
man which »the whites make out of clay». By means of ze/<7* this
can be set in motion and sent into the body of an enemy's wife
when she is pregnant, thus causing a miscarriage. The thing is
called kmniwa (i. e. miscarriage). It is possible that this idea
originates from natives who have seen European children playing
with dolls.
The well-known belief that hair and nails are an essential

part of a human being and therefore can be used in black magic
is also found among the Akamba. They are consequently very
careful not to leave hair or nails that have been cut lying about
but bury them or hide them some other way. And even if the
in
hair is not picked up by a human being directly, it may be taken

by a bird, and then one dofes not know where it will finish up.
Swallows especially and the little red-hooded bird called mbihmbth
are said to look for human hair etc to help build their nests with.
This is probably why the swallow and her nest are sometimes
used in black magic. For a similar reason practisers of this magic
make use of the hyena's excrement, which may contain something
that proceeds from a human being, because the hyena » devours
everything that comes in his way».
One seldom or never sees human excrement in Ukamba, at
least in the neighbourhood of the villages. It was only afterwards

Medicine men and magicians a83
that I remembered this, and so I must content myself with throwing

out a suggestion that such cleanHness, which is also found among
a great number of other primitive peoples, has the same basis
as the careful removal of hair and pieces of nails, namely the fear
of black magic.
We have now given an idea, though a slight one, of the

number and nature of all the dangers which are threatened by
the practiser of black magic. To protect himself the native must,
on the other hand, use other magic. Thus one can get from the
mundu mud, and even from a mwoi, a kind of universal remedy,
a powder which protects one against almost all kinds of evdls,
against the designs of enemies, against wild animals during jour-
neys, etc. Small cuts are made in the patient's skin and the
powder is inserted in these. The author happened to see a mwo\
treat a person in the following way: he made a cut at the ends
of his nails (the outermost parts of the body) and then a scratch
along his arms, over the shoulders, and up to the forehead,
sprinkling mu^csa in the cuts. Now and then one sees a man
with a cut in his forehead, treated with mu^csa. They generally
inspire respect, and people will not willingly fall out with one who
is protected in this way. This instilled magic power does not

only passively protect its owner, but the protection may extend
even as far as to injure a person who wishes to injure him.
Another and more usual active effect of such medicine is for it
to obtain favour with women.
At Nzaui in the Kiiungu district there was (in 191 1) a man
called Mutune wa Taula, who was, at least in Ulu, widely known
for his makw, a drink which protected the person who drank it
against the magic described above under the name of pointing
out {kwolotd) and kuQanda k'hâ'ggona. But, on the other hand, the
person who has drunk makw may not, without danger to himself,
use these two kinds of woi against others. People of all ages and
of both sexes came to Mutune to buy vtakio, and for a rupee they
got a little to drink. M. is said to have learnt this art from a
Mukamba from Kilimandjaro.
When the mundu mud is treating a person upon whom a
spell has been cast by means of woi he keeps his arms folded
during the process; this is called kuOelania moko in the professional

language.
Those who go to law to get an action decided are anxious
to try to further their cause by means of magic. I remember an
old man who, on such an occasion, had medicine beneath his
nails and stuffed into the ends of his forked staffs. In addition,
when he thought he was unobserved, he blew mupcea in the di-
rection of his adversary.
Just as thieves facilitate their work by means of magic, so
magic is used as a protection against robbery. Over the door of
the hut is »planted» a kipa^gona, which has the effect of preven-
ting the thief from finding the way out again or, if he escapes
successfully, of making his fingers stick fast, as it were, to the
stolen object, and so he is easily detected. This k^Jia'ogona con-
sists usually of a horn filled with mup<sa and is thus of the type
of kiîtm. One often sees in addition protective objects of all kinds
above the door of a hut. A goat-bell, which I once saw, was
said to protect the people of the house from dying of illness. I
have repeatedly seen eggshells, fixed on a peg, stuck in above
the door. They are the shells after newly-hatched chickens. The
poultry has its sleeping-place within the huts. If these pegs were
thrown away, the chickens might die. The mental process of the
native here is unknown to me, but he might possibly reason as
follows; The egg has hitherto been a safe dwelling-place for the
chicken. Now when he leaves it this security may be retained
by putting the remains of the old dwelling-place above the en-
trance to the new one.
Cattle, the Akamba's most precious possession, are of course
also protected in various way by magic means, and, as one would
expect, this is applied by preference to the entrance of the cattle
kraals. Beasts of prey, lions and leopards, are specially feared.
The protection against these often consists of an inverted jar con-
taining mupcea.
I saw a ntundu mud make the following arrangement to keep
out disease from a cattle kraal. On each side of the entrance he
^ The Masai put magic medicine beneath the nail of the index
finger and point to an enemy, muttering curses. Merker, Die Masai
(ed. 1904), p. 152.
fixed a pole down and into holes in the poles he stuffed medicine.
In the ground between the poles were buried certain roots.
We can also easily understand that they try to protect the
crops in the field by means of magic. In a jar w^hich stood in
a field I found the following objects: the horn of an antelope,
filled with pieces of wood and soot; another horn, containing bits
of an old bast sack (klondo)\ the bone of a bird, presumably a
hen's; seeds of mwcB (Penicillaria spicata); a sea-shell and two
small bamboo tubes.
As a protection against stealing on a field of sugar-cane, its
proprietor takes seven spikes of a porcupine {mti'ggu, pi. mni'ggu)

and bores a hole in the trunk of a sugar-cane with each of them,
saying something like: »May he who eats this have his teeth
destroyed!* Then each spike is thrown in the direction of the
place where the sun sets (no doubt a symbolic action)^. It is
said that if a person eats sugar-cane from a field protected in this

way his teeth soon fall One might call this contagious magic
out.
of the second degree. For the Akamba, like the Akikuyu", be-
lieve that it is dangerous to pick the teeth or touch them in any
other way with the spikes of the porcupine.
On journeys, especially when formerly the trade caravans
went down to they coast, they obtained protection against the attacks
of lurking Masai and Galla by blowing magic powder {nzcEdu) in
the direction of the enemy's country and by placing powder

the
in the camp-fires so as to make them invisible. In the same way
there was a remedy to protect oneself against rain during the
journey.
7. Amulets {kiîtui, mbi^gu).
We have already touched upon purely personal protective

and lucky objects, real amulets, but we shall now examine this
group a little more closely. They are called hpitu or tnh'ggti^,
and the difference between these two varieties seems to be very
vague. One might possibly say that a kiîtm has a greater magic
^ Cf. a mother's curse upon her son, p. 183.

^ Rout ledge, The Akikuyu, p. 33.
^ Probablj'^ derived from 6'h'gga 'to shut, shut out', here with the
meaning of shutting out evil influences. Mpingti is also the name for
amulet among the Wapare at Kilimandjaro.
power and might be called a talisman, while a mh^gu acts rather

more passively ^ This hpztm, the purely individual means of
protection, which is not dangerous to others, must on no account
be confused with the formidable hpttm used at trials, peace
ceremonies, etc. (p. 165 fif.)- The amulets are made and sold
by the medicine man^.
These amulets differ very much in appearance. Many of them,
however, like the hpttiu with which an oath is taken, consist of
a little horn (of the Thomson gazelle, the dwarf antelope or other
smaller species of antelope). The shape of the horn in also imi-
tated in wood, mostly ebony. Another type is made out of small
square pads of imported cotton cloth, containing powder, and
these seem to be always called mbfggu.
I might mention the following amulets from my ethnographi-
cal collection from the Kamba now
tribe, in the ethnographical
department of the Swedish State Museum:
i) Three mb'h'ggu fastened with an iron chain. The little
bamboo tube contains a powder which arouses love in women.
The top of a horn bound with copper wire contains medicine for
protection against enemies and wild animals during journeys. Kitui
(Swed. State Museum, Ethnogr. coll. inventary 12. 7. 289).
2) h^ztm, bound with copper wire and adorned with chains
at the top. It is filled with love medicine and has been worn by
a young man at a dance. It is at the same time an ornament.
Machakos (Inv. 12. 7. 290).
3) kipztiu, bound with iron wire. A protection against illness.

Is, like the foregoing, also an ornament. Kitui (Inv. 12. 7. 291).
4) mb^'ggu, made out of the tusk of a wild boar. The valley

of the Nthua river (Inv. 72. 7. 292).
5) mbi'ggu of ebony, carved in the form of the top of a horn.

Makes the owner rich in cattle. The Nthua valley (Inv. 12. 7. 294).
6) nib'h'ggu of wood, carved in the form of the top of a horn.
Kitui (Inv. 12. 7. 295).
^ It is customary to make a distinction between talismans worn

for good luck, and amulets which are preventive. The difference is,
however, often hard to maintain. See A. G. Had don. Magic and
Fetichism, p. 29.
^ Some prices are given by Hobley, Kamba Protective Magic,
Man 19 1 2, p. 5.
7) mbi^gu. »The medicine » is simply tightly wound round andi

fastened with twine made of bast. Ikutha (Inv. 12. 7. 296).
8) nih^gu. A cloven tooth (crocodile?) in which the medicine
is stuffed. Kitui (Inv. 12. 7. 297).
9) Two amulets, a large kipiim of antelope horn and a
nih'^gu, which also consists of the top of a horn. The latter
protects against poisoning. Kitui (Inv. 12. 7. 306).
The fangs of the lion and leopard are also found as amulets,,
a usage which is well-known in many African tribes.
An amulet is often quite a decorative article, wound roundt
with its metal wire and adorned with china beads or red Aberis-
seeds, which, in the case of a horn, are fixed in the dark;
sticky mass (beeswax, gum, etc), with which the horns are filled..
In this way the amulet serves at the same time as an object of

adornment. It is usually worn hanging round the neck or is^
fixed on the upper arm or round the wrist.
Amulets can be obtained for every possible object, for in-
stance for success in love and hunting, for protection against ma-
gic {ivo'h) and illness, against enemies and wild animals, etc. Am
old man who is wooing a young girl, who he suspects does not
want to have anything to do with him, tries to improve his posi-
tion by means of an amulet. A man who has a bad arm fastens.
a mh^gu around it, so that it shall be better again more quickly.
Several different qualities same
are often united in one and the
amulet. The chiefs and headmen appointed by the government
frequently incur the ill-will of the other natives, especially if they
are zealous in their work, and so they use amulets as a protection
against poisoning, and against the placing of kipa^gona in their
way, etc.
A k'ipttu for protection against lions consists not infrequently-

of a round stone; the reason for this is unknown to me. It is^
stretched out towards and one says: »Ga

an approaching lion
your way!» These methods of protection against lions are con-
sidered to be specially effective, which is not surprising, as it:
it very seldom happens that a lion attacks human beings without
first being attacked by them. As has been already indicated,,

those who travel through the desert also take with them amulets,
as a protection against enemies, especially against the roving pluwi-
dering Masai. So the traveller stretches out his kipztiu »in the-
-a88 Lindblom, The Akamba
-direction of the country of the Masai». There are also k^pttui to

point with against a threatening rain cloud, so that one should not
get wetthrough on the journey and conversely to produce rain
{kulat%a mbud). Stretching out a hpttu in this way in a certain
direction for a certain purpose is called kuGuta na ktpitm.

Amulets are sometimes even placed on cattle as a protection
against wild animals. I have on a few occasions seen these, in
the form of a horn or a medicine bag, hanging round the neck
of cattle.
One can rarely see in Ukamba proper on one and the same
many amulets as there are on a Kamba from Yimba within
individual as
Mombasa, described by Brutzer who adds that the Akamba are
accustomed to hang a great number of amulets on themselves^:
»My informant, who certainly belonged to those who were enlight-
ened, wore on the brass spiral round his neck a talisman wound
round with metal wire. This was to protect him against sorcery
in general. Round
his wrist there was a bracelet in which simi-
larly a talisman was wrapped. This allowed him to see if there
happened to be any poison in the beer which was offered to him.
If the hand trembles while raising the cup to the mouth, it is
a sign that there is poison in it. On the bracelet also hung

two small pieces of wood on a short cord. These were to protect
himself against snakebites. Beneath the cloth round his loins hung
a talisman wrapped in pieces of cloth and tightly fastened with
string. This was to bring its wearer riches».
Amulets and other objects with magic power are not inherited,
but, on the death of their owner, go out of use, as no one else
can really understand their use. Sometimes they are allowed to
accompany the dead man to the grave, sometimes they are left
behind in his hut or are thrown right away.
8. Conceptions about the magic power in names.

A trait common to all primitive people seems to be an un-
willingness to give their names to strangers, because they are
afraid of sorcery. To them a name is an essential part of the
one who bears it or even quite identical with him, and if an ill-
^ Brutzer, Die Geisterglaube, p. ii,

disposed person knows my name

and mentions it he can get
power over me and so by black magic among other
injure me,
ways. Among the Akamba a non-magic motive is also present.
For it is —
or at least it was in earlier times, when the blood-
feud was stringently carried out —
often a very wise precaution
not to mention one's name, in this case the family name, i. e. the
father's name, and still less the clan name, when one was staying
in a strange place.
An enemy who is to be attacked should not be mentioned
by his tribal name when one comes in proximity to him, no
doubt to avoid the risk of arousing his attention. On such occa-
sions the Masai are called alaki 'those who look for wild honey'
(from the verb kula\ia 'to look for wild honey'). A non-magic
motive for avoiding the mention of enemies by their names seems,
however, to be present here as well, for the spies, when they come
in with an accountof the enemy, refer to them by some peri-
phrasis, lest the young and inexperienced warriors should, in their
desire for battle, commit some rash acts, which they might possibly
do, if they got to know of the proximity of the enemy.

The influence which, according to the opinion of primitive
people, can be gained over the bearer of a name by uttering
that name, is also effective not only in the case of people, but
with animals too, nay, even for non-personal things (according to
primitive ideas animals are often persons), objects of practically all
kinds. We may
be allowed to quote an illustrative example from
the Gajos Sumatra described by K. Th. Freuss: »So diirfen
in
die blattern in der wohnung des daran erkrankten bei den Gajo
nicht mit namen genannt und keine worter gebraucht werden, die
hasslich, faulend, stinkend bedeuten, augenscheinlich in dem sinne
unseres ebenfalls hier als beispiel anzuziehenden sprichwortes:
Wenn man vom wolf spricht, ist er da»^
To return to the Akamba, I have come across the following
illustrations of their fear of uttering on certain occasions the name
of an animal or an inanimate object.
The most profitable game is the elephant, and so hunters
are, quite naturally, very much •
afraid of disturbing this animal
^ K. Th. Preuss, Der Unsprung der Religion und Kunst. Globus

1905, p. 395-
ArchOr. Lindblom 19
needlessly and are on their guard, especially as the elephant is

considered to be an extraordinarily wise creature. When they
catch sight of the great pachydermata, they thus mention them
in many different ways: nde ^£U 'old poles' (referring to the tusks);
or, as I heard in Kikumbuliu, inbonda malia or wata —

the meaning
of both these expressions is unknown to me. They are also fond
of calling them stones {fua6ia), so that for instance the one of
the hunting party who first catches sight of an elephant, says:
» Yonder is a stone ». This is to be interpreted as magic based
on likeness: a stone does not move from its place and the native
wishes that the elephant, like a stone, would remain motionless
in his place, so that he might have on opportunity to shoot him.
Of the same reason the hippopotamus (ggii) is by hunters
called 'ggwculd.
If it begins to rain when they are out on a martial expe-

dition or hunting, they avoid speaking of rain, saying for in-
stance, instead of »it rains »: »Ngai has come* (cf. p. 248). Other-
wise the cessation of the rain would be postponed. The natives
are very sensitive to rain and, in addition, a lengthy downpour is
deleterious to the bowstrings.

Those who go to look for honey in the desert or to cut the
honeycombs from the beehives hanging there do not mention
the word uht (honey), but call their honey jar {hpcsmbd), for in-
stance, kmapi to get more honey.
And an additional example. The incessant circling of a vul-
ture in the air is a pretty sure sign of the proximity of some
carcass or dying animal. The native hunters, on catching sight of
the bird, are inspired with sure hopes of an easily-caught prey,
at best an elephant or at least a welcome addition to their food
supplies (the Akamba do not mind eating animals that have died
from natural causes, if this has only recently happened). For this
reason must not say that » there is meat somewhere in the
they
neighbourhood* or anything like that, but they use some peri-
phrasis instead, such as mafta'ggo 'dry leaves', here probably in
the sense of » rubbish », something worthless. In this one might
see a kind of effect of contrast : by giving a trivial name to an ob-
ject which has not been seen, one tries to raise the value of the object.
The method depicted here of giving a person or thing another
name is called kwtiea in Kikamba.
9. Omens.
Primitive people readily find a special import in practically
every accidental circumstance which occurs, and at the same time
they have a mass of omens of constant and universally recognized
signification. An omen, presage is called in the Kamba language
jfiupanUy with the addition muscô, if it is considered good, and
mujiuku^ if it is bad. The Akamba get their most important
omens from the animal world.
a. Omens taken from bodily action.

By kiow they seem to mean (nervous) twitchings of the joints
in different parts of the body^. If one feels an itching in the
lower eyelid {kiow km m(Bpo), it means that one is going to
»cry or see blood». This may just as well be a good omen,
meaning that one is going to get good booty during an approach-
ing hunt or that one is to be invited to eat meat at a friend's.
kww k\a moko, twitching in both arms, means that one shall get
a present. Twitching in the left arm {kiow km kzvqko kzva aka
in the women's arm', i. e. the left) means that one is going to be
compelled to give something away. A similar sensation in the
head, k\o\o km ukunwa (lit. 'to be beaten') signifies that one is to
be beaten or to be tired out by carrying a heavy burden.
To sneeze {kwaptmwa^) is also considered as an omen, although
usually of slight import. When a sick person sneezes repeatedly
it is a sign that he will soon be well. To many medicine men
a boy's sneezing early in the morning is a good omen, meaning
that he will have many consultations that day.
To another me-
dicine man, on the other hand, this may be a bad augury, while
a girls sneezing is, on the contrary, a welcome sign to him.
My additional information about their ideas concerning sneez-
ing may conveniently be mentioned here. A person who sneezes
^ According K. Th. Preuss ethnological literature contains, or
to
at least contained 1909, only the very scantiest material
before
about this kind of presage. Because of this P. requests investigators
\ who are going out to pay attention to this lacuna.

himself are collected in his article »Die Vorbedeutung des Zuckens der
The data he found
Gliedmassen in der V6lkerkunde», Globus 1909, p. 245.

- = to be blessed? (cf, kwaptma 'to bless').
292 Lindblotn, The Akamba
says kulat often with the addition : kula mwana iva 'gganxa —
»kula, son of so-and so», mentioning his father's name. I do not
know what kula really means, but the expression is said to indic-
ate happiness or well-being. Presumably it has a meaning similar
to our »Prosit!» One of my acquaintainces of the hpumbo clan
used always to say, when be sneezed ma>pa : ma inba-k%ptimbd 'the
enemies of the clan kjpumbd\
A person who gives a baby an ornament or other small ob-
ject to play with will not take this back, if the child happens to
sneeze while he is holding the object. If one took it, the action
would be highly disapproved of by those present.
b. People whom one meets looked upon as omens.

When one is out on important business or has started a jour-
ney, it is to meet a solitary man or woman, and also
a bad omen
three or company, if their number is odd^ Many people
more in
turn back again and postpone their project after such a encounter.
On the other hand, if those one meets are an even number, two,
four etc., it is of no significance. These rules vary, however, in
different parts of the country.
c. Animals as bearers of omens.
A great many animals play an important part in the Akam-

ba's life as tokens of coming events, usually misfortunes. Thus
if the jackal's yell is heard several nights in succession, a mis-
fortune is considered to be at hand: similarly if a cock crows in
the evening. If a frog jumps up towards you, you will, according
tho the saying of the old people, soon get ill or die. On the other
hand, it does not matter if the frog goes into a hut, which among
the Zulus means a death 2. But if the black biting ants come
several times into a hut, the Akamba say that one of the dwellers
in the hut will die. The hedgehog {ktpay^gaiti), on the other hand,
brings good fortune with it, if it enters a hut. The nzai is a very
common, non-stinging, brown night-insect, the size of a wasp.
1 The Masai also believe that if, on a journey, one meets a soli-
tary person on the road, the journey will be fruitless. Hoi lis, The
Masai, p. 324.
2 Kidd, The essential Kafir, p. 273.
which is often a nuisance to the traveller, because it continually

circles round the lamp, falls into the food as one is eating, etc.
If it falls into the camp-fire of a hunting party, it is a sign that
one of the company will be killed by some animal; this is also
the case if one hears them up among the tops of the trees round
the camp. In such a case the hunters usually turn back home as
soon as day dawns.
If the domestic animals do something unusual, it is taken as
a bad omen. Thus, for instance, if a sheep or cow, etc. rises up
on its hind-legs to bite off the leaves of a tree, the animal is
immediately killed. Goats, on the other hand, often do this, and

so their behaviour is not taken as an omen, as it is natural to
them, or, as the natives say; »This is their \vork» ^. It is also
looked upon as an evil omen if, when the cattle are grazing, a
bull and runs home to the village without any obvious
horns
reason. The animal may then be killed by anyone without the
owner's permission being asked.
As might be expected, various otiier kinds of birds are though
10 be the bearers of omens. The owl is a bird of ill-omen in
Africa as well as in Europe, and if it is heard several nights in
succession it denotes death. Now and then one sees old crocks
hanging in the trees at the villages: they are put there to frighten
the owls away. The most important and best known of all
prophecying animals is also a bird, the '^gomakomt "^,

a red-headed
species of woodpecker, to which the natives listened, especially
in former times, before marching out on plundering expeditions.'
It is considered to be a good or a bad omen according to the
side on which one hears his pecking. The interpretation varies to
some extent in different parts of Ukamba; the following detailed
account is from Kikumbuliu, the south-east part of the country.
^ The above undeniably logical argument does not seem, however,

to be used by all Bantu peoples. It is said of the Bechuana: »If a
goat climbs the roof of a hut, it is speare(^ at once, because it would

bewitch the owner if it were not put to death. » J. Mackenzie, Ten
years North of the Orange River, p. 392.
^ < komakoma 'to rap, knock'.
^ It is difficult say whether the birrd's cry and rappng alone
to
have caused it be considered a bird of omen, or whether the red
to
feathers of the head have also contributed to this. For the significance
of red feathers see N. Hammarstedt in Fatburen 1909, p. 201.
.
If the bird is heard straight in front, one will »see blood »,

i. e. get scratched in the thickets, be gored by a rhinoceros
or wounded in fighting, is most
etc.; which of these tings
probable depends on the object of the expedition or the en-
vironment one is in or is going to be in. To hear the bird in
front in an oblique direction and high up is also a bad sign,
whereas if it is low in the same direction it only means that the
listener will return without having effected his object. The left
side is, on the other hand, the good side (in other districts the
bad one), and if the bird is heard on that side, one has prospects
of accuring women, cattle and other wealth. Finally, if it is heard
from behind, it denotes that the listener will carry a burden, so
that if he is going out hunting he will brobably shoot something,
if he is about to cut the honeycombs from the beehives, he may
be pretty sure of a good result, and similarly with those who are
going to steal cattle, etc.
This woodpecker is looked upon as a messenger from the
ancestral spirits; it is not killed, arid its flesh may not be eaten
by men. This prohibition does not apply to women, probably
because as a rule they do not know of this bird, as they seldom
have cause to go out into the desert, where the bird principally
stays. Machakos, where trees
In the immediate neighbourhood of
are very rare and the bird is concequently not found, only a very
few people seem to know of it. The Akamba who live there
also carried out most of their campaigns on the steppe, where
they probably had no opportunity of observing it.^
The natives state that even certain animals, such as the
girafife, wild boar, etc. are so shrewd that they listen to and
understand the 'ggomakomi s call.
The different directions in which the woodpecker is heard

have their special appellations:
from in front is called tmsia, from behind '^gu'gguo;

high up on the right is galled ina, low down on the right Ozcapz
zva aumd 'the men's Gwapi ;
high up on the left is called ivqinu, low down on the left Gzuqpt
wa aka 'the women's 6wgpi
^ The Masai, however, have the species of woodpecker they call tilo
(Mesopicus spodocephalus) as a bird of omen. If heard on the right or
behind, it is good, if on the left, bad. Hollis, The Masai, pp. 323 ff.
As an instance of how much importance they sometimes attach

to this bird of omen Brutzer relates how a party who had en-
tered upon a long journey returned after four days because on
the second day they heard the birds call^.
10. Different substances (ôndm) used at ceremonial

purifications.
At different places in the foregoing work we have come across

the word 'gondm, and we have seen that it means, in the first
place, a purifier, used for religious or magic purposes to clean
people, cattle, fields, huts, articles of clothing, in a word, objects
of every conceivable kind. Its principal ingredients consist of parts
of plants and certain intestines of animals, usually of the goat.
Sometimes, as in the case of death (p. 108), such a ceremonial
purification is obligatory, sometimes it is a more occasional pre-
caution.
In its meaning the conception of 'gondm contains
restricted
nothing religious, nor is it used for purification, but is a more
or less purely magic aid. For instance, there is 'gondui which, if
eaten by a cow, causes her to breed only female calves and so
increase considerably in value. Different kinds of 'gondia are used
principally in connection with cattle. We shall return to this in
describing the domestic animals of the Akamba.
The ordinary medicine man seldom meddles with 'gondui,
contrary to the practice of the Uima (p. 269). Generally the 'gondui
expert is an experienced elderly man, who has got his know-
ledge and power from the spirits. Old Malata wa Kyambi in the
Machakos district was a real specialist in gondui. He knew of a
great number of purifying plants and had planted them at his hut,
others in his field and others in the surrounding thickets. Thus
the plants were specially cultivated for medical or at least ritual
use. In addition he had collected a large supply of dried roots,
which he stored up in and there in the
different places here
neighbourhood of the hut, heap of leaves, a hole
for instance in a
in the earth, etc. He gave as a reason for this that it was not
»good» to keep them at home. The fact of the matter was pro-
bably that the objects were supposed to have more power if a
^ Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube, p. ii.
little mysticism was attached to them. Malaba was an liima, but

not a medicine man.
Of the many different kinds of go^dia we shall, first of all,
mention a common one which is used to purify both human
beings and cattle. The parts of plants which are contained in it
are the roots of muliJidUi or kxo^giua (Sanseviera sp.) and those

of viukunda mbui^ or mulald. This kind o( gondui is, among other
purposes, used to sprinkle one who, after a rather long absence, returns
home, as it is considered injurious to him if any of those who have
stayed at home have had sexual intercourse during his absence. All
those part in the trade caravans which used to go down
who took
to the coast and those who went on campaigns out into the Masai
steppes were treated in this way on their arrival at home. The
purification ceremony was carried out as follows (cf. p. 108): The
roots of the plants mentioned were crushed and put in a calabash
shell with water ^, a part of which is given to a goat to drink.
The goat is killed and certain of its intestines {kiptliko) are placed
in the mixture, with which afterwards the person who has come
home is sprinkled, and in which he has to tread with his feet.

In a similar way they sprinkle his bed and all the inside of the
hut, the entrance to it and the open places outside. Before this
is done he may not eat any food in his house; he even likes to
purify the food before he begins to eat.

According to information which unfortunately I have been
unable to confirm, those who are at home must also be purified
in this way, so that they may be exempt from the danger which
they believe surrounds them on account of the sexual intercourse
they have had during his absence.
A similar 'gondm is used to sprinkle on the crop which is
springing up in the field (cf. below and the chapter on »Agricul-
ture>). By some it is also used in house-building, when it is
poured in the holes in which the rods, which form the frame of
the hut, are set down.
Some other gondm plants are 'ôndm ta aka6t ('of the Masai'),
mu/u/xvd, koia, ndata kiGunibu, wcea and Hceta. The last is espe-
cially used to purify women and cattle.
^ < kiinda 'to drink' and mhtn 'goat'.

^ In the Kitui district no calabash shell or other household article
is used, but the mixture is placed on leaves of the ktu^gn plant.
An animal which has very many and dififerent uses in the

preparation of 'ôndm is the rock Hyrax, ktgoijj or ktktla, as it is
called when youno. The contents of its stomach are considered

as a specially powerful means of purification. The regulations for
the capture and treatment of this animal are very detailed and
must be carefully followed if the 'gondiii is to have any effect. First
a little food of different kinds (maize, beans, seed of Eleusine^
etc.), the products of the field, must be placed, as an offering to
Mulungu, among the rocks which the animal frequents. A Hyrax
may not be shot with arrows but must be taken in a snare. At
Kibwezi instructions were in force to the effect that to catch the
animal it should on no account be called kigond, but only kikila
or ilondia sheep' (cf. p. 290). The animal is then brought to a
sacrificial place {^pcBmbo), where the elders kill it by cutting off
its head. The contents of stomach are mixed with blood from
its
the animal in a calabash shell, and the 'gondm is ready. For the
sprinkling — and usually also at the sprinkling of other kinds of
ôndm — branches o{ muta (Verticillatae-sp., with a strong aromatic
odour) are used.
This ôndm has its most important use in connection with
agriculture. If the crop is bad, they turn to the medicine man
as usual in their difficulty, and he readily indicates to them that
the fields should be sprinkled with it. It should preferably be
mixed in water from the first rain, thus a sort of homeopathic
magic. It is easy then to see that it also happens that this 'gondut
is used to produce rain.
Besides crops the cattle are also sprinkled, if they do not

seem to be prospering, with 'gondm of the Hyrax. It is also used
for human beings: barren women and those who are suffering from
the illness called â6u (see below) are smeared with it and it is
given to drink to those suffering from general weakness and ex-

cessive thinness {uniosu).
It should be noticed that this means of purification is differ-
ent from those described before inasmuch as everything connected

with it is managed and prescribed by the medicine man, while
'gondm in general, as has been already said, is administered by
special people. Although the
do not occupy themselves
latter
with black magic, they inspire respect and are as a rule paid
punctually for their trouble, as it is believed that they have the
power to be avenged on the patient by letting an illness loose on

them, for instance to make them gradually waste away (ujnosu).
This is happen by a certain treatment of the material used
said to
for the 'gondm, some
part of which is always left in their bags.
The skin of the rock Hyrax is considered very good to use
for pouting out the pebbles on in divination. Some of the Akamba
will under no circumstances eat the flesh of the animal, while
others on the other hand have no scruples against this^. Hilde-

brand^ who in addition mentions that the Akamba do not kill the
Hyrax, says that the droppings of the animal are used as an
astringent in circumcision.
The intestines of poultry and the excrement of the python
are also occasionally used in the preparation of 'ôndiii.
II. The illnesses iâ^w and makwa.

As has been mentioned in Chap. VII pa6u is a kind of
illness which may attack a person who does not observe certain
instructions about purification, especially those which must be
carried out after a death (p. 108). The symptoms of the illness
are general weakness, a gradual wasting away and especially a
very rapid loss of flesh, which is not seldorri in glaring contrast
to the sick person's voracious appetite. If he is not purified in
time, the illness causes his death. All the peoplewas who I
told had paGti had a worn appearance and looked apathic and
depressed^. To pine away slowl)'^ in this way is called ktipuniua*'.
The two most usual cases of pa6u in connection with deaths,
before a village is purified after a death, are:
I. A relation who is away and comes on a visit to a village
where a death takes place and eats food there contracts the ill-
ness (cf. p. 109).
The Hyrax belongs to the animals which, according to the Mosaic

^
law, Jews could not eat. The prohibition of the Abysinians and
the
Mohammedans from eating the animal perhaps originates from this.
Brehm's Tierleben III, p. 592. A. E. Brehm, Vierzehn Tage in
Mensa, Globus 1863, p. 297.
^ pa6u seems, in some respects, to be equivalent with the Suaheli
word thambi 'sin'.

* Not to be confused with kupanriia 'to rest, repose'.
2. If a girl from such a village has sexual relations she gets

paf)u. If she has a child it will be very thin and miserable and
soften have something like goat's hair on its back». If after that
she has a wooer, her former lover has to pay a goat for the
preparation of the purificatory 'gondui for her.
There are several other forms o( pa6u:
On p. 105 we have seen that only the atumta may touch a
corpse, while contact with a dead body brings fyaQu to other
people. By eating his totem animal or marrying a girl of his own
clan a man can also catch this illness.
From pa6u, as from all other kinds of » ceremonial unclean-
liness», one is purified by 'gondm. Every expert in 'gondui cannot,
however, cure paGu, but for this purpose specialists are required.
Such a specialist is called mutumia wa nkii, and is the same per-
son who in cases of death says what must be done to prevent
further deaths and to avoid 'pa6u. It is said that to be successful
in his work, he himself ought to have. lost some near relative by
death. A
woman may also be a mutuima wa uku.
I shall now describe in detail a purification ceremony of this
kind that I witnessed near Kibwezi.
The headman Makiti had two wives and one of them gave
birth to a childThrough not troubling about the
which died.
instructions concerning ritual coitus on the death of a child (see
p. 106) he caused his other wife, with whom he was living at
variance, to have pa6u. At length, however, he decided to have her
purified, and the ceremony was carried out by an elder who was
expert in 'gondiu outside M:s village on the path which led to it.
The sick woman was placed on the path — to stand separate

from the man not in — actual contact with it, but on a few large
leaves on which were also placed a couple of branches of a 'gondiii
tree. Opposite her, on the other side of the path, M. took up

his position, and behind him the other wife who was also regar-
ded as being guilty of causing the illness. Another man brought
forward a goat, which he ripped up alive, and took out the little
stomach, kipihho, the contents of which he placed in a cala-
bash vessel, containing pieces of various kinds of trees, which
the 'gondm man had previously arranged. The poor goat lived
several minutes. Generally the goat is killed first, but in this
case if it had been first killed, it would not have given enough
power (Oinia), explained the inutumta. During this time the latter
had picked out a small piece of wood and, after laying ihe sick
wife's hands on M:s shoulders, he told him to address her some-
what as follows: »I am sorry to have done wrong to you, and just
as this piece of wood is now thrown away, so I throw away all my
ill-will towards you». Then the piece was given to the woman and
she, on her side, declared that she threw away all ill-will towards
her husband, whereupon she threw the piece of wood away. In
the same way some further special causes of contention were
treated, and for each matter which was settled a bit of wood was
thrown away. Now the old man took some
of the prepared
ôndui and stuffed it in the mouth of the sick \voman and even
succeeded with some difficulty in getting some into the mouth of
her child, which she carried on her back. She had to spit it out
immediately, but the old man was very careful to see that she
spat it out between her feet. Makiti and his other wife had their
faces smeared with 'oondui. The ceremony was over, and the sick
woman ought now to get better soon.
In the Kikuyu language frnQu is called pafin^, and Routledge
gives no less than 29 examples of this » ceremonial uncleanness».
He gives no information, however, about the symptoms and effect
of f>ahti. The purification ceremonies he describes resemble very
much those of the Akamba; the purificatory substance is also
called Hobley^ has collected no less than 62 different
n gondii.
cases of thahu from the Akikuyu, several of which I recognize from
the Akamba. No doubt a closer investigation among the latter
would give a considerable number from them too. The two tribes,
being in many ways so nearly related, seem especially to have
almost quite the same conception about this kind of sickness.
l)af)u plays an immense role in the life of these people. Every
day, almost every moment, the native runs the risk of getting into
conflict with some rule, the breaking of which will attract him paOu.
Omission of the above-mentioned purification rites after a
death may also sometimes bring about a ceremonial uncleanness
and with it an illness which is more severe than paGu^ namely
^ 6 does not exist in Kikuyu, but /; corresponds here to Ki-

kamba 6.
2 Kikuj'u Customs and Belief. Thahu and its connection with
Circumcision Rites. Journ. Anthr. Inst. 19 10, p. 428 ff.
md\:iva. The author cannot with any certainty say that he has
seen anyone suffering from this, but the first symptoms are said
to consist of pains in the extremities, especially in the joints of
the knees and elbows (rheumatism of the joints?); the person who
is attacked by it has in addition » hoarse hawkings*. The limbs
soon begin and sores gradually break out on the body.
to swell
The German missionaries in Mulango, East Akamba, who knew
of this illness, considered it a kind of syphilis, but the natives
themselves, who also know of syphilis, but only under its Suaheli
name, deny this ^. They say that mal^tva has not, like syphilis,
come from the coast, but existed in the country since olden times
and among the neighbouring tribes.
also appears
malciaamuch more rare complaint than J>a6u, so that
is a
those who know how to cure it are also few in number. These
people are called muttiima wa inalcwa. The first qualifications
necessary for this position is that one should have lost several
of one's nearest relations by illness (no matter of what kind? or un-

der circumstances that may cause pa6ut\ There is no age limit.
Even young man, provided he is intelligent, possesses the quali-

a
fication to be a mututma wa malzva, if he has lost his parents and
brothers and sister. Similarly in the case of a woman. According
to Mr. K. Dundas, D. C. of Machakos, who was good enough to
write and inform me of his enquiries about makwa, »an ordinary
woman cannot become makwa, only a medicine woman ».
A man visited by death in this way wanders long distances
seeking eminent 'ôndiu experts to learn from. He has to learn
about the where they grow, what parts of them
different plants,
are to what way they are used. He thus deve-
be used and in
lops slowly into a connoisseur of a mass of plants and their uses.

An almost necessary condition for obtaining real success seems
to be, in addition, that he observes great or almost complete
sexual continence.
I shall quote the following from Mr. Dundas's paper which
agrees completely with my own results:
There are no special initiation ceremonies, neither are there
»
any special fees. There is no connection whatever with the »atu-

'
1 Hofmann (with a reservation) renders mahwa by leprosy (»aus-
satz?»). For my own part I have not heard of any cases of leprosy
in these districts.
mia ma nzama* or the ;>atumia ma ithembo >, and it is not neces-

sary for a person to belong to either of these grades in order to
become an »ukuu» or a »makwa».
It is to be noted too that so far as concerns the natives of
this district [Machakos] at any rate there is no mystery or secrecy
attached to these things. In short the »makwa» and »ukuu» are
not grades, but positions attained to gradually by successful prac-
tice, in much the same way as a successful medical practioner
may finally develop into a Harley street specialist. The »atumia
ma makvva» and the »atumia ma ukuu» are not in any way to
be confused with the medicine men,
are supposed to be in who
direct touch and communication with the »aimu». A person may
be a »makwa» or an »ukuu» only, or he may be both; of the
two the »ukuu» is considered the more important; on the other
hand it is said to be much more difficult to become a successful
»makwa». Kesungu, the great Kilungu »ukuu», combines both
functions and is also now on
becoming a medicine the way to
man; but this is due to the fact that he is now credited with
becoming possessed with an »aimu». He was taught both »makwa»
and »ukuu» by a woman called Siomuteti».
To this statement of Mr. Dundas I will only add that the
medicine man does not know how to cure paOu or makwa^ and
further that in actual practice the mutuima wa uku is a more
important person than the mutmma zva maltwa, because the cases
of makzva are more rare.
While jâdu is due to a psychical disturbance in the patient
the illness called makwa appears to be somewhat mystical^. The
consequences of his crime against the ritual prescriptions leave
him no peace, but are continually present in his consciousness, and
1 The symptoms scarcely point to it, or else one would be very

much Junod (The
inclined to suggest consumption as an explanation.
Life of a South African shows how this sickness
tribe II, p. 433)
has been known for a long time among the Thonga and has been of
great importance in their ritual. It would be interesting to know how
widespread it is in Africa and the ideas that the natives have about it.
It is certain that it existed there before the arrival of the Europeans.
I do not know what consumption
is called in Kikamba, but if Watt's
Vocabulary, which is usually very unreliable, is correct about this, the

Akamba have a name for consumption, namely ulolomi. This substan-
tive is not known to Hofmann (WSrterbuch), who has, however, the
the psychical depression which results brings with it a physical one
also, which may end with the complete extinction of life. This
great influence of suggestion is well known by numerous examples
from primitive people, whose physical equilibrium, while it cannot
be called nervous, is very unstable. It is enough to mention the
Australian native who after discovering that his sick wife had lain
on his rug died within a fortnight^.
12. Snake=charmers.
Some medicine men may be called real snake-tamers, inasmuch

as they capture and work with snakes. The taming of snakes in
itself seems to have no other practical importance than to give
people greater respect for the skill and magic power of the per-
son concerned, although we shall soon see that these snake-tamers
are also occupied in curing snake-bites, and as they themselves
are immune from snake poisoning, it is* thought that they can
give others immunity against it. The knowledge of this comes
ultimately from the aimu, who may, however, bestow it upon a
person, no matter whether he is a medicine man or not.
The most famous of all the snake-charmers was the now
deceased magic doctor Kimia in Ikutha, who was said to have
learnt the art among the Wagiriama. He had many snakes which
he kept in calabashes in his hut. Before he released the animals,
he eat a kind of powder. He called them to him by whistling,,
took them with his hands and let them coil round his body. To
show power over them he used, among other things, to put
his
the snake's head into his mouth. When on such an occasion he
was bitten, he naturally thought that it was due to some enemy's
witchcraft and went to a medicine man to be treated. The latter
buried Kimia in the earth, took him up again, and buried a living
sheep instead. Then he gave him instructions not to go on the
roads on his way home but to travel cross-country, and on his
verb kuloloma^ which he translates only with 'to be ill'. It probably,,
however, refers to some special sort of sickness, for the usual expres-
sion for »to be ill» is ktiq.
^ W. E. Arm it, Customs of the Australian Aborigines. Journ."'
Anthr. Inst. 1880, p. 459.
arrival he must enter by a specially arranged opening, not by the

ordinary entrance. Not to use this on certain occasions is, as a
matter of fact, a very common direction of the magicians.
According to information given to me by Hofmann, the mis-
sionary in Ikutha, Kimia once let a few snakes loose in the mission
station so as to show his power. They took refuge in a hole in
the wall and no one could get hold of them or drive them away
till K. himself was pleased to do so.
A snake doctor can give another person his power to handle

snakes and his immunity against their poison. On thebody of
the person who wants to receive this 6ima ('power') he makes small
incisions here and there, even on the tip of the tongue, and into
these incisions he rubs a powder which is prepared from a poi-
sonous tree\ but also contains fat and parts of snakes. It must
be poison, because the snakes have poison. Apart from this fact,
its preparation is a secret. A bamboo tube with powder of this

kind is in my collection. How this poison — if it really is poi-
son — can be mixed with the blood without injury, is also the
snake-doctor's secret. The patients whole body is now filled with
6mxa, which is concentrated in the blood and saliva. He has now
become a snake-tamer and can kill a reptile simply by spitting
on him. The snake is then said to have convulsive twitches and
to die soon with wild twistings. It is thought that even ordinary
saliva will hurt a snake — similarly with a mole — and arrows
smeared with it kill these animals, while the usual poison used
for arrows is said to have no effect on them.
These snake doctors treat snake-bite as well. Besides care-
fully sucking the poison out, they use as medicine their own blood
and saliva, which is of course considered to contain poison. It is
done by cutting themselves on the wrist and letting the person
who has been bitten suck up the oozing drops of blood, besides
which they rub their saliva on the bitten place and finally spit
in the mouth of the patient, who has to swallow the saliva.
By means of the procedure here described one is protected

against snake-bites and can without danger catch a snake, but
real power over reptiles is not acquired before one has eaten some
of the powder or been smeared with it.
^
This is not Acocanthera Schimperi (Kikamba mu6ai), which in
ihese districts is used for making poison for arrows.
There are no professional snake-tamers Ukamba, but during

in
the latter period of my I came across

stay in the country (191 2)
several young men who had small snakes and took them with them
when they strolled about (fig. 62). One of these young men came
to me one day with two '^gululcu, a common small snake, which
the Akamba say is poisonous, though as a matter of fact they
say this about most snakes. He put their heads in his mouth.
Fig. 62. Young man playing with a snake.
let them coil round his neck, etc. They showed the usual inert-
ness of tame snakes, but one of them tried continually to get
away, when their owner put them down on the ground. He said
that he had given them »medicine» and showed me two kinds of
powder, one black and one white.
My tentboy Kivuvu was also one of these snakemen. During
one of our expeditions we came across a little black snake, accor-
ding to the boy's statement a young cobra, which darted into the
thick grass. Kivuvu wanted to show ofif by catching it, and
started by going round the tussock three times »to prevent the
3o6 Lindblom, The Akamba
snake escaping*. He then went into the thick grass looking for
the reptile, and when he caught sight of it, grasped it swiftly by
the neck. Then he asked me to make a little cut in his wrist,
he himself cut the snake a little on the neck and dropped a
little own blood into the snake's twisted »so that the
of his
animal should know him and not go away->. In addition
he put a white powder on the wound and then twisted the snake
round his neck where it lay quite still. One might possibly ima-
gine, though it is not at all probable, that by means of mixing
the blood Kivuvu considered that he had entered into a sort of
bloodbrotherhood with the snake. He did not, however, trouble
himself much about the reptile, for he gave it to me when we
came home,
13. The magic significance of numbers.
Before we leave the question of magic, I wish, both as a

survey and for the use of special investigators of the subject, to
collect briefly the scattered information contained in this work
about the part certain numbers seem to play for the Akamba. By
numbers are meant partly the concrete number of persons or things,
partly the number of times certain rites and similar actions are
carried out.
There are number of good, quite indifferent, and bad import,
especially the latter. As we have already seen, odd numbers are
generally considered disastrous or at least unlucky, and the lang-
uage has a special expression for them (mzvg). Odd numbers are
of course considered as inauspicious omens, while even numbers
do not play any part at all as omens. Another thing that helps to
illustrate the conception of odd numbers is the meat meals during
the third nzaiko (p. 63) and the feasts of the nzama and k'hsuka
(p. 144 ff.). When paying the fees for these and in order to attain
a higher rank in them the natives are usually careful to see that
the goats that are given in payment do not make an odd number;
this is especially the case for the nzaiko meals. The malignant
cattle disease ndalu is believed always to carry off an odd number
of animals.
On the other hand we have quite a contrary state of affairs
at a medicine man's divination, as the pebbles that fall out of his
calabash are a good omen if they are odd and vice versa (cf.
however the number 7 immediately below). To our more logical

minds this is an inconsistency, but it is easy to forget that in-
consistencies are not so rare in [irimitive ways of thinking.
The idea that the number 7 has a special importance is, of
course, very widespread, practically over the whole worlds Among
the Akamba also it is the most prominent of all the numbers.
This seems to be the case over large parts of East Africa as well,
and one may with great probability account for this from Semitic
and mohammedan influence (the Arabs and through them the Wa-
suahelis, who have gone as traders from the East coast into the
interior for a couple of thousand years). Among the Akamba
seven is found both as a good and evil number; in most cases,
however, it seems to be bad.
The following are some cases in which the number is quite
clearly considered to be inauspicious:
When a native consults the medicine man 'on some matter
to have his fortune told, and the latter shakes seven pebbles out of
his divination gourd. Similarly in the method of procedure described
on p. 285 of protecting one's sugarcanes against thieves by putting
seven porcupine quills in the stalks; also in not allowing cattle to
be watched longer than six daysin succession by the same shep-
herd. Weremember that, in taking an oath on the h^ttia,

also
7 stones are placed by the side of it; on these stands the man
who swears and they probably help to a certain extent to make
the breaking of the oath baneful.
The number 7 is thus an important factor in the Akamba's
oaths and also in incantations and magic in general. Brutzer de-
scribes a »muma» or »kisitu» that stood at the edge of a field to
protect it against thieves. In its complicated composition there
was, among other things seven fruits of a Solanum species (no
doubt the ^gondu fruits) and a white shell with seven small spots.
And he adds something that is not clear: »The efiect of such a
mitma depends on the number of its parts, according as it con-
sists of 7x3, 7x5 or 'J
y.'j parts»^.
According to Brutzer the Akamba call seven »the bad luck
number*, which agrees with the Akikuyu's conception of it (cf.
^ F. V. Andrian, Die Siebenzahl im Geistesleben der Vollcer.

Mitteil. der Anthrop. Ges. in "Wien 1901, p. 225.
^ E. Brutzer, Der Geisterglaube bei den Kamba, p. 13.
L
p. 58). Yet it is often used by the Akamba in cases when it is
difficult to find anything inauspicious about it, but rather the

other way about. The rites and dances during the second nsmko
feast, during which it can scarcely be the idea to harm those
who take part, last seven days (p. 47). And during the same
initiation a fig-tree is stabbed with a nail that has been smeared
with fat in seven places (p. 56). At prayers and sacrifices, i. e.
when the natives wish something good for themselves, the number
also appears, as when they throw seed against a tree seven times
(or, as in case, 3+4) during prayers for a sick person
another
(pp. 241 ff.), or when at mealtimes they offer 14 iy+j) bits of
meat to the spirits (p. 218). Hobley gives an instance of the use
of this number which he expressly says is meant to bring »good
luck, namely a whip, used for magic purpose, that was cracked
seven times to bring good luck to elephant hunters (cf. p. 264).
One might expect that the numbers 3 and 4 should be clos-
ely connected with 7, and that is certainly the case. When an
oath is taken on the ktpitm this is placed on three stones (p. 168)
and the one who swears usually strikes it three times with the
mukulwa twig. The number here seems thus to help in bringing
about a baneful effect on one who breaks the oath. Sometimes,
on the other hand, it is entirely opposite. When the medicine
man — other persons do this as well — spits over someone or
something with the intention of blessing or bringing luck, they
usually do so three times.
The number 3, and also 4, occurs remarkably often in driv-
ing out the foreign spirits we read of under the name kisuka
p. 229). The ôndm then used, in which there were three hen
feathers,was brought three times to and from the mouth of the
possessed woman, before it was given her to drink. During three
days they danced and on the fourth the woman was washed with
'gondiu. Finally, as a protection for the future, three amulets were
hung on each side of her body.
Among the rites connected with the building of a hut there
is included the cooking of some food when the work is done. If
the food cooked is porridge, four small pieces are thrown on the
floor for the spirits.
The number 4 is also met with on other occasions. Four
men carry the mbusia in the second initiation (p. 50); four men
build the hut in the third one (p. 62), and four elders watch at a
man's deathbed.
I cannot remember anything special about the number 2, but
there is no doubt that it also has a certain importance. The
stones placed at the side of the k^pilui are sometimes, according
to Hobley, only two in number. Sometimes, on the other hand,
they are eleven (7 + 4).
Whether any symbolism of numbers is found in the Akamba's
decorations, do not know, inquiries about this having given no
I
result. G. Backman M. D., in his review of the three first part

of this work ^ (which are much more complete in the present
monograph, calls attention, however, to the figures reproduced by
me from the mnsai sticks in the second nzatko'. »the sun has 9
beams, the moon (new) is surrounded by 9 stars, the chain has
9 side-links, the millipede has 27 (= 3 x 9) feet, the chair has 3
legs. And in the picture on p. 54, which is also t&ken from one
and the same musai stick, the open place (fig. i) has 2x4 roads,
the tortoise (fig. 2) has 4 legs, the star (fig. 6) has 4 beams, the
star (fig. 7) has 2x4 beams, the thail of the cow has 4 tufts of
hair. This repetition of definite number or multiples of them, in

the one case 3, in the other 4, shows with pretty great probability
that there are real and serious intentions behind the pictographic
riddles of the musai sticks. .
.»-
This indication of Dr. Backman has led me to investigate 25 of

these figures, which give respectively the following numbers of
carvings (the numbers divided by a + sign give the distribution
on two sides of the object: 12+13, fo'' instance, means the legs
on each side of a millipede's body):
3, 4, 4 + 4, 4+5, 5 (twice), 5 + 3, 5 + 5, 5+6, 5 +7 (twice),
5 + 9, 6 (three times), 6^6, 7, 7 + 3, T-^J, 7 + 8, 8, 9, 12+13.

As will be seen both 2 and 3 are found in their multiples
and also 5 alone, but no conclusion can be drawn from this about
the symbolism of the numbers, as all possible combinations 01
numbers are present.
As a conclusion to this resume of the significance of numbers
among the Akamba I may add that they will never count their
Printed as an Inaugural Dissertation, Uppsala 1916.

^
G. Backman, review of G. Lindblom, The Akamba in British

-
East Africa (Parts I —

III), Ymer 1916, p. 361.
cattle. When they are driven into the craal of an evening, the
natives certainly look carefully to see that no animal is missing,
but they do not count them. Similarly they do not like to state
the number of their children (p. 88). The reason for this is
probably that they are afraid of attracting the attention of the

spirits, who are always envious. The same fear of counting people
and valuable possessions is found among other Bantu peoples and
is perhaps common to great numbers of people at a low level of
culture, but it seems to be specially prevalent among the Hami-
tic and Semitic peoples (not at least those in Africa, such as the
Masai), and from these probably has, with so many other things,
spread to the negroes '.
^ See M. Schmidt, Zahl and Zahlen in Afrika, Miiteil. d. Anthrop,

Ges. in Wien 1915, p. 196.
Chapter XV. Medicine.
To every people, no matter how low their stage of culture is,
we must ascribe a certain knowledge of remedies and medicines for

illnesses, a knowledge gained empirically and based on the expe-
rience of generations. But it is usually very difficult to say where
this actual knowledge begins or ends, for the real remedies in
question are usually accompanied, as we know, by ceremonies or

rites, which give the whole procedure a more or less magic cha-
racter. And in many cases the magic element seems to be con-
sidered as the essential thing. We have, however, discussed the
magic weft in the Akamba's medicine in the preceding chapter,
and in this one we shall, as far as possible, confine ourselves to
concrete things.
As the author does not possess special medical knowledge
and the principal portions of what follows have to be based on
the natives' own inexact descriptions, it is certain that the ac-
count will contain various incorrect expressions. To a professional
man, however, it ought to be a good starting-point for
further and more scientific investigations into the knowledge of
medicine possessed by the Akamba and their neighbours. The
material I have collected is as follows.
I. Illnesses (operations, wounds).

A broken bone can be quite effectively treated. The injured
limb is bound with a splint made of 4 to 6 pieces of wood fast-
ened together with leather bands, the broken parts having first
been twisted into their proper position. To keep the patient ab-
solutely still, they use the radical method of placing him on the
floor of the hut and then placing pegs round his outstretched leg.
This is then fastened to these pegs and the patient, who cannot
move now, is not released till the fracture is cured.
An interesting operation is the removal of the uvula {ka-

hmdY when this is swollen. A pair of long giraffe-hairs are pla-
ced round the uvula, which by means of these is drawn for-
ward and then cut off with a knife. A cloth is then bound in
front of the mouth >to hinder the cold». For about five days
the patient has to be on a special diet and may then only eat
hard and dry food, such as roasted maize and other baked food,
especially hard-baked bananas. Ginger (called tangawizi, its Sua-
heli name), which is bought from the Indian traders, is also eaten.
This complaint is said to have come from the coast. A similar
operation is very often carried out by the Galla, who in cases of
inflammation of the larynx and of the respiratory organs tear of
the uvula with a with thread ^.
A usage about which I have very incomplete notes and which

is therefore recorded with great reserve is as follows: when a child
is from one to two years old, in the case of stronger children
perhaps some of his teeth are taken out, the motive being
earlier,
to prevent by this means the pain which accompanies the cutting

of teeth. The operation is performed with a needle and is carried
out by an old man with special experience of such things. Of
course these teeth are aftet wards replaced by the growth of the
layer According to the Akamba the Aki-
of teeth below them.
kuyu do the same thing, but I have not found any mention of
it in the accounts which have been written about this tribe.
An arrow, especially one with barbs, which is fixed in a

fleshy part of the body, is, when it is possibly to do so, taken
out by knocking it through to the other side.
Fresh and smooth wounds are treated as follows: The edges
of the wounds are pressed against each other, after which thin aca-
cia thorns are stuck through the edges on both sides. The thorns
are placed in pairs, across each other. Then the whole thing is
tied round with cord. The method of procedure, which as a

matter of fact shows a close resemblance to the newest methods
wounds, is probably the same as is practised by the
of treating
Akambas' neighbours, the Masai^.
A remedy for wounds made with poisoned arrows is in many
^ Diminutive of wintd 'tongue'.
^ Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas I, p. 184.
' Given in detail by M. Merker, Die Masai, p. 190.
Medicine 315
cases a powerful sucking-out, which is preceded by binding tightly

above and below the wounded place, if it is so situated that a
binding of this sort is possible. In addition they also usually rub
the blood of a newly-killed sheep on the wound and place parts
of the intestines of the sheep on it. The wounded man is given
urine of women to drink. We shall say something more about
the Akamba's poison for arrows later.
An account of the treatment of snake-bite has already been

given in the preceding chapter. It may be added here that for
a python bite the dried excrement of the animal is eaten; it is
said to be like a greyish kind of stone.

The occasional practice of opening a corpse, to try to esta-
blish the cause of death (see p. 157), might possibly be considered
as a primitive stage of pathological anatomy.
The most usual remedy for headache is to fasten a cord or

a wire tightly round the head^. Primitive people are very well
aware of the power of a circular pressure to alleviate pain. For
plants as remedies for headache see below (p. 314).
One often sees a native, wrapped in his blanket, lying on
the ground exposed to the rays of the sun and thereby inducing
perspiration. This is a prevalent method in Africa of curing fever
{ndetcBmd). Malaria is common in certain parts of Ukamba, espe-
cially in the lower and hotter districts in the east, from Mumoni
to Kibwezi, although the attacks of fever seem to be of a very
mild character. The thin and somewhat worn appearance which
so many of the natives have is no doubt due, to a great extent^
to malaria. The medicine for fever will be discussed p. 319.
It is considered bad for sick people to drink cold water. As,
however, they are often very they are given a sort of
thirsty,
gruel made of fresh milk or water and millet flour. It is drunk

warm, considered very refreshing, and can be taken during any
illness.
^
A
wire around the head is sometimes used as a pure ornament.
I have seen no evidence to support the statement of a German tra-
veller who says that the wire used in this way severely deforms the
skull and causes an elevation of the vertex. A. Kaiser, Die wirt-
schaftl. Entwickelung der Ugandabahn-lander, Globus 1907, p. 53.
2. Medicines.
a. External injuries.
By far the greatest number of medicines are taken from the

plant world, as the reader has already seen, and the word for
'plant, tree', muh, also means 'medicine'. I give here, beneath

the different illnesses for which they are used, the medicinal plants
I got to know among the Akamba^. The collection, which, when
nothing is said to the contrary, comes from Machakos and the
places closest to it, should be pretty complete for this district.
For fresh wounds: The milky sap of the plant tlumbu (Calo-
tropis procera) is rubbed on the wound (Ikutha). A yellow lichen
{wcemea wa Uuld) is crushed and placed on the wound, which is
then covered with leaves and bandaged. Or the wound is washed

with the juice of the roots and leaves of kiq^ crushed together
with sweet potatoes.
For burns: The brown »floss» from the spadices on the
'hka'^ga (Typha sp.) is placed on the wound. The leaves of
musu (Cajanus indicus) are chewed and the saliva is placed on the
wound (cf further p. 124). Small children especially often get
burned, as they easily fall in the fire when running around in
the hut.
For a sore in the mouth the leaves of the w/z/tf/o: (Spilan-
thus) are chewed.
For tumours {mwzmbu): In boils and tumours a hole is cut
and the powdered leaves or roots of inutula wa aum9 (Jasminum)
are sprinkled in the wound (Muutha, East Ukamba).
For other swellings roots of kaGila wimbu (cf. mwimbu
'tumour') are chewed and placed as a poultice on the swol-
len place. Or else leaves of the tree mutanda-mbq are taken
^ My ethno-botanicalmaterial from Ukamba, some hundreds of

pressed plants, have been handed over to the botanical department of
the Swedish State Museum. They are not yet defined, so that I cannot give
names of the plants here. The names inserted have been
the scientific
kindly given by Prof. N. G. Lagerheim and Dr. H. Dahlstedt. Of about
40 medicinal plants I have also gathered and dried a sufficient quantity
or a chemical analysis, which has, however, not yet taken place.
Medicine 315
and put in a cloth bag which is placed near the fire. When it is
well warmed, the bag is placed on the swelling (cf. our treat-
ment with poultice). The long lianlike roots of mukaiau, a small
tree, are crushed into a powder, which, mixed with fat or water,
is rubbed on the swollen place. For swellings on the arms or legs
they also use the sap found in the bark and inside the little tree
'hlawa or mulawa (Corchoras). The bark is crushed and the sap
{ilcenda)rubbed on the swelling.
For wounds and tumours they often use, at least in Kitui,
certain powdered minerals and also excrement of poultry.
For hip-disease {}kikt) an incision is made in the hip and
in the wound is strewn a powder made of an and
ostrich-leg^
roots of mukawa and leaves of mutula. The same powder is
also mixed in water, which is given to the patient to drink. They
also use leaves and roots of the little tree inukce^gaka (Legumi-
nosae sp.).
Women who pain in their nipples {nondd) drink a

have
decoction of the base of the leaves of the wild banana (Musa Li-
vingstonia).
For itching they use kiu6z^ a tall Rumex, which grows on
the banks of rivers. The sap in its thick roots is placed in water,
which is rubbed on the itching place.
For »pain in the ear» (in most cases probably due to in-
flammation in the outer acoustic duct) they use the sap in the
stalk of the kiwa kia ndud, an epiphytic orchid (Kibwezi).
For eye-affections (without closer analysis) they use seve-
ral plants. The leaves of the bush munapa are crushed and put
on the affected eye.
In the same way are used the leaves of the fern upiu and
the leaves of the plant luta (with big lipshaped flowers), the sap
of which is dropped into the eye. Finally the little tree kiOasxwggu
is said to have a great power in stopping pain in the eyes. Its
branches are put in water overnight and the following day they
are used as tubes to blow their sap into the affected eye.
To stopp pain in the eye they use the sap in the big
potato-like tubers of the roots of the plant.
^ Perhaps sympathetic magic? The ostrich has particularly strong

legs.
3i6 Lindblom, The Akaraba
b. Internal diseases.
For headache: From the leaves of the bush muQea (Com-
bretuni) a powder is prepared with which the forehead is rubbed.
The Wasuaheli, who call the bush mkomango, rub the same
powder on wounds.
For heart-disease I have obtained only one remedy: a decoc-
tion of the roots of the spiny mutumbu bush is drunk by the invalid.
For illness in the liver {ttczma) the juice of the aloe is drunk.
It is said to cause vomiting. Another method is to lick the arrow
poison.
For illness in the »spleen» {ivasxun'ggu) they drink a decoc-
tion of the herb ha mata, in Kibwezi a decoction of the leaves
of the bush kUi^-ggu. They also use the roots of the herb mu-
pdkcspd.It also appears that they make an incision in the spleen,
and then strew powder of the first-named plant in the wound.

The remedies for stomach affections seem most numerous
of all, but in many cases I have been unable to get the character
of the illness precisely described. For diarrhoea {ivitao), however,
they use: kxQ (Verticillatae), the sap of the fleshy leaf of which is
mixed with water and drunk; musoka, the sap of the leaf of
which is used in the same way (Kitui); and mwtanzoii, the roots
of which are made into a decoction and drunk. Bananas are also
eaten for diarrhoea.
For constipation: the bark of the Uula is crushed and added
to water,which is then drunk; a decoction of the herb kalahu is
drunk (when its leaves are chewed the saliva is coloured red).
A person who has eaten too much chews the leaves of the
spiny mupunh bush.
Stomach-ache: The natives often have peculiar expressions
for stomach-ache and other ailments of the stomach, such as
»something is eating me inside» or »I have a snake in my sto-
mach*. This way of speaking seems to have nothing to do with

black magic, nor do the Akamba believe, contrary to numerous
other tribes, in any sort of spirit, which is incarnated in the form
of an animal and enters human bodies ^ But according to an old
belief each person is created with a snake in his stomach, and
^ Various proofs of this conception are given by M. Bart els in
Die Medizin der Naturvolker, p. 2r.
Medicine 317
when one belches it is that which gives the sound within one.
It is possible that tape-worms have given rise to this idea. The
statement that I also had from the natives to the effect that when
drinking water they sometimes get a sort of worm in the stomach,
which grow considerably afterwards, seems improbable. A
can
decoction of the roots of 'hpcea utuka (Amaranthaceae) is drunk
for »snake in the stomach», so that it should die. In Muutha
(East Ukamba) they chew the leaves of the bush kasiOu (isz6u),
which have a bitter taste, something like horse-radish.
For »a sore in the stomach» they drink a decoction of the
leaves of mutata (Spilanthus —
cf. » mouth-sore », above).
Finally the following plants are used for »pain in the sto-
mach » without more precise definition:

a decoction of the leaves of the bush mutula wa aumd (Jas-
minum) is drunk and also rubbed outside the abdomen; a decoction
of the leaves of hhima inata mamu, of the herb mulaQutta or of
the little bush mzvqma is also drunk. The last-mentioned is also
mixed with leaves of knilu and mudapa (Compositae).
For fever {ndetcemd) I have found comparatively few reme-
dies: a decoction of the leaves of the little tree fnukimcei is kept
in a cool place and drunk early in the morning; it is said to
produce vomiting.
The clusters of flowers of the tall plant mwggaimu (Hyptis)
are treated in the same way; likewise a decoction of
and used
the roots mupa'gganna bush. In Muutha they also used
of the
the roots of the inukumutd. This medicine, which is said to cause
vomiting, is too strong for children. Finally they are also accust-
omed in cases of fever to rub the body with a decoction of the
leaves of the little tree mupa (Leguminosse).
For a cough {ukoaY many plants are used: they smell the
flowers of mumetu or mulama, chew the bark of the little muOwzia
bush, the vanilla-scented roots of muQukulwa or roots of the herb
mukcBma (Leguminosae).
Hofmann has in his diclionar}'^ iikoa wa mbtia, which he trans-

^
lates by 'asthma'. I do not try to explain the etymology of the Kamba

names of sicknesses, but very probably they express something charac-
teristic for an illness, the symptoms which are most striking to the
natives.
Whooping-cough, according to the statement of Herr Sau-

berlich, missionary in Mulango, is a not infrequent illness among
children. In Ikutha it is said that as a remedy for it they shave
the crown of the child's head, whereas in other cases, as we have
seen, they prefer to let the hair grow during illness.
For a cold the leaves of mukandu (Verticillatae) are stuffed
in the nostrils.
For hoarseness they chew the roots of the creeper mu6qlo

(Sapindaceje) or those of kaOila wimbu.
For shortness of breath (asthma?) a decoction of the leaves
of mutanda-mbq is drunk.
For catarrh of the throat the roots of 'iwa laka (Clema-
tis sp.) are chewed. A remedy obtained from the animal world
ismbwepxa, the nest (chrysalis.?) of a certain insect (built of slime).
These are powdered and mixed in water and the patient has to
drink this.
For obstruction in the nose the root of the m^li^ inuku tree
is The patient, whose head is covered with a blanket, in-
burnt.
hales the smoke through his nose.
Finally there are a large number of plants, of which I have
found no more precise indication of their use than that it was
for »pain in the chest*. The roots of ktha mbiti (Jatropha sp.),
which is considered so poisonous that many people will not even
touch the plant with their hands, are powdered and mixed in the
gruel which the mixed with the pow-
patients drinks; it is also
defed roots of imvokia (Plumbago), or these are chewed by them-
selves. The roots of knia (Hypericum sp.) are also chewed (Ki-
tui), similarly those of the little mukautvi tree. The batk of the
k%sem(BX tree is chewed. Of the bark of the Uuasi tree is made
a decoction which is drunk, similarly with the leaves of mutula
{iidulu) and a hot decoction of the leaves (with a burning taste)
of %6o6otwd (Capparis); a decoction of the seeds of the wild pepper-
plant {mupuh); a decoction of the berries of wusua, a low, spiny
Asparagus. In Muutha they eat the powdered roots of the niwala-
ndapd tree, added to water or food.
do not know of any Kamba remedies for sexual diseases.
I
They seem happily to be rare, and as far as I know the Kamba lan-
guage has no expression for them (cf. the preceding chapter on
maliWa). Syphilis occurs, however, in East Ukamba, and during
Medicine 319
my stay at the mission station at Mulango the natives often came

there to seek a cure for it.
For methods of abortion, which is now and then practised by

young girls, see p. 38.
To remedy a scarcity of milk in women who are suckling
their children they use especially plants with a milky sap, some
at least of which are certainly of an exclusively magic application,
an instance of the old saying »like cures like». Thus they use
the milky sap of the plants ktnosia ndcB'ggd, h'^cBndia ndcs'ggd (As-
clepias) and muQtua tiia (iiia 'milk'). A decoction of kamweha
(Croton?) is drunk hot. In addition they use the long root-stock,
similar to horse-radish, of the plant iinuiha (Asclepias). As we
shall see later, the same or similar plants are used for scarcity of
milk in cows and goats.
An illness, the character of which I could not understand, but
which is said to be very severe and contagious and often causes
rapid death, is k%qpi. It is said that the blood rushes out of the
nose, mouth and even the ears of the patient. According to the
statement of some people the illness is due to the heart {ggo}
and the kidneys {mbid), according to others it feels like a »fire
in the stomach ». It is stated that it can be cured. For it they
drink a decoction of the leaves of kiGû or of roots of muQinda-
dindi or hhima (Aloe sp.). They also drink for this illness the
blood of poultry and sheep or sheep's urine.
So far we have abstained from putting the question : who

are the doctors among the Akamba? To a great extent, of
course, it is the medicine men, who besides their magic reme-
dies al.'ô use real cures. But the art of healing is not a mono-
poly of the medicine men, for besides them there is another class
more worthy of the name of doctors, although even their know-
ledge is, of course, mixed with magic and superstition. To this
class belong those persons who have no kind of official position,
but who have learnt to know and to use a quantity of medicinal
plants. Just as in the preceding chapter we learnt of specialists
in methods of purification so these men are easily specialists in
one or other of some few illnesses. Such a person was, to take
an example, Mbonge at Machakos, a middle-aged man. His special
ne was stomach ailments, for which he used partly powdered

parts of plants, partly whole roots, which the sick people had to
chew. One of his medicines consisted of powder made of the
plants mwtmesia mupteti and wuOuaGui.
About plants in magic and medicine see Chap. XVI: i (botany).

An account of the remedies and medicines for diseases among
cattle will be given in the chapter on the Akamba's domestic
animals.
:
Chap. XVI. Natural history.

I. Botany.
If we consider what has already been said about the use of
plants in magic and medicine, we have to acknowledge that the
Akamba have names for and use a great number of plants, and
consequently we can say with justice that they possess a certain
botanical knowledge, based on the observation of surrounding
nature possessed by a primitive people, which, even though some-
times led astray by superstition, is on the whole extraordinarily
quick. We shall deal later with the numerous plants that are
used in practical life.
Although the Akamba thus know a great quantity of plants,

yet they are not infrequently uncertain about their names and
they dispute between each other about these. To some extent
this uncertainty is due to the fact that a certain plant sometimes
has more than one name or is called differently in different parts
of the country.
In my linguistic material I shall discuss the meanings of the
plant-names. They usually indicate some characteristic of the
plant, or are based on its use, e. g.
ip(ea utuku 'that which shines at night', a plant belonging
to the Amarantacese family; its white flowers are visible in the dark.
kaOila zvhtnbu {6ila 'to shut', wwibu 'swelling'). The roots,

when chewed and laid on a swelling, stop it.
The natives distinguish to a certain extent families and spec-

ies, so that plants that even botanically ignorant Europeans would
perhaps not recognize as species of the same family are given
the same (family) name, e. g.
kiisOa, Loranthus sp. with yellow flowers.

hisda k'ila mutuno 'the red kueQd, Loranthus with red flower.
k'hluma. Aloe, k'bluma Ma kia zucbo 'the aloe of the plain' is a
smaller species, growing out on the steppe.
Arch Or. Lindblom 21
The part played by plants in magic.
We have seen at various places in the preceding work that

the vegetable kingdom plays an important part in the Kamba
people's rites and magic. In many cases the explanation of this
seems fairly obvious and is to be sought in, among other things,
the striking appearance of a certain plant. This is the case, for
instance, with the wild fig-tree with its imposing size and its
magnificent green foliage; in addition it also contains milky sap.

Other plants with a copious milky sap are favourite remedies
for scarcity of milk in women and cattle (homeopathic magic).
Occasionally the thing that determines the use of a plant is some
small, quite unimportant detail, such as the black pupil-like spot
on the Euphrasia, which has given rise to the well-known belief
that these plants are good for the eyes. Or else the explanation
is to be found in the appearance ef the plant, as, for instance,
in the case of the Loranthus species mentioned below, which

cannot fail to attract attention when they grow on a tree quite
different in appearence from themselves.
For these or similar reasons, which are, as a matter of fact,
universal, the Akamba have chosen the plants they use in their
magic. Unfortunately I have to content myself with giving the
following plants without any explanation of the reasons why they
are used.
muOolo (Sapindaceae). The medicine men prepare from its
leaves a which they give

decoction to possessed people as a
drink or with which they wash them.
mutceQd (Sapindaceae). A person who has caught an illness
through black magic on the part of an enemy takes a handful of

Eleusine seeds and throws them three times against this tree (cf.
p. 241). The roots of the same plant are made into a powder with
which the sick person's hands and head are smeared. If a man
loves a girl who prefers another, he takes a little bit of mutaOd-
wood and carries it to a worker in magic, who treats the piece
of wood with medicine. It is then placed at the entrance of the
favoured rival's hut, who will then soon cease to care for the girl.
wania seems to be a Cactus species, 0.5 — i dm. long, with

star-shaped, brown, malodorous flowers. Together with other plants
it is used in black magic to bewitch people.
Natural history 323
ntulmlamha or muliiamhla (Malvaceae). As we have already

seen, this plant is used to make the stick with which the medicine
man's music-bow is struck, and also for the miniature arrows used
by the novices during the second circumcision. When the cattle
will not eat, »but stand with their heads in the air» (are consti-
pated?), the animals' bellies are struck with mulmlamb'ha-X.wigs.
mukiilwa (Acalypha). Twigs of this little tree or bush are used,
as we have already seen, to strike the hpttiu with when an oath is
taken on this, and also in the construction of the above-mentioned

miniature arrows.
muOia wa nhi (mentioned on p. 266). If several babies die
in a family, the parents naturally go to the medicine man to find
out the reason. He perhaps says that it is due to the father of
the child and gives him a decoction of this plant to drink. In
the case of one person who was pointed out to me the medicine
man shaved off all the hair round the private parts and then
washed his penis with this decoction, declaring that »now the
child would not die». If cattle have miscarriages (kuOuna), they
too are given this » medicine » to drink.
kiGoGotwd (Capparis). During protracted rain twigs of this bush
are put in the fire to make the rain stop.
kipa'gga imvcso, a creeper (Leguminosae). The red seeds
with black spots are often used by the medicine men for making
amulets, etc.
kiOtlu. A species of the same genus as the preceding plant,
and used in the same way.
upuko is a plant with a little, light-blue corona. A man who
wishes to gain a girl's love smears the plant with magic medi-
cine {^nupcBo) and then stretches it out in the direction of the
girl's village, probably uttering some sort of incantation.
^gu^gu, the large, button-shaped, darkly veined seeds of the
mukwggu tree, are worn as a sort of amulet, or rather medicine, for
pain in the back. It is enough if a single seed is threaded on a
string, which is fastened round the waist.

hcsGa (Loranthus) is used by the medicine men in the pre-
paration of love-medicine, especially in the magic remedies they

prepare for young men when they are about to ask for a
the
girl in marriage. Parasites and such things, plants growing on
other trees, are very much sought after by the medicine men.
mwat is a tree from the roots of which is prepared a pow-

der which procures favour from women.
mun}ii (UmbelHferae). One ought to avoid using this bush
for smoke is considered injurious to the eyes. »The
fuel, as its
woman who comes home with munm wood gets beaten by her
husband*, I was told. The smoke is also said to make mens'
testes swell and to cause abortion in pregnant goats (small cattle
are kept in the hut during the night).
mukau. A tree with pinnate leaves, two-lobed folioles. Its
wood may not be used for fires, for if the smoke gets into peop-
le's eyes, they quarrel. Hunting parties, especially, avoid using
this wood for their camp-fires. Muutha, Eastern Ukamba.
kiOdi, a small thorny tree with very small white flowers. If
it is used as and the smoke gets into the eyes, they become
fuel
diseased. Muutha.
A considerable number of plants are used in purification

ceremonies, and we add the following 'gondm-pXdLnts to the list
already given (p. 296):

mupttu (Leguminos3e). A bush from which in Kikumbuliu
'gondia is made for sprinkling a newly-married wife, when she
enters her husband's home for the first time.
m.ukce'ggcBsia (Commelynaceae), a plant which puts out its yellow

flowers at the beginning of the rainy season. A person who has eaten
»bad food», for instance in a village before it has been purified after
a death, rinses his or her mouth with -gondia made from this plant.
inuûmba, a low bush with white flowers.

ktnosha, »the plant that makes (people) fat»^. A person suff-
ering from excessive thinness {umosu) and general debility is
smeared with 'gondm made from the roots of this plant.
ûa mbumbu (Phytolaceae). Is considered exceedingly pois-
onous and is used by girls to procure abortion (p. 38). Some-
times a native secretly gives twigs of it to his enemy's cattle.
According to the natives it is only necessary for an animal to

eat a single leaf of it to die. Perhaps this is a case of pure
poisoning, but it is usually combined with magic elements as well,
so that it may be more certain in its effect.
^ kuttost, causat. form < kunoa 'to become fat'.

Natural history 325
2. Zoology.
As is to be expected of a people who, even if they cannot

be called a hunting people in the real sense of the term, are yet
occupied a great deal in hunting, the Akamba show that they
have a quick sense of observation for animal life and a good
acquaintance with the habits of animals, especially in the case of
such as can be hunted. But even quite insignificant animals, such
as small insects, from which, at least as far as one can see, they
get neither good nor harm, come within the scope of their ob-
servation, and they have pondered over and tried to explain this
and that, a distinguishing feature of a certain insect, often a little
detail only perceived with difficulty. Their stories and riddles
show this especially. It is true that these explanations of causes
are really most often only humorous, but this does not, of course,
take away from their character of being the result of a good po-
wer of observation.
I shall publish my collection of animal names, like that of
plant names, in connection with the result of my linguistic in-
vestigations. I may just briefly mention here that many names
of wild animals denote some characteristic, at least according to
the natives' opinion, of the animal. Examples of this are given
below; thus we have the names of the gerenuk (Lithocranius), the
little rat kaihua ni nzta and the snake kuenda ndceto. Other names
are purely onomatopoetic, as ?g^ 'donkey', kaman 'kind of wild
cat', ^mci 'sheep' (a word sometimes used by women; otherwise
'sheep' is %londiu), ktkwad 'francolin' (its cry is kwarre, kwarre).
Some indications may be given of the way in which families
and species are distinguished.
All fishes, as far as 1 know, have the same name (tkuiu),
which is perhaps due to the fact that the Akamba do not catch
fish, as they do not eat it. The country is also poor in rivers
with fish in them.
Butterflies are all called kimbalutwa, whatever kind they may
be. On the other hand, the natives distinguish between hairy and
smooth caterpillars {xamu and kmxu respectively).
A great many beetles are all called hôlondo, but there
are also some with special names.
On the other hand one may also say that to a certain extent
there are names for different species. A dove is called lOui. %6m
ia k'h'gguhi is a small turtledove. 'h6u\ m mbaxki is a larger species
of turtledove ('the %6ui of the Rhicinus seeds'), which is also called
la 'gguku biting ants) or i6m ta 'ggomoa (the i6ux of the
(black
fruits of the mukumoa tree). These names are clearly from the prin-
cipal food of the bird. Other doves, on the other hand, are distingu-
ished by their cry, such as the little ndumbu (its cry is /«, tu).
I have noted seven different kinds of lizards with different

names, five kinds of locusts and in addition a special name
{mbandi) for locusts in the hopper stage, and five kinds of ants.
We now proceed to describe the Akambas' ideas about

various kinds of animals, in which, however,
it has been very diffi-
cult to separate that which deserves the name of >zoology», and

so I have included a certain number of superstitious conceptions
in this description.
The lion, the Akamba think, does not eat liver, but always
leaves it untouched, when it has killed an animal. Most old debili-
tated lions end their life by being killed and eaten by hyenas,
who do not hesitate to attack a decrepit lion, when they are in
a party of several.
The hyena is a hermaphrodite, an idea that Hollis found
among the Nilotic Nandi east of Lake Victoria^. The great famine
in East Africa at the end of the decade of 1890, when the nat-
ives died in great numbers, was a golden age for the hyenas,
and they were at that time especially numerous and bold. Thus
by means of throwing a corpse they were able to bring down
a person who had tried to save himself by climbing up a tree
several metres above the ground (!). The Akamba detest the
hyena more than other animals, probably because it eats their
dead bodies, and many cannot be made to touch a dead hyena,
so that it is exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to get
them to skin one. Other East African tribes, such as the Nandi,
on the other hand, show a certain respect for the hyena, and
among the Masai it is considered as a sign from the Ngai that a
dead person has been good, if his body, when placed out, is
eatefn the very first night by the hyenas^. The Wanyika even
^ A. E. Hollis, The Nandi, their Language and Folklore, p. 7.
^ Merker, Die Masai, p. 201.
Natural history 327
have a veritable hyena worship. In the Akambas' folklore the

hyena plays an important part, appearing in it as the personifica-
tion of foolishness. Its voracity is also ridiculed and often ca-
ricatured.
The h'gala-'gala or kikoio is a large beast of prey, » something
between a lion and a leopard ». No one I have met seems to
have any more exact idea about the animal.
A more mysterious animal is "ggikwa, which is said to be
» spotted like a leopard » and to have »a tail and a head like a
jackal, although it is somewhat larger than the latter*. It lives among

reeds and thickets along the rivers and is only dangerous to wo-
men, as it sometimes steals into the villages and kills some of
them in order to have coitus with them and to suck the victim's
blood. After this is done mouth
its strews sand in the women's
and genitals. same way.
Goats are also said to be treated in the
The two last-named animals give me an opportunity to add

that there is much to indicate that there are mammals still un-
known, and even considerably large ones, in East Africa. Mr
Hobley has number of statements of trustworthy per-
collected a
sons concerning such animals, and some of these stories are exceed-
ingly interesting, as, among other things, they include such sen-
sational possibilities as the existence of a new anthropoid ape in
the bush along the Tana River and a kind of great lake animal
in Lake Victoria and the rivers flowing into it^.
It is thought that the elephant cannot die a natural death, a
belief that has quite certainly arisen from the length of its life
as shown by practical experience. It is also one of the wisest of

all animals. When an elephant has been stung by bees, it returns
at night to be avenged, pulls down the beehive and buries it in
the earth. Many native elephant hunters, who have had to seek
refuge in a porcupine hole or some other cavity in the ground,
are said to have been killed by the pursuing elephant having
seized with his trunk a long stick and tried to kill the hunter
by thrusting it into the hole, then filling the latter with earth.
The elephant often appears in stories, but here, curiously
enough, it does not maintain its reputation for wisdom but is
often beaten by small and weak opponents. This is perhaps due

^ C. V. Hobley, On some unidentified beasts. The Journal of
the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society, vol. Ill, p. 48.
to the tendency of the natives to let the weaker parties in the

story generally come off with the victory, usually by means of
trickery and shrewdness.
The gerenuk (Lithocranius) is called kawila ima by the
Akamba, which means 'the little giraffe that eats the fruit of the
mwq tree' (the vtwa is a species of acacia 0. When it is followed
by beasts of prey it is said to climb up into a bush or a tree to
escape its pursuers, a belief that is naturally derived from the
fact that the gerenuk sometimes sets up on its hind legs in order
to get at high berries or leaves.
Baboons are cordially hated by the natives because of the
harm they do in the fields. These monkeys are so alert and
cunning that it is not so easy to surprise them, and the killing
of a baboon is therefore a happy event for the negro. In one
case they have to be careful not to shoot them, however favour-
able an opportunity may present itself, and that is when they are
out For a person who shoots a baboon may be pretty
hunting.
sure that he will not succeed in shooting any other animal that
day. Elephants hunters like the Akamba especially are naturally
disposed not to spoil their luck in hunting, when it is a question
of big game. Professor E. Lonnberg made the same observations
during his East African expedition.^
The natives state that on occasion the baboons carry of ba-
bies. When the women work in the fields, they usually put their
babies aside under a shady tree so as to be more free. Various
children are said to by baboons under such
have been stolen
circumstances and have disappeared for ever. Some of them are
said to grow up among the monkeys, live their lives and propa-
gate I have not come across among the Akamba the
among them.
rather obviousand frequently encountered idea (found, for instance,
among the Wadjagga) that the baboons are human beings that
have grown wild and degenerated.
There are several sorts of hares in these parts, but the nat-
^ I have had occasion to see gerenuks in »the bush» west of

Tana, which involuntarily made one think of giraffes. Cf. E. L6nnberg,
Mammals collected by the Swedish Zoological Expedition to British East
Africa 191 1. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 48: 5, Stockholm 1912, p. 172.
^ E. Lfinnberg, N&gra exempel frin Ost-Afrika p& overtro ro-
rande djur. Fataburen 191 1, p. 245.
Natural histoiy 329
ives call them by a common name. The Akamba say that when
all
the cattle grazing the hares often come up quietly and

are out
steal the cows' milk away; e. suck them, an idea that is found
i.
among various other African tribes. All over the world the hare
is an important animal in belief and practice and the negroes con-
sider him to be the most cunning of all animals. In the animal
fables of the Bantu peoples he is most frequently the principal
character, corresponding to the jackal among the Hottentots, or,
to take an example nearer home, Reineke Fuchs in the German
animal Reynard the Fox with the English. As has already
stories,
been mentioned, the hyena is opposed to the hare in the animal

stories as the representative of folly, and it is outrageously cheated
by the hare into committing a multitude of follies. Why the hare
should be considered as so specially intelligent, seems inexplicable
to me. The well-known and now deceased Bishop Steere of Zan-
zibar questioned his Wasuaheli friends about this, and obtained
the answer: »Just look at the hare: his mouth is continually
moving, as if he had something to say about everything*^.
When walking along the paths in the Kamba country, one
cannot avoid seeing every now and then a little rat dart a good
bit in front of one on the road. The rat is called by the natives
katlwa m nzâ, literally 'the little one that is sent back by the
road'. For it is said that this creature never crosses a road; if
it were to do so, it would certainly die.
Certain birds of prey — I have forgotten which — are said

to be very keen on ostrich eggs. But as they are often unable
to peck a hole in them with their bills, they take stones in their
claws and let them drop down on the eggs, thus cracking them.
Some more birds that are the subjects of superstition may be
mentioned here. Many of the Akamba will not kill the 'hluvn, a
big hornbill, black with white on the wings and a red hanging
piece of flesh beneath its beak. In Taveta at the foot of Kili-
mandjaro I have seen this bird walking fearlessly on the ground
in the immediate neighbourhood of human beings, as the Wataweta
universally consider it disastrous to kill it. There is no doubt
that this security is due to the birds peculiar cry, a soft, hollow
htn, hm. The Akamba call him tlumi 'he who yells'.
^ E. Steere, Suaheli Tales, London 1891 (Preface).

33° Lindblom, The Akamba
^gund, the shadow stork (Scopus umbretta) is a brown bird

of medium size, which builds an enormous nest in trees. It is
not killed, they will not even dare to climb up the tree where it
has built. If one does so, one gets the illness called musa/y,
which consists of sores breaking out on the body, round the mouth,
on the feet, etc. Another bird that is not killed is the ndicsx, the ox-
pecker (Buphaga), which takes ticks from the cattle and is considered
to be very useful. When the cattle go astray, one hears its cry,
tjwi, tjwi, and then it is only necessary to follow this. The Akamba
often put milk and fat out for these birds, and if they succeed
in catching any in their nests, they give them food, and fasten
a red ribbon round their legs and then let them go. The bird
is said to bring wealth, if it is well treated; on the other hand
anyone who kills it becomes a poor man.
Many of the Akamba believe that the python {^tq) breeds all
reptiles. When they are very small all young ones look the
the
same, and their mother keeps them in the same place. When they
have grown a little, she steals away and then creeps along un-
perceived and starts buzzing. Most of the young ones are then
afraid and run away, a few, perhaps only one or two, are braver
and remain. These few then grew up into pythons, while the
rest have to be content to be smaller snakes, lizards, etc.
The swmeluha is a snake that is often met with near Kamba

villages. It is also called k'hcenda ndceto 'he who likes words',
because it is said to creep along to the huts to listen to what
people are saying, a belief that has presumably arisen from the
fact that this snake is usually found in the proximity of the huts.
It is said to be harmless; if it bites anyone, it is due to magic.
A very big snake, said to be bigger than the python, is the
'iajpa. have not obtained any description of
I its appearance; it
is possibly quite a mythical animal. But it is not improbable

that it is only a case of an unusually big python, especially as
the estimate of a snake's length is, of course, always exaggerated.
Another common smaller species of snake is the '^guluku,
0.6 metre long, with dark and grey stripes running along the back,
a narrow rusty brown stripe on one side and a yellowish-white
belly. It is said to gather together small stones or the yellow
globular fruit {^gondiu) of a previously-mentioned Solanum species
{kikondui) and then watch over these treasure suspiciously. He who
Natural history 331
finds them and succeeds in getting possession of them will be a

rich man. This is, however, a risky undertaking, as the snake-
owner will untiringly pursue the thief to kill him, »though he go
as far as Mombasa » ^.
This refers, presumably, to the snake's eggs, although it
seems improbable that such a small species of snake should have

such large eggs. The eminent authority on the Wadjagga, the
missionary Gutmann, relates exactly the same conception among
them, but in this case it is the python that is referred to, which seems
a good deal more probable. B. says: Wie ein spielendes kind
sammelt sie (the python) die gelben pflaumengrossen friichte eines
nachtschattengewachses. Das sind ihre kiihe, die sie eifersiichtig
bewacht. Gelingt es aber in einem unbewachten augenblick eine
der friichte zu stehlen, so wird man ein besitzer grosser herden
werden». B. then adds very rightly that this is a false concep-
tion of the correctly observed fact that the python hatches its eggs
by means of the warmth of its own body and at the approach
of a human being is terrified for the safety of its progeny^.
The kipz is a dark grey blindworm, 25 — 30 cm. long, in which,
as in Typhlops species, it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish
all
between head and tail. The Akamba think that the snake has
two heads. Gutmann states the same about the Wadjagga, adding
that this belief appears to be spread over the whole of East Africa^.
According to Brehm the natives of the west coast of Africa and
of India, and also many European colonists in these places, believe
that the snake really has two heads*.
The chameleon is believed to creep on to guinea-hens and
other birds and thrust its long tongue round the bird's neck. No
matter how it runs or flies, the chameleon holds fast, until the
bird dies of hunger. He then waits near by until flies come and
worms are formed. These are what he wants and so he kills the
bird. The chameleon is shunned and hated among most of the
Bantu peoples, and they kill him by putting snufl" in his mouth.
^ Paulitschke (Ethnographie Nordostafrikas II, p. 27) mentions

a similar belief from the SomaHs.
- B. Gutmann, Dichten und Denken der Dschagga-neger, p. 39.
^ B. Gutmann, Die Fabelwesen in den Marchen der Wadschagga.
Globus 1907, p. 243.
* Brehm, Tierleben (1913) 5, p. 263.
The reason for this cruel treatment is the previously described^

well-known and widespread myth about the origin of death among
the children of men (p. 253).
As fish are considered to be closely related to snakes, the
Akamba, like so many other Bantu peoples, do not eat fish. I
remember very vividly a day when for once in a way I had
succeeded in catching some small fish. I and one of my servants^
who had for a long time worked for Europeans and in this way
become accustomed to eat fish, were just about to have a proper
meal,when the man's wife came to see him. She had a good hours
walk to my camp, and had not seen her husband for over a week.
When she saw what he had in front of him she was so indignant
that she at once turned back without as much as aword to him.

It has already been shown that the Akamba do not eat fish,
because fish »are related to snakes*. They do not care to eat

porcupines or tortoises either. As is to be expected of a hunting
people, the Akamba eat, apart from these, almost all wild ani-
mals, contrary to their neighbours in the west and south-west,
the Akikuyu and Masai, who only in extreme need can be made
to eat game. A person who does so is considered inferior. I
remember a march out in »the bush», miles from the nearest

native village. The provisions we had taken with us were nearly
finished, and we had to maintain ourselves principally by hunting.
Among the bearers there was also a Kikuyu, who for as long as
possible avoided eating the game that was shot and consequently
went half hungry for several days. At last he could hold out no
longer, but, excusing himself on the ground that he was far away
from his own country, away from all honour and honesty, he eat
heartily of an Oryx antelope that had been shot.
Various animals, according to the Akambas' opinion, have

the effect on arrow poison that if one shoots one of them, the
poison loses all effect on other kinds of animals. As animals in
this categoryhave noted Coke's hartebeest, the duiker (Cepha-
I
lophus), the mole and the barn-door fowl.

Hunters have in addition a great many things to observe,
especially regarding big game, elephants, rhinoceroses, etc.^
^ See the account of »the magic power of names* on p. 258.

Natural history 333
As soon as an elephant is killed the oldest and most experien-

ced hunter runs forward and with his knife cuts off the end of
the trunk, which he runs off with and hides in the bushes, so
that the youngest members of the hunting party, are on their who
first elephant hunt, shall not se it. have myself had an oppor-
I
tunity of verifying this. A similar practice seems to be common

— or has been common — among many Bantu tribes, such as
the Wakami and Amaxosa, both of which bury the trunk of
the
the elephant when they are out hunting^. The real motive of
this is not known to me, but it is quite clearly connected with
the remarkable qualities of the trunk — the elephant's hand, as

the Wadjagga call it — as a prehensile organ. When a female
elephant was shot it was an old custom to cut off its dugs and
hide them. It is said that they resemble the breasts of a woman;
this is said to be specially the case if the female elephants has
suckling young ones. Many people had such an aversion to the
sight of the dugs that they would not partake of the animal if
they had seen them.
Finally I may remind the reader of the ideas about animals
that have been described earlier on in the chapter on totemism,
religion and magic.
^ Kay, Travels and Researches in Caffraria, p. 138.

Chap. XVII. Cosmology.
I. Meteorology.
Hail {ma6ia 'stones') is considered to be a favourable sign^

denoting a good harvest. According to Hobley (Akamba, p. 54),
on the other hand, »it is said to be a sign of shortness of rainfall*.
Clouds (matu) and fog {mumbi) are smoke from the fire of
the Creator {mumbi, p. 244). According to another view it is the
smoke from the Cannot everyone see how the
huts of mankind. »
smoke rises up in the air in still weather ?» To what extent the

natives themselves believe in this and other explanations I must
leave unsaid. In many cases one might compare them with, for
instance, our talk of »the man in the moon». At the sight of a
cloudless sky they are sometimes accustomed to say jokingly that
>the newly-married wife had swept well», a -way of speaking that
is based on the custom (see p. "]€) of a newly-married young wife
getting up early on the first morning in her new home and sweep-
ing the hut.
The rainbow {utapt), lightning {uttsiY and thunder
{kitandahlci or, when distant, kttundumu) are considered to have
no special meaning, nundu wa mbua, » these phenomena are con-

nected with rain», they say. When the thunder rumbles at a
distance they sometimes say: »X:s father is beating a skin», a
humorous comparison with a man preparing a goatskin so as to
make it into a dress for his wife. The rain is sent by Ngai
(mumbi), who leads it out through a mutau, a dug-out channel
such as the Akamba use for the irrigation of the fields. When
Ngai stops this up, the dry season (Jânu) comes. In joking speech
I have heard the rain called mwana i_ma wa mumbi 'the sister
of the fog' I
^
< tisa = I. to become visible (of the moon), 2. to lighten.
^ The conception of the rainbow is given in chap. XIV, p. 274.
Cosmology 335
Those persons I asked did not know of any case, or were

not aware how people would act if anyone were struck by light-
ning. They were sceptical with regard to Hobley's statement
(Akamba, p. 55) that »if anyone is killed by lightning no one will
touch or move the body; the people say the person is killed by
God. If anyone does touch a person killed by lightning he or
she will also be struck*.
2. Astronomy.
The stars are called ndata, which also (if it is really the
same word) means a stave, stick, often of the club-like type that
the young men are accustomed to carry in their hands when they
stroll about. Rev. W. E. Taylor in his Giryama Vocabulary gives
ndata 'a walking stick' as a Giriama name for the evening and
morning star, while »star» in general is called nyenyezi^.
The Akamba call the evening star 'ggcemandi (probably a
causative of kcena- 'to become and ndi 'earth'). I have
visible'
not been able to ascertain the name of the morning star, but,
according to Hobley, it is called kithioi. It is thus certain that
the Akamba, like other Bantu peoples, do not know that these
two are one and the same planet.
Comets are also called ndata. They are omens of misfor-
tunes, war, famine, rinderpest and other diseases. An expression I
have noted, ndata la ktsipd 'the star with the tail', doubtlessly
refers to some cornet^. The natives tell of a comet, ndata la wa
'the star of famine', that appeared about 25 years
ago (1888?).
This is probably identical with the one Merker talks of, namely
a clearly shining comet in the eighties which was soon followed
by severe epidemics among the cattle, rinderpest and lung diseases^.
Falls of aerolites (also shooting stars?) are omens of disease
and epidemics. A place in which it is supposed that parts of a
meteor have fallen down is sprinkled by the atufma with -gondui.
from a goat that is taken to the place and killed there. In the
See A. Werner, Note on Bantu Star-Names, Man 1912, p. 195.

^
W. and discusses the names of the stars among some tribes in

gives
South and East Africa.
* The Bathonga call a comet »the star with the tail» {nyeleti ya
nkila). Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe II, p. 287.
^ M. Merker, Die Masai, p. 206.
northern part of Ulu the purifying fluid is also sprinkled in rivers, so

that people should not be affected injuriously when they drink the water.
Earthquakes appear to be rare in these parts, and I have
not heard any mention of such things in Ukamba or got any name
for them. Hobley calls them Engai (Ngai) and S. Watt in his
Vocabulary of the Kikamba Language apparently a constructed —
vocabulary to a great extent — »the trembling of the earth*
^.
{utetiBmo iva ndi)
I may be allowed here to mention in parenthesis the only in-
formation T gathered about the Akamba's »geology», namely about

the mountain crystal that is sometimes found among the quartz. They
call it madia ma ndata 'stones from the stars', and believe that
it has fallen down from heaven. The Akamba told the German
missionary Gerhold that mica, which is fond in abundance here and
there, is »pieces of God's clothing and falls down with the thunder*^.
Sun i^snid) and moon According to legends the sun
{mtvcBTt).
and the moon were originally brothers, and the moon was the
more important of the two and shone more brightly. But because
of disobedience and a consequent curse of its parents it had to
give up its position and with it its more brilliant light to its
younger brother. The detailed account of how this took place will
be given by me in a special work on the Akambas' folklore.

The same story is found as far west as among the Pangwe people
in the Cameroons*.
When the sun goes down {sxua lafioa) they say jokingly that
it is going home to the village to eat supper.
Eclipse {siua mpotd mupcgmaY. They remember an eclipse,
apparently from the end of the nineties, when a voice was heard
^ According to Mr Hofmann, however, earthquakes are not un-

common in conjunction with subterranean noise. He experienced one
195) on Boxing Day,
of these (Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionsblatt, p.
1897, when the natives said: »It is Chumbe» (a spirit hill south-west
of Kibwezi). In »Geburt, Heirat und Tod» (p. 24) he also says that
when such subterranean rumbling took place the Akamba used to saj':
»Now the dead are allowed to go in to God».
* H. Gerhold, Wandertage in Nordost-Ukamba, p. 11.
^ L. Frobenius, Der Ursprung der Afrikanischen Kulturen.
* Owing to some misunderstanding Hobley (p.

55) calls an eclipse
Mumbi. Probably he had been told by the natives that it was the
work of mumbt (the Creator).
Cosmology 337
to call from the sky: Leave your huts and gather together with
»
all the cattle at the porno !•» Every father of a family then killed a goat
and sprinkled his household and his cattle with 'gondm. After this
eclipse came smallpox (ndugn), rinderpest, the formerly mentioned

tumour-like epidemic mzvimu (= rinderpest?), which attacked wild
animals such as buffaloes and hartebeests, and a disease not
known to me called loa}a.
While the moon is »in the desert*, i. e. during the two (three)
days the moon is invisible, it no use going out hunting, as
is
one cannot then succeed in killing any game. A man called

Kasong'a at Machakos was born during this period and some
people say that because of this he is successful in hunting during
this time, while others, on the other hand, deny this exception
to the usual rule.
At the first glimpse of the new moon's fine sickle in the
west they say that the moon is »visible to the horns of the cattle*.
This expression is somewhat obscure, but it is perhaps not in-
correct to connect it with the old worship of the moon. In Western

Asia and Europe people sacrificed cattle to the moon in former
times. Cattle were thought to be a representation of the moon
because of their horns ^.
A lunar halo is called kiduio, which really means » threshing

place », the hard, dry ground where the women thresh millet (< 6ua
'to beat, thresh').
At Kibwezi they spoke
of the moon's sex and apparently of
various namely a male one (called ndamba 'male') and a
moons,
female one {muka 'woman'), but I did not succeed in getting a
more detailed explanation of this way of speaking. A male moon
was said, however, not to give rain *. On a calabash shell that I
^ E. Hahn, Von der Hacke zum

Pflug, p. 61. E. Hahn, De-
meter und Baubo, 23 ff. p.
^ This distinction between a male and female moon reminds one
rather naturally of the moon-goddess of Babylonian mythology, Istar,
who had by her side the male moon-god Sin. Just as Istar alone was
the symbol of fertility, so, according to the Akamba's belief, the male
moon cannot bring the life-giving rain. The connection of the moon
with cattle by the Akamba also makes us think of the Babylonians. It
is too risky to draw any conclusions from these interesting analogies,
but they are worth pointing out in case anyone should feel disposed
to investigate the matter further.
obtained from a medicine man, who used it for beer-drinking, these
two moons are carved (fig. 63). According to the medicine man's
statement the straight stroke (a) represents the path of the moon,
the three points along it (b) are stars; c is the moon in an
earHer phase, d is the full moon and e a big star (the evening
star ?).
Fig. 63. Natural size.
3. Determination of time.
By day the time is determined with great care and accuracy
from the position of the sun. During the night they listen espe-
cially to the cry of the cricket (gg'zh), and when it grows silent
they know that the morning is near. Those who are going on
a journey then get up.
»/g mtvaka is a Crinum sp. with splendid red flowers. The
name, which means »he who calls on the year (the rainy season) »,
has been given to the plant because, when its flowers develop,
they know that the dry season is coming to its end and that the
longed-for rain is near.
There is a method of using the direction of the sun at differ-
ent periods of the year to calculate the arrival of the rainy season
and the seasons in general. By drawing directing lines over
isolated trees or some similar objects from a place with a some-
what open view, for instance a level piece of ground on a farm,
one finds roughly the place for the sun's farthest advance in
the north, and similarly the point to which it goes in the south.
A number of intermediate points are also fixed, especially the

place where the sun is when the rainy season normally begins.
Such a place of observation is called k'isxcBS\o kxa sma 'the place
where one often looks at the sun'^.
When it is necessary to determine a point of time for some-
thing that happened in rather distant past time, remarkable events
serve as a help to the memory and as a point of departure for
^ < kusuesia, an iterative form of kustsm 'to look'.

Cosmology 339
calculating time. Such events are, above all, the famines that time and
again have visited East Africa on account of continual drought.
In Ikutha have noted from native tradition a number of such
I
famines, each of which has its special name, and I have attempted
to fix the times when they occurred.
>oa xa malakwd (Kisuaheli maharagwe^ beans of Phaseolus
vulgaris, which is otherwise called by the Akamba mbqsd): a
famine in East Ukamba 1908 — 09, during which the chief food
consisted of these beans, which were got from the better watered
Ulu and also from the Kikuyu country.
Xoa ya mu6ugga 'the famine of the rice', the great and long
famine of 1898 — 99, which visited a large part of East Africa.
There was little to eat except the rice which was distributed by
the missionaries and the government. It is also called J^zî }a
'ggah 'the famine of the waggon', because of the building of the
Uganda railway, which was considered to be the cause of the
absence of rain.
xoa x^ ndata 'the famine of the star': this famine, which

has been mentioned before, probably occurred in 1888 at the same
time as a comet appeared.
xoa x^ 'ggiBtisld (< k(Sta or kcstcsla 'to bleed cattle'): the
year is unknown. In order to supply the deficiency of food the
cattle were bled.
xoa x<ÛS^^^ (*^ ?^^ '^*^ bind'): year uncertain. Many people
went to remote districts to look for food, but when they returned
with their burdens, it is said that they were attacked and bound
in their weak state, and then the food was taken away from them.
xoa *« kxasa: year uncertain. An exceptionally long period
of drought during which rain clouds repeatedly accumulated only
to disappear again.
wa J(e/«^^z (< Iwggila 'to increase'): year uncertain. First
there was a smaller famine, during which they eat up all accessible
supplies in the expectation of having the next harvest. Instead
of this there came a still more severe and lasting famine.
xoa *tf J/a 'the famine of the python', probably about the
year 1850, as several men of between 40 and 50 said that their
fathers were children at the time. Pythons were said to be un-
usually numerous and came up to the villages, so that the people
said that they were the cause of the famine.
ioa xa kudthla mbua (see p. 1 1), the great famine in the

thirties.
4- Seasons and months.

The year is called mwaka, which really, however, means only
»raintime», of which there are as a matter of fact two in the year.
The great rains (March —June), usually expected at the end of March
but often delayed, are called mbua xa uwa. The smaller rainy
season (Nov. — Dec.) iscalled mbua xandoa. July — August a is
dry season, not hot but cool and cloudy. Thick, heavy fogs
cover the valleys in the mornings or hover round the heights;
the sun is hidden by clouds. This time is called nundu. The
really hot time, âno, begins later, in September.
The days of the week have no name among the Akamba
nor among the Akikuyu, though they have, on the other hand,
among the Wadjagga. » Month* and »moon» have the same ap-
pellation, mwcBX' So also among the Akikuyu and the Wadjagga
{mweri and mwei'i respectively). Of the different names for the
months and their sequence —
I have taken notes about them from
Machakos in the west and from Muutha in the east I have not —
succeeded in getting a quite clear idea. It looks as if the use of
the names of the months was dying out. As far as their signi-
ficance is concerned a great many of them are merely numbers.
The names of the months in Muutha are:
i) pdndatu (6), said to be the first month of the year.

2) mwonza (7)
3) nxanxa (8)
4) kcenda (9)
5) 'hkumt (10)
6) muOm 'the hot one' (October). The rain begins at the end
of the month.
7) kalq (= mwq). The fields are dug and sown.
8) wima (< ima 'to dig'). The fields are cleared from weeds,
9) mwanza
10) No special name (= o'ggonono in Machakos?).
11) » > » (= wakatqno-i> > ?).
The names the months in Machakos are the same as in

of
Muutha, though the order is different. Here they apparently begin
Cosmology 341
the year with mwa, the month when work on the fields begins,
so that they shall have time to get them ready before the arrival
of the rainy season. The year is thus made to begin with the
moment that introduces the agricultural period which is so im-

portant for the people's existence. At least in Ulu they always
begin to reckon the months with mwa\
i) mwa. During mwa the fields are dug.
2) wimq (< ima ('to dig'). During w^ma the fields are got defini-
tely ready and sown before the arrival of the rain.
3) umau or tnwansa
4) wa katano (the 5^^)
5) » pandato (the G-^)
6) » mzvon-a (the 7*^)
7) » nuima (the 8'*')
8) wa k(Bnda (the 9*^)
9) » -hkumt (the 10'^)
10) -»
muû ('the hot one'). During mu6iu they begin to clear
the fields (kukupa). All dry remains of growth are collected
in heaps and burned. Fires are seen everywhere, a fine sight
after dark. The women are busily employed and go to work
early in the morning. Men also take part in the work.
11) o^gonono, which I do not know where to place. It is said to
be a »bad month ». Without being actually ill, one never feels
quite well during it.
In this way the month which is called the fifth {^wa katano)
is the fourth in order. This inconsistency disappears if one thinks of
the year beginning with muOm, during which commences the work
on the fields, of which the work during mwa is only a continuation.
The months has perhaps
primitive starting-point for reckoning the
been continually pushed forward, as B. Gutmann has shown was
the case among the Wadjagga^, the character of whose year he
holds to be a pure lunar year, the beginning of which is continu-
ally getting later. In this way, just as in the Arabic reckoning
of time, the same month gradually comes to fall in different
seasons.
Finally a third version gives the following names of the
^ B. Gutmann, Die Zeitrechnung bei den Wadschagga, Globus

1908, p. 238.
months : Mwa or ka/a, unma, mtoiu, tulha, wi'^gononoy pqnu wa mdfc

'the first dry reason'), wa muonza, wa nianfa, wa tkumi, muOxu.
We have only got eleven months. The Akikuyu have 12
and the Wadjagga 12 (or 13). The names of the months in Ki-
djagga are also to a great extent ordinal numbers, while the Ki-
kuyu names, given by Dundas, show no similarity to the Kamba
names ^.
^ K. R. Dundas, Kikuyu Calendar, Man 1909, p. 37.
Chapter XVIII. Geographical ideas and conceptions
of other peoples.
We in Chapter I that the Akamba, through

have already seen
their trade and hunting expeditions, have obtained a by no means
inconsiderable knowledge of large parts of English and German
East Africa and the peoples that live there. To the details al-
ready given about the extent of these excursions we may add

here that in 1895, up at Kenia, Dr. G. Kolb came across a band
of Akamba with slaves, and the latter told him that they had
been taken away by the Akamba from their homes in Marsabit,
on the east side of Lake Rudolph^. But even if, theoretically,
such knowledge was disseminated by the accounts of those who
returned home, these could, of course, only reach a small number
of the people; and women and children especially, who always
stayed at home, must formerly have had the same slight know-
ledge of geography that they now show, while the men, on the
other hand, in many cases had a wider knowledge at the time when
the >pax Brittanica» did not hinder their expeditions. Nowadays,
on the other hand, many young Kamba men, who work in the
service of Europeans, go to districts far from their homes, to
Lake Victoria and other places.
Of the Europeans {aswggu) they know that they come »over
the sea» to Mombasa and then farther. Many people in remote
districts, especially women, believe, however, that the coast-land
is the Europeans' and Kisuaheli their language. Many
country
even think that the white men have come from their land by
a kind of tunnel through the earth. As a matter of fact the na-
tives do not say » white* people, but »red», and they compare
the colour of our skins, which they think unbeautiful, to that of
raw meat. Many tribes (Akamba, Akikuyu, Masai, etc.) say that
^ S. Kolb, Von Mombasa durch Ukambani zum Kenia, p. 225,

they have old prophecies about the coming of the Europeans,

that they should come with >a giant snake over the country*
(the railway).
The Akamba are fairly proficient at languages, and a great
many of them are tolerably at home in Kisuaheli as well as in
Kikuyu and the Masai language {kikaOz), and in the neighbouring
languages in general.
Most peoples, and not only primitive ones, have probably
once believed in the existence of more or less monstrous beings
inhabiting the parts of the world that lie outside the boundaries
of their own geographical knowledge. In this way some of the
Akamba believethat people with tails live far to the north and
north-east, beyond the countries of the Galla peoples and the Somali.
Accounts of people with tails, who usually appear as cannibals,
are found in my collection of Kamba folklore. Formerly, when,
in spite of often extensive trade expeditions, their knowledge of
geographical regions was in certain respects more limited than
now, such beings were supposed to live considerably nearer, but
as their geographical knowledge increased, the boundaries were
removed farther and farther away. As far as this special belief
in people with tails is concerned, it rests, at least to a certain
extent, on a real basis, as it has its origin in the tail-like flap

that is worn by many African tribes. To mention a single example,
the married Kavirondo women wear behind them a tuft consisting
of black cord.
Points of the compass.

With regard to the points of the compass east and west are given
according to the sun, as be expected. The east is thus called
is to
{m)ufmlo wa snia 'the sun's exit' (< utmla 'to come into'). The
west is called upû^lo (or ndwih) wa siua {puna = ?). North and
south have no special names but are given by geographical names
or names of tribes dwelling in these directions, e. g. k'hhn%a (Mount
Kenia).
The Akamba believe that the sky {yiu, plur, matu 'cloud')
touches the earth somewhere; this place is called htmlm ha itu
and corresponds no doubt to our » horizon*, kitmlia means 'end,

finish' (in the concrete signification) and appears, for instance, in
the expression htudm kta iima 'the bottom of the pit'. Formerly,
Geographical ideas and conceptions of other peoples 345
when the Masai still occupied and ruled the steppe at Machakos
up to the foot of the Ibetini range of hills, the Akamba did not
know the country west of this so well, and it is said that people
at that time sometimes went over to Mua, a range of hills a few
English miles to the west, because they believed that from there
they could see But when they came
>the end of the heaven*.
there, they was always farther away. »You aswggu
saw that it
(Europeans), who know so much more than we Akamba, have

you found itr» they asked me. I tried to explain to them that
the sky has no end and that it nowhere touches the earth, but
they would not believe this.
They think that complete darkness prevails high up in the air.
Travelling.
We have already seen that the Akamba, perhaps more than

any other of the tribes in the interior of East Africa, have roamed
far and wide, partly as hunters, partly as traders, principally in
ivory. Because of their knowledge of the countries and peoples
in the interior many of them were in former times guides or
practically leaders of the trade caravans coming up from the coast.

C. Pickering, to quote an example, mentions a trading party to
the Djagga country, »commanded by a Makamba man, who had
often conducted similar expeditions, and who knew all the languages
on the route » ^.
On their journeys {kmld) they take with them weapons, in
their quivers they put the apparatus for making fire, and hanging
on their belts they have sandals, which they do not use at home
on ordinary occasions. They are taken with them not only to
protect the feet against thorns and the roughnesses of the road,
but just as much — and especially during the hot season as a —
protection against the heat, which
sometimes so strong that it
is
can be felt through the soles of thick marching boots. Food,

such as gruel, maize and beans, is taken in calabashes, which
are hung over the shoulders with leather straps. They are often
beautifully polished with fat and the straps are adorned with beads.
Obstacles on the way in the form of deep rivers are sur-
mounted by a good swimmer going over first with a long rope,
^ The Races of Man, p. 200.
which he fastens to a tree. Then the others manage to get across

by holding to the rope. When it is necessary to drive cattle
over a river, they stretch a rope out in the same way and some
men take up their positions along it. The cattle are driven into
the water a little way above the rope. If the animals are driven
towards it by the stream, they are forced to seek the shore by
the blows of the men at the rope. If the stream is shallow and
narrow and not rapid, those who cannot swim get across simply
by walking on the bottom. When it is necessary they come up
to the surface and take a breath of air^.
The art of swimming, I may take the opportunity of adding,
is very widespread among the Akamba, a fact which inspires
respect, when one considers that great parts of their country are
poor in water. They usually, like the Akikuyu, swim on their
sides and tread water when they wish to rest.
Long journeys were dangerous undertakings, especially in
older times, and so they tried in all conceivable ways to protect
themselves against dangers, disasters and fatigue. First of all
they had, of course, to consult the medicine man so as to find

out if the journey was being undertaken under favourable auspices.
In addition there were during the whole journey a great many
observances of a more or less ritual character. Similar measures
or precautions are practised practically over the whole globe during
journeys.
When decamping to continue their march each morning dur-
ing a journey, the leader takes a firebrand from the hearth, goes
a few steps forward in the direction in which they intend to con-
tinue the journey and throws the brand out on the path, ex-
pressing a hope that no evil might happen during the day's march:
»May we not meet lions, rhinoceros or Masai nor any other evil
beasts !» This does not seem to be any prayer to the spirits,
but it is possibly some sort of incantation. Another prominent
person then takes grass and throws it in the campfire, uttering
a similar wish. The signification of the grass and the fire in this
connection is unknown to me.

^ The natives of the southern slopes of Kenia can even pass rapid
streams in this way when
they on the head carry a load which makes
them able to pressure of the water. A. Arckell-Hardwick,
resist the
An Ivory Trader in North Kenia, p. 356.
>
Geographical ideas and conceptions of other peoples 347
I have already described (p. 218) how during journeys they

ofifer sacrifices to the spirits of deceased eminent caravan leaders.
Beginners at big game hunting and indeed those who take
part for the first time in a military campaign have to submit to
certain observances. Something similar applies to those who are
out on their first long journey. The Akamba seem even to have
a special word (mupo) for those who are making their first long
journey. Before such a person may drink from a stream on the
way, someone first dips the point of his bow in the water and
lets the novice suck it. Otherwise some mishap might befall him
during the journey. Hobley says further that on journeys in
former times, before they could drink from a river, they had to
cross to the other side and there »drop a stone ». »This practice
he adds, >is evidently the survival of a ceremony connected with
the propitiation of the river spirits* (for »river spirits* cf. p. 218).
I have not obtained any confirmation of this statement about the
stone. Certainly it is not unusual for people to take stones with
them when wading over a stream, but this is probably only so that
they may use them against crocodiles that may possibly be
present.
Observances of a sexual nature are also connected with the
undertaking of long journeys. Thus it is forbidden for any man
to have connection even with his own wife, if she is with him
on the journey. By doing this he might cause disasters, and the
object of the journey may be endangered. Hildebrandt tells how
Kamba travellers in his time resisted most strictly the temptations
offered them in the coast towns, a thing that had practical utility,
too, as to a certain extent it protected them from catching vener-
eal diseases and carrying them home. The sexual taboo was
carried to such an extent that the food for the journey was not
to be prepared by unmarried girls, on account of their connec-
tions with the young men. A long journey is comparable in this
respect with another important enterprise, namely a military ex-

pedition (see p. 189). Further, if anybody from a village is trav-
elling and a death occurs there during his absence, nobody may
have sexual intercourse until the absent one returns.
Just as the rites connected with war have disappeared at the
same time as the warfare and will soon be quite forgotten, so those
just mentioned in connection with journeys are scarcely practised
any longer. Even the conservatism of the African has its limits
and his practical view of things gets the upper hand of his fear of
offending against hereditary customs. I shall quote an utterance
of a man with whom I discussed the rites connected with journ-
eys: »We no If we go to Nairobi
longer have need for them.
and anything happens on the way, there are white doctors there.
And if we go to Kitui, there is a doctor (an Indian compounder
at the boma). And if we wish to go to Kiswani, we travel with-
out danger by »the fire-carriage » (the railway), etc. Even if this
explanation of the disappearance of the old customs is not quite
satisfactory, it undeniably contains a great deal of truth.
Chapter XIX. History and historical traditions.
It is quite futile to try to get any insight into the history of
the tribe through the Akamba themselves. There is an almost
entire lack of any kind of tradition, both historical and legendary. The
explanation of this is, to a great extent, to be sought in their
state stamp of democracy and equality, which
of society with its
has prevented the rise of chieftainship and made it difficult for

individuals of strong character to attain to any important position,
so that their names are preserved for posterity. Nor do any im-
portant events in connection with their neighbours seem to have taken
place; the fights with the Masai and the Akikuya have certainly
been endless, but have consisted principally of plundering expedi-
tions witl;iout any importance worth mentioning. The only man
from a bygone time whose name is generally known in Ukamba
is Kivui in Kitui, whom we know from Dr. Krapf s descriptions
in 185 1 and who had a great influence and reputation as a mag-
ician (cf. p. 149). It is interesting to see how Kivui, during the
short time that has passed since his death, has become partly a
legendary figure. Legends, especially about his strength, are
prevalent among the people: no other man could carry his weapons,
which were of enormous size and weight; his arrows, for instance,
were almost as thick as a man's arm.
If we we find in them
turn to the oldest historical sources,
no information Akamba. Before the arrival of the
about the
Portuguese in East Africa we are confined to some Arabic writers,
who have a fairly good knowledge of the coast and give us quite
important information about it —
thus we have Edrisi in the 12'^
and Ibn Batuta in the 14*^ century — but say very little about
the interior. A number of statements in the old Arabic sources
make it fairly probable, however, that the Arabian travellers had
a certain knowledge of the peoples in the interior. It is not at
all impossible that the term »moon people*, which some of them
speak of, refers, among other peoples, to the Akamba.^
The Portuguese too seem never to have penetrated into the
interior. Consequently one looks in vain for any information about
the Akamba in the writers that have dealt with the Portuguese
period in East Africa^. Certainly about 1523 two Portuguese left
Melindi with the intention of reaching the great lakes that were
reported to exist in the interior, but after eleven days they came
back in an exhausted condition.
There are, made a great impression
however, events that have
in the history, Akamba, but of the whole of East
not only of the
Africa. These are the great famines. As we have already seen,
the people have retained a whole series of these in their memory,
given each of them its special name and remember pretty exactly
the times when they occurred as far back as the 'thirties. The
worst of them, since Europeans came to the country, was probably
at the end of the 'nineties. 1899 there had been no rain for
In
five rainy seasons,had no harvest for five times in
i. e. they
succession. The people tried to appease their hunger with what
they could find, roots and wild fruit of slight or no nutritive value,
such as the fruit of the baobab, which is common in the east.
Yet most of them could not manage to slaughter their horned
cattle, but had to die themselves before their cattle. In Ikutha
Hofmann, the missionary, fed on an average 500 adults a day,
and every two or three days 300 children on an average. This
feeding could not be stopped until 1900. During this time the
big mission house in Mulango was built, and Herr Sauberlich used
to say jokingly that it was built of rice, because the natives had
to work at the building of the station in return for the food that
was given out.
During this great famine there arose a severe epidemic of small-
pox, which in East Akamba came from the south, from the Kib-
^ Cf. F. Storbeck, Die Berichte der arabischen Geographen des

Mittelalters iiber Ostafrika. Westasiatische Studien (Mitteil. des Seminars
f. Sprachen) 19 14, p. 130.
oriental.
J. Strandes, Die Portugiesenzeit in Deutsch und Englisch Ost-

^
afrika, p. 317. Guillain, Documents sur I'Histoire, la G6ographie et

le Commerce de I'Afrique orientale. O. K erst en, C. v. d. Deckens
Reisen in Ostafrika, vol. Ill,
History and historical traditions 351
wezi district. The missionary Kanig describes how in Ikutha

120 people smitten with smallpox sat at one side at the distribu-
tion of rice. > Those whom hunger spared were taken by the
smallpox. The sick people often went mad. We noticed that
young and tolerably strong people were overcome by the disease
more easily than the old ones who were quite exhausted from
hunger »^ 50 % of the tribe are estimated to have died 1898 99. —
In Chap. I. I have shown how the famines broke up families
and drove the people in big crowds to seek food in other places.
The natives told the author how, at the end of the 'nineties, bands
of them went to the better watered Kikuyu country but never
came back. Weakened as they were, they could not defend them-
selves, but were killed in great masses by the Akikuyu. On one
occasion several hundred of them were drowned in a small stream.
This cruelty on the part of the Akikuyu was certainly due to a
great extent to their fear of being infected by smallpox, of which
the starved wretches were A. Arckell-Hardwick, a trader,
full.
describes how at the Thika River he met a big band of these

hungry wretches, who were driven off by his bearers^. There are
not many families in Ukamba that have not lost some member
during the last great famines.
Many of the Akamba who emigrated to the Kikuyu country
stayed there until 1900, »selling their cattle and leaving their
children payment of food,
in to be afterwards redeemed, when
better days came round »^.
The relations of the Akamba with their neighbours and their
trade expeditions have also been touched upon in Chaps. I and
XVIII. Those of the Arab and Suaheli traders who were allowed
.
to go through Ukamba, being dependent on the natives, tried to

be on good terms with them so that they could get their slaves
and ivory safely to the coast. This did not, however, prevent them
from luring the Akamba into transactions, in which the business
capacity of the latter, which was ordinarily high, was blinded by their
desire for the seller's finery. The latter consequently did splendid busi-
ness. For instance, for the variegated cotton cloths that now cost
^ G. Kanig, Dornige Pfade, p. 12.

^ A. Arckell-Hardwick, An Ivory Trader in North Kenia, p. 354.
^ H. R. Tate, Notes of the Kikuyu and Kamba Tribes of British
East Africa. J. Anthr. Inst. 1904, p. 137,
a rupee each, they got three goats. The article most sought after
was the red cloth mukumbu and, of course, copper or brass wire. The
merchant made a little heap of different articles and put on the
top as a bait a cheap mirror, which they threw in for nothing. For
bigger purchases they even got slaves, cattle and stolen Masai asses
in payment and drove whole bands of these down to the coast.
Curiously enough it seems, however, to have been only in
very recent times that the traders from the coast were allowed
to enter Ukamba more freely. Burton goes so far as to fix the
time by saying —
I do not know on what grounds he has come
to this conclusion —
that before 1857 'ô Arab trader had visited
the country ^. The method of trading in his time he describes in
the following manner: » Trading parties from Ukambani sold ivory
to the Wanyika for four times round the tusks in beads, and these
middlemen, often fleecitig those more savage than themselves,
retailed the goods at high profit to the citizens [of Mombasa].
The Wakamba of the coast are, of course, anxious to promote
intercourse between Mombasa and
kinsmen of the interior» *.
their
The trading also went on without middlemen, the Kamba traders
meeting the Arab and Suaheli caravans in the Duruma country.
Hildebrandt tells how the unity of value was cattle, which was
valued in a certain quantity of cloth, beads, metal wire etz. Only
seldom were the caravans allowed to enter Ukamba ^.
The slave trade carried on by the Akamba was probably,
however, comparatively insignificant. An author who visited Zan-
zibar in the middle of the last century writes after hearing the
opinions of the natives there: »They [the Akamba] do not bring
slaves, except a few, but trade in ivory»*. A German traveller of
a recent date says, on the other hand, that right up to the end
of the 'eighties they were » pretty dangerous slave traders and
were even suspected of cannibalism*, the latter certainly a quite
R. F. Burton, Zanzibar, City, Island and Coast, II, p. 67.
1
The main caravan routes from Mombasa to the interior, especi-

^
ally the one to Lake Victoria, did not cross Ukamba but went over
Taveta and the Masai steppe. Vide T. Wakefield, Routes of Native
Caravans from the coast to the interior of Eastern Africa, Joum. R.
Geogr, Soc. 1870, p. 303 ff.
^ Hildebrandt, Die Wakamba, p. 385,
* Ch. Pickering, The Races of man, p. 200.

1
History and historical traditions 353
unfounded accusation^. During my stay in East Ukamba in 191

one could, however, still say that slave trading took place to a
certain extent, as I knew at least one man, in a good position,
who secretly sold women to harems at the coast.
The war with Masai was occasionally interrupted by
the
peacable intercourse, during which the sons of the steppe bought
vegetables and salt from the Akamba. The Akamba have appar-
ently always been on good terms with the Wanika and combined
with them in order to fight against the Galla, atwa^, who seem
to have had a firm footing in East Ukamba even in Krapf s time.
The battles with them were waged with varying success, until at
last the Akamba drove them back to the Tana. I shall take the
opportunity of adding here to what has already been said on these

battles in Chap. I that Mr. Sauberlich told me how, in spite of his
earnest dissuasion, over 400 Akamba once went over the Tana to
plunder but were so thoroughly beaten that only about ten came
back.
In the 'eighties the English began to settle in earnest in Ukamba
and then met with armed resistance. They had, however, scar-
cely any serious difficulties to overcome.
To this very brief glimpse into the Akamba's history I shall
add the myth that the Akamba have about their common origin
with the Akikuyu and the Masai. It tries to give an explanation
to the old enmity between these tribes and is as follows^:

A very; long time ago a woman gave birth to three boys,
who were called Mukavi (Masai), Mukikuyu and Mukamba. The
boys grew up, took wives and each man built his village. And they
Â. Kaiser, Die Wirtschaftliche Entwickelung der Ugandabahn-

lander, Globus 1907, p. 56.
* The words atwa, watwa, batwa, with other forms from appar-
ently the same root in primitive Bantu, appear, as is known, as the
names of several peoples, as far as one can see of different origin, in
South and Central Africa. A comparison of them, together with a very
interesting and plausible analysis of the meaning of the name, has been
given by Eric von Rosen in his large and excellent monograph on the
Batwa that live at Lake Bangveolo, Traskfolket [the Swamp people],
p. 88 ff. Cf. also above p. 21.
^ A version of this story is given by R. F. Burton, Zanzibar,
II, p. 64, who was told about a keeper of cattle with three sons:
Mkuafi [Masai], the senior, Mgalla and Mkamba.
3,54 Lindblom, The Akamba
had children, who had different words (i. e. the three different sets
of children each spoke its own language). Mukavi got milk and
blood (kept cattle), while Mukikuyu and Mukamba got beans,
maize, sweet potatoes and other food from the
fields. But they
also wanted and went to Mukavi and asked for a cow for
cattle
each of their children. Mukavi refused to give them any, saying:

»You have got other food, which I have not got. I have my
cattle and nothing else. If you wish to fight, I don't mind».
Mukikuyu and Mukamba went away and sat down to take
counsel. Mukamba said: »Let us take our young men and seize
the cattle by force ». And they gathered together their children,
went to the Masai's village and after a fight took a great many
cattle, which they drove away. But in the night, while the war-
riors were asleep, the Masai come and took back most of the
animals. In the morning the Akamba and the Akikuyu came to
blows about the remainder, and then each went off in enmity to
his own district.
And nowadays, when an old mututma (old man) in Ukamba

feels his end approaching, he says to his sons: »A very long time
ago the ancestor of the Akamba, Akikuyu and Masai was one and
the same man. But our relationship and friendship died because
of cattle. When I die now, take care not to come to blows be-
cause of cattle ».
In those parts of East Ukamba where the Akamba come
more into contact with the Galla than the Masai one brother in
the myth is called Mutwa (Galla) or Mukala instead of Mukavi.
p. IV.
ART AND GAMES

Chap. XX. Decorative art.
Apart from the southern parts and the coast, which is in-
fluenced by a foreign cuhure, decorative art is very poor and un-
developed, in the whole of East Africa a state of affairs that is prob-
ably due less to psychological conditions than to the fact that among
the East African tribes the men have always been fully occupied
with feuds and looking after cattle. The same thing applies to
the Akamba, whose time and interest has also been very largely
claimed by hunting. For the sake of completeness, however, we
shall give a brief account of the small amount of decorative art
they really possess.
The Akamba apply their ornamental art — this term, like
» ornament », is taken in a wide sense — chiefly to carving and paint-

ing. The calabash, owing to the ease with which it is worked,
its appearance and its smooth and even surface, is, of course,
the most promising material for attempts at decoration. On cala-
bashes one thus finds most of the decorations as well as the
greatest variety in motifs. Painted decorations, with black, red
or white clay, which are put chiefly on the dance drums, are, of
course, still easier to produce, but in spite of this they do not
seem to be so well-liked as the carvings on the calabashes. We
shall therefore begin with the calabashes, and, if necessary, one
could limit oneself to these to obtain an idea of the motifs in
the Akamba's decorative art.
The calabash decorations are carried out partly by carving

with knives, partly by stippling with nails (awls), the latter pro-
cess being slower. Specimens of both methods are given here.
They are afterwards rubbed with ashes. The representations are,
for the most part, reproductions from nature, and are thus in the
style of free imitative art.
The most important contribution to ornamental art is made,
as one might expect, by the animal world, and by the animals in
it that are most used as ornamental figures over practically the

whole of the dark continent, namely serpents, lizards and tortoises.
This is especially the case, as we know, with the lizard, and
among the Akamba as well this or the serpent is found in some
shape or form on most calabashes. The varying forms are, at
least as far as the lizards are concerned, not arbitrary; an attempt
is made to reproduce a certain species, and they often succeed
in bringing out something that is characteristic of the animal in
question. The large and powerful lizard in fig. 66 (g), for in-
stance, represents a Varanus. The big snake, on the other hand,
in fig. 71, a python, is not very successful, while the flexibility of
the tree-snake's narrow, slender body (fig. 64 k) is well reproduced.
The black cobra »that has swallowed a rat» (fig. 66, h) is freely
and realistically represented.
Chameleons are also found on two of my Kamba calabashes,

in both cases, curiously enough, without heads. They are, how-
ever, not recognizable, but resemble lizards. The crocodile occurs
sometimes (fig. 64, b), and it is worthy of mention, because accord-
ing to K. Weule it is rare in African decorations. M. Heydrich
does not discuss it one considers that
at all in his work^. When
the lizard is perhaps the most popular animal for ornamental
purposes in Africa, it seems inexplicable that the crocodile, which
is, of course, as easily drawn as a lizard, is used so little.
Mammals are reproduced less frequently, and when they occur,

they are always wild animals: the elephant, the rhinoceros, the
giraffe, the zebra and the antelope. There are very few reproductions
of the latter from East Africa, and so I give here a Thomson gazelle
(fig. 65, a) and a couple of hartebeests. The calabash decorated
with the latter (fig. 68) gives a whole hunting scene from the
steppe, which in its realism reminds one of the Bushmen's paint-

ings. We see a hunter on the steppe overgrown with acacias
hunting two hartebeests, one of which has the sloping back
that is peculiar to this species of antelope. Beneath an acacia is
lying a giraffe, whichis not badly drawn either.
Domestic animals are almost completely absent from African

ornamentation, and the only things of this sort I have seen in
Ukamba is the sheep in fig. 66 a.
^ Afrikanische Ornamentik, Intern. Arch. f. Ethnographie 19 14.

Decorative art 1^59
Fig. 64. Calabash bowl, Ikutha, East Ukamba. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll.
Inv. 12. 7. 52. Va nat. size.
The circle in the middle is Kilimandjaro. The concentric circles

remind one of the lines showing elevation on a map.
On the left half: a zebra (note the hoofs); b crocodile; c frog; d
a woman's stool; i the ^guluTiu snake; / Y2 rupee;
k a snake (ikua) that lives in trees and is said to
be very poisonous; / arrowhead.
On the right half: e rhinoceroses, the bigger one male, the smaller
one female (notice the horns); / the plaited divid-
ing wall of the we, the back part of the hut; g
axe-head; h blindsnake (Typhlops sp.); a human m
being?
36o Lindbloni. The Akamba
Fig. 65. Calabash bowl, East Ukamba. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll.

Inv. 12. 7. 55. Ys nat. size.
a Thomson gazelle; b the woman's tail (mupita), studded with cowries.

This last ornament has obviously also given the material for the border
decoration; c frog; d human being.
Decorative art 361
Fig. 66. Calabash Decorations, Eastern Ukamba. V2 nat. size.
a sheep, with a fat tail. This was obviously too small to begin with;
b womans chair (shown by the tall legs); c part of a hill; d star
(seven points); e probably seen in the 'eighties and connected
comet,
with a famine which then prevailed (cf. pp. 335, 339); / axe-head;
g lizard ndanu (Varanus sp.); h black spitting cobra {kiko) »that has
devoured a rat» * railway train.;
Nor do birds and fish play any part worth mentioning as

ornamental figures among the Akamba, as is also the case among
most negro peoples. They occur, however, as we see, occasionally
(fig. 69, f— g; 71, e, g).
Among the animals we need only mention the milli-
lower
pede and the centipede, both of which have already
(fig. 69, a)
been reproduced from the musai sticks (p. 54, 55).
Before we leave the pictures of animals I wish to draw atten-
tion to some small details of interest, although they are not pecu-
liar to the Akamba nor even to African ornamental art in general,
Fig. 67. Details fi-om a calabash, East Ukamba. ^/a nat. size.
a snake; h its eyes; c frog; d tortoise.
but, on the other hand, are found wherever animal pictures

are produced by an undeveloped art, the most familiar examples
for us being children's pictures. I refer to the tendency to place
the mouth, the two nostrils, ears and eyes on an animal that is
reproduced entirely in profile. Our material shows several examples

of The eyes are specially important, and so one is not sur-
this.
prised to come across such a case as the snake in fig. 6^ where ,
an eye is placed on each side of the head, as there is not room

for them on the head itself^.
Phytomorphic motifs are rare in Africa and among the Akamba.
1 Other examples are given by K. eu W 1 e in Die Eidechse als

Ornament in Afrika (Festschrift an A. Bastian), fig. 23, 27 — 28.
Decorative art 363
I have only seen them of once, in the case the acacias just
referred to (fig. 68).
Anthropomorphic decorations occur rather infrequently in East
Africa and on all my calabashes there is —
apart from the hunter
in fig. 68 —
only one human figure, namely 65, d. Fig. 64, m may
also be a human being, although it is executed in the same way
as the frogf on the same calabash.
Fig. 68. Hunting scene on the steppe. Details from a calabash, East
Ukamba. Vs nat. size.
The most common motifs after certain animals are arrow-

heads, the sun and the moon (half-moon). The former consists of
only one circle and never has a human face. Comets are also
reproduced, sometimes in triangular shape (fig. 66, e). As is shown
by the examples, the natives take, in addition, as motifs practi-
cally all possible objects from daily life, tools, household articles
etc. The portion of a hill seems to be rather a unique

in fig. 66, c
motif; note also the representation of Kilimandjaro on fig. 64.

3^4 Lindblom, The Akamba
The Akamba's ornamentation of their calabashes — and

similarly their art in general — does not seem to have attained
to any real conventionalization — and is therefore no ornamental
art in the real sense of the word. One might, however, say that
Fig. 69. Decorations from calabashes, East Ukaniba. -/s nat. size,
a millipede; b crab-like animal (sw-manâla) ; c the sky, beneath it the

moon, above it an arrowhead; d branch of tree with a bee-hive; e
rupee; / fish, Cf. g fish »with arms» from a musahstick.
such decorations as the millipede and the fish in fig. 69, and still
more the one that is said to represent some sort of crab-like ani-
mal are on the way to being artistic. Other examples are shown
in fig. 70, both motifs of which are unknown to me, but of which
a seems to be derived from a lizard decoration and d from a human

being.
Decorative art 365
On the other hand, as a specimen of real and thoroughly-

worked out conventionalization — though of the simplest kind —
we may take the series of triangles and segments of circles that
are in common use over the whole of Ukamba as borders or to
distinguish different fields on the calabashes. The triangles are
said to be arrow heads. Both kinds of borders from Kamba cala-
bashes are reproduced by M. Heydrich ^, who, from a source un-
known to me ^, identifies the segment of the circle with the small
iron dancing bells {kiambd).
The figures carved with knives in the bark of the musm sticks
occupy a special position and their peculiarity is due partly to
f=^=^
Fig. 70. Conventionalized (?) motifs on a narrow calabash from East

Ukamba. Y2 nat. size.
a lizard; b human being? c are borders.
their material and technique, partly also to their function as a

sort of hieroglyphic, in the interpretation of which the novices in
the initiation rites have to undergo a sort of examination Whet-
her the motifs are fixed by tradition or not, is unknown to me.
The paintings of the Akamba can be dealt with in a few

words. With the exception of the figures of animals, which I
have never seen used in painting, the motifs are the same as on
^ M. Heydrich, Afrikanische Ornamentik, Taf.II, 64.
^ Probably from the collections in the Leipzig Museum, brought
home by the German missionaries in Ukamba, or from Hildebrandts
collections in the Berlin Museum.
the calabashes. See also fig. 72 —73 and the dance drums
fig. 109 — no.
No sculpture in wood or any other kind of ornamental wood-
carving is found. Stools, spoons, snuff-bottles, etc. may show pure
and pleasing shapes but are without any embellishment. Only
•.•.•::•-• .: .«s»
g
Fig. 71. a — h decorations on a medicine man's calabash, Machakos::
a snake, h python; c —g from East Ukamba: c tortoise; d rolled-up-
leather-strap; e guinea-fowl; /snake; g fish. V2 nat. size.
X
Fig. 72. Figures painted with red ochre on a long dance drum (kid).
a bed; b framework of a hut. The points show the poles stuck in

the ground (cross beehive with a hook for hanging it up;
section); c
d fork-shaped stick, the sign of an old man's rank; e blacksmith's

tongs, trying to seize an ironpin. V2 nat. size.
among the accessories of the dance does one find any attempt at
the simplest kind of ornamentation such as carved or burnt lines.
Specimens of the most adorned dancing accessories I have seen*
Decorative art 367
C
3
(2i
o
o
(U a
^ S.
bi).
3^8 Lindblom, The Akamba
in Ukamba — both types are, however,

rare — are reproduced here (figs. 74, 75).
The first of these is of interest if we
remember that anthropomorphical figu-
res, especially wooden ones, are in gene-
ral rare in East Africa. Thus I have
not come across anything else of this
kind in these districts. The figure is
a youth, wearing on his head — in the

shape of a metal bead, a — the white
conus shell that the young men are
fond of adorning themselves with. At
the end of his fingers there are small
metal beads, possibly representing rings.
The fingers are number; pri-
four in
mitive art usually shows a supreme con-
tempt for the real number of fingers
and toes. But the number of the latter
is correct in this case.

I do not know what the other
dancing accessory represents, and I have
nothing to say about it except that it
suggests a sort of dancing accessory

or medicine man's stave that is used in
certain quarters in the East Indian ar-

chipelago.
In the department of metalwork

we find very little decorative art, and
this really consists of the simple engrav-
ings, in conventional designs (straight
and curved lines, ovals, dots, zigzag de-
corations, etc.) that are found on arm-
lets and bracelets (fig. 84 — 86). Yet in
Fig. 75. Dancing accessory certain respects the Akamba's decorative
from Machakos, bound with
^^^ ^^^^ês its highest point with the
copper and brass wire, a me- , , ^ , .
, , ,
help of metal material, namely by means
tal beads; 6 tin mountings,
V4 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. of wire. I refer to the symmetrical decor-
Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 224. ations that are sometimes put on the
Decorative art 369
old men's stools with wire, which drawn through the wood
is
with great skill and patience (fig. Hobley reproduces a number

j6).
of such chairs, and also details of the decorations on them ^ But
he does not inform us that unfortunately this art is practised
by only extremely few individuals. As a matter of fact I know
for certain of only one man, and he is the very one that made
the stools tiiat are reproduced by Hobley. During the whole
Fig. 76. Old man's chair with wire decorations. The circle in the
centre is the owners village with four paths running from it. The four
other circles are moons. Vs nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 73.
of my stay in Ukamba I only succeeded, in spite of many

attempts, in coming across a single stool of this kind, the one in
iig. "/G. M. Heydrich states ^ — the source of his information is
unknown to me — that the Akamba have learned to use wire in
this way from the coastal tribes, especially the Wagiriama.

The china beads that are ust d for »loin clothes*, ornaments
for the arm, etc., are made in simple patterns: triangles, rectangles
and zigzag designs.
^ C. V. Hobley, The Akamba, p. 34 ff.
- Afrikanische Ornamentik, p. 62.

In passing 1 wish to remind the reader that the clan and

ownership marks placed on arrow-heads, cattle and beehives fdr
practical reasons seem to be in a fair way of becoming purely
decorations (pp. 130 ff.). This is also the case with the » trade
marks* on the pots, which have as yet no decorative purpose, but
might probably very easily give rise to ornamentation.
Finally we must stop a moment to discuss the motives for
the Akamba's decorative art. There scarcely seem to be any
others but purely aesthetic ones and sometimes, as in the em-
bellishment of the calabashes, the pleasure of the work for its
own sake. Possibly some medicine man puts magic signs on his
apparatus. But on the whole it is all pure ornament. The figures
of animals have no connection with totemism; the production of
the sun and the moon have no magic or religious import. Whe-
ther it was otherwise at an earlier time, we cannot decide.
Chap. XXI. Clothing and Personal ornaments,
I. Clothing.
Everything goes to indicate that a few decades ago the Akamba

wore few or no Krapfs time »many of the men
garments. In
were perfectly naked, whilst others wore a mere rag in imitation
of the fig-leaf of a sculptor, and even the women had a very
scanty covering below the waist, being otherwise completely naked
from head to foot» ^. At most a strip of cloth or something of
the sort wound round the hips seems thus to have been the usual
dress about 1850. Krapf adds however that »they have clothes,
but do not usually dress themselves*. He is probably referring
here to the imported cloths, American sheeting (americano) and
blue calico (Ocekd, Kisuaheli kaviki), which they got at the coast
in exchange for ivory and cattle for slaughtering and which in
Hildebrandt's time — when of course the communications with the
coast were less risky and therefore more brisk — seem to have
been in fairly common use in East Ukamba ^. They were worn
in the form of a plaid, 2—3 metre long, which was thrown over
the shoulders and falling over the chest was fastened at the side.
They were made waterproof by being rubbed with fat and red
ochre.Many young girls still wear a piece of white cotton cloth
rubbed with ochre, but as a rule this garment is replaced nowadays
by the considerably warmer blankets, imported principally from
The skin garments for men referred to by Hobiey (Akamba,.

*
p 40), of different sizes for the different age classes (atumia, attdceh
and anakd), which he says have been in use a long time ago, seem
to be unknown to Krapf as they are to the writer of this book.
* In the Machakos district, on the other hand, according to v.
H6hnel (Zum Rudolph-See und Stephanie-See, p. 800) even at the •
end of the 'eighties most of the men went completely naked, wearing
only ornaments.
India, which are used by both sexes and are carried with a certain
easy charm. When an old man comes striding solemnly along,
draped in his blanket, he reminds one of a dignified Roman in
his toga. These blankets protect them against both rain and cold,
and are used as a covering at night.
The married Kamba woman's proper dress, which is in general
use in Ulu, is, however, the ua, a calf- or goatskin, which has
been stripped of and rubbed with the usual ochre salve,
its hairs
and which is The ua is made for the
fastened over one shoulder.
wife by her husband and is a gift of his. It does not completely
cover the breasts, as the Akamba feel no shame at having them
uncovered. The method of making it is to stretch the skin out
to dry in an apparatus {kibaw < ku6q 'to scrape the hair of a skin')
consisting of a frame made of osier switches, to which it is fast-
ened, so as not to touch the ground, by three pegs fixed in the

ground on the long side of the skin and two on each of the short
sides. The hair is scraped off with an axe. The skin is then
placed against a stone and rubbed with the hands and feet until
it becomes soft. It is finally rubbed with fat and red ochre {nibu),
the primitive method of shamoying used in Africa. It is almost

impossible for a collector to obtain one of these skin, as the wo-
men partly will not, partly dare not give them up. If they did,
their husbands would be so angry that they would even leave
their wives.
Neither Krapf nor Hildebrandt mentions these female dresses,
but they visited only East Ukamba, where even at the present
day they are not used. Two possible explanations of its origin
may be given. If we remember that the skin garment in Africa
belongs to an older stage of civilisation and is widespread in the
southern and eastern parts of the continent — used, among other
tribes,by the Akambas' nearest neighbours, the cattle-keeping
Masai and Akikuyu —
it is not too bold to assume that it is an
old primitive garment that was discarded by the people in the

east when they, better off than their relations west of Athi,
were able to obtain cloth from the coast. The climatic condi-
tions, which haVe, of course, a great influence on dress, may also
have contributed to this. East Ukamba being lower and therefore
considerably warmer than Ulu. Further, in almost all things Ulu
is looked upon as setting the fashion for the other parts of the
Clothftig and Personal ornaments 373
country, as here the old customs have been kept

most unahered. On the other hand it may, how-
ever, be thought that the people of Ulu have
borrowed the skin garment from their neigh-
bours because of the colder climate and because
the communications with the coast were poorer.
It is, however, not long since this skin dress
was worn by men as well in certain places^, as,
for instance, the Kilungu district. The Akamba
in Machakos say that this was due, among other
things, to the fact that the Kilungu men, notorious
cattle-thieves, were better protected by this gar-
ment against the thorny thickets, when they went

out at night to steal cattle.
Another leather garment is the woman's tail

mupita), a narrow bifurcated strip of leather,
which is fastened beneath the belt of beads that
all women wear. It is too narrow to be of real use
to sit on and is intended principally to cover the

anus, and is thus a manifestation of the ideas of
the tribe concerning the proprieties. A married
woman's tail is usually so long that the ends trail
on the ground. It is usually unornamented, while
the young girls' is trimmed quite coquettishly
with beads or small chains (fig. yj). In old times
all the tails were without ornaments and the girls
wore instead, at the base of the tail, a sort of

flap of metal beads (called iscpso) resembling the
ktmcB'^go mentioned below.
This tail is not found in the whole of East
Ukamba either. In this case we may assert with • ji .
•',
,
greater certainty that here an original custom has ed with beads and
been abandoned, presumably on account of the fine iron chains,
increasing use of cotton cloth. In Krapfs time Riksmus. Ethn,
'^ "^*- ^^^®-
^^'''
the tail must still have been in use, as he says
^, ^ ,, T^ ^Jiv. 12. 7. 116.
that the Kamba women
,
at
T-,
Rabat
1 • •
in
1 ,
the hinter-
•
^ This was the case in the 'nineties, according to M. Schoeller,

Mitteil. fiber meine Reise nach Equatorial-Afrika und Uganda II, p. 304.
land of Mombasa wore it, and these Akamba had emigrated from
the present Kitui district. One may also see them still worn by-
young girls as dancing ornaments.

Finally in Ulu a rectangular loin-cloth [katu^gd) that is worn
by girls is also made out of skin. This is decorated with beads,
sometimes arranged in geometrical patterns on the piece of skin,
sometimes forming hanging strings. Sometimes the whole rect-
angle consists of beads, with a fringe of hanging metal chains at
the bottom. It is thus an ornament at the same time.
we leave these
Before gar-
ments of skin, it may be added that
leather straps, such as are used
for carrying loads, etc. are made
soft by being drawn through a
hole in a piece of wood.
A
loin cloth or apron for
girls,which owing to its appear-
ance, weight and clumsiness must
also be classed among ornaments,
is the hmce^go^ which is fastened
round the waist with leather straps.
It is made of imported thick brass
wire, which is flattened out and
"^^^^ into small cylinders {nzah)
Fig. 78. Girl's apron, made of
brass cylinders. Ys nat. size. that are threaded on to leather
Riksmus. Ethn. coll. Inv. 12.7.119. straps. The one reproduced here
(fig. 78), one of the larger ones,
consists of over 700 of these and weighs about 4 Va pounds. The
top rows are not made of brass but of iron.
To make an » apron » of this sort is a laborious task; about
ten cylinders a day appears to be the maximutn rate of produc-
tion. It accordingly commands a rather high price or about three
goats. Because of this it is only the better situated natives who
procure the garment. Nowadays, however, it is rarely seen except
on some small and then of course in a small size. It is probably
girl
scarcely made any more, and will perhaps soon quite disappear.
The usual loin-cloth {ndami) that all women wear is a small
rectangular double piece of cotton cloth, rubbed with fat and red
clay. The men do not wear any garment of this sort.
Clothing and Personal ornaments 375
I will here mention an observation made by M. Schoeller

which is unknown to me andI do not all other authors. As
understand him clearly, I will quote. He says that »manner
und knaben das mannliche glied unter dem lendengijrtel, in
diesem fall unter einer schnur oder einem metalldraht hindurch-
ziehen und auf diese weise gewissermassen die beschneidung
ersetzen»^.
No headgear is worn. A number of old men, however, wear
dutiiig the hottest part of the year as a protection against the
sun a round scull-cap of black gont- or calf-skin, which fits so
tightly on the head that it is difficult to distinguish at a distance.
Sandals {hatu) are used only on journeys and even then not
by everyone. They are of the usual type: a leather sole, coarsely
cut to the shape of the foot and fastened with straps. Before the
small stools came into use the natives took a piece of leather
called kidipd with them on their travels to sit on when they rested.
2. Ornaments.
The Akamba wear a great number of ornaments (mapa) of
various kinds, especially metal ones, but they never overload their
bodies with them on ordinary occasions. On account of the com-
position and choice of colours these ornaments are attractive even
to European ideas of beauty, and the fine execution of the work
must arouse admiration. »These metal objects*, says v. Hohnel
in his previously mentioned description of his travels, >show with
regard to work and taste a skill that puts everything of this sort
we have formerly seen in Africa completely into the shade*.
Generally speaking everyone makes his own ornaments for him-
self, but the young men, who also use the greatest number, are
specialists in this department and devote a great part of their
time to this occupation. A married woman gets her ornaments
from her husband, a girl from her father, his friends or her admi-
rers among the young men.
The metal ornaments of various kinds are characteristic, but
it is especially trade wire that is used in an ingenious and skilful
way. Besides ornaments for the different sexes there are also
^ M. Schoeller, Mitteil. tiber meine Reise nach Equatorial -Afrika
und Uganda 1896 1897, II, — p. 314.
those for different ages, and they also vary in the different parts
of the country.
The women wear round the waist a belt of beads {kxQma),
which in the case of young girls may be 2 dm. broad and res-
embles a sort of corset. The older women, however, only wear
a few strings of big blue ring-shaped glass beads of the older
type, while the girls' broad belts consist of white and red china
beads, which show up beautifully against their dark skins. Blue
and white beads are also useil together. Originally all married
women wore and the girls red and white ones,
blue beads {kitcetz)
but nowadays many of the younger wives retain the belts of beads
they wore as girls.
Men do not wear these belts. It is only at the dances that
the youths decorate with wire spirals {inulta) round
themselves
their These spirals are twisted round a thick
waists and chests.
iron wire. They are closed by one end being put into the other
and twisted half a turn, so that the two ends interlock. When
they are placed on the upper part of the body they are fixed
sparsely at a few fingers' breadths interval. They are also used
as neck-rings (called ndi»a), either alone or several one above the
other, forming a sort of collar. They are also worn round the
neck by women, who only wear them round the body in excep-
tional cases.
A
number of women aho wear round the waist a strip of
leather trimmed with cowry shells {'^guiu). This seems to be an
older decoration which is dying out. Cowry shells are not much
used in Ukamba nowadays as ornaments; they have been super-
seded by china beads and trade wire.
There are a great number of neck ornaments of different kinds-
Besides the above-mentioned metal spirals 'the old ringsh.iped blue
glass beads are also used as necklets, which are worn exclusively
by old women. A characteristic decoration of the young men
and of girls too is the ^mili, a neck-ring of bast, tightly bound
with links of small white china beads. This ornament, very taste-
ful in its worn by youths around the head as well.
simplicity, is
In East Ukamba, where it is called idatt, it usually consists of

beads of difi'erent colours. As a rule variegated bead ornaments are
preferred in the east, while those of one colour are liked best in
Ulu. Thus we find in general use in the east and characteristic
for the Kitui district a broad flat neck-ring (^g-a/ta, called isoa in
the west)composed of many rows of green and blue china beads
threaded on steel wire, fastened close to each other in the same
plane.
On these neck-rings there often hangs a round flat piece of
the shell of a Conus mollusc {k}6uc), which is much in favour as
an ornament in East Africa. The Kamba youths make them,
themselves from the top piece of a Conus species about 0,5 dm.
long, which is sold by the Indian traders but was formerly brought
Fig. 79. Girl's collar, East Ukamba. Iron chains with Conus shells-
attached. V4 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. coll. Inv. 12. 7. 125.
from the coast. It is also common for the young dandies to wear
them at the top of the forehead fastened to the hair.
The kiOuo is used with a successful effect as an appendage
to the 'ggujn, a decoration for the neck or collar for young girls
consisting of thick iron chains which partly cover the shoulders
and fall down over the breast. At the back they are bordered
by these shells, which stand out beautifully against the dark skin_
Fig. 79 shows a rather modest example of this type. The East

African Company's old copper pesas sometimes are fastened to-
gether into tasteful chains, which are worn over the .shoulders.
3X^ Lindblom, The Akamba
n
^ O
If 3
ta
t.. ft
(/J O.
3 T-
c
W
W
W »
b S.
— 3
Chains of different metals and fineness

are much used Those made of
as necklets.
iron are especially worn by married women.
Necklets are also made of metal beads
in(/ekd), which the young men make them-
selves. They are threaded on wire. The

neck-ring in fig. 80 consists of these.
The men, who do not use many
older
ornaments, do not always wear necklets. Fig. 8 I . Neck-ring of
One sees on them, however, one or more copper wire. Vi "at.
chains or rings {ukumii) of thick metal wire, size. Riksmus. Ethn. coll.
Inv. 12. 7. 165,
twisted round another piece of metal wire
(fig. 81). Fig. 82 shows a
breast ornament for older
men, a very thick, spirally
twisted copper wire, hang-
ing on a neck-chain of the
same metal. As a rule
hanging objects of one
kind or another are fixed
on the neck ornaments,
especially chains. In fig.
80 we thus see a brass

chain with an ornament of
tin, representing the uten-
sil used to whisk blood in
order to separate the fib-
rin. Flat copper rings

made of thick wire or the
old copper pesa are com-
monly used as hanging
ornaments.
A special group of
neckltts consists of those
that are made by twisting
he narrow roots of the
kxulu grass. These — a
Fig. 82. Breast ornament of copper, ^/a nat. number of other roots are
size. Riksmus. Ethn. coll. Inv. 12. 7. 168. used as well — have, espe-
daily when in a fresh condition, a peculiar, somewhat suffocating

smell, which the natives like and which stimulates their sexual
desires. This necklet is const quently worn specially by the young,
men and girls, but also by mariied women when they sleep with
thtir husbands. Several of them are usually worn fastened together
and they are also worn on the head. The older men seem never
to use them. The aromatic lilac buds of musonsona (Spaeranthus,
Lippia?) are used for necklets
for children. Similarly in Kitui
they wind the strongly-smelling
tnutOf plant (Verticillatae), which
is also a 'gondm plant, round
the neck, and when the girls
go to dance they sometimes

put ko, a strongly aromatic
Mentha-like species of Verti-
cillatse, in the chains they wear
on their ears.
K^pua is a necklet made
of the roots of a rather large
grass, small round pieces of
which are cut and threaded on
Fig. 83. Necklet, made of grassroots, cords (fig. 83). It is worn by
/4 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. coll. women and sometimes by young

Inv. 12. 7. 131.
^ ' men.
In the places where Coix lacrymae Jobi grows, such as at the
River Nthua (ndua), necklets are occasionally made of its seeds
i^g'ald), the well-known Job's tears. In former times, while trade
beads were still rare, these seeds were said to have been used as
ornaments. The Akamba thus use seeds, pieces of wood and
other vegetable substances as ornaments only to a very slight
extent, while the Akikuyu, on the other hand, do so very much.
The necklets coming from Kikuyu, made of small sticks of hard
dark wood, are called by the Akamba nda'gga and are occasionally
met with.
Round the wrists both men and women wear metal armlets^
which have the common name of kUa^ga (or kt/aâ). They are
made of trade wire, which is either kept unaltered in thickness or
is melted into broader armlets as shown in fig. 84 — 86. As we
see, simple ornaments are often engraved ^ Especially in the case of

the narrower kinds several are worn together, so that a part of
the forearm is covered. The anakd
wear a special kitwgâ, a kind of
cuff of alternate copper and brass
rings, often coveiing the whole
forearm. This ornament, which is
at most about ten years old, is Fig. 84. Armlet of copper. Nat. size.
very beautiful.
We find on the Kamba women the arm spirals of thick wire
that are common in Central Africa, and men too sometimes wear
Fig. 85. Armlet of bi ass. Nat size. Fig. 86. Armlet of brass. Nat. size.
a spiral round the upper or lower part of the arm. In the Machakos
district many women wear an ornament of this sort below the
knee as well, a custom that is not found in the east, and is cer-
^ A great number of these decorations are oval in shape, with

pointed ends, as shown This type of decoration is also
in fig. 84.
found among the Masai, the Somalis and the Galla, but, in spite of its
simplicity, does not seem to occur among negro tribes. It is therefore
possible to assume that the Akamba borrowed this ornamentation from

their Hamitic neighbours mentioned above. Among the objects —
about 260 in number —
from Ukamba and adjacent districts that were
brought home by Dr. G. Kolb in the 'nineties and handed over by
him to the Natural Historical Court Museum in Vienna there are also
some armlets of quite the same type as shown in fig. 84. Dr. W.
Hein points out that the ornameniation on these is quite ike the ovals
on the armlets from the bronze age in Europe, which is interesting to
note, even though one cannot immediately draw any conclusions from
this as to the origin of these pointed ovals of North- East Africa. See
W. Hein, Armringe von Eibesthal in Niederosterreich und von Ukamba
in Afrika. Sitzungsber. d. Anthrop. Ges. in Wien 1898, p. 53.
:
tainly borrowed from the Masai or the Akikuyu, They are said
to havebeen fashionable in former times on men as well, and
one may still, although rarely, come across some old man wearing
this leg ornament. Apart from it not many ornaments are worn
on legs or ankles. A chain or cord with blue or white beads is,
however, usually worn, and at dances the young men twist fine
chains round the lower part of the leg.
As the thick wire round the extremities and
is bound tightly
is seldom taken off, it easily causes troublesome abrasions. The

natives try to alleviate the pain arising from these by putting soft
leaves, etc. between the metal and the wound. The author has
seen girls who have endured sores caused in this way for weeks,
which would have been healed in a few days if they had left off
the spirals. This they will not do
on any condition, saying that the
young men would not care for
them or would not want to dance
with them without their orna-
ments, and so they prefer to suffer
for their appearance.
Fig. 87. Armlet of tin with copper Some additional ornaments for
insertions. V2 nat. size. Riksmus. the arms may be mentioned here
Ethn. coll. Inv. 12. 7. 176. 'hamba is a rectangular piece
of embroidery with white, blue
or red beads, which worn by women, sometimes by the miakd,
is
on the upper part of each arm. The beads form geometrical

patterns, usually triangular. The patterns seem to have no special
signification. Used most in East Ukamba.
Fig. 87 shows a tin armlet with insertions of copper wire. It
is worn on the upper arm by older men and also by women. This
type, like the above described armlets of copper and brass, is

made by persons specially skilled in this work, who melt the metal
and pour it into a mould that is either cut out in wood or formed
in sand. Armlets of this type are also cut out of ebony (fnuOi^go)^
which is mounted with small metal pins.
Armlets of ivory {ukopo or 'ggopo), which are worn only by
men, are comparatively rare in Ukamba nowadays. They have,
however, never been in common use, but have only been worn
by elephant hunters or rather eminent persons. Even in Hilde-
brandt's time they were only worn »by a few nobles*. Fig. 88
shows the form typical for Ukamba; the thickness varies, how-
ever. The elephant also provides
the material for another sort of
armlet, namely those that the hunt-
ers, when they kill one of these
animals, usually cut out of its hind

feet. They are very proud of this
ornament. The natives say that
they cannot cut these out of the
pachyderm's forefeet, as the horny
, r u .u
• Fig- 88. Armlet of ivory, Vs nat.
•
material from which

1 1
the ring
• •
is * „., „ •'„ '%

" .
size. Riksmus. Ethn. coll. Inv.

cut is there present to a less
^2 7 182
Fig. 89. Kig. 90. Fig. 91. Fig. 92,
89 — 90. Ear-rings of tin with metal chains, typical. 1/2 nat. size.
91. Earring of tin. 92. Ear-ring, consisting of 7 copper rings,
held together by cross-pieces of tin.
extent. As, of course, the natives are no longer allowed to hunt

elephants, these ornaments have become rather rare.
We now pass to ornaments for the ears.
The Akamba never deform their ears like the Masai, Akikuyu
and other tribes influenced by the Masai, but only make a small
round hole in the lower lobe of the ear. The hole is made with
an acacia thorn and is kept open by inserting some object in it
until it is healed. Only metal ornaments for the ears are worn,
no wooden ones as in the case of the Masai and their imitators.
H^re and there in the east there are certainly seen boys with
^short wooden peg {kikulu) in the lower lobe of the ear; these, how-
ever, are not ornaments, but are used to stretch the hole, which
in certain places in East Ukamba is made somewhat larger than
the ordinary size.
Ear decorations are used mostly by the young people, who
to a great extent make them for themselves, as they do almost
ail ornaments, when they begin to go to dances (cf. p. 143).
Characteristic for the tribe are round tin rings, t6u/i (figs. 89 and
96), which are placed either in the hole in the ear or hung with
chains over it, as shown in fig. 92. Another very common vari-
ant of the ^6u/^ is cylindrical, adorned with grooves running along
it, as shown in fig. 91. Of these the one that is placed in the
hole in the ear-lobe is the older. From these two basic forms
local variants have then arisen, such as when in the Machakos
district they began in 19 12 to wear instead of one earring a
number of thin ones attaining altogether about same thickness
tlie
as the single one. An example of these ear-rings of the latest

fashion, which are also made of copper, is given in fig. 92, which
shows seven jagged copper rings, held together by cross-pieces
of tin. But it is unnecessary to discuss these unimportant things
any further; it would only burden the account with details of
very little value.
Finger-rings {ggomo) are used and worn on any finger, usu-
ally several ofthem on the same finger. They are made of metal
which is kept smooih or engraved wiih the same, decora-
either
tions as the armlets. There are also rings made of fine, spirally
rolled wire or else of hoUowed-out one-cent pieces (small money
for British East Africa), which were at first made of aluminium.
A finger-ring that deserves special mention is the one called
by Hildebrandt the Akambas' »war-ring», which »in the shape of
an extended shield protects the index finger and the back of the
hand against sword-cuts». It is only seldom met with nowadays
and seems to have been borrowed from the Galla» (H., p. 356). This
type of ring is found in the collections in the Berlin Museum
brought home by H. As
have not seen it, I dare not give a
I
positive utterance on the question, but I must state that for my

own part I have never heard of such war-rings among the Akamba,
nor do I know them from the southern Galla I visited. The latter
use, however, another sort of »war-ring», not as a protection -but
Clothing and Personal ornaments '
i^S
as a weapon, namely a ring with two sharp edges, which is worn
on the little and with which they strike, for preference,' it

finger
the face, cutting from the top downwards. Om the other hand I
have seen a few older Kamba men wearing rings of the type de-
scribed by H., but seemed
these to be only worn as trophies
taken from the The fact that the owners
Masai or Akikuyu ^.
would on no conditions dispose of them to me supports this.

Among the Masai at least they are only ornaments, as they are
worn only by women. Merker definitely states that the Masai
do not make them themselves, but say that they come from the
Kikuyu country.
Hildebrandt's expression »vvar-ring» has caused misunder-
standings in books. Thus Frobenius" has classified them among
the few battle rings found in Africa, probably overlooking H's
statement thit they were used as a protection and only noticing
his supposition that they were borrowed from the Galla.
In this chapter I shall also mention certain finger-rings and
armlets in the form of a narrow strip of leather, which is worn
by the older men. I am not certain as to their purpose, but they
do not seem to be pure ornaments, but a sort of souvenir, some-
times cut out of the skin of sacrificial animals, sometimes of such
as have been consumed at some festive meal. As is the case
among the Akikuyu a number of the older men also wear a goat's
beard with the strip of skin belonging to it fastened round the leg
below the knee.
Finally we must add a few words concerning the variations
and alterations within this group of ornaments. Although, of
course, the primitive peoples, generally speaking, keep to their tra-
ditional customs, there is one department especially in which they,
like all human beings, give freeer play to the caprices of fashion,
and that is just in this department of ornaments. We understand
from what has been already said that during late years these
have shown some small changes. Unfortunately the oldest source

we have, Krapf's work, gives no information as to ornameilts in
older times. Hildebrandt, on the other hand, gives (p. 352 ff.) a
good de.scription of the ornaments in his time. In many things
^ Reproduced by Merker (Die Masai, fig. 61) and Hollis (The

Masai,. pi. XIV).
* L. Frobenius, Der Ursprung der Afrikan. Kulturen, p, 117.'
the variations between then and now are of secondary importance,

but some details may be given. Thus the round pieces of the
shells of ostrich-eggs (resembling the white Conus shell), that were
worn fastened to the belt of beads, seem now to have quite disap-
peared, just as the pieces of German pfennigs and brass counters
with holes at the edges, which H. introduced and which, accor-
ding to him, became very popular. The present typical ear-rings
do not seem to have existed either, but there were simpler forms
instead, made of wire. It is of greater interest to observe that at
that time some persons had 4 — 6 holes edge of the muscle
at the
of the ear, but the small hole in the lobe was the most usual
fashion even then.
A number of other ornaments, dating from the end of the
'eighties, are described by L. v. HohneM.
If all these ornaments are to have the best possible effect
they must be kept bright and shining. So they are polished con-
tinually and washed with sand and water. For this purpose they
also use the leaves of certain plants, especially of kvudt, a Rumex
species, the seed of the baobab and the pulp of the tamarind
fruit, which contains a strong acid.
3. Hairdressing, treatment of the beard and of hair

on other parts of the body.
There is no head-dress that can be called typical for the tribe;
one may say instead that there are great number of fashions.
Especially among the men everyone seems to wear his hair as he
thinks best. The same person also alters his coiffure; he will, for
instance, have his head clean-shaved for a time and then later on
let the hair grow again. One sees clean shaven heads in both
sexes and at all ages. Sometimes, on the other hand, a little hair
is left at .some spot, for instance in the shape of a round spot on
the neck or forehead, or a piece like a comb along the head.
Another way is not to shave the head, but to keep it cut short
except above the forehead, where it is allowed to grow. A rather
popular fashion among the young people — perhaps influenced by
the inhabitants at the coast — is to shave thin lines on the head,
1 Zum Rudolph-See and Stephanie-See, p. 800. See also If.
Schoeller's work mentioned above, vol. I, pi. XXVII ff.
Clothing and Personal ornaments §8f
between which the hair, rubbed with fat, is left growing in similar
thin lines. The married women often plait their hair into tufts
and rub the whole head with fat and red ochre. This coiffure,
which may really be called characteristic for the married women,
is called mutiundiu] it is less often seen on men. The anakd
usually let a small tuft of hair called kipuku — grow out in —
order to be able to fasten the white Conus shell more easily on
the head.
According to information that I received the present genera-
tion of old men in the Machakos
wore as anakd their hair
district
plaited in a pigtail in the Masai and Kikuyu fashion; the latter

tribe, like so many others, also imitated the Masai in this respect.
It is more uncommon to see people with long and freely grow-
ing Those who suffer from illness for a time, however, let
hair.
the hair grow and when one sees long hair it is pretty certain that
the wearer is ill. Similarly a child's hair is allowed to grow if its
mother was ill at the accouchment. In only one case do I know
of long hair being worn for another reason, namely by a medi-
cine man on account of special orders from the aimu^ the spirits.
The hair is shaved with a razor {wcBnsi) of the usual knife
type; as a matter of fact any kind of knife is used. It is made
wet with water; no kind of soap is used. The men shave each
other; the women are, however, always shaved by the men. A
person who shaves a medicine man must, on account of the magic
powers he possesses, take care not to move round him while
shaving. From our point of view it is, strictly speaking, incorrect
to translate lucenzi by 'razor', as the beard, as we shall see, is
never shaved, but is pulled out. The razor is sharpened on a
rather large stone (*«o 'whetstone'), which usually lies at the
f)omd. How the hair that is removed is hidden has already been
mentioned in connection with magic.
The eyebrows are also shaved with knives. The hair beneath
the armholes and on the private parts is either shaved or pulled
out with tweezers.
Both sexes pull out the eyelashes with tweezers. These are
made of iron and are of a type widespread in East Africa (figi
93). The young people adorn theirs by twisting metal wire or

giraffe-hair round them, so that the neat little articles serve at
the same time as ornaments. The natives always carry them
with them, usually fixed on a chain round the neck, on which the
snufif-bottle is worn. They usually have several at the same time
(I have seen as many as five), which clearly indicates the ornamental
character of the object (fiuf. 94).
The tweezers reproduced here, which are called 'ggosd, are
typical of those used by the young people. The old men use
either similar ones, although about twice as big, or else such as
are shown in fig. 95. They are called "ggola.
Every adult native removes the different kinds of hair we
h,ave spoken about. The young people begin to do this ns soon
Fig. 93. Fig. 94^ tig- 95-
93. Tweezers for removing hair. Tweezers for removing

94. hair, twisted
with copper wire. 95. Tweezers used by older men. V2 "^t. size.
as they are big enough to be interested in the opposite sex, which

happens about the same time as they begin to take part in the
public dances. It is thus done with the view of embellishing their
appearance and making themselves as attractive as possible to the

other sex. But it is also a rule of the toilet that applies to every-
one and a fashion that anyone who cares about his appearance is
very careful to follow. They also try to appear as »cleanshaven»
as possible on the different parts of the body, and it is exceed-
ingly common to see men squatting at the ^qmd pulling out especi-
ally the hairs of their beards, which of course grow most quickly.
The process is sometimes a trifle painful. With their alert sense
of humour the Akamba have made this troublesome but necess-

Clothing and Personals ornaments 389
ary occupation give rise to a riddle, which, translated freely, is
as follows: »What is the contest at the pomd which must be settled

as quickly as possible?*. Answer: »The contest between the
mutumta and the 'ggola (tweezers)».
According to Hildebrandt (p. 350) the Akamba think that the
removal of the eyelashes produces keenness of vision, a reason for
unknown to me.
this practice that is
4. Perfuming and painting of the body.
1 shall take of mentioning two additional

the opportunity
matters in this namely the custom of using certain
connection,
aromatically smelling plants as a sort of perfume for the body
and garments, and the use of pigments for beautifying the body.
The perfume, if we may call it so, consists of powdered parts
of plants mixed with fat and is called kiuttc. They use especially
woodmeal from certain trees, in which woodpeckers have pecked
holes. Material for k\utu is also obtained from: kq, a species of
Verticillatse mentioned above; the small greenish-black, pleasantly
aromatic fruit of the 'ggcenea, a little tree with strong thorns; the
vanilla smelling roots of muOukulwa (Apocynaceae ? Asclepiadeae?)
and the flowers of a Gnaphalium species, the native name for
which I do not know.
k)uiu is much used at dances, not only those of the young
people, but also in the religious spirit dances. I cannot decide
whether in this case it merely has a refreshing effect or if it also
has some religious import, but a certain importance seems to be
attached to it, as the kiutu that is used at these dances is sought
for by the medicine men.
Pigments on the body are used especially by the young
people at the dances. Many women, however, even at ordinary
times, use the red ochre {tnbii) which they rub in their hair to
paint their cheeks with as well. Wiih it young people paint
the
spots on their cheeks and draw rings round their eyes when they
go to a dance. Another red species of earth, which is lighter
than mbu but is used in the same way, is nda. A lump of ochre
is often seen lying in the larder. A white colouring-matter, prob-
ably a kind of chalk {ha), is also used. The anakd paint, among
other things, fine zigzag lines on the legs with it. With the deep
Qi^ Lin db lorn, The Akarriba
yellow pollen of a Typha species {ika'gga) they paint rings round

the eyes and smear the edges of the eyelids, for which ochre is
also used. Finally they are accustomed to stick some white or
deep red or yellow petals on the face, which form an effective
contrast to the skin.
5. Cicatrization and tattooing.
Cicatrization is employed to embellish the body by both sexes,

but mostly by women. Raised scars {ndo) of a lighter colour than
the skin are They are situated on
produced. i
the breast, back and abdomen, and are made some-

times with a knife {ndq %a kaQ^d), sometimes with
needles {iido %a mukuQd). They sometimes form sim-
ple lines, as for instance a circle of points round the
nipples, sometimes decorations, such as zigzag
lines, half moons; arrow heads, etc. (fig. 98 102). —
That the wounds may heal more quickly they are
rubbed with fat. To make the scars raised they
use a rather painful means, namely the milky juice
of the kxapa (Euphorbiaceae), a small tree with
whole leaves. On women the scars on the front
of the body are made by women, those on the Fig. 96. Cicatrice
back part by men. on a man's upper
There is no tradition about the origin of the '^^^- "1^ nat. size,
cicatrization. It seems to be looked upon exclus-
ively as a means of embellishing the natives' ex-
A
terior.
into
fact, however, that indicates a deeper,
perhaps primitive conception that has now
oblivion, is that this cicatrization is
fallen
carried Fig. 97.

<^ Cicatriz-
out preferably when the crop is ripe, according ^tion on a man s

Sinn /o TiAt^ ^\7^
to a statement made to me »when the inw(E (Peni- ' '"
cillaria spicata) is ripe».

Many men put a number of small swellings, a little bigger
than a pea, on the deltoid muscles of the arm (fig. 96). On many
one also sees a larger swelling ndcekapo that reminds one of a four-
pointed star (fig. 97). This usage, which is found among the
Akikuyu as well, is perhaps borrowed from the Masai.
.[. Tattooing is found less frequently among the Akamba, and then
Clothing and Personal ornaments 39>f
rig. 98 a. Fig. 98 b. Fig. 99.
98 «, b. on man. Front, a rather common form; b lyre-

Cicatrices
shaped. Among the Masai this form with different variations is
the most common. 99. Man's back.
Fig. 100. Fig. 1 01 a. Fig. loi b.
100. Cicatrices on a woman. 10 1 a. Women's backs.
Fig. 102 a. Fig. 102 b. Fig. 102 c.
102 a, b, c. "Women's backs, a half-moon, a common pattern;

b cross-roads {makwatana ma nha).
39^ Lindblom, The Akaraba
practically always on the face, the cheeks. Figures representing

the sun and the moon are the most common (fig. 103). They
are black, darker than the colour of the skin, and are produced
in the following way:
The skin is scratched with the rough stalks of the plant
kanola (Rubiaceae, Galium?) used like files. Then the powdered
root of the plant ntwokia (Plumbago)*, called by the old people
Tvala^ is taken, dipped in milk or the juice of sugarcane and placed
on the wound. The compress is left on the wound for a night
and is then removed. When the wounds are healed, black marks
are left. The method is said to be very painful; the wound swells,
»burns like fire and one cannot sleep at night».
Fig. 103. Black tattooings on the face, usually one on each cheek.
The first one represents the sun, the two next ones the moon.
6. Teeth-chipping and extraction.
Both sexes deform a number of the front teeth of the upper

jaw by chipping {kuseuGm^ maw). This custom is found over the
whole of the tribe, but dififers in different districts, partly in regard
to the number of teeth so deformed, partly in regard to the shape.
Each district, however, keeps pretty regularly to its custom, and
so one can decide fairly accurately by his teeth from what part
of the country a native is. Thus in Ulu six, less often 7 — 8 teeth
are cut and drawn out into narrow, sometimes awl-shaped points,
but in the Kitui district only four with triangular, shorter and
broader points
(fig. 104). In the whole of East Ukamba, from
Mumoni Kikumbuliu (and in Kibwezi) only two teeth are cut,
to
and these are shaped in the same way as in Kitui. In Ikutha,
however, I sa\y teeth with curved points (as in fig. 105), sometimes
suggesting half-moons, and there are possibly local variations in
several places.
* Presumably Plumbago ceylonica, which the Masai use for the

same purpose. Merker, Die Masai, p. 151.
* = to cut, pare? Or is it identical with kuseuQm 'to make beautiful?'
Clothing and Personal ornaments 39>3
Fig. 104. Teeth of three young Kamba men, Machakos. From a

photograph by C. F, Johnston, missionary.
The most primitive custom seems to have been to cut only

two teeth. was then a fairly obvious development to embellish
It
the appearance still more by increasing the number.

Hildebrandt gives the number as four
but this only applies to East Ukamba.
was in Krapfs time is
in his description,
What
not clear from his work; he only
the case w
Fig. 105.
Pointed ;
says that 3>the teeth are artificially pointed*. According
teeih from
to the natives themselves the fashion prevalent in Ulu, Ikutha,
especially in the Machakos district, of pointing six East
teeth or more is a recent one, which in 1910 had not Ukamba.
been carried out for many years. The latter statement
:^^v-
••••
'••>v.>\-.
iî'J--'
^^^
Fig. 106. Teeth-chipping, as describel on p. 394.

could easily be tested by investigation; I neglected, however, to

do so. When one comes to work out one's material at home
there is a great deal that one finds has been overlooked.
The pointing of the teeth is carried out in the way shown
in fig. io6. I may say in passing that I am rather pleased with
this photo, as during my year's stay in Ukamba and daily con-
tact with the natives 1 only saw the
operation perfi)rmed this one time.
A person who is going to have
his teeth pointed lays his head on the
operator's knee. He has a bit of wood
placed between his teeth, so that his
mouth is kept open and his jaws kept
steady. The instrument {^cesa) consists
nowadays of a European knife, on which
only a short piece of the blade has,
been left, ground like a chisel (fig. 107).,
The primitive instrument, which is now

seldom seen in use, is more clumsy
and is made of native iron in the same
shape as the Akamba's broad-axe (fig.
Fig. 107. Fig. 108.
Tool for 108).
Tool for
teeth-chip-
teeth chip- The operator places the instrument
pine, the old against a tooth and strikes it carefully
ping. Knife
of European
manufac-
onginaltype.
V2 nat. size.
Riksmus
^j^.^^
, .
^ stone
,
away piece after piece,
^^^^ ^"^^
...
or a piece of wood. In
ture, Vs nat. Eihn. Coll. in somewhat the same way as a sculptor

size Inv. 12. 7.256. uses his chisel. The work takes about
5 —
8 hours, and is not carried out by
any special man, but by anyone who understands the art. The
young men often do it to each other. Of course they prefer to
trust someone who has a reputation for skill and can produce
really elegant points. Women cannot chip teeth, so the men per-
form the operation on them as wtll. When the work is done,
the beautified individual goes proudly to be admired by the girls
(the girls similarly to the young men) and to be envied by those
of his friends who have not yet had this improvement in their
appearance.
The consequence of this ill-usage of the teeth is that they
can no longer be effectively used for the purpose they are intended
for and, what is still more serious, they are usually quite destroyed
after a short time. They then level what are left, if it is necess-
ary, bore holes in the roots with a pointed iron pin, an awl
(muku6a), and fix in These are made of bone, pre-
» false teeth*.
ferably of the goat or hartebeest, which is said not to grow yellow

so quickly. The fatter the hartebeest is, the better its bone is
said to be. It is usually very difficult to distinguish these arti-
ficial teeth from the natural pointed ones. They are often whiter
and finer than the latter, so that many natives actually prefer
them to their own. The false teeth hold quite firmly and can
only be taken out after being shaken for a while. They cannot
be used for chewing.
They seem to prefer to carry out this operation at a certain
time of the year, namely the period that shows no extremes of
temperature or, as the natives themselves express it, »when the
mzv<s (Penicillaria spicata) is ripe». For they say that »the teeth
do not like too strong sun nor too cold weather either*. We
remember that the same expression, »when the mzv^p is ripe», is
used to denote the most suitable time for carrying out cicatriza-
tion. For this too they choose perhaps the time of the year when
the part of the body that is being treated, in this case the skin,
is least exposed to strong heat or cold.
Teeth-chipping is widely spread in Africa, but in these districts
the Akamba is the only tribe that practises it^. Nor is the custom
found north of them in East Africa. They have no traditions at
all about its origin. The motive for the usage has already been
touched upon on p. 70, to which I refer the reader. Whatever it
may have been originally, it is at the present moment — and has

certainly been for many decades and longer — exclusively a thing
of fashion, merely a refined manifestation of the desire on the
part of the natives to embellish their external appearance. Just
as for this reason, for instance, they bore the lobes of their ears,
so they deform their teeth. »A person without pointed teeth
looks like an animal », say the Akamba, a statement that is reported
from several other peoples, although it is of no importance for the
^ According to Hildebrandt (p. 304) some of the Wanyika file a

deep notch in one of the front teeth of the upper jaw. The edges of
the tooth then remains in the form of two points.
question of the origin of the custom, as this view of the matter,

as V. Ihering observes, is, of course, a secondary one in relation
to the origin of the custom ^. The fact that the deformation is
only young people have reached the age of

carried out after the
puberty does not prove any connection with the rites associated
with For it is only at the arrival at this age that the
puberty.
sexual awaken and with them the desire to please the
impulses
opposite sex and to associate with them, the latter desire finding
expression especially in the wish to dance. To make themselves
as attractive as possible for the dance they put on a great many
ornaments. But they are not content with these, and try even to
beautify the body itself, sometimes by painting, sometimes by
direct injury to some of its parts. Thus teeth-chipping, like cica-
trization, is comparable to the use of ornaments '.
If one cares to do so, one may call teeth-chipping a tribal

mark of the Akamba. It is, however, not obligatory to undergo
this, although, for reasons easily understood, they do so all the
same. Many realise the foolishness of it, but consider that the
gain is greater than the loss.
In the Akamba take out two teeth in the lower
addition
jaw. done with a wooden peg, at the point of which a
This is
metal bead is fixed, and on which the operator strikes with an

axe or other weapon. It is impossible to decide which of the two
kinds of deformation is the older. The last-mentioned kind has
its special name in Kikamba {kwi6a), while the Ovaherero, for in-
stance, have the same term {pkuhd) for both methods of proce-
dure ^.
If one asks the young men why they have their teeth de-
formed, one always gets some of the following answers:
(i) Because it is a custom (the power of custom).
^ H, v. Ihering, Die kunstliche Deformiering der Zahne. Zeitschr.

f. Ethnologic 1882, p. 218.
* I agree in other repects with the view of teeth-chipping in
Africa that R. Lasch has put forward in Die Verstiimmelung der Zahne
in Amerlka und Bemerkungen zur Zahndeformation im allgemeinen.
Vide also W. Joests great monograph, Tatowieren, Narbenzeichnen
und Korperbemahlen. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Ethnologie. Joest
considers all these things to be cosmetic, ornaments only.
' Dennert, Uber die Sitte der Zahnverstfimmelung bei den Ova-
herero, Zeitschr. f. Ethn. 1907, p. 930.
(2) Because the girls think it is beautiful (the most important

motive).
(3) Because one can spit nicely (the person who can spit
farthest through the gap in the teeth of the lower jaw is admired).
A short story may be added, which illustrates in its way
something of the importance attached to the deformation of teeth.
It is certainly only a story, but at the same time a realistic pic-
ture,though an exagge-ated one:
Some girls went to have their teeth pointed and removed. They
were all improved in appearance, but one of them got much finer
points than the others. On the way home one of them said: »Let
us see who can spit the best and so find out which of us has got
the most beautiful teeth*. And they spat eagerly, the girl in
question, however, farthest of all. Then her friends were seized
with such envy that they threw her in the river and she was
drowned.
A couple of the Akamba's many riddles have teeth-chipping
as their subject. One, which tries in a humorous way to explain
the origin pf the custom, is as follows: »Who has taught us to
?» Answer: y>kilu'may^, an Agave species with serrated
point our teeth
leaves. Another is: »Te]l me the man who lives amidst swords
and spears.'» Answer: »The tongue».
Chap. XXII. Music and dancing.
I. Musical instruments.
The Akambas' musical instruments are few and simple. Those

commonly found are used in dancing, especially at the young
people's dances, which are their favourite recreation. The most
important instrument is, just as everywhere in Africa, the drum,
of which there are the following kinds:
i) The ordinary dance instrument {mbalm, in Eastern Ukamba
^gupa). It is somewhat towards
a cylinder of thin wood, narrowing
the bottom, which has at the top a membrane (germ. »anpfloc-
kungv) fixed with pointed wooden wedges hammered hrough the
walls of the drum. It is open at the bottom and thus belongs to
the tube type (the german »r6hrentrommeln»). The skin, from a
goat, ox or other mammal (never from the snake or lizard), is
soaked before being put on and then lightens when it dries. The
player stands with the drum fixed between his knees and beats
it with both hands. A cord of bast or sinews fixed in a hole
serves to carry the drum to and from the dancing place. Most
of the drums are unpainted, without any ornamentation. Fig. 109
shows one painted with red earth.
2) A drum of almost the same type as the preceding, but
considerably larger (diameter about 0.5 cm ) and not growing nar-
row at the bottom is the hpceinbd. It is used only by old people,
especially by the old women and preferably at religious festivals
and exorcisms as music to the dance ktlum>^ the spirit dance of
the old women. Formerly it was also used as a signal drum at
hostile attacks. The drummer sits astride the instrument, which
rests on the on the ground himself
ground, or else he (she) sits
and leans the drum against the inner part of one of the thighs.
The hpcsmbd drum has, etymologically, certainly nothing to
do with kupcsmba 'to sacrifice' or its derivative %p(Bmbo 'place of
Music and dancing 399
-c .
r\
Fig. 109. Fig. no.

Dance drum (mbqha). Dance drum (/fe>a)-
Vi nat. size.
Ys nat. size.
4po Lindblom, The Akamba
sacrifice', although, as a matter of fact, it is closely connected

with spirit worship. The word is, instead, probably identical with
the term for the vessel of the same name, i. e. a cylindrical
wooden vessel with a lid of skin.
3) A cylindrical drum with skin at both ends is called '^goma.

The way in which the skin is put on is unknown to me; if the
drum is indigenous, it ought to be by means of pegs being driven
in. The 'îgorna was formerly used in one of the women's dances of
the same name, which was afterwards succeeded by the kilumi and
the k'hpcembd drum. The drummer sat on the ground with the drum
horizontally over his knees and beat it with one hand against
each end.
At Kibwezi have seen 'ggoma's with two skins fastened with
1
cords, but these are certainly, through the medium of the coast
tribes, of Suaheli (Arabic) origin, which is borne out both by the
method of fastening the skins and by the name (Kisuaheli goma
'drum'). Besides being used by the Suaheli and Arabs these drums
are, as a matter of fact, also used by the Wanyika and the Wadu-
ruma and other tribes in the hinterland of Mombasa that have
been influenced by the Suaheli and with which the Akamba in
the south-east are in contact.

4) A dance drum for youths of quite another type is km
(formerly called muOji'ggti). It consists of a spool-shaped wooden
cylinder (fig. no) with a bottom of skin
and a handle at the (a)
top (b). Inside the tube a stretched metal wire goes from the
bottom up to the peg (c) fixed above the mouth. The specimen
reproduced here is the biggest I came across.
The instrument is used by being held by the handle and
rhythmically knocked against the ground, giving out a Soft sound
(the german »stosstrommel, stampftrommel»). The metal wire, which
is, however, not obUgatory, is intended to strengthen the sound.
There are tubes of dififerent thickness, which give different tones
(intentionally?). Otherwise the sound is more softly monotonous
than that of the mbaha, the present drum of the young people.
The kia is now out-of-date, though it is found lying in many
a hut.
This drum for knocking with seems to be fairly unique. Its
prototype is probably, however, a bit of bamboo tube closed at

the bottom, and. as a matter of fact, Hildebrandt (and, after H.
Music and dancing, 401
perhaps, R. Hartmann^) says that in his time such bamboo tubes

were exclusively used by the Akamba, who got them from Kenia. No
bamboos grow in Ukamba. As there was probably not always
access to bamboo, they tried to make these drums of wood. It also
appears as if the wooden kya drum arose after Hartmann's time and
has now also disappeared. Percussion drums of bamboo, usually
hung with small metal bells, are still found, however, among the
Wapare, where I have collected them myself, and according to
Frobenius also among the Waseguyu, i. e. generally speaking in
some scattered places in East Africa^.
There is no need to enter into the occurrence of this type
of drum in and Polynesia; I refer the reader to Fro-
Indonesia
benius. To draw conclusions from this occurrence as to remains
of Malay-nigritic culture in these parts of East Africa appears rather
inappropriate. The discovery that a sound can be produced by
knocking a piece of bamboo against the ground is a very obvious
one, but bamboo is so rare in Africa that the instrument could
not attain any general dissemination there. It is not improbable,
however, that' this type of drum had formerly a greater distribu-
tion, but from the time when real drums came into use in Central
Africa, they were preferred on account of their better sound and
because they had the additional advantage that the material for them
was everywhere easily accessible. Hildebrandt, who is a careful
observer, does not, curiously enough, mention any real drums from
Ukamba. May
one draw the conclusion from this that these had
not yet come into use in his time? (The Akikuyu, who in many
respects are closely related to the Akamba, do not use drums.)
If this is the case, it is quite easy to understand that after real
drums came into use, they soon gave up the more difficult work
of hollowing out a narrow wooden tube.
For unknown to me Ankermann does not
reasons discuss
percussion drums in his monograph on African musical instru-
ments. Perhaps he looks upon them more as dance staves,
under which appellation, for instance, Koch-Griinberg groups his
knocking drum from North West Brazil, which, we may mention
Abyssinien und die iibrigen Gebiete der Ostkuste Afrikas, p. 233.

1
L. Frobenius, Der Ursprung der Afrikanischen Kuhuren, p.

-
187. F:s description of these bamboo tubes as open at one side does
not apply to those I saw among the Wapare.
ArchOr. Lindblom 26
in passing, offers an interesting resemblance to that of the Akamba,

with regard to decoration as welP. The term » dance stave*
is, at least for the East African knocking drums, unsuitable, for the
purpose of the tube is to produce sounds, even if possibly they
are sometimes by chance swung in the hand.
For the decorations of the dance drums referred to here we
have to turn to the chapter on the art of decoration.
String instruments. The drum in its various forms is the

only instrument that can be said to be in general use. There are
two kinds of string instruments, but both are used only by spe-
cialists, if one may use the term.
An instrument that is used exclusively for a certain pur-

pose and by a certain class of men, is themusic -bow {uta 'bow'),
with a wire string, which the medicine man uses when he gets into
communication with the spirit world (fig. 1 1 1), as has been already de-
scribed (p. 258). This music-bow is the only one in Africa that I
know of which has the sounding body fixed between the string and
the bow. Of the Akambas' musical instruments it is the only one
that has no independent name. From a geographical point of
view its occurrence in Ukamba is not remarkable, as Ankermann
has shown the distribution of the music-bow over all that part of
Africa that is inhabited by negroes. We may perhaps explain
its occurrence in Ukamba only among the medicine men as a relic
from an earher and lower stage of culture^. For it is, of course,

scarcely likely that this music-bownew instrument that has
is a
not yet attained any wider dissemination than among the medicine
men. E. von Rosen, on the other hand, takes the few musical
instruments fitted with calabashes that he found among the Batwa
m the Bangveolo swamps to be an article of luxury that has not
yet become widespread^.
1 Th. Koch-Grunberg, Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern (see

Index under >Tanzstab»).
2 The metal string is, although rare, not unique. Frobenius, Der
Ursprung der Afrik, Kulturen, p. 122, mentions it from Angola.
^ E. von Rosen, Traskfolket, p. 265.
Music and dancing.
403
'/
^N(
Fig. III. The musical

bow of the medicineman.
a calabash as a sound-box,
b wire, c wire as orna-
ment. Vs nat. size. Riks-
mus. Ethn. Coll. Inv.
Fig. 112. The mboeda — fiddle with its
bow, c. Ve nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll.
12. 7, 100.
Inv. 12. 7. 98.
The other string instrument is the nibcsOd (fig. 1 1 2). The sound-
ing body is a calabash, the string a cord that is still more
stretched by means of a little piece of calabash used as a bridge
(a). The string-holder in our figure is bow-shaped, but in my col-
lection there are also instruments with a straight stick and a
piece of a side-branch still left at the end for fixing and tightening
the string. This form is reproduced by Ankermann ^. His speci-
men from the Berlin museum has no string, so he has reconstruc-
ted this without the bridge belonging to it. Similarly it is without
the little bow of bast string {c in my fig.) with which the inbceOd
is played, and this causes A. to make an incorrect assumption
about the method of playing it and consequently an incorrect
classification of the instrument. The interesting thing about the
mbceOd is just the bow, the only example of the use of this that
I know from East Africa south of Abyssinia.
The instrument is not common; I have seen it only in Kib-
wezi and Ikutha. It gives only a weak sound, and so it is never
used at dances, but exclusively as a pastime, for the pleasure of
the player himself and his audience. It is really the only one of
the Akambas' instruments in which musical talent has any oppor-
tunity to show itself; its occurrence thus proves that there is such
talent among the Akamba. One can come across real virtousos,
whose playing approaches actual melodies. It is said of these that
they »can speak* with their instruments.
The rnbcsOd is clearly not an indigenous instrument among
the Bantu negroes, but we must look opon it as a form of the
Arabs' r^bab (the Persians' revaveY, variants of which, also with
one string, are found spread over Northern Africa, north of the
Bantu territory. Even the name mbcedd must be identical with
rebab or some form of this word. A further question is that of
finding out how the Akamba got the instrument, as it does not
seem to be found among the neighbourrng peoples towards the
coast, whence the Arabic influence in East Africa has, however,
Die Afrikanischen Musikinstrumente, fig. 7. It is also depicted with-

^
out any stringby M. Schoeller, Mitteil. iiber meine Reise nach Aquatorial-
Ost-Afrika und Uganda, 1896 —
97, vol. II, fig. C. II. S. does not, however,
say exactly what the object represents.
* C. Sachs, Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, Berlin 1913.
Music and dancing. 403
come. The rnbceOd I came across were found, however, only in

East Ukamba^.
Among the string instruments may also be counted a toy
that the boys make from pieces of Sorghum stalks. When the
Sorghum is reaped, they take 6 — 10 stalks of equal length, about
2 dm., and fix them together with a bast fastening. Along each
one is a string split and the strings are stretched by means of
a stick fixed across each end of the instrument. The strings are
struck with a little peg. This toy is also called mbceG^. The
type appears in a larger and more complete form among several
East African tribes, amongst others the Kavirondo, where I havq
also seen them used as toys.
Wind instruments. Of these there are in my collection

horns of the greater Kudu and the Oryx. The former has the
hole one blows through on the concave side, which according to
Ankermann is most usual. I have, however, never seen them in
use, but they are said to have been used on festive occasions,
such as the solemn entry of a hunting party returning from a
successful hunt.
The little war-flute iMguli), which is also made of horn, has been
discussed and depicted on p. 192. Hildebrandt (p. 391), on the
other hand, describes the war-flute as a »tubular flute of the thick-
ness of a and with three holes », while Hobley's account
finger
agrees with mine. We shall soon find that the name '^guh is also
used for a tubular flute, but, on the other hand, there are no such
flutes, at least at Ukamba with three holes,
present, in but only
with four, the most common number for African flutes.
The ordinary bamboo flute {mutul(Eld) is never used at dances
but only as a pastime for young men and boys. The Kamba flute
always has four holes, which are burnt out and which lie on the
same side as the notch for the mouthpiece. The two first fingers
of each hand are used and are held alternately over the holes.
A composite wind-instrument, which the young men use simi-
larly for their amusement is the so (plural maso). It consists of a
bamboo tube about a metre long, fixed into a funnel of calabash
^ To judge from a picture in J. G. Wood's Natural History of

Man, Africa, p. 444, the Wahuma in Karagwe have a kind of rebaby
played with a long bow.
as a resonance chamber (fig. 113). The upper end of the tube is
stopped up. It is blown at a rectangular incision, 3 cm. long. 1
f^rrf^mniîn k ;r"Ty^ i" '

!
Uf"ii"f jiiwi
i
p ii
i
piiiii
p .
vaoi
Fig. 113, Wind-instrument (50). Reed shaft with burnt

ornaments, ^/g nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll.
Inv. 12. 7. 105.
have tried in vain to produce sounds in this trumpet, a task which

demands practice and good lungs.
From a linguistic point of view the name so,
£ c-.'^...f,
with the absence of a class prefix, gives the im-
pression of a loan-word. Ankermann (fig. 97) re-
produces quite the same instrument from the Ussu-

kuma, south of Lake Victoria.
Among the small boys' toys there are also some
little objects that come under the heading of musi-
cal instruments:
nzumali is a complicated flute, consisting of a
piece of tube with four holes burnt out and a
roUed-up maize, leaf as a funnel for the sound (fig.
114). The mouth aperture is made at a joint of

the tube. This little flute is the only one that
has a reed, a piece cuton the tube (a in
out
/"
"'iH'-nilWV
"• ^^ figure). Bast is fastened round the tube over
the base of the reed {b), and a straw (^) is placed
Fig, 114. Flute i" front of it to keep it open. The lower end of
(nzumali), toythe maize leaf is kept together by an acacia thorn
for boys, V4 or a little peg (/)^
nat. size. Riks-
Flutes with vibrating reeds seem to be rare
mus. Ethn. , 9 t^ r 1 •
t -n
Coll Inv I
among the negroes . Because ot this and still
7. 277.
more because of its name, I assume that this little
^
I do not know any instrument with a similar funnel for the
sound from Africa, but I take the opportunity of mentioning that in
the Ethnogr. Museum of Stockholm there is, coming from India (Inv,
81. 204) a horn of roUed-up strips of palmleaf, rolled in the same way
as our maize leaf above (»Borikna poukni»).
* Hildebrandt (p. 391) mentions one from the Wataita.
toy flute has arisen under Suaheli-Arabic influence. Nzomari or

zomari is, according to Steere, »a kind of clarionet, a pipe*. I
do not know what it looks Uke, but as far as the Suaheli word
is concerned, it is clearly identical with the Arabic zumara, which
is certainly, however, a double flute.
The boys also make a sort of double flute or pipe of two
short pieces of stalk (0.5 to i dm.) of Rhicinus communis, fastened
alongside each other with bast. A bast fastening between the
openings gives additional firmness. The pipe is called g^w/z, just
like the war-flute. It gives a strong, shrill sound, which it needs,
however, a certain amount of practice to produce.
This type of flute seems to me to be fairly isolated. If we
leave out of account the divergent Arabic-Egyptian double flutes,
I know only one similar instrument, namely the flute from the Jaunde
in the Cameroons reproduced by Ankermann (fig. 74) after Fro-
benius (fig.1 14). This is said to be blown from the top, whereas
the Akamba pipe is blown, in the regular African way, from the
side.
This investigation of the Akambas' musical instruments

shows that although few in number, they ofifer a good deal of
interest. We have found, on the one hand, instruments of a pri-
mitive type that are undoubtedly indigenous, such as the drum
for knocking with and the music-bow of the medicine man, on
the other hand several others with foreign, Suaheli-Arabic, cha-

racteristics. For a complete understanding of the latter it would
be desirable to know more about the instruments among the tribes
between Ukamba and the coast, but for this the author lacks the
necessary material.
2. Dancing.
It is not necessary to be an ethnologist to know that dancing,

if not actually the dearest of all the pleasures of primitive peoples,
is one of the dearest of them. Similarly it plays an important
part in rehgion.
Dancing in general is called wapt in Kikamba and to dance
kwina waî, really to sing the dance'. Song and dancing are
really inseparably connected (more closely connected than dance
and music) and the dance is alway accompanied with singing. In

the young peoples' dances the singing is conducted by a chief
singer (^gui), who is at the same time the leaderof the dance. Asa
sign of his dignity he sometimes carries a long stave in his hand,
which in some ways may be compared to the baton of the leader
of an orchestra. He leads the various figures in the dances and
with some word, for instance l>asz (enough), he shows when it is
time to pass to a new one. The ^gui is also the author of the
songs that are sung during the dances. When one of these has
been sung so long that it is known, or when for some other
reason they have grown tired of it, it is he that makes up a new
one. One may say that almost at every full moon they take up
a new dancing song. The dances take place, of course, pre-
ferably on moonlight evenings and nights.
There is great rivalry and envy between different chief singers,
and they try to eclipse each other. It has also happened that
they have tried to bewitch one another by magic {tvoi).
A ^gut must never eat the lungs of animals; this is thought

to be injurious to his own lungs and may spoil his good voice.
The most important thing about a good leading singer is, of
course, the strength of his voice; he has to be able to sing louder
than all the others.
»To dance ^> is also called kutula, which, however, always means
dancing with girls. Another expression is kuswgga, which originally
had no special significance.
Each little district has its dancing place {kitutoY, where the
young people gather together in the evenings. Especially when
the girls have been together helping each other in the work in
the fields, they are wont to gather for a dance after its finish. The
different dances take place periodically, and seem to be arranged
according to the seasons, inasmuch as during a certain time only
a certain dance is danced and then disappears altogether for a
time, during which they go in just as eagerly for another dance.
The most common of the young peoples' dances is mbalta,
so called after the drum of the same name, which is the only
^ < kututa 'to sweep' the dancing place is always swept before
;
being used. It serves also as a meeting-place, a sort of club room for

the young people, who meet together here occasionally and discuss
their common concerns. (Cf. p. 185.)
Music and dancing 409.
instrument used in this dance, in which it serves to mark the time.

As this dance is danced in the Machakos district, one can distin-
guish three parts. First a general dance in couples, i. e. the

young men and girls arrange themselves two ranks so that
in
the partner stands opposite his lady and turns towards her.
The ranks are sometimes quite military in their straightness,
sometimes more curved. They bend a little forward and the
young man puts
his right cheek
against the girl's
right (fig. 115).

The forearm is
bent upwards, the

upper arm rests
against the side
of the body. The
upper part of the
body is swayed
in time with the
music, the drums,
and at the same
time they rub
their cheeks a-
gainst each other.

This rubbing is
the most impor-
Fig. 115. Detail from a moaha-dance, Machakos.
tant part of the
The man puts his right cheek aganist the
whole dance, as it
girls right.
produces pleasant
feelings. They like to stand so near each other that the girTs
breast touches the man during the movements. As a matter of
fact one can hardly call it a dance in our meaning of the word,
as the feet do not move from their place, only the upper part of
the body sways to and fro (fig. 115).
This goes on for about ten minutes, after which the girls^
retire and collect together in a cluster in a corner of the dancing
place. There they remain standing with their arms round each
others' waists, a characteristic position for Kamba girls. During
this time the voung men form a semicircle and stand thus for
4 lo Lindblom, The Akamba
a little while singing. Then the girls, still in a cluster, begin to

move forward, until they are standing in the semicircle of the
men, with arms all the while round each others' waists. They
their
now have to choose partners to begin the dance again for it —
is the girls that »ask for a dance » and they make their choice —
known by moving a few metres towards the chosen man or simply
by stretching out a hand. The young men are standing in tense
expectation as to whether they shall be asked to dance by those
they like best.
Besides, the girls
are always in the
minority, so that
some of the boys
are usually left
without a part-
ner. That the for-
mer are smaller in
number is due to
the fact that many
of them are marri-
ed when they are
yet quite young
and little. As soon
as they are marri-
ed they do not go
to the dance of
the young people,
Fig. 1 1 6. The »banci» at a ijibaha-dance. which, on the
other hand, a mar-
ried man may do. When ihe girls have made their choice, the
dance begins again.

During the dance the men are practically naked, as they
roll up their blanket into a sort of belt round their waist. On
the dancing place there is always a small fire burning, at which
the musicians now and then warm their drumskins so as to bring
back their tension. The »band» consists of four to five drum-
mers, who cluster together in a corner of the dancing place (fig.
1 1 6). At the fire those who are not so keen on dancing also
squat so as to warm themselves and talk. Over the whole dancing
place there are also darting about half-grown, still uncircumsized

boys, who watch the dance with envious glances and try to prac-
tise the art for themselves until they have the right to take part.
The more advanced among them make attempts at flirtation, but
are dismissed by the girls, often pretty forcibly.
The custom of the girls' asking for the dance gives the Kamba
girl an opportunity of showing which young man she likes best,
and in this way the foundation of many marriages is laid during
these nights of dancing. This is thus an advantage, but, on the other
hand, the young men are easily made by this means into ridiculous
fools unable to act for themselves, hunting for the girl's favour, while
the latter are often as haughty and arrogant in their conduct as
a spoilt and celebrated belle of the ball. If there are any young
men present who are displeasing to them, it often happens that
they declare they will not dance as long as these men are there,
and actually leave the place if their request is not granted. The
young men submit, drive the displeasing individuals away and
run after the fair ones to implore them to stay.
Quarrels and disputes easily arise at the dancing place on
account of jealousy, especially when » foreigners*, i. e. youths from
villages situated farther off, come there and » spoil* the dance. The
whole thing may then very easily end up in a general fight. In
ancient times the boys did not dare to go to dances outside their
own little district, and where outsiders were bold enough to make
their appearance in order to compete for the favour of the girls,
there was always a fight. There were, however, populous districts,
in which the anakd, gathered into bands, out of pure love of
contention, used to go from one dancing place to another, and, if
the natives at these places dared to utter the slightest murmur,

they were driven away from their own dancing place. Such
disputes show a resemblance to the fights of cock birds at a
place of copulation.
To understand a dance and
properly to get to know the
feeling it produces the investigator ought to dance it himself.
Even without such experience it is easy to understand that the vibaka
dance has a strong erotic stamp, although it cannot be called
mimetic; the Akamba do not seem to have such dances. The
flirtation is very undisguised and every now and then a young
man whose feelings have become too strong tries to entice a girl
aside into the thicket surrounding the dancing place. As a rule

these nocturnal dances end up with general sexual intercourse on
the way home.
The young people thus have the most unrestricted freedom
during these dances. No elder people go there, as it is generally
considered wrong to concern oneself about who is making love
to one's daughter.
On moonlight nights the dances go on till long after mid-
night, any one who is not accustomed to the monotonous
and
drumming and singing and noise finds it difficult to get to sleep.
When the nights are dark, they dance in the afternoon. About
3 o'clock the drumming begins, calling them to the dance, just
like the accordion in the country districts of Sweden. On the
paths appear flocks of youths, singing and striking their drums.
They are splendidly attired with all their ornaments, on the pol-
ishing and fixing of which they have spent much time and trouble.
In the neighbourhood of the government stations they even carry
small mirrors, purchased in the Indian bazaar, in which they look
at themselves now and then to see that everything is in its place.
These afternoon dances, which end early and from which
they all go home at the same time, are more innocent than the
ones held at night.
The most popular pleasure dance after the mbal%a is the
musm. In this no drums or other musical instruments are used,
but the time is indicated by rattles, small bells (3—4 cm.) of
iron or copper, containing stones or pieces of metal. The bells
are fixed on a leather cord, that the young men wind round
the right leg, which is often quite covered with bells. They thus
stamp the time with the right foot. This dance also consists of
different figures, which are carried out partly by the youths alone.
In these latter intermezzos the dancers move about, and they
stamp round, now in a long, twisting line, now in a sort of round
dance, but without holding each others' hands ^. During these
they carry instead various dancing accessories, such as bows,,
staves and clubs of different types. The girls take part in certain
parts of the dance, but as I unfortunately forgot to make careful
^ Reproduced in my popular work Afrikanska stroMg, p. 157. A

picture of the mbaha is found there on p. 153; m6«?6^-playingmen on pp.
196, 211. < .
notes about this dance and dare not rely on my memory, I must
omit the details.
Contrary to the mbalm, the musm always takes place in the

afternoons, before darkness comes on, and is attended by a great
hort of spectators. The number of those who take part in it is
also greater than in the former dance, and so a considerably

larger dancing place is needed The young people
for the musyx.
from the different small districts (kiOalo) come in a close crowd

marching in procession to the common dancing place. The young
men usually carry their bells in their hands and put them on
when they have gone a bit of the way, after which they come
on in procession, the men in single file and after them the girls
from the same district. It is quite a fine sight to see them; they
do not go direct to the dancing place, where the spectators are
waiting, but go in procession, now zigzag, now in a curved
line towards their goal, and then suddenly, when they reach the
place, they turn aside once more and make another big swing.
The tnbaha and the mus\a are the two great pleasure dances.
I shall add some dances, the nature of which I am not quite
certain about, as I only know them from descriptions. One
of these is the k%lamu, which is danced by the young people in
certain places »when the maize is ripe» (originally a ritual harvest
dance?) ^. During this dance clapping of hands sometimes takes
place; further details are unknown to me. The dance is only
performed in certain places (not in Machakos), because the elders
forbid it as they say it is » wicked » and may bring about famine.
In the Kitui district in former times a dance is said to have
existed, in which a kind of stilts were used, with the dancer's feet
about half a metre above the ground. This dance does not seem
to have existed in West Ukamba.
The iOwulu is danced by the married women and the younger
married men {nitfceld) together and in pairs, a man and a woman
turned towards each other. This is the least aesthetic of the
dances I have seen in Ukamba. It is true that they stand on
1 not improbable that ritual dances in connection with the

It is
harvest found in certain places.

are Hildebrandt says (p. 390): »0b-
scene movements of the body are peculiar to dances at sowing and
harvest time». Further research on this point would be of great
interest.
the same spot, as in the vibaha, but body and legs are bent in
all conceivable ways, such as in hip-movements, and similarly a
great many arm movements are carried out. Now the dancers
are crouched and bent towards the ground, now they stretch
themselves as high as possible, with their arms swinging over
their head. I have only observed this dance in connection with
exorcism, etc., and so it is perhaps exclusively of a religious
nature. As music they use the h^cembd, the big spirit drum.
Religious dancing. The general ritual dances in connection

with the cult of ancestors is the k^lumt, which has already been
discussed on pp. 230 fif. It is danced, generally speaking, in the
same way mbaha (the couples lean their cheeks against
as the
each other), when men take part in it. When women dance with
each other there is a little interval. The movements are, however,
more violent and spasmodic than in theyoung peoples' dance.
The time is given by the kij)cembd drum. The drummer strikes
once with one hand and then three short strokes in succession,
of which the last is strongest, with the other. This monotonous
music goes on without interruption, only with an increase of ra-
pidity when they go into ecstacies. In addition the women wear
iron bells round their arms, of the same type as those used in
the mnsia, but considerably larger. From the upper arm hangs
down a cow or zebra tail called mwt^gu ('tail' is otherwise kiszpd),
which swings to and fro during the violent motions (vide fig. 58).
These tails must have a certain significance from a magic-religious
point of view; tails are also used by the medicine men as stoppers
for their medicine calabashes.
kilumt does not seem to be an old dance, for the older people
say that was preceded by 'ggoma, which was accompanied by
it
drums of the same name. In the 'ggoma the women are said to
have carried swords, arrows and spears, the latter being war-tro-
phies, as the Akamba themselves do not use spears.
Mr Sauberlich told the author how there was formerly in
Kitui a dance called rnb(g6o. I connect this dance with the spirits
of foreign tribes (see pp. 234 ff.). It is forbidden, however,

by the elders under a penalty of two cows, because during its
performance there arose so much trouble and immorality between

the men and the younger women.
Of the religious dances I have also already mentioned hcesu

(p. 238) and those connected with the circumcision rites, of which
at least a certain number have special names (see nzuma, p. 59).
We thus undoubtedly find different dances for different occa-

sions, and even the pure pleasure dances seem to change with the
seasons, as has already been shown. At one time they devote
themselves entirely to the mbaha, and then finish with it altogether
and go in for the niusia, from which later on they go back to
the first, and so on. Yet the Akamba do not seem to have any
old dances, national dances so to speak. These dances emerge
and disappear just like our fashionable dances. When a novelty
of this sort begins, all the young people, especially the girls, are
very eager and restless until they have learned the new art, and then
they give themselves up to it passionately, only to let it quite
suddenly go out of fashion for some other.
When the natives really get into the grip of dancing, they
— especially the young men — are seized by a regular passion for
this amusement, which is beyond all description. Dancing is then

their whole life, the sole thing they are interested in. This leads
to unpleasant consequences both for those around them and for
themselves. Under such circumstances it is practically impossible
for the travellers to get bearers and this is difficult even for the
government service. When there is no other remedy one has to
take bearers forcibly — a thing of which I have had experience
— and when the young men can keep away, it is their fathers
or elder married brothers who have
go with the burdens on to
their backs. The older people have to suffer in other ways as well
while the youngsters rush from one dance to another, sometimes
on regular dancing tours, as during the present peaceful times
there is little risk in visiting even distant dancing places. Many
of them neglect their ta.sk of watching cattle, which the exasper-
ated father has to do himself; others ought perhaps to have crushed
sugarcane for beer for the old men, who have now to go without
their precious beer.
If nothing else of any avail, the old people have recourse to
is
the most effective remedy within their reach, that is prohibition

of all dancing. And if they are really annoyed, they do not stop
at this, but forbid all intercourse betwen boys and girls, so that
they are not allowed even to speak to each other, when they
meet out on a path. The refractory youths cannot stand this for
long, as without dancing and girls life has lost its greatest pleas-
ures for them. So they submit and keep quiet, as long as

they can.
3 Song.
We said that singing is inseparably united with dancing. The

dancing songs are sung for the most part in chorus, but certain
parts are preferred by the chief singer — the leader of the dance
— alone. Further there are songs sung in unison by young girls
on various occasions, such as when they work together. Solo songs

are also sung by women, forinstance when they are crushing
maize, lulling their children to sleep, etc. Men also like to sing
alone during their work. Thus I have often heard solitary young
men singing as they were digging up a field. And they are not
content humming softly, but sing with the whole power of
with
their lungs. These songs of labour, as one might call them, usu-
ally consist of some few words, repeated ad infinitum, as for in-
stance, when I heard a man uninterruptedly sing the following,
only interspersed now and then with some vocalization: m^gukwi-
nza leu T am now digging'.
All these songs of various kinds are songs for the occasions,
sometimes improvised for the moment by the singer himself, some-
times such as a recognized singer has improvised and which have
then become popular. Old songs handed down by tradition are
certainly entirely lacking, with the exception of the songs connec-
ted with the initiation rites, which are reproduced in Chap. III.
There are no wandering singers. An apparently unique ex-

ception was a man known over almost the whole of Ukamba,
Kieti by name, a blind singer from the Ikutha district, who sang
to the mdceGd songs composed by himself. His wife, who guided
him on his wanderings, he is said to have won by his singing.
He was a very uglylooking man, his face being altogether disfigu-
red, as in his childhood he was bitten by a hyena.
I discuss the subject of the Akambas' songs quite briefly here,
because the songs I noted have been worked out as a separate

work and are to be published in connection with other examples
of the art of composition and intellectual life of the tribe, their
stories, proverbs and riddles. To take down a song is rather

difficult, as a person who can sing a song is unable, in most cases,
to reproduce it in any other way, and thus cannot recite it, which
is necessary if one is to take down the words. I have also re-

corded a number of songs with the phonograph, but in this there
was another difficulty, namely to make the natives speak into the
phonograph. The nren were pretty willing, but the women were
impossible, although I asked those that I had been in daily con-
tact with for months and whose confidence I enjoyed. My phono-

graphic records are incorporated with the phonographic archives
of the Ethnographical museum in Stockholm.
To describe the musical character of the Akambas' songs in
a few words, we may mention that they always begin very high
up in the scale of notes, with a series of vowel sounds, before
the real words begin. A kind of refrain, usually consisting of a
longdrawn ? (see the initiation songs), is often heard. Melody in
our meaning of the term appears just as little in their songs as

in their music, but their manner of uttering the words may be
described as a sort of singing speech.
j.tr
•< -rrwi.!.l
,1 •,;.,! ->..>
- '
.J, .
X:u.-
Arch. Or. Lindblom 27
Chapter XXIII. Toys and games.
To begin with I take the opportunity of observing that, in
the case of many peoples who are otherwise well known, little or
nothing is known about their games and
amusements. Even similar
clever investigators,who have carried out admirable researches,
often pass by this subject silently or content themselves with
saying that the natives have no real games, a statement that has
more than once proved to be rather rash. To a great extent this
is, of course, due to the fact that the authorities in question have
only stayed a short time among a certain people, during which
they have not had an opportunity of making such observations,
especially as certain pastimes are only indulged in during certain
times in the year.
If we examine the Akamba's games and pastimes, we find
that the grown-up people concern themselves very slightly with
such things; they are the children's business. To a great extent
these children, like others, try to imitate the occupations and
work of their elders. We know that the child's desire for activity
finds expression in games, and like all healthy children, no matter
what race they belong to, the Kamba Thus
children are seldom idle.
the boys, for instance, make small bows with bast strings and
arrows of pipes or twigs, by means of which they engage in
shooting small birds. They even construct small bee-hives of ca-
labash and hang them up in the trees. It sometimes actually
happens that the wild bees take possession of such a »hive». The
boys like to imitate the young men's dances, and then make dance
drums of calabash, the ends of which they cut off and then fix a
bit of skin on one end.
The girls, for their part, soon begin to practise preparing

cords of bast and with them plait small sacks, a work which they
see their mothers doing on every conceivable occasion. In the
sacks they put small calabashes, filled with earth, which represents
Toys and games 419
porridge or other food. Similarly they make vessels of clay, and they
lay out small fields on which they plant. Of course they also cook
food, with earth and water, etc.
The boys and girls play » father, mother and children » toge-
ther. They build small huts of grass and imitate the grown-ups,
an imitation which is sometimes so carefully done that not even
Fig. 117. Doll (woman) made of pipe-shaped stalks, o arms.

1/2 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 284.
the sexual part of a marriage is omitted. As is well known, such

things cease to be a mystery to children of primitive people at a
very early age.
The Kamba children in the real meaning of
have few toys
the word. Rattles by small children, although I have
are used
seen them only in the simple and primitive form of a dry fruit
with hard seeds inside. Thus the fruits of musth (Crotaelaria) are
tied to pegs and then used as rattles.
I have seen the girls playing with dolls, though this is rare.
These have names and are also called by their little owners mwa-
naktva "my child'. On the other hand no word for »doll» seems
to exist. The dolls I haVe seen are made out of pipe-shaped stalks
in the most simple manner and are adorned with ornaments (fig.
117). The picture shows a woman with her loincloth, which is
taken from a real one. Round her »neck» she wears chains and
round her waist a pearl belt, just as women are clad. This type
of doll always seems to lack a head. If the doll represents a
baby, the mother owner makes a baby-carrier out of a cloth and
carries the d,oll on,her back in a cord over her forehead.
Fig. 118. Clay doll (woman). The strokes on the breast represent
the tattooing of scars. The ear is bored through but there are no
ornaments. 1/0 "^t- ^^2^- Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12, 7. 287.
A type of doll which sustains the illusion better are the

figures of clay which I saw at Mulango (fig. 118). They are cer-
tainly coarsely made, but in part very realistic, with sexual organs
and scar-tattooing. As I any other places
have not seen these at
but Mulango, I must suggest the possibiHty that they may be imi-
tations of the missionary children's dolls there.
. Among toys for boys I have found the peg-top (nîc^/^/z)
which is roughly cut out of wood, without notches, and is struck

Toys and games 42 1-
with a whip of^bast (fig. 119). It is spun with the whip in exactly
the same way as done by European boys. Whether this top is

is
indigenous is at least open to doubt. On the other hand the tops

which smaller boys make by sticking a peg through the globular
fruits of the mukomoa tree are certainly native. This top is spun
by the hands alone'.

The boys also trundle hoops {fid}a
'wheel') made of flexible branches.
kiscB^g(sla km k'iku 'calabash sherd'
is a little wheel, cut out of a bit of cala-

bash-shell, and threaded on a little peg,
which is placed crosswise in the fork of
a stick. The wheel, which is driven along
the ground, is probably originally an imi-
tation of a real cart.
Like Our children the boys also make
air-guns out of hollow branches of plants
and fix a peg as a butt at one end and
in the other a clod, which is sent out by
the force of the air. This toy appears in
several places both in West and East

Africa ^.
The sling {kikupa), of the well-known
Fig. 119. Wooden top.
Nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn.
type, is also used by boys. The bigger
Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 273. boys, plait it carefully with strings (fig..
120), the smaller ones make it out of a

piece of banana skin. With a good sling they can throw at least
a hundred meters. These toys have also a practical use, as the}-
are used for chasing the birds out of the cornfields.
Of the bullroarer I have only seen a single example in Ukamba,
used by quite a small boy. In consisted of a pointed oval slice of
wood, coarsely cut out, with a cord fixed in a hole at one end.
To
the domain of toys belong finally the small musical instru-
ments of several difierent types which the boys construct. Theii;
^ Hob ley, Akamba, p. 56, says[ incorrectly that » they do not

make tops». ,
•
^ Karutz, tiber Kinderspielzeug. 'Zeitschr. f. Ethnologic, 191 1,

P- 239. - .. .;.-,:.>'
Toys and games 423
description is already given in connection with that of the real

musical instruments (p. 406).
We now pass to real games. The word for 'game' in the
general sense in the Kamba language is 'ipau and 'to play' ku-
pauka. I have observed only the following boys' games.
kmpa 'shoot the wheel'. Those who are playing
ndia
form two and each player is provided with two maize spa-
sides,
dices, which are joined in the middle by a cord about i dm. long.
The two groups stand at some distance from each other, and from
the one is rolled a »hoop» of osier switches past the other. The
members of this try to throw their spadices through the hoop.
If this is accomplished one of them goes over to the opposing
side and from there tries to throw his spadices through the wheel,
when it is sent back by his own side. If this fails, he becomes
the enemies 'slave'. Thus the game goes on until as many as
possible of the one group have become slaves ^
In the following game the sole player has a secret accomplice
among the lookers-on, who usually sit in a circle. A row of pegs
or the like are laid on the ground, and the one who is skilled in
the game goes away and asks one of those present to touch a
peg. He then says which peg it was and asserts that he is able
to find this out by means of the smell, as he first pretends to
smell all the pegs. The explanation lies in the fact that before-
hand he had agreed on a certain sign with his secret accomplice.
For instance the latter may imperceptibly raise the toes on one
foot, when the other comes to the peg in question.
A similar pastime, almost identical with one of the Swedish

children's Christmas games, is for a boy, at the request of his
secret accessory, to cover his head with his blanket and then guess
to whom among those present the accessory hands a knife. The
two knives and sharpens the blades against each other,
latter takes
pretending in that way to talk to the finder. According to a

previous agreement with the latter, he then hands the knife to
This game is also found in West Africa. J. H. Weeks, Anthro-

1
pological Notes on the Bangala of the Upper Congo River. Journ.

Anthr. Inst. 19 10, p. 405.
the one who last said something before he told the other to hide
his eyes.
Another game of the same character as the two preceding is
the following. One of the lookers-on puts an object in a- bamboo

tube, and the expert in the game then says what the tube con-
tains. This is done by his stating that he needs leaves of a certain
tree in order to ht able to guess correctly, and he disappears a
minute to fetch these. He returns with a small bough, swings it
closely over the bamboo tube and then says that he needs another
sort of leaf. On returning with this he swings it as well over the
tube and then says what it contains.
I have seen this game carried out in a very skilful and ef-
fective manner. The simple explanation is that the person who

performs the trick has another bamboo tube quite like the real
one, and changes the two without being noticed. The first bough
is' used to hide this. Then when he goes off to fetch new leaves,
he looks to see what the tube contains and on his return places
the right tube in its place again, a manipulation which is con-
cealed by the second bough.
Such small tricks puzzle the uninitiated greatly and they
exercise their brains to find an explanation. To get to know the
secret they make payments consisting of ornaments, such as neck-
or ear-rings, and then in their turn teach the trick to others for a
similar fee.
These games are to a certain extent thought-reading games.

There are, however, also games which deserve to be called real
»jeux d'esprit», and which even grown-up people enjoy. The
nature of one of these is as follows:
A man and his wife and son are out walking and have to
pass a number of rivers, which are represented by pegs or groo-
ves made in the ground. Between the streams lie ranges of hills,
thus representing the ground such as it appears in the greater
part of the highlands of Ukamba. The question is now, with head
tiirned away, to let the wanderers pass as many rivers and hills
as possible, during which it is to be observed that never more
than one at a time may be
in the same place and that of course
there should be no gaps between them. The moves ought, be-

sides, to be made very quickly. The game begins by the leader
»
Toys and games !.l 485-r'
saying twcendd upon which the one who wishes to^r>

"('let us go'),
try his hand »The old man goes down in the;

at the game says:
river {mutumia aGofa), the old man climbs up (i. e. on the hill),.
{muiumia ahsa). The Wife goes down in the river {hOceh kia6ota)y
the wife climbs up, the son goes down», etc. If he makes a mis-
take he must give up. The number of the rivers seldom exceed
four, but I once saw a man, who for a rupee in payment cleared
ten rivers, without doubt a very good mental performance.

The same game exists among the Wadjagga. B. Gutmann
says that usually a collision occurs in the fourth valley (= » river
in our case). He holds that the game has been imported from
the coast ^.
The boys go in for games especially when they are minding
cattle. One of these games consists of making two rows of holes-
in the sand, five or six holes in each row. One of them hides a
stone or a bit of a maize spadix in one of the holes and then
fills them with sand, upon which the others guess where the stone
is. This is called kuhmana, really 'to outdo each other'.
'
« .
- "
No real sport exists. The boys compete in walking on their

hands as far as possible {kutantbuka, really 'to walk'). Similarly
they try to stand on their heads.
A competitive game described by Brutzer, the missionary, is
as follows. An old pot or something of that sort is set up as a
goal in an open place. This is guarded by a boy with a stick,
by means of which he has to prevent the goal being reached by
a peg which another boy strikes with the help of a stick. When
the goalkeeper knocks the projectile back, the distance to the
point where it falls is paced and for every ten full paces he
obtains a point. When the goal is hit, he has to change places
with his opponent^,
A pastime popular arnong smaller boys reminds one of the
well-known old Swedish game of »hoppa kraka», »hop the crow»
(curvetting). The players stand in a row, crouch down and begin
to sing:
^ B. Gutmann, Kinderspiele bei den Wadschagga, Globus 1909^

p. 30 r.
^ E. Brutzer, Was Kamba-jungen treiben, Leipzig 1904, p. 13.
» ^
kwa wamandamanda. The frog jumped,

iihupi kuhka ndtanu she is going to enter the pool,
ila lalikild mukic^ga in which went the viukufiga snake
na stgna stnkj. with its children.
indipt! Now go!
They then jump along saying 7nba, mba (this is an onomato-

poetic rendering of the sound a frog produces when it jumps on
ground soaked with water.)
Of special games for girls I have only observed »hide and

seek» {kuiGipulamla). Some of them have to find out the where-
abouts of the rest, who hide in all conceivable places, such as the
bushes round the village, in the storehouses, inside the huts, etc.
When they have hidden, they shout kulu\ then the search may
begin.
Exactly European children the Kamba children sometimes
like
count to who shall begin a game and this is done by

find out
using a rigmarole of words, apparently without any meaning. There
has of course been a meaning at one time, but through continual
mechanical repetition the forms have been so mutilated and twisted
that they are almost impossible to identify. Brutzer gives from the
coast Akamba one of these rigmaroles for counting out: tali, talita,
inundjinga, mungelele, kwatambea, mayembe, kandzili, kavelendzeli,

kaunekad::uu, mwiiango^. »The one who gets the tenth
B. adds:
word, mzvitango, has to begin. They have heard these words from
the grown-up people. They do not know any meaning for them.
If one asks: »What does it mean?» the parents answer: »I don't
know, I heard it from my father.
Only occasionally and in exceptional cases does one see

gambling. Games of chance do not exist at all.
A game is played with Solanum fruits. An unlimited number
of people can take part in the game. They sit on the ground,
each with his heap of the Solanum fruits mentioned several
little
times which serve excellently as marbles. The one who

before,
begins takes two marbles from another player, places one in
front of him and throws the other up in the air. He now has to
^ See p. 274.
^ Bruize r, Begegnungen mit Akamba, p. 32.
Toys and games 427
take up the one which is on the ground and then catch the
faUing one with the same hand. He can go on till he fails, and
in this way he tries to win all the others' marbles. There is no
stake.
Another game with the same fruit is kuaj>a ndo^gti 'to shoot
Solanum fruits'. An even groove about i 2 dm. broad is made —
in the sand and a player takes his place at each end. Both have
a heap of these fruits and place a similar heap in front of them

in the groove. The one who begins knocks his ball with his
fingers and tries to hit his opponent's, which then becomes his.
kuapa ^gu to shoot pegs of wood' is the name of a similar

game. A heai) of soft stalks of plants, a little longer than a
lead-pencil, is placed in front of the players, who sit on the
ground. The one who is playing takes a peg pointed at the end
which he holds with the point upwards between the middle finger
and the ring-finger, supported against the innerside of the thumb,
while the index finger is free, point straight forward. When the
fingers are released, the peg is jerked violently downwards. The
point ought then to stick in one of the stalks, which then goes
to the thrower. This is continued till he fails \ The game de-
mands a great deal of training to become skilful at it.
A game needing calculation and reflection is knisi, a form

of the well-known and widespread inancala game. As in the
latter they sometimes use a board with indentations in it, but as
a rule holes are made in the ground, two rows with 10 — 20 holes
in each row. In each hole are placed four small stones or large
seeds, preferably ^gaij, the fruit of the mukan tree. The two
players sit with »the board » placed lengthways between them.
The moved according to certain rules; I have forgot-
stones are
ten what they are, but remember that they are the same as
among the Masai". The one who can place a stone in a hole
which has become empty may take the contents of a hole oppo-
^ This is described by C. V. Hobley, Kamba Games, Man

game
\gi-2. p. which a drawing shows two different ways of holding
179 in
the peg. H. says correctly that the game is called kwatha ngn, but
he calls the missile mtikii (more correctly mtiku), which means simply
peg' (singular of iigu).
- Merker, Die Masai, p. 36.
site. In this way they continue till the stones are finished. [The
one who has got the most has won.
It is supposed that this game is of Asiatic origin and has
come over from Asia to Africa, where its extension is thought
to coincide with the boundaries of the influence of Arabic culture.
Its Kamba name, however, kviisi, seems to be native and does
not show any relationship to other appellations of the game which
I have seen.^
^ See S. Culin, Mancala, the National game of Africa, Rep. of

the U. S. A. Nat. Museum 1894, p. 595. Reprinted Washington, 1896.
p. V.
ECONOMY
Chapter XXIV. The village and the hut.
I. The village.
The Akamba build their villages on the slopes of hills, never

right up at the where they are exposed to the
highest parts,
winds. One finds them only exceptionally on level ground, and
then in the densest thickets, where the huts are difficult to dis-
cover. The cause of this method of building is an attempt to
protect themselves as far as possible from hostile attacks, as up
on the good view over the sparsely wooded
slopes they have a
country. During the daytime it is thus impossible for an enemy
desirous of plunder to approach unperceived. As numerous
streams have their sources on the slopes of the hills, the conditions
with regard to water are also usually better here than down in
the There are villages situated as high as 500 metres

plains.
and even more above the ground, but in spite of this the natives
run up and down the steep paths several times a day, the women
frequently with heavy loads of field produce. They have a pecu-
Uar way of making the ascent easier, namely singing or whistling
with all their might, which would entirely take the breath away
of a European.
When we Europeans speak of a » village* we usually imagine
a greater or smaller collection of homes situated quite near one
another. This is, of course, the case in West Africa, where the
huts are often arranged in rows with a path through the village.
In Ukamba the huts owned by one man alone form one village
{musid), and so a village may consist of a single hut. At most
two or three families live close to each other, but otherwise the
different are scattered over the hill-slopes without any
homes
arrangement. saw the biggest collections of huts in East Ukamba,
I
where six or seven families sometimes build the thorn hedges that
surround the huts so near each other that they form a single walU
sometimes over a hundred metres long. This was down on the

flat ground, where the risk of hostile attacks is greater, and in
such cases one may observe a clear tendency to draw towards

each other for mutual protection.
Let us examine more closely the appearance of one of these
Kamba villages. Around it runs a sort of barricade of prickly
branches {mapanhi) fixed in the ground, and outside and over
r yi^TB"^ o
^*-^Ûa^
'9<J
Jptmf-fv'
'--."j
•ip*»
/^"-.tiA,
Fig, 121. Kamba

village, Kitui, owned by one man.
Surrounded by dense bush.
I. Huts (5 in number, consequently the man has 5 wives).
2. Storehouse (3 —
4 to each hut). 3. Big shady trees
under which the old men are accustomed to sit.
these are placed other branches. Those of the prickly acacia are
as the thorns hook on to each other so that the
specially suitable,
whole forms a connected wall. In the spaces and outside bushes
soon shoot up and make the barricade still denser. There is an
entrance to the interior through an opening in the hedge, which
is often s6 arranged that one has first to go through a narrow
•passage {mu6ia), enclosed on both sides by the barricade, before
ône gets in to the huts. The- cutting of the material for this
The village and the hut 433
fortification is done by the men, while the women carry it to its

place.
In former times, when the natives were never safe from the
enemy, the villages were much more fortified than now. The
hedge was then often as much as 5 metres or more broad, and
on the inside there was also a row of piles driven in the ground.
Even double hedges were found. In spite of this it happened, as
we have seen in the chapter on war, that the Masai warriors, at
dead of night, stole over them. During the dry season there was
-» JO-
Fig. 122. Kamba Man with 6 wives. The mother's hut

village,
Kitui.
an enclosure by itself on the left.
in
I. Huts. 2. Hut of the man's mother (a widow). 3. Storehouses.
4 and 5. Villages situated at a little distance from the one
in the middle. 6. Dust-heap. 7. Big shady tree.
also the possibility of the enemy succeeding in setting fire to the

defences. Nowadays the hedges serve only as a protection against
wild beasts, and they are allowed to fall into decay in districts
where these are not found.
During the night the opening of the hedge is shut by means
of thorny branches, which are drawn in with the thick ends for-
ward so that the branches point outwards. It is impossible to
remove them from outside. A higher stage of development is a
sort of gate that I saw in East Ukamba, consisting of four wooden

rails. On the top rail are threaded 6 — lo thick poles, in which
holes have been bored. The holes are burned out with glowing iron.
Fig. 123. A village, Kitui. 4 families. On the side connected with

the bush the enclosures are weaker.
I. Huts. 2. Storehouse. 3. Big shady tree. 4. Whetstones.
In the evening these are lowered towards the threshold, and then
a rail is pushed to inside^. See fig. 124.
^ According to A. Schachtzabel, Die Siedelungsverhaltnisse der

Bantu-Neger (Int. Archiv. f. Ethnographie, Leyden 191 1), p. 27 this
type of gate is general in Central Africa.
Inside the enclosure is the cattle craal, a circular open

place of 12 — 20 metres in diameter on an average. A man who
is the fortunate possessor of many cattle naturally needs a greater
space. The animals sleep here during the night and are milked
morning and evening. At this place the droppings of the cattle
accumulate, so that during the rainy period the whole forms a bottom-
less mass, in which the women sink up to their knees when they
^
il^^^J!^^WL h
^^F«H!RmK
wM
Ê3I
Fig. 124. Entrance to a village in East Ukamba.
go to milk the cows. It even happens that the milking cannot

be accomplished at all here, as the cows are up to their bellies in
the mud.
Quite outside the village and common to all the huts lies the
open place, pomd, always with a shady tree, beneath which the
oldmen spend a good deal of the day, talking and taking snuff.
They also like to take their meals there and then the food is
carried out them by the children. Similarly they often hold

to
their beer-parties at the ômd, and the fathers of the families
carry on their domestic industry, make chairs, spoons, arrows
sheaths for swords, digging sticks,etc. When several men squat

at acommon pomd, they appoint a sort of leader for this, who
is called mutuima wa pomd^. The women are never allowed to
sit there, but they may use the place for domestic purposes, such
as threshing. During the cold season it is the duty of the boys

to make a fire each morning and also in the evening at the poms,
so that their fathers can warm themselves. It is also usual to fix
up a screen as a protection against the wind.
The old men set great store by their chats at the poind.
They revive their old memories, talk about their youth, about the
fights with the Masai and the stealing of cattle and women.
They like specially to talk about women, and their stories are
often so indecent that they used to say themselves that they can-
not be told in the presence of women. But the women are
often, however, not a bit better in their conversation together.
2. The hut.
Along the enclosure — sometimes inside it, sometimes form-

ing a part of it — are the huts, one, two or more, according to
the number of wives. They are of the usual beehive shape that
is met with in so many places in Africa^. The framework consists
of pliant young trees stuck in the ground and narrow rafters
(called '^geti), which are joined by means of withies placed cross-
wise above them and forming concentric circles. At the points
of intersection the material is fastened together with cords, and
then the whole structure is covered with long grass. To keep
this more securely fastened, bands of withy are also placed round
the hut on the outside. The section of a hut is usually from 3
to 4 metres, its height at the centre about 3 metres. Near the
centre stands the thick post (kitud), consisting of a cut tree-trunk,
that supports the hut ^.
^ See Ch. Dundas, History of Kitui, p. 422 ff., which gives a

good description of villages in East Ukamba.
^ In Mumoni, where in several respects the Kikuyu influence is
prevalent, there are huts of the Kikuyu type, i. e. with special walls
and roofs (»kegelhutte» type).
^ Suitable material for hutbuilding is supplied by the following, among
other, trees: for the framework {ggeti) the flexible branches of the
owner gets the help of relations, neigh-

In erecting a hut the
bours and anyone tries to avoid taking part in the
friends. If
work, he incurs great displeasure. The men cut down trees and
build the framework, while the women cut grasses. The prepar-
atory tasks, collecting the building material, take the longest time,
a week or more, the actual erection of the hut is often done in
a day. At a place that has been made level a circle is first
drawn with the foot. This, like all the principal work on the hut,
is done among the Masai by a woman, but among the Akamba
always by a man, as they say that women would draw a little
circle so as not to have a big hut to cover.
The door to the hut usually consists of a screen put together

with sticks or (as in palm leaves. To
East Ukamba) stalks of
the east I have also seen a large flat piece of wood, hewn labo-
riously out of a thick trunk of a tree. Formerly, when it was
necessary to have a protection against enemies, this more tnassive
door was probably used more extensively than is the case now.
Such a precaution is rather unnecessary nov/adays, and the negro
does not work strenuously when there is no need. There are no
peepholes in the doors, nor are they placed on vertical pins, as
I have seen in use among the Wapare. The door is kept shut
simply by some piled-up bits of wood or a pole drawn across.
The opening itself is very narrow and often so low that one must
creep on one's hands to get in. on slopes the
In huts situated
door is always placed at the lower side so that the rain cannot
run into the hut through the opening.
Let us enter and look at the interior. The floor consists of
earth that has been trodden smooth. In former times it is said that,
at least in certain districts, the floor was covered with the droppings of
cows. This custom still survives in the Kamba people's folklore \
iimsusu bush (Leguminosae). which is also used for the framework of

the big storehouse for corn {kii'gga); mupakwa^ one of the larger plants
(Compositae), miitambu, a thorny bush; for the covering of the roof
the grasses mbelu (Andropogon), ktktj (Andropogon), mbwcea (Panicum
sp.) and ilg (Tricholaena rosea), from the latter of which the ku^ga
is also The elastic underpart
made. of the bed is made of mnOapa
(Vernonia), among other things.
1 The author took down a story in Kikumbuliu (published in Hela
Varlden, 191 7) in which this custom appears and is mentioned as a
matter of course.
438 Lindblom, The Akaniba
In the Kavirondo country north-east of Kisumu I saw walls

and floors covered with a mixture of cow manure and clay, which
forms a hard, and easily cleaned surface. Even at the mis-
flat
sion station there they have let the natives cover the floor with
this mixture, which serves fairly well as a substitute for cement.
In Kikumbuliu, where the ground more sandy and consequently
is
less firm, they still cover the threshing place with cow manure.
Fig. 125. Kamba hut (cf. p. 97). i The place where the wife
Sketch of a .
sits at The place where the husband sits at the hearth.

the hearth. 2.
3. The place where grown-up daughter (or son's wife) sits. 4. The
place where grown-up son sits. 5. The fireplace. 6. The support
for the roof (in this hut unusually far from the centre). 7. Place for
apom, when they pay a visit. 8. we, the sleeping-compartment of
the husband and wife. 9. ntutu, wall separating the ive and the exterior
part of the hut. 10. The husband's and wife's bed. 11. Sleeping-place
for the children. 12. Wood store {ki6ceta). 13. Hen-coop.
Across the farther part of the hut there is a partition made

of basket-work or sticks standing close to each other {ututu), with
an entrance, and inside it is the zve, the wife's (and the hus-
band's) sleeping-place. If several wives live in the same hut.
which may happen in exceptional cases with a young man, the
> greater » wife lives in the zvp, the others outside this compart-
merit. In the more roomy outer part of the hut, there are, one
on each side of the fireplace, sleeping-places for the sons and the
daughters. consists of a bunk made of narrow, elastic
The bed
mmn), from which the bark has been peeled off.
sticks {mzvau, pi.
These bunks are placed on four posts and slope gently towards
the foot of the bed. The bunk is covered with a skin. When
a native wishes to sleep he wraps himself up in his blanket and
always pulls it over his head. In certain places curtains made of
plaited palm leaves or of imported cloth are used round the bed.
Beneath it during the night calves and goats are tethered to pegs
fixed in the ground. In a corner there is a big broken jar or a
little nest of sticks from which a sitting hen peeps out.
The usual central point of the hut is, however, the fireplace,
consisting of three stones, on which a pot is bubbling a good part
of the day and night. There is no opening for the smoke to go
out, and so the ceiling is always full of soot. The numerous
riddles of the Akamba generally deal with the pan on its three
stones, the symbol of the home in the Kamba country. »Tell
me the rich man who has three entrances to his village*, runs
a well-known riddle, and another with the same meaning is: »What
sort of a little woman is it that sits on three chairs?»^
Almost every hut in Ukamba looks like the one we have
described, as the wealth or poverty of the owner is of little or no
importance with regard to the size and furnishing of the separate
huts.
The fire burns on the hearth practically all day and night,
especially during the cold season. In the evening, when they go
to bed, a big piece of wood is always placed on the fire, and it
burns slowly and lasts all night. Even at other times the fire
seldom goes completely out, although it may appear to do so,
but beneath the ashes there are always embers, which one can
easily blow into life again. And if it does go out, they go to
the next hut or to their neighbour and get new. This is why in
'
The state of affairs described by Hobley, Akamba p. 30, is en-
tirely unknown to me. He says that » there are two fireplaces in a
hut, the at the one near the door and their parents at
children cook
the one; the children cannot go and sit at the inner fireplace*.
inner
On the contrary it sometimes happens on cold evenings that the parents
make a little fire within the ivc\
a village one never sees fire being drilled ^, which is the usual
method of firemaking for the Akamba, as for most Africans. The
firesticks are meant for journeys, and the longer one, which is
rotated between the hands, is kept in the quiver, the shorter one,
which is placed underneath, in the travelling bag. The former
one is called whnd^, the latter kilia, probably the same root as in
muha 'woman' and "gga 'hen'. In jocular speech this is also called
»woman» and the stick for drilling with »man» ". The stalks
of Cajanus indicus {muso) are very suitable for drilling sticks
Fig. 126. Fire-making. The man to the right has a flute of

Orvx horn.
and the wood of the wild fig-tree for the underneath piece.
The drilling stick need not be made of harder wood than the kiha.
To increase the friction some grains of sand are placed in the
hole in the lower stick. In front of it are placed some dry leaves
or dry grass, on which the pulverized wood falls and begins to
glow. I have seen clever natives drill fire in 20 seconds. As a
rule, however, it takes longer, and several men relieve each other
until the result is attained. Women cannot make fire in this way,
nor have they any use for it, as they never go out alone on
^ Professor Weule made the same observation during his journey

in the southern part of German East Africa. K. Weule, Kultur der
Kulturlosen, p. 66.
2 Frazer, The Golden Bough, I: 2, p. 208 ff., shows that these
terms are found among different peoples of different races.
long journeys ^ Even among the men it is by no means all who

know the art.
If the fire on the hearth goes out during the night, it is con-
sidered a bad omen, especially if it had been decided to under-
take something rather important during the day. If, for instance,
beer has been brewed for a present to a future father-in-law of
the son of the house, it should not be used for this purpose.
But they may drink it themselves without any risk.
Rites and customs in connection witli hutbuilding. Such

important undertakings in the life of a family as deciding upon a
dwelling place and building a hut are, of course, bound up with
ceremonial observances. The natives wish to have the best pos-
sible guarantee that they shall not settle down at a place that
may be injurious to the growing children and the cattle. The
man and the wife go in the first place to the medicine man to
get him to choose a suitable place by divination, or else they do
it for themselves by going out to try to find a good omen {mufxina
mused), e. g. to listen to the cry of a bird. If they do not come
across one on one road, they try in another direction. When an
apparently suitable place is found, the man breaks two small
branches, and the wife takes a handful of grass, which they hide
in a bush near the place. When later on the hut is built, a branch
is twined in on each side of the door and the grass is put above
it. This is to bring domestic happiness in the new home.
Similar methods of procedure are found among different
peoples, and these may certainly be included in the category of
rites that are called »bauopfer» by German investigators. This
does not mean only real sacrificial actions, but practically any
action of a ritual kind by which something is placed in a hut,,
with the intention of warding off misfortunes and bringing good

luck and permanence to the new dwelling^.
When setting up the important post that supports the whole
hut some cow droppings are first placed in the hole in the ground.
^ I do not think, however, that the Katnba women are forbidden

to drill fire, as is the case among the Nandi, where firemaking is »aa
exclusive privilege of the men». Ho His, The Nandi, p. 85.
* See P. Sartori, Uber das Bauopfer, Zeitschr. f. Ethn. 1898.
p. I ff.
This is similarly intended to bring good luck to the owner, espe-

cially to increase his flocks.
When the men have finished their work on the framework
of the hut and before the women may begin covering the roof,
the owner's bow is hung up on the wall and also »the wife's bow»,
i. e. the bast sack in which she carries the products of the field.
This is a rather interesting detail, probably a very old custom,

which confirms to some extent the idea that the Akamba are
originally a hunting people, during which stage of their history
the bow was ot course the man's most important possession, but
during which the woman certainly began to be occupied with
some primitive agriculture or at least contributed to a considerable
extent to procuring the necessaries of life by collecting edible
wild plants.
Before the hut is covered, a fire is also made in it for the
first time. Similarly all iron tools, such as axes, knives, etc. must
be left outside the hut before this is done. It is believed that
the hut will be cold and draughty if there are iron objects in it
before it has been covered.

Hobley tells how, when a new village is founded, the owner
walks around it with an amulet in his hand, »and it is believed
that wild animals, leopards, lions etc. will not enter it»^
The first food that is eaten in the new home, if the latter is to be
good in the future, should be Eleusine porridge {ggttfta). The
husband eats first, then the wife, and then the children. Some is
also thrown on the floor as an ofiering to the aimu. This is thus

another example of the great part that Eleusine plays in rites and
also an additional fact showing the antiquity of this kind of grain
as a cultivated plant in East Africa.

Finally, when the hut is ready and the inhabitants have
moved in, the man and his wife must have ritual coitus during
the second night. Before this, however, the previously mentioned
eating of '^gima must have taken place. If the husband tries to
have connection with his wife before this, she always refuses, and
if in spite of this he succeeds in getting his way, she throws away
all the cords she has got ready for the work with the hut, and
makes new ones. Before they have eaten the 'ggtma porridge the
^ C. V. Hobley, Kamba protective magic, Man 19 12, p. 5.

husband must not have connection with any other woman either,
but must observe complete sexual continence.
In connection with these ceremonies it may be mentioned
finally that when a stranger comes on a visit to a village, they
are careful to see that he goes out the same way as he came in.
It has happened to the author more than once that when, after
paying a visit to a hut, he has tried to take a short cut over
some broken-down part of the fence, he has been called back and
asked to go back by the proper entrance through Avhich he came.
Hutbuildin^ for the medicine man. The building of a

medicine man's hut offers a number of variations from that of an
ordinary hut. We have on p. 257.
already touched on this
Everyone who lives m the district takes part in the work. Before
the work is begun the old women (of the nzaina) dance the kilunn
on the place where the hut is to be built, and the young people
perform their dances. The old men and women who have a long
way to go home sleep at the place during the night so as to be
able to begin the building work early the next morning. The
youths bring up the materials and the atum'ha erect the framework
of the hut, after which the women cover it. Only the old ones,
those of the nzama, may cover the highest part and the part
nearest the ground, the middle part is done by the »small» women
{ila mm), e. those who occupy a subordinate position at the
i.
bringing of sacrifices up to the sacrificial places. These women

are not allowed to enter the hut during the work. The posts on
which the medicine man's apparatus, his divinatory bag, medicines,
etc. are to hang are made of a special kind of wood (mup?^^?).
They must be put in their places by the atuima of the nsama.
The work must be completed in one day.
Although the Akamba are a settled people they have a great

deal of the impulsiveness of the nomad with regard to oft-recurring
changes of habitation. them to live only
It is very common for
a few years at the same place and then move. The causes for
this vary, but the most important and most common are of a
superstitious nature. When misfortunes occur again and again

and nothing else seems to be of any use, they try, on the advice
of the medicine man or on their own initiative, to escape from
these by changing their dweUing-place. In this way a family may
move incessantly from place to place. It is in particular repeated
deaths or infectious disease among human beings or cattle that
they try to escape from, or if the cattledo not seem to get on
well generally or the children to grow up well, etc. If the wife
turns out to be barren, the medicine man may prescribe a re-
moval to another place as a remedy.
If a man has several wives, he first builds, at the removal,
the »great» wife's hut. If the »small» wife's hut were built first,
it might hurt the »great» one, who has then to get her hut within
a special enclosure.
When a wife becomes a widow and then perhaps wishes to
move to her married son, she must not live in his hut, for that
might injure her on account of the sexual relations between the
son and his wife. But after a specialist in ceremonial purification,
a mutum'ha wa 'gondm, has been called in and has drawn a groove
in the ground and sprinkled it with 'gondia, she may build a hut
for herself on the other side of the groove. Although she thus
may not live in the son's hut, she can, however, visit it as much
as she likes.
Generally there good order and cleanliness in a Kamba

is rather
hut. The wife sweeps every morning with a besom {uGiaw) made
of pliant twigs. Sweepings, remains of the previous day's meals,
such as the spadices of maize, and droppings of goats and sheep
are swept up in a goatskin and thrown out over the hedge around
the cattle craal. For this refuse there is a special place called
utunda (pi. ndundd). If one comes across a hut that is untidy it
is most cases because the wife is

in ill and has no daughters big
enough to help her with the work.
Under certain circumstance.s, however, the hut may never be
swept, namely when the man is away on important tasks, such
as hunting big game, or when he is on a campaign for stealing
cattle (for the observances about sweeping the hut for a certain
clan see p. 124).
Although they try in this way to keep the hut tidy, there
is, as we have already seen, often much to be desired in the way
of cleanliness in the cattle craal. Outside the village, on the
other hand, it is fairly clean, and one seldom sees, for instance,
human excrement, provided there are no small children in the place.
A few metres from the hut are situated the storehouses
{Tkkumb't)^ of which there are 2 — 4 to each hut, thus one for each
wife. They are about the height of a man, of the same type as
the dwelling huts, although more lightly and airily constructed than
these. Underneath them there is a low pile-work, so that the
floor, which is made of sticks, shall be a few decimetres above
the ground. Here food is kept in calabashes and in the big
wicker baskets {kii'ggd). In big families the young unmarried men

{anqkd) also use the provision-sheds as sleeping-places. To protect
the storehouses against white ants and other injurious insects
ashes are sometimes strewn round them. The big wicker baskets
are plastered with cow-dung for the same purpose.
In Kikumbuliu the storehouses, which are there called kitsumba,
are situated in the fields, andwhen the crops are about to ripen,
they are inhabited, usually by young girls, who keep watch against
baboons, wild boars and porcupines. The girls live here entirely
during this time and do their own cooking.
3. Home life.
Life in the village begins at daybreak, when the cocks begin

to crow and solitary dogs to bark. The huts remain closed for
a little while, but soon the first of their inmates are seen, the
women Those who get up last are the
going to milk the cows.
young people, especially if they have danced a good part of the
night, in w^hich case they are very out of sorts and sleepy. When
the milking is finished, the cattle are driven out to graze by the
boys, who take turns in watching them.
In the evening the natives go to bed between 9 and 10
o'clock, pretty soon after the evening meal. They like to talk
for a little while, and perhaps some begin to dance. At this time
the girls often imitate some of their friends who dance in some
strange way. They are good imitators and their performances pro-
duce a good laugh.
446 Lindbloni, The Akamba
We know already that the juutumia, the paterfamilias, is the

head of his family. He is possessor of everything, and if a mar-
ried son is living at home, he is considered to own even the latter's
wife. It is thus not uncommon to hear a man say: »My wife is
not mine, she belongs to my father». If the young man cannot
make his wife obey — it happens sometimes that she refuses to do
the work he gets her — he complains to his father, and respect for
him is then sufficient to produce obedience. If, on the other hand,
the young woman persists in her defiance, she gets a thrashing
from the old man, and then she soon gives in.
Family life is on the whole very calm, but it sometimes hap-

pens that a man chastises his wife corporally if she has deserved this.
He does not, however, like to do this out of doors, as this would

furnish amusement for his neighbours at his expense. He waits
instead until she comes home from the fields in the evening. Then
it may happen that she gets a good thrashing. Then man takes
the nearest weapon, for instance a firebrand from the hearth, and
is not too careful with his blows.
Such intermezzos are not, however, common, and one must
not conclude from them that the Kamba woman has a very sub-
ordinate and oppressed position, at least she does not consider it
so herself. I have had occasion to hear well-meaning missionaries

eagerly depicting to the women their hard lot, and they were
completely at a loss to understand them. To cut this matter short,
I must content myself with referring the reader to Chap. XIV. 5
and adding that the elderly women and usually the mothers have
a great deal to say, not only within the family but also in general
affairs. I know for instance several cases from Machakos where
the husband gave the rupees he earned by selling skins to the
merchants in the Indian bazaar to his wife for safe keeping and
then went to her each time he needed money. And examples
have been given on p. 235 of how the woman can often make
her husband do much by trickery and can rule over him ^.
The Kamba wife is seldom lazy but is always seen busy.
Even on the way to and from the fields she finds time to do
something useful, plaiting a bast sack or chewing fibre for mak-
^ Cf. B. Gutmann, Die Frau bei den Wadschagga, Globus 1907,
a treatise that also applies in many respects to the Akamba and cer-
tainly to several East African tribes.
ing cords. If she has a young child, she carries it with her every-
where on her back, and when it has grown a little, one can see
it sitting at the top of a bundle of wood that the mother has
collected and is carrying home on her back. It is remarkable
how these small mites know how to hold fast and how they can
sleep undisturbed during the mother's work. When there are
daughters, they help to carry their young brothers and sisters, and
one often sees little girls, not yet ten years old, struggling around
with the smallest of the family on their backs.
Babies are carried in a }>go%, a rectangular piece of skin, fitted
with straps. It is made by the father of the family himself out
of a calfskin and is usually adorned with a row of cowrie shells.
The must
calf not have died a natural death that would ob- —
viously have an injurious influence on the child although apart —
from this the Akamba make use of both the flesh and skin 01
animals that have died from natural causes. The women do not
allow anyone to step over a 'ggo%. The child might then get
diarrhaea.
The ^goh is evil-smelling and dirty, but nevertheless a very
precious and important possession, on which the future welfare of
the child depends to a great extent. There are some that descend
from one generation to another. It is impossible for an ethno-
graphical collector to buy the garment; the women will not part
from it any conditions, not even for the highest conceivable
on
prices, such as a cow, and the suggestions I made with regard to
this were always received with exclamations of astonishment and
indignation. If it were sold the child would surely die. Nor will
a mother lend her '^go^ to any other woman, not even to any of
her co-wives.
As is often to be seen among Negro tribes, the Kamba child-
ren are suckled by their mothers for an unusually long time, and
it is not uncommon for children who have long since learned to
walk, even those who are certainly 6 7 years old, to — run every
now and then to their mother and suck her breast. To wean
children they rub the breasts with the bitter juice of the leaves
of the aloes growing on the steppes.
Suckling with cow's milk and with a teat occurs. A piece
of skin is stretched over the opening of a calabash bottle and
a hole made in the skin with a nail.
^48 Lindblom, The Akamba
Small children are kept very clean and washed every day all
•over the body with cold water. When they grow up, they have
to look after themselves with regard to this, and as they crawl
about a good deal on the ground playing, they are often exceed-
ingly dirty. When there is a chance, as, for instance, when there
is a stream in the neighbourhood, they like, however, to bathe.
The girls rarely neglect to do this when they go to the river to
fetch water.
The boys sometimes quarrel and fight with each other, as is
the custom of boys all over the world. The games can easily
pass into fights, which are sometimes carried on according to
certain rules and are preceded by a sort of challenge. When
two boys quarrel, one says to the other: »Spit, and I shall do
away with your expectoration {tunla mata, m6alamd)\-» If the
other accepts this challenge and spits in front of his opponent,
the latter obliterates the saliva with his foot. The gauntlet is
then thrown down and taken up and they begin to belabour each
other with their fists or with sticks. The quarrel is often accom-
panied by insulting words such as ant-eater {luma), dog (su/u),
hyena {mbztt), wart-hog {'gge) or snake {nzol\a). Stronger expres-
sions are: »Your mother is a witch » {mwcenni ni mtaoi), »Your
father is a thief» {nau ni kf^cei) or »Your whole family consists
of thieves* ivnba% %akw \on^d ni zgcsi). A common term of abuse
is to call someone a Kikuyu, which is interesting as showing that
the Akamba have a considerably higher opinion of themselves
than of this When a Kikuyu comes to a Kamba
allied tribe.
village, it may
happen that small boys put on an air of
even
superiority towards him. Such expressions as »Your mother has
run away from her husband !» or »You are a sheep, accumbens
matril» (we 'hlondti, ivhtindaa na mzvceniu)^ are still more offen-
sive.
M. Marker, Die Masai, p. no, tells how the Masai youths use
1
similar offensive terms of abuse: accumbens matri, accumbens sorori,

ace. patri (used by young girls to each other), etc. Similar insulting
expressions are especially met with among Orientals or peoples stan-
<iing under Arab-Mohammedan influence. Vide O. Stoll, Das Geschlechts-
leben in der Volkerpsychologie, p. 767 ff.
Chapter XXV. Weapons.
As in the case of the Wataita and the Wanyika tribes, so
in the case of the Akamba the bow is the principal weapon. In
hand-to-liand fighting they use swords. They have never used
spears and shields; the latter are found only in exceptional cases
among African tribes that use bows.
The bow {uta) is the usual East African type^, the Ethi-
opian bow according to Frobenius", or the straight-staved bow,
as Eric von Rosen, from another point of view, graphically calls
this form, because the stave, before the string is fixed on, is
straight^. The stave of the Kamba bow is round, thickest in

the middle and narrowing uniformly at both ends, which end in
points {tnbtd). It is relatively short, about 1.20 — 1,30 metres. The

largest bow I have seen, 1.56 metres long and with a diameter
at the middle of 2.3 cm., is in my collection and has belonged
to an elephant hunter. The string {ua) is made of sinews {hlw^^gii)^
two rather narrow cords of sinew twined together into one. It is

fixed about five centimetres from the points and is sometimes
supported by a piece of leather placed above or below it; this
piece of leather is put on the stave in a fresh condition, so that
when it has dried and contracted, it is immoveably attached like
a ring round it. At one place where the string is fastened a

piece of superfluous string is usually bound round the bow; this is,
however, so short that it cannot be used as a reserve string in case

the bow-string breaks. They usually have instead an extra string
or some sinews in the quiver.
^ F. Ratzel, Die Afrikanischen Bogen. Abhandl. d. Sachs. Ges.

der Wissenschaften 1891, p. 304.
^ L. Frobenius, Skizze der Bogenforschung in Kulturtypen aus
Westsudan, Petermanns Mitteil. 19 10, p. 166.
Arch.Ot. Lindblom 29
The bows used for elephant hunting seem often to be larger

than the bows for most part the same bow
fighting, but for the
is used for both hunting and fighting. The bows used by half-
grown boys for shooting birds are smaller, and smallest of all, of
course, are the toy bows of In the dance ntusia
the small boys.
bows of medium which the youths carry in their
size are also used,
hands and which are tightly bound with wire and have their ends
adorned with metal beads. It is to be noticed that these bows
are not used to shoot with.
The bows are made of several different species of trees, such
as hOau (Dombeya), mutiiGa (Turneraceae) or mwau. They are
made from the thicker branches as well as from bigger pieces of
wood. The latter variety is, however, considered the best, be-
cause they do not contain pith {munw). This of course, makes
the bow weaker, and
especially on military expeditions, when the
natives sometimes go very far from home and have little prospect
of getting hold of another bow, it is important that the one they
have taken with them should be strong and reliable. For without
bows the Akamba are pretty helpless in battle.
their
The tools used in making the bows are the axe and knife.
To make them pliable they are rubbed many times with fat and
held over fire. No special bow-frame is used, but the operation
is carried out slowly by hand. When it is ready, it is polished
with rough leaves, among others those of the plants kitc^l (Cordia),
mupitu or inuku (also called ikiC). In the neighbourhood of the
government stations they also use for this purpose sandpaper,
which is obtained in the Indian bazaar.
When a branch is taken as the material for a bow, they
make the lower part of the branch also form the lower point of
the bow, i. e. it is always held downward when shooting. I have
not seen this fact mentioned in the literature of the subject, but
it is probably in practice in other parts although it has escaped
attention. It also appears as if even investigators who give de-
tailed descriptions of bows often neglect to observe the method
of their manufacture, a point that is by no means unimportant.
E. von Rosen, on the other hand, gives an excellent picture of
the making of bows in his previously mentioned work on the
Batwa in the papyrus swamps of Lake Bangveolo.
The Akamba even distinguish the two ends of the bow by
Weapons 451
different names, as they call the upper end mbta la mupia {mupia
'end, top), and the lower one mbia ia ittna i(btina 'bottom, base').
Fig. 127. Kamba arrows.

I, Arrow rubbed with poison, bound with skin. 2. Arrow without
poison a—-c. Variations in the shape of the arrow heads. V2 "^t. size.
The bow is in some ways the Akamba's most important pos-

session, for with it they can, as they express it themselves, procure
cattle and wives, either by plundering expeditions or hunting, in

the latter case especially by elephant hunting, for the sake of
the ivory. For this reason the bow is submitted to ritual treat-
ment, so as to bestow strength upon it, and then certain rules of

taboo are connected with it, so that it shall not lose its strength.
Thus good luck to a new bow a bird is shot
to give the species does —
not matter —
and its blood is smeared on the ends, middle and
string of the bow. In the hut the bow has its place by one of
the posts of the bed. If on any occasion it has been left behind
outside the village, its owner may not indulge in sexual intercourse
as long as it is away. The same thing applies in such a case to
the Akamba's second most important possession, their cattle: when
they are away, as for instance when they are grazing on an out-
lying farm, intercourse is also forbidden. And just as in the case
of a transgression of this custom the cattle must be sprinkled
with "gondm before they can come in to the village again, so the
bow has to be purified in the same way. It is curious that the
ôndm that is used for this is prepared by a child that is not yet
circumsized, the only occasion I have heard of when the purifica-
tory substance is prepared by a child. One of the herbs used is
ndata-kiOmnbu.
The Akamba arrows are rather small, on the average 0.60
— 0.65 centimetres long. Those used for hunting and fighting
(musia) have shafts of wood, exceedingly even and finely con-
structed (fig. 127). To make certain that they are quite straight
the maker holds them in front of him, shuts one eye and glances
along the shaft. Like the bows they are finally polished by being
rubbed with rough leaves. Trees and bushes suitable for making
arrows are mukaka (Croton sp.?), muahka, 7nukutu and
mukwcBo,
muOwna (Verbenaceae.?). At the somewhat widened back end of
the shaft there is the notch for the bow-string {mbalio) and above
this there is a narrow ring of leather or thick sinew, to prevent
splitting. For the same reason the upper end of the shaft is
somewhat widened. For greater safety the shaft is also bound
round its upper end with sinews, which are chewed until they are
quite soft. The arrows have three guiding feathers, and great
importance is attached to having stiff feathers. They use
preferably feathers of birds of prey, such as those of the ydei,
the secretary bird (Falco serpentarius). They are stuck on the
Weapons 453
arrow-shaft by means of the gum of certain trees or the sap of

the root of >kuasi m. ndu (Gloriosa sp.?), and for greater security
they are also bound fast with fine bast threads. To give the
arrows an ornamental appearance the lower part is painted with
a beautiful bright red colour. This is now often bought in the
Indian shops, but is originally a natural product, being made of
'hhtu, which is crushed and mixed with roots of kanolq, the same
plant as is used in tattooing. The colouring matter is mixed to-
gether on a banana leaf or some such article and is spread on with a

stick. To strengthen and ornament the shaft more they like still
to bind the shaft above the notch as well and also up towards the
upper end with hair from the tail of the zebra {yisa'h) or hartebeest
{'ggataid).
end of the arrow-shaft there is fixed the deci-

In a hole at the
metre long wooden foreshaft {upunzi), which in its cloven end holds
the head itself {mmu). To prevent splitting and to keep it fast
the foreshaft is also bound at the front with sinews. The arrow
heads, which are cut out of a thin hammered-out piece of iron and
then ground sharp, are triangular, all of the same type, although
the indentations at the base vary somewhat in size. As has al-
ready been described in connection with the clan system, they

are accustomed to cut the owner's clan mark on the foreshaft. The
foreshaft is intended to stick in the object aimed at, while the
shaft falls to the ground and can be taken up again. In this way
the arrow is prevented from coming out of the wound on the
game during its flight through the weight of the shaft or by the
shaft fastening in the thicket.
In the Ikutha district I found arrows with heads and foreshafts
of iron, in one piece, just as, for instance, among the Wapare.
This type is said to have quite recently come into use among
the Akamba.
The Akamba make the most ornamental and perhaps also the
best balanced arrows I have seen among the sixteen East African
tribes I have come into contact with. They are little masterpieces
of their kind, even in respect of their careful execution. In de-
scriptions of travels one reads many expressions of admiration
about these arrows. »The most substantialwe have even seen in
Africa», says von Hohnel, for instance. Weule in his monograph
on the arrows of Africa points out how the arrows of the Akamba,
like those of their neighbours, the Wataita and the Wanyika, are
among the foremost in Africa for exact workmanship^. The five
Akamba weighed gave an average weight of 22 gr.
arrows he
with a difference of only 0.4 gr. These figures are taken from a
very small material, but have caused me to weigh some of my own
arrows — all me
of them were not accessible to
and I have —
found that was the average weight of four arrows with
21.8 gr.
their points bound and 19 gr. that of 22 others without leather

and partly with, partly without, poison. The absolute difference
is, however, rather large for my arrows, the maximum weight is
25 and the minimum 15 gr. It should, however, be added, that

the arrows come from different makers.
That the degree of careful work on the arrows that is shown
in weight is by no means accidental and meaningless is
their
shown by Weule. Both the Akamba and the Wataita have of old
a reputation as good archers, and because of this they enjoy
the respect of their neighbours.
I have nothing of interest to communicate about the power
of penetration of the arrows, but the natives themselves state that
many of them could shoot through the Masai shields and kill the
men behind them. They also say war arrows were for- that the
merly larger and more powerful than they are now, with points
stiff and sharp as knife blades.
Arrows of the kind described here are mostly poisonous. The

arrow poison used over wide stretches of East Africa from —
Somaliland and Abyssinia right down to German East Africa and
still farther south — is everywhere the same and is made out of
an Acocanthera species, especially A. abyssinica, which in Ukamba
grows sparsely in the Machakos district as well as here and there
elsewhere in UIu. I have also seen it a few miles south of Nai-
robi, and it is found, in addition, in many other places which are
situated high^. It is not found in East Ukamba, but there the
natives get the poison by barter from Ulu or from the Taita or
Giriama country. The tree is calledby the Akamba mu6a> and
the poison i6ax, names which strongly remind one of the Somalis'
^ K. Weule, Der Afrikanische Pfeil, Leipzig 1899, p. 7.

" Of the distribution of the Acocanthera .species see F. Stuhl-
mann, Beitr. zur Kuhurgeschichte von Ostafrika, p. 425.
: 2
Weapons 455
ivabei or wabayo — which is made partly of the same, partly of

a closely-related species — and one is tempted to conjecture some
sort of connection.
To prepare the poison the wood of the Acocanthera is split
into small bits, which are boiled for 8 to lo hours in a covered

jar of water.During the boiling the mixture is stirred from time
to time. When it is thought that all the goodness has been boiled
out of the wood, it is taken out and the poison is boiled still
more. When the water has evaporated, the poison lies in a pitch-
like, dark and sticky mass at the bottom of the vessel. To make
it more easy to manipulate it is mixed with ashes
and formed into a dough, after which it is ready for
use. It must not be kept in a cold and damp place.
Those who work with the poison are careful to

see that they have no wounds on their hands. With
a wooden spatula, kiGalii^ (fig. 128), it is smeared
copiously on the arrow-head and all the foreshaft. So
that it shall keep soft it is bound with a fine strip
of skin from kids or small antelopes (fig. 127. i). The
skin is made
by scraping it with knives and is
thin
softened by being drawn repeatedly over the back
of the knife and being worked with a stone.
The quality of the poison varies in different pla-
ces, as sometimes other ingredients are also added Fig. 128.
to the pure vegetable poison. A man who was con- Wooden spa-
sidered to prepare poison added
unusually strong
r , A 7 •
poison on the •
the head ot Another emment spe- arrows with

a snake species.
cialist in the preparation of poison gave me the follow- 1/2 nat. size,
ing list of extra ingredients for his poison
Snake heads and certain poisonous spiders {mbua-mbm) and
roots of the plants hlia mbih, kalamba mta and hpux. The first
of these, a Yatropha species, and one of the most important plants

the Akamba know of, we have already made the acquaintance of,
and we perhaps remember that, among other things, it is used for
removing the embryo (abortion), kalamba is a little tree, i —
metres high (Apocynacese —
thus of the same family as the Aco-
canthera), with a milky sap, bluish green, smooth leaves and beau-
^ < kuOal'a 'to paint, smear'.

tiful purple-coloured flowers. The two others are quite unknown

to me.
The making of poison is of such great importance that it is
easy to understand that certain magic observances of a prohibitive

nature are connected with it. The sexual taboo especially is
stringently observed, inasmuch as a woman may not even be

present during the manufacture, or else the power of the poison
would be destroyed^. The boiling is therefore carried out pre-
ferably at a place apart, and when the women bring food to the
men during the down at a respectful distance.
work, it is put
Further the arrow-poison may be made only by the nsceld or
the atmma, young men are not permitted to make it. When I
asked my boy Kioko, a man of about 30 years of age, to show
me the process, which he knew, he refused, saying that he was
too young.
I have not been succesful in finding out anything about the
effect of the Acocanthera poison —
known that it affectsit is
the heart. The only attempt I made was to make a slight cut
on the leg of a hen and smear poison on the wound. The hen
refused, however, to die and continued to look for food quite
calmly. The natives are, however, very much afraid of the poison
and state that big game, such as a lion or a leopard, cannot get
far after a well-aimed shot. Elephants, on the other hand, run
for miles before the poison takes effect. These statements appear
to be correct, as according to other authors middle-sized antelopes
die after a few minutes-. The poison thus has a very strong
effect.
According to the natives the poison is also most powerful

when it is warm, i. e. just after it is made, while it gets weak
with time. According to M. Krause's investigation^, this appears
to be incorrect. The fact of the matter probably is that when
^ The Wandorobo are also very careful about this, as I know

from my own experience. See further M, Weiss, Die Volkerstamme
im Norden Deutsch-Ost-Afrikas, p. 396 and M. Merker, Die Masai,
p. 246,
- M. Weiss op. cit. p. 397, M. Merker op. cit. p. 247.
' See further M. Weiss op. cit. p. 396. In addition there have,
of course, been various descriptions of this and other African arrow
poisons.
Weapons 457
the poison is old and consequently dry and hard, it dissolves more
slowly in the wound, and so the natives quite naturally conclude
that its strength has decreased.
The treatment wounds caused by poisoned arrows has been
of
touched upon in connection with medicinal methods (p. 312).
From the arrows used for hunting big game we pass to the
bird arrows {laggi, pi. ma'ggi), which are mostly used by boys and
young men. Their shafts are cut from reeds, etc. (among others
from upu^ga ula muncsm, a rather large Sonchus species). They
are not so careful about the feathering, but content themselves
with softer feathers, such as those of guinea-fowls ^ A notch
for the bowstring is made in the reed and above this it is bound
with thin sinews just like round the upper end, where the arrow-
head of hard wood is fixed in. Good material for the heads of
bird arrows is furnished by the mutuQa (Turneracea;), the straight,
hard branches of which contain but little pith. There are several
different kinds of arrowheads, most of which are not specially
characteristic for the Akamba, but are met with over great parts
of East Africa. The simplest kind consists of a straight, pricker-
like head, which the boys sometimes adorn with carvings, probably
an imitation of the clan marks on the heads of the real arrows.
Simple developments of this basic form are shown in b and c in
fig. 129. The four short sticks fastened with bast in c {ndatj)
are to prevent the arrow from going too far in and disappearing
in the thick grass in the case of a miss. E. von Rosen has
described and reproduced an iron-headed arrow with a similar
arrangement, a little cross-piece of wood, from the Batwa and
several tribes round Lake Bangveolo^. He is the first to describe
the type, which, however, is certainly found as a bird arrow with
a wooden point here and there, at least in East Africa. That it
has escaped attention is probably due to the fact that bird arrows,
which are mostly used by boys, often seem to have been overlooked
by the investigator. On the other hand the iron-headed arrows
from Bangveolo are probably unique of their kind and have the cross-
piece evolved, owing to the loose nature of the ground. The
^ An arrow on which guiding feathers have not yet been fixed is
called multika. word thus does not denote
This a special kind of
arrow, as Hobley, Akamba, p. 43 imagines.
type may very well have de-

veloped from a bird arrow, a
supposition that is suppor-
ted by its awl-like head, the
other Batwa arrows having
heads of a more developed
shape. In b there is fixed
at the base of the head
something that is called
ns(epo, consisting of four
small pegs held together by
cords or gum and designed
to give the arrow a greater
possibility of hitting the
mark. Another well-known
arrangement, which in East
Africa has probably been
carried farthest by the Wa-
pare, who use clumsy heads,
is to have a pointed piece
of trunk with thick, cut-ofif
side-branches.
From the flat head of
equal thickness it is very
easy to pass to one with
simple barbs cut out here
and there (r, /) and then
to arrange these in a certain
way {a, g). When perfectly
arranged we have the barbs
in three rows {d). This form,
however, is more unusual.
Sometimes the bird arrows
are smeared with a little
poison, as seen in the streaks
on a and d.
Fig 129 (a —
c),
As is seen we thus easily
Kamba bird arrows. get a pretty good typical
V2 nat. size. series of our bird arrows.
Weapons 459
III
Fig. 129 (d— g).

Kamba bird arrows. V2 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 14 — 19.
I do not, however, by any means maintain that the line of

developement must necessarily have been the one indicated, even
though one must admit that the primitive peoples generally go
slowly and gradually, if they have to look after themselves.
But such a thing as putting some simple barbs on an arrow-
head may, it seems to me, be the result of a direct and pri-
mary thought, especially in districts where there are as models-
Fig. 130. Quiver decoration of ostrich feathers. V* "at. size.

Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. In v. 12. 7. 7.
numerous plants (Acacia species and others) with thorns of various

shapes, which catch on to the walker. It does not, however, ne-
cessarily follow from this that these barbed wooden arrow-heads

must have come from thorns of plants and succeeded these, although
this is, of course, possible. C
V. Hobley thus shows ^ how in
some of the arrows of the Congo pygmies »a long tough thorn,
1 C. V. Hobley, The Evolution of the arrow. The Journ. of the

East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Societ}'^, vol. Ill, 1913, p. 33.
,
Weapons 461
probably from one of the Acacia family, is grafted on to the shaft*

and of a certain type of Kavirondo arrows he says that »it is belie-
ved to mimic an acacia thorn, which is frequently of the same shape».
The arrows are kept in a cylindrical quiver {piaka) made of
skin, with a detachable lid, the universal type in these parts. It
is carried in a leather strap over the shoulder. From the lid there
often hang down a couple of short straps fitted with cowry shells.
Just as among other tribes they like to adorn the quiver with
black ostrich feathers, fixed with a bit of leather (fig. 130), over-
which a solitary long white plume often rises. In the hut the
quiver has its place on a bedpost.
While shooting arrows both eyes are kept open. The arrow
is held between the index and the long finger. When shooting
at long distances the arrow is not aimed directly at the object,
but a little higher up, or else it wôuld hit the ground in front of
the object. This implies that the shooter understands his weapon
well and gives an opportunity to note that it is by no means a
matter of indifference with what bow one is shooting. As Weule
shows ^, a man who shoots with his bow must know his weapon
as well as a soldier knows his rifle and must have got used to
his bow.
In our days it is difficult to get a correct idea of the Akam-
ba's power of wielding their weapon, as they have too little occa-
sion to exercise it, being forbidden to hunt by the government.
My experience in this respect does not agree with their old re-
putation as good shots. I have, however, seen boys shoot pigeons,

and at ten metres' distance repeatedly hit a fruit the size of a
ball. In Hildebrandt's time the bow was still essential for the
struggle for existence and he says »that at a distance of 30 steps
a good shot hits a fruit of the size of one's fist almost every
time-.» It is not clear, however, if he is referring to the Akamba here.
Finally we come to the sword {uGm). This is of the usual

East African type, which has been described so often that it is
unnecessary to do it here^. I merely wish to state that it is typ-
1 Der Afrikanische Pfeil, p. 6.

3 Vide Hildebrandt, Die Wakamba, p. 363.
Fig 133.
Club with
headofstone^
wrapped in a
Fig. 131. Kamba sword. Small Fig. 132. Club-shaped piece of skin.
and not so typical; worn by a stick to carry in the Vi nat. size.
young man. Vs nat. size. hand, i/s nat. size. Riks. Ethn.
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 3. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Coll. Inv.
Inv. 12. 7. 250. 12. 7. 230.
Weapons 463
ical of the Kamba sword that the blade is longer than the sheath
{ndo). It is carried for preference hanging in a strap over one
shoulder, but also, as among other tribes, in a belt round the
waist or in the hand. The short sword reproduced here (fig. 131) is
not a typical shape, but serves more as an ornament and
really
has worn by a young man. The sheath is painted with
been
bright red ornamentation, the same colour as is used for the ar-
rows. A similar colour is obtained from several plants, among
others from the bark of the mwcBa (Mimosa species), which is put
in water.
* *
Before leaving the weapons, a few words remain to be said

about clubs. As is well known, the club is a common weapon
in East Africa; it is made for themost part of wood and is
used for hitting and throwing. The Akamba, however, do not
use them, and I have not had any confirmation of Hildebrandt'.s
statement about them. On the other hand it is a fact that there
are many objects which resemble clubs, but they are to be con-
sidered as dancing accessories or as a kind of stick, which the natives
like to carry in their hands when out walking. That many of these
objects, which we might take to be clubs, are not so considered
by the natives themselves, is shown by their language, as they
are certainly often called nzuma 'clubs', but just as often ndata
'stick'. So much is certain, that they are not used in fighting,
and at most they may be used for an occasional throw at a bird.
The type of these dance-clubs and sticks varies, but they gene-
rally have the shape of a pole gracefully cut out (fig. 132) and
are often adorned with artistically twisted metal wire. So that the
wood shall get a fine polish it is rubbed with fat.
A real club of an interesting type is, however, found, although

rather sparsely among the Akamba. Even this, however, they use
only for carrying in their hands and do not make themselves,
but get it from the districts on the south slope of Kenia. On a
very narrow wooden shaft is placed a stone head, a quartz ball,
surrounded with some wooden splints, and then the whole is sewn
over with a piece of leather (fig. 133).
This type of club has already been described and reproduced
by L. Riitimeyer from three specimens in the ethnographical
collections at Basle University ^ To judge from the reproductions

these are quite like those brought by me from Ukamba. They
are said, however, to come from the Ja-Luo tribe in Kavirondo, a
statement that I cannot of course dispute, but of which I am
doubtful, as during my stay in the Kavirondo country I never
saw or heard of such clubs 2. Riitimeyer is, in addition, of the
opinion that we are here concerned with a pre-historic relic, a

hammer, but, as far as my own specimens are concerned, I can
see no reason at all to believe this. It is true that I have only
troubled to remove the casing of skin on one of my stone balls,

but it seems to have been knocked together recently and shows
no sign of wear, which it ought of course to do if it had once
been used as a tool. If, on the other hand, Riitimeyer's assump-
tion as to their age is correct, it is clear from my specimens that
a new production of these stone balls has continually taken place
or has at least taken place down to a recent time. But even if
one has to deny that these clubs are pre-historic — I am only

speaking for my own specimens — they are still exceedingly in-
teresting and even rare. As far as I know they are not known
from other parts of Africa, and as far as the museums are con-
cerned, even the great Berlin museum appears to have no such
club.
1 L. Rutimeyer, Uber einige altertumliche afrikanische Waf

und Gerate und deren Beziehungen zur Praehistorie. Zeitschr. f. Et
1911, p. 240 ff.
^ After the proofsheet of the above was even ready Prof. Riiti-
meyer wrote to me saying that he bought his clubs at Old-
kindly
ham's London, the well-known dealer in ethnographical objects. As
in
mistakes about the origin of objects sold in this way occur not infre-
quently my doubts about Kavirondo as the locality of these clubs have
been further strengthened.
Chap. XXVI. Hunting.
According to their traditions the Akamba were originally a

hunting people, and there is a great deal to support the truth of
this tradition. Thus even day they enjoy a very
at the present
good reputation as compete with the professional
hunters and
hunting peoples, especially the Wandorobo, for the honour of being
considered as the most skilful nimrods in these parts of East
Africa. They have from time immemorial devoted themselves to
elephant hunting because of the profit attached to it, and these
hunts of theirs extended not infrequently beyond the boundaries of
Ukamba, for instance as far as the poorly watered and largely un-
inhabited deserts north of Kenia. Nowadays, however, as might
be expected, hunting is of subordinate importance compared with
agriculture and cattle-rearing.
Elephant hunting. The preparations for a hunt for elephants

or big and dangerous game and the rites connected with
other
entering upon such a hunt show great resemblances to the pre-
cautions taken on entering upon military and plundering exped-
itions. »Is it not war to hunt such animals as the elephant, the
rhinoceros, the buffalo and the lion?» said an old warrior to the
author. A skilful elephant hunter has a great reputation, and
he is compared to a victorious leader in war. For both bring
wealth home with them. The leaders of a hunting expedition are
also usually the same as those of a military campaign {aptam).
We may note in passing that this agreement between the ideas
and the arrangements of hunting and mihtary expeditions seems
to exist among most primitive tribes that follow these pursuits to
any considerable extent. The magic rites connected with hunting
and war are also often identical ^.
1 This view is propounded and developed in Hubert and Mauss'
excellent work on magic in the Annde Sociologique, vol. VII, p. 132 ff.
Elephant hunting is usually carried on by a number of men

together. The hunting party {nhima or mma < kusnjna 'to hunt')
is composed of an equal number of representatives from each pomd,
the open place in front of a village. Several neighbouring families
have a poind in common.
Before the expedition is begun, as before a military campaign,
the natives go to the man to find out under what aus-
medicine
pices they are entering upon the campaign. A beer-party is also
held with its accompanying sacrifices^ to Mulungu, i. e. the aimu, the
ancestral spirits, amid prayers for a successful result. On such
occasions they sacrifice especially to some deceased famous hunter.
Such a man is usually buried, like other eminent men, at the foot
of a wild figtree where sacrifices are made. If any unfavourable
omen is met on the way home from the place of sacrifice, they
go back there and sacrifice again. After a successfully concluded
hunt thankofferings were similarly presented to Mulungu.
When a hunting party marched out it consisted to some ex-
tent young men who were about to make their first attempt
of
at hunting. These inexperienced beginners had, the day before
the beginning of the march, to present the old experienced hunters
and leaders with beer and an ox as a treat.
From the medicine men abundance of

the hunters procured
things to bring good luck in hunting, such as powder to rub on
the bow and bowstring, to increase their certainty of aim, and
medicine to rub on their eyes, to sharpen their vision. Once when
I went out elephant hunting with the Akamba they poured a sort
of powder in the barrel of my rifle. The leader on that occasion
brought with him a talisman consisting of sticks fastened together,
which was said to have the power of enticing the elephants out.
Just as on military expeditions the leaders also had magic medi-

cine, which prevented the animals from running away, even so that
if they are shot on one side, they shall then kindly turn the other I
Hobley describes^ how the old elephant hunter Sulu carried about
his person charms and medicines of various kinds: to ensure game
being seen, to make the hunter shoot straight, to let him get the
beast he wishes and, if he approaches a fierce animal, not to be
attacked by it.
^ kuumta kipa'ggotia 'to deliver sacrifices'.
^ C. V. Hobley, Kamba protective magic, Man 19 12, p. 4.
Hunting 467
This idea that religion and magic are part of the necessary
preparations for hunting or military expeditions in order to ensure
success is a fact that applies to all mankind.
As has been mentioned, during such hunting expeditions the
natives often travel very far from their native district or the near-
est cultivated place. If there is a good supply of game, they
construct a sort of headquarters, consisting of simple huts. This
work is carried out by the novices, who are treating in rather a
bullying way. They have to do all the menial work, chop the
wood and cook the food. They are not allowed to live in the
huts, but sleep outside. There is a good deal to support the idea
that this sleeping on the ground is of a ritual character, as in the
case of the novices during the initiation rites. When the hunt is
taking place in the neighbourhood of the headquarters, one of

them stays at home and cooks the food.
As a rule novices are not allowed to go alone to shoot at
an elephant, even if the opportunity seems to be a very favourable
one, but if they discover an animal, they have to report it to the
leaders. The intention of this is presumably to prevent them, in
their inexperience, from disturbing or frightening the animals away.

On the other hand many of the recruits are so frightened at the
sight of the huge pachyderms, which they see perhaps for the
first time, that they tremble and feel anything but inclined to
attack them.
A person who has not been present before when an elephant
or rhinoceros has been killed may not go up and look at one of
these animals before its tail has been cut off and removed. The
prohibition does not seem to apply to any other kind of big game.
If this rule is not observed, the beginner is supposed to have but
a slight prospect of being able to kill an elephant and would
thus miss what is perhaps the best chance of procuring
cattle and
wives for himself. We
have already described (p. 333) how the end
of the elephant's trunk is cut off and buried in the sand before the
novices have caught sight of it, and in the case of a she-elephant,
although for different reasons, the same thing is often done with
her dugs. We have also spoken already about the fear of men-
tioning an elephant by name during the hunt (p. 289).
The novice is not allowed to partake of all the parts of an
elephant that has been killed; thus he may not eat the udulio (a
part near the heart) or hpd (part of the back). These restrictions
are probable comparable to similar ones with regard to the eating
of meat in general, which we have mentioned on 144
p. fif.
The beginner who has himself killed or helped to kill an

elephant is on his return home at the end of the hunt initiated
into the secrets of hunting by one of the leaders as a reward.
He pays for this instruction with a goat.
Elephant hunting is carried on or was carried on — the nat-
ives are, of course, forbidden nowadays to hunt elephants — in
several different ways. They sometimes used the well-known dis-

guised pitfalls, although I never saw any of these in Ukamba.
They used to a greater extent the equally well-known snare —
widespread in Africa — in the shape of a poisoned spear falling
from above. This apparatus (Kik. ktatnbii) is described below
under »Traps».
A method of hunting which is much in vogue but which, how-
ever, imposes a hard test on the hunter's patience, is to build platforms
of branches up in the tree at the elephants' watering-place and
from these to send a shower of poisoned arrows on the animals,
often at some metres' distance^. In most cases, however, they
prefer to follow their tracks and steal upon them while they are
feeding or resting. It is a rule that the" one who first catches
sight of an elephant is not to attack him alone, but the whole
party or as many as possible shoot their arrows at the same time
so as to increase the chances of success. When the game is
distributed attention is paid to the effect of the arrow-shots. We

remember that the arrows are marked with their owner's clan
mark.
If any one is killed during an elephant hunt, two tusks are
handed over to his wife and children.
A successful elephant hunter usually braids a ring made of
the sinews of the elephant's feet round his bow for each elephant
he kills. In my ethnographical collection there is a bow with nu-
merous rings of this kind.
There is no doubt that the natives still have a quantity of
ivory concealed in the grass-covered roofs of their huts or buried
^ An account of the preparation of arrow-poison is given in con-

nection with the description of weapons p. 455.
:
Hunting 469
in the ground. The government buy up their old ivory at 4 ru-
pees a pound, but they are no longer disposed to sell it at this

price. Many of them still think that the Europeans will once
leave the country for ever, and then they will sell their ivory to
the Arabs and Suaheli, as they did formerly. In remote parts
the Akamba certainly still carry on elephant hunting secretly.
Opinions about the skill of settled African natives as hunters
vary a great deal, even same tribe, and one
in the case of the
finds most enthusiastic admiration side by side with rather
the
contemptuous expressions of opinion. It is perhaps most correct
to say that, just as among us there are good and bad hunters,
so there is the same mixture among the natives. As far as the
Akamba are concerned, I have heard nothing but good reports,

and my own experience quite bears out the general good reputation
they enjoy as hunters. Together with Mr A. Champion, District
Commissioner of Kitui, I followed elephants in the bush towards Tana
east of Ukamba for some weeks'
and I had an opportunity
time,
of observing two experienced old Kamba-hunters and learned to
estimate their capacities, their knowledge of the animals' habits,
their acute sight and hearing and their skill in following a track.
It was really a pleasure to see them study tracks and discuss them
Here the track is deeply impressed and the sand has been viol-
ently thrown up: the elephant has been frightened or for some
other reason has begun to run. In another place, on the other
hand, it is seen that the pachyderms are walking rapidly: they
have probably scented us and consequently begun to move. This
track, again, is that of an animal moving quite lazily, feeding on
the leaves and bark of the trees. It is quite unaware of our
proximity, and so on. A handful of sand serves to establish the

direction of the wind. The Akamba also use dogs in hunting,
and they are trained to follow the scent.
In order to attract the animals they also use call-notes but
as far as I know only against rhinoceroses and in the case of
boys hunting certain birds.
"
Traps.
Several traps of different construction and methods of use are
called "hkav^gd, as we shall see below. They are all, however, drop
traps. The name is possibly formed from kce^gga 'to cheat, de-
ceive'. The words k'htcei and itceo also mean 'trap', perhaps in
a general sense (< kutcea 'to trap').
I. Drop trap {k'hambu'^). A pole made of a hard species of

wood is pointed, coated with arrow-poison and fixed in another
pole, which in its turn is fastened in a log of wood. The whole
apparatus thus corresponds to an arrow with a head, loose middle
piece, and shaft. It is hung by means of a cord above an ele-
phant track on a projecting branch; the cord is brought down to
the ground and there set as a trap. When the elephant comes walk-
Fig. 132. Trap for smaller beasts of prey.

n a ring made of plaited fibres near the end ofthe stock, whose length
is about 1,5 m. h stick fastened through the fibre ring.
c cord forming a loop at the extreme end of the stick d.
e fork stuck in the ground, in which the
cord rests. / bait (piece of meat) fixed •
to the stick d. g The walls

of the trap.
ing along and releases the cord, the spear falls down on its back
and its point pierces it, while the remaining parts fall to the ground.
Traps of this type are also used for hyenas and leopards.
2. Drop trap (ykcB'ggd) for killing smaller beasts of prey, such
as gennets and serval cats. A log, i —2 metres long, is placed in
the position shown in fig. 132, built round at the sides with an
enclosure of twigs, etc. forming a narrow passage, on which the
log rests. A piece of meat (/) is used as bait. When the animal
touches this, the loop that the cord c forms round the extreme
end of the stick d, slips off. The released log then falls down.
1 really = 'stopper, wedge of wood'.

Hunting 471
3. The following trap is also set for smaller beasts of prey.

A pit is dug in the ground with a sloping entrance. In the vert-
ical back wall of the pit a hole is made and in it is placed a living
hen, which is kept shut in by means of a grating made of sticks
driven into the earth. The hen usually cries and so attracts small
beasts of prey to the place. At the bottom of the pit is placed
in a vertical position a running noose, which is fastened to a bow-
Fig- 133- Running noose (fnuJcwa). From a photo

by the author.
shaped bent switch. When the animal goes through the snare to
the hen, it treads on the stick by which the snare is set in an
unstable state of equilibrium. The released switch then becomes
straight is drawn tight.
and the noose
4. There are several types of running nooses for smaller
game, sometimes intended to catch them round the neck, some-
times by the legs or body. Nooses of the former kind are set at
the animals' drinking-places and in the fields, where they go to
eat. The mul:zva (fig. 133, 134) is a snare of the latter type. It
is fixed to a stick thrust down in the ground, a, which is kept

bent bow-shaped by the peg c placed on the noose and pressed
against the bow b (set in the ground) by the peg / wedged in
unstable equiUbrium between the bow and the stick d.

Another sort of running noose, called nd^ndelo, is only known
to me by name.
5. Bird snare {ikce^gd). This is made of sticks (fig. 135)
and somewhat resembles in shape an arched lid of a box. The
snare is placed edgeways resting against a stick, which is resting
Fig, 134. Running noose {tnuhwa).
unstably between the prongs of another fixed in the ground and

shaped like a fork. From the lower end of the first stick a cord
runs to the ground, where it is fastened to a small stick lying
beneath the outer part of a longer one, which in its turn extends
in beneath the trap. Here are scattered grains of maize or other
bait. When the bird touches the last-mentioned stick, the trap
falls down like a lid.
These snares are made by the boys. The one reproduced here
was used for catching partridges, francolins, pigeons, etc. For
guinea-fowl they are made larger and heavier.
6. Hobley, who mentions four traps (Akamba, p. 30), speaks
Hunting 473-
Fig- 135 Falling bird snare.
of another kind of drop trap {hkceggd) of a well-known type^

» consisting of a flat slab of stone supported by a twig and baited
with grain; the supporting twig is usually pulled away with a
string. This is used »to catch birds and monkeys ».
Fig. 136. Trap for catching moles. Ye nat size.
7. Trap for catching moles {kttatt or kiswggula). The mole,

which in Ukamba is much bigger than the Swedish species, does
a great deal of damage to the fields and the natives accordingly

try to catch as many as possible. The trap consists of a cylindrical
piece of wood (fig. 136), hollowed out except at one end. It is
placed with its aperture towards the moles' hole or in the mole
run itself. Through the small holes a is drawn a cord, which is
fastened to a stick in the ground and keeps the pliant stick d bent
in a bow. The running nooses c, fastened to the stick, run through
small holes d in the upper part of the cylinder and are hidden
by being placed in recesses in the walls of the cylinder. In
addition earth is strewn over the nooses at the bottom of the
cylinder. On this are put grains of maize, etc. as bait. When the
mole knocks against the cord running through a and is checked by
it,he finds it suspicious and bites it through. The stick is
suddenly straightened, draws the trap with it and the mole swings
at c/. The person who has set the trap remains near it and goes
occasionally to see to it.
Formerly this trap was also uîed, although in a smaller size,

for catching rats indoors, but nowadays, when cats are usually kept,
it has almost entirely gone out of use for this purpose.
Moles are also caught in the following way: The natives ob-
serve the animal's wandering in its underground passages, and
when they have discovered they proper place, they drive a pointed
pole down with such accuracy that it blocks the way for the
mole, which is then quickly dug out. A certain amount of skill
is needed to see where the animal is and to place the pole so

that is goes just through the passage.
No fishing is carried on, as the Akamba do not eat fish.

Besides there are no waters with them in Ukamba, no lakes
fish in
at all and hardly any rivers except Athi, Tiwa and Nthua.
Chap. XXVII. Domestic animals.
I. Myths about the origin of cattle.
When one remembers that cattle are the negro's dearest

possession in this world, it is not strange to find that he has
pondered over the origin of these precious animals. While real
•myths of origin, as I have shown on p. 252, are almost enti-
rely lacking among the Akamba, there are ideas about the origin
of cattle in several of the people's myths, in their folklore and
traditions^. To this subject I have found the following allusions.
1, In the myth of the origin of man (p. 252) the first cow
and one of the first two human couples come out of a termite
hole (jnupianbini).
2. A myth that I heard in Kitui, which is possibly the same
as the preceding one or a variant of it, is as follows:
The first human beings, who came up out of the termite
hole, settled down in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the
hole. They had no cattle, but increased and soon formed a
whole village. One day they heard a voice from heaven it —
was Ngai —
saying: »On the seventh evening after this, when
you go to rest, do not shut your craals!»
The seventh evening came, and some did as they had been
requested, others, on the other hand, were afraid and carefully
shut the entrances to their craals, before they retired to rest.
They were awakened by sound from the
a gentle, inexplicable
big opening in the earth. coming up and going
It was the cattle
into the craals that were open. A little while later other and
more shrill cries were heard from the hole. It was goats and
sheep coming the same way as the horned cattle.
^ Hobley declares (p. 20) that the Akamba have no legend as to

the origin of cattle and other domestic animals.
»
Whe who had left their craals open found

the sun rose, those
them full Those on the other hand who had kept then*
of cattle.
shut bitterly repented not having obeyed Ngai's exhortation. From
the former arose the Masai, from the latter the Akamba.
3. In the tradition about the common origin of the Akamba,
Akikuyu and Masai (p. 353) the Masai are the first to keep
cattle. According to their own traditions as well S they consider
themselves as originally the sole owners of all cattle, and when
they set out on a plundering expedition, they are getting back,
according to their own view, only their rightful property and they
use this as an excuse, if they trouble to try to find any excuse
at all.
4. Among the numerous stories of the Akamba about ani-
mals there is one that treats of how the cow became a domestic
animal. She was originally a wild animal, »like the bijfifalo», but
harassed came to the villages of human beings
by beasts of prey,
and asked to be taken in by them. In return for the protection
they gave her, she gave them her milk, and so they lived together
to their mutual satisfaction and profit.
5. In Muutha, East Ukamba, I heard this tradition: When

the first human beings, the Akamba, came out of the termite
hole, they had in their right hand a bow, "in the left the pro-
ducts of the field ^. Thus we see that they had no cattle, and it
was a They maintained themsel-
long time before they got any.
ves instead principally by hunting. They shot elephants especially
and sold the ivory to the Suaheli traders, who came up from
the coast to meet them. They soon learned to go down to the
coast themselves, and on these journeys they got to know about
cattle and were especially pleased with their milk and with their
fat mix in their snufif». Then they exchanged ivory for cattle.
»to
»This was the beginning of cattle.
These traditions have little scientific value. At a hasty glance
they seem to contradict each other, but on closer comparison
this contradiction can be explained. The fourth in the series can
^ See H oil is, The Masai, p. 268.

* The expressions » right » and »left» undoubtedly denote the dis-
tribution of labour, the difference between the man's and the woman's
occupations. Cf. p. 104, note 2.
Domestic animals 477
at once be left out of the reckoning as being merely a xvanv, a

fairy-tale. Similarly we can eliminate nos. i
— 3, which may be
considered as probably having the same value as fairy-tales, and
which are probably taken really seriously by few people except
women and children. The fifth story, on the other hand, is con-
nected in the beginning, it is true, with the myths about origin,
but has afterwards a good deal of truth in it. It teaches us that

the Akamba consider themselves originally a hunting people, who
seem, however, to have been connected with the land to a certain
extent. This short tradition is of a certain interest because it
introduces us to a common problem concerning the way human

culture has developed. We know the old customary path of cultural
development from hunters to nomads and then to farmers. Against
this division E. Hahn especially, and many others after him, have
emphatically pointed out^ that cattle and other domestic animals
could only be produced by settled peoples, who were therefore
at a comparatively high level of culture (through the attempts at
cross-breeding of generations of different wild races). For this
reason it is clear that after being a hunter and gatherer man first
became a farmer, more or less settled, before he began real cattle-
breeding.
What led me on to this topic was the fact that the last-men-
tioned Kamba tradition says that the people had the products of
the field before they got to know about cattle. We may venture,
perhaps, on account of this to state that this idea, even though it is
unconscious, forms part of the primitive consciousness of the fact

that agriculture is older than cattle-breeding.
2. Cattle=breeding.
The Akamba's cattle is of the same race as that which is

kept by the neighbouring tribes and numerous other East African
peoples, namely a species of zebu with rather short horns. With
regard to the colour the cattle is black and white, light yellow or
greyish, while brown animals are very rare. The stock was app-
^ E. Hahn, Die Haustiere, Leipzig 19 15, and, in concentrated

form, in Demeter und Baubo, Versuch einer Theorie der Entstehung
unsres Ackerbaus, Lubeck 1896.
reciably reduced by rinderpest and also during the last great

famine, but is now, on the contrary, pretty considerable. There
is a general tendency, even among those who possess only a
small number of animals, not to keep them in the same place,
but to divide them up into small herds in different craals with
intervals between them, which, in the case of a rich man with many
women to look after the animals, may be as large as a whole
day's march or more. This is done chiefly for practical reasons,
to prevent the spreading of cattle diseases, and in former times
also as a protection against the attacks of the Masai. In either
case the risk •
of losing the whole stock at once was, of course,
decreased. Superstitious motives may also play a part. The na-
tives are afraid of their neighbour's envy, the »evil eye» and
other magic.
These precautions were, however, not always sufficient to save
them from rinderpest. The great epidemic in 1891, the same one
as decreased the Masai's herds so enormously, passed in Ukamba
from village to village, and those, for instance, who owned 500
head of cattle had only five to ten left.
The cattle are milked early in the morning, but are not driven
out to graze before the dew has dried up, as the wet grass is
not considered to improve their condition. They are watched by

youths and boys, who do this work in regular turns. One some-
times sees an old man who has no sons at home minding his
cattle himself. Although this is, as we see, the work of the men,
there is nothing to prevent women doing it (among certain other
Bantu peoples, Kafirs, etc. they are not allowed to do this), and they
usually do it when the men are engaged with other things. The
cattle-herd usually takes his place on a termite heap {kibtonbu),
from which he can watch the animals. The boys pass the time
with games and jokes, and the young men sit and polish their orna-
ments. In warm Kikumbuliu the cattle are taken to rest beneath
some big trees during the hottest part of the day.
A number of cattle are pastured as a rule so far from the
village that they cannot be driven home daily but are kept dur-
ing the nights in an enclosure called hce'ggo out at the grazing
place. In it there is also a hut for those who are looking after
the cattle.
The cattle are milked in the morning and evening by women.
A man living alone in the kiesggo, however, milks them himself.

The women milk standing, in a somewhat crouching position, with
only one hand, as they hold the calabash in the other.
According to Hildebrandt, in his time the men did the milk-
ing. This seems to be a custom common for cattle-keeping
tribes at an earlier stage, and if his statement is true, it is very
interesting to see how the Akamba in late times have changed the
original custom. In the beginning not only hunting but also cattle-
keeping, and everything connected with it, is the work of the men.
To increase the supply of milk in cows and small cattle they
are given certain plants, preferably those rich in milky sap, often
the same as are eaten by women who are suckling their children
and who have a deficient supply of milk. Such plants have been
mentioned on p. 319. We may mention here, in addition, a
decoction of mweha or kamueha (Croton.?) and 'gondiu (xa) akadiy
which is chiefly given to goats to drink.
When milking cows which have young calves, the calf is allo-
wed to suck before the milking begins. If the calf dies, the mother
stops giving milk. The Akamba then stuff the calf's skin with hay
and put it by the mother, who then lets herself be milked, a
practice that is also known among the Masai and Nandi.
Cows which do not care for their calves are given the excre-
ments of the python to eat. It is said to have a good effect (for
the various use of the excrements of this snake vide Index).
If an animal will not stand still or if it has the bad habit
of kicking, a stand is made with tree trunks, to one pole of which
the animal's head is fastened, and its hind legs to another.
Fierce cattle that wish to butt can be made harmless by the
following process, which is undoubtedly of a magic character, though
the mental procedure of the natives with regard to it is not so
easy to understand. An %awd, a sort of night-jar, is procured and
its feathers and skeleton are burnt and the ashes put in water,
which is given to the animal to drink. If eggs of this bird are
found, they can be used for the same purpose. In this case it is
only necessary to throw the eggs at the animal that is to be

cured of its bad habit. To make animals tractable by a certain
ceremony, by using certain magic means, is called kudoOm. We
shall find that the Akamba also tafce measures with their bees for
the same purpose (p. 496).
.480 Lindblom, The Akamba
To lead cattle leather straps are used. They are fastened

round the base of the horns. To catch calves a long wooden
crook {mbolo}) is used, of the same type as that by which beehives
are hung up. Cow-bells {mbwi) are used. They are made of iron,
of the type usual in these districts and like those in Europe.
Cattle are castrated by having a red-hot awl stuck through
the veins of the testicles. This is called kuOakua in the case of
horned cattle,when sheep and goats are castrated.
kutua
Sheep and goats are killed by being strangled. The animal's
mouth is kept closed and its neck squeezed.
Bleeding of cattle. Like the Masai, the Akikuyu and other
tribes the Akamba now and then bleed their cattle, the blood being a
favourite food. I have seen them seize an animal which was to be
bled where it was grazing; this was done by suddenly seizing it
by one of its hind legs and throwing it over. Then its legs are
fastened tightly with leather straps, so that the animal cannot
move. Another strap is fastened so tightly round its neck that
the blood accumulates in the big blood-vessel and forms a swell-
ing. A blunt arrow {ndia, see fig. 137) is shot with a short bow
at the lump. The shooter stands close by the animal. The arrow
does not stick in, but rebounds back. A stream of blood rushes
out and is collected in a calabash. Some' people then put their
mouths to the hole and drink eagerly. One may even- see boys busy
picking lice from the animals' udders and putting them in their mouths.
Then the animal is been
released, after the stream of blood has
stopped by smearing a cow-dung or earth on the wound. It
little
resumes its interrupted grazing as if nothing had happened. An-

other animal is then caught and treated in the same way.
The arrows that are used are kept in a leather quiver of the
same type as the ordinary arrow quiver. For bleeding sheep and
goats, however, they use arrows with shorter points. The arrows
have no feathers, as the distance is only a few decimetres. The
base of the arrow is bound above the notch, sometimes with
-sinews, sometimes with hair from the zebra's tail.
During famine they take the blood in this way once a month
or more often. At other times bleeding is really used chiefly as
a medical remedy, especially during the rainy season, when it is
sometimes carried out, during an abundant rainfall perhaps twice.

The natives maintain that during the rainy season the animals
get constipation more easily than at other times, and bleeding is
used as a remedy for this^.
A difficulty that cattle-breeding has to overcome in many

places in East Ukamba is the meagre supply of water during the
dry season. It is then often very troublesome to procure water for
the needs of human beings, and still more for cattle. Even the
bigger rivers, such as the Tiva, dry up, and holes i — 2 metres
deep have to be dug in the riverbed in order to reach the water
Fig. 139. Arrow for

bleeding cattle. Vs siz.
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv.
12. 7. 82.
Fig. i4o. Cattle-bleeding.
The cattle are watered in some places only every other or

every third day, and not more than one or two animals at a time
are allowed to go down to the water, so that they shall not jostle
together and up the water. To prevent this the waterhole is
stir
often also enclosed. I have often seen a man standing at the

entrance of such an enclosure with his sheep and goats outside,
waiting for them to drink. They go one by one down to the
water, and it is interesting to see in what an orderly way this is
done and how patiently the animals wait for their turn to come,
^ The Masai also bleed their cattle, especially during the wet
season, as a remedy for an illness that the animals get by eating big
larvae that are found in the grass on the steppe (Merker p. 171).
Arch Or. Lindblom

although they are very thirsty. The man guides them merely by
whistling. In Kikumbuliu I saw a kind of water reservoir con-
sisting of living trees with their trunks broad, as it were swollen,
at the bottom and hollowed During the rainy season water

out.
was collected in these hollows, out of which the goats were then
allowed to drink.
It is usual to guide the cattle by whistling also, when they
are driven to and from their grazing places. The Kamba herd
controls his animals as skilfully as a thorough nomad, and his
silent but certain demeanour has a salutary effect on one who is
accustomed to the Swedish peasant's continual shouting and halloo-

ing to his cattle. To whistle is called kuusia fnm\ no kind of
superstition is connected with it.
The Akamba, like other cattle-owning people, are very fond of

their cattle, as they are, of course, their real wealth. More than
one man whom I jokingly asked whether he liked his cattle or
.his wife best took this question seriously and was unable to de-
cide, leaving me without any answer. A herd of fine oxen is
the special pride and delight of the Kamba man. A delight to

the eyes is just the right expression, for the cows are there to
give milk and fat, but the oxen »to grow fat», as one of my na-
tive friends expressed it. They seldom have the heart to kill an
ox, except in cases of need and on ceremonial occasions. To kill
a calf is almost unthinkable. The meat that the Akamba get from
their herdsis given for the most part by sheep and goats. To use
oxen any work appears ridiculous to them; besides »they
for
grow thin from it and their flesh is spoiled*. Thus the oxen
lead a pleasant life, and only in their older days do they get
killed for food.
This love for cattle has made many a coward show proofs
of courage and daring, when at a Masai attack he had to recover
a favourite ox. If a grazing herd was attacked, was considered
it
a great the herdsman to

dishonour for abandon his cattle and
try to save by flight. He had to fight as long as pos-
himself
sible. Sometimes he was able to keep the Masai in check as
long as his arrows lasted, and then, when they were all shot away,
he would yield with dull submission and wait for death.
On the other hand this passion gives rise to endless quarrels.
Most of the law-suits may be said to be in connection with
cattle. They also cause avarice and dishonesty. It is not long

since the Akamba enjoyed the doubtful honour of being regarded
as prominent cattle thieves, even among themselves. While I
was still living in Machakos, it happened that some men went
over to the Kikuyu country and in the old traditional style drove
off some In former times it was not uncommon, when
animals. .
a man someone to come to his heir and say: »Your

died, for
father owed me an ox or so many goats*. Young and inexperi-
enced individuals were sometimes taken in by such deception.
One of my friends answered such a claim very pertinently: »My
father lay ill a long time before he
died. Why did you not
come while he was living?* They imposed on the credulity
also
of boys who were tending the cattle. A man would go, for in-
stance, to the grazing place and say to the herdsman: »Your
father told me to bring an ox home with me, as I had to pass
this way. » He would then disappear with his booty.
Cattle and also goats and sheep often appear ip the num-
erous riddles of the Akamba. Of about 120 riddles I have noted,
14 deal with these domestic animals.
3. Other domestic animals.
Besides horned cattle the Akamba keep very many sheep

and goats. The former are a species of fat-tailed sheep. The
he-goats become very tame, and one sometimes sees a he-goat
following a woman like a dog on her way to and from the fields.
The following plants are considered to be good food for goats:
the leaves of mupelea, a low bush with lip-shaped, lilac flowers
(2 stamina); the leaves of the tree called mwcsma n^du (Legumi-
nosae, with small lilac flowers); the dry hard fruit of the wa
(Acacia sp.).
They do not keep asses, but in former times these were

found in certain places. Hildebrandt says about asses (p. 380):
»They do not thrive well in Ukamba because of the dondorobo
fly^ [tsetse fly? — only found, however, in the south-east]. The
^ A dorohbo is the Masai name for the tsetse fly (Glossina mor-
sitans).
Akamba eat the tame ass after having first fattened them, a thing
that I have not found among other East Africans ».
Poultry perhaps the most common domestic animal in
is
Africa, however mean a hut may be, it is never without

and
some cocks and hens. The species is small and thin and lays
small eggs, which are never used by the natives as food. This
is due partly to a mere dislike of eggs, which are called »the
hen's excrements {mai ma ^guku), but economic reasons are still
more important. It is, of course, foolish to eat eggs and by so
doing voluntarily prevent the increase of one's poultry.
Poultry must never be shot with arrows. A friend of the
author had a great number of cocks and hens and often used to
have a good meal of one of them, which, for the pleasure of the
thing, he shot with his arrows. His poultry thrived excellently
for a long time, but then they began to die, one after the other,
and many were taken by ki6u%, probably a species of gennet or
some small cat. The men maintained
that the cause of this
old
was that he had killed poultry with arrows.
The poultry are very tame. I used now and then to buy a
few, and when the natives let them loose at my tent, it was very
amusing to notice how they were immediately at home and began
to look for food. In the evening they crept into the tent without
any fear and slept there. On my marches the bearers transported
them in the usual cruel native manner, namely by tying their
legs together and fastening them to a load. Often they were
unable to get a foothold but hung down swinging from side to
side. One meet natives daily carrying poultry in this brutal way.
If a single person, however, is carrying a number of cocks and
hens to market, he takes them in a sort of wicker basket on
his head.
The Akamba have a story about the origin of domestic
poultry. Like the cow they were originally wild beasts. The
story is briefly as follows:
Long ago guineahens and barndoor fowls were brothers and
sisters and lived together in the wilderness. Once during the rainy
season they were very cold, and so the guineahen said: »Go to
the Akambas' villages and fetch what they warm themselves with,
fire!» The barndoor fowl raised objections and did not want to
go, for she was afraid of human beings, but the guineahen drove
;
her off. She came to a village, went into a hut and began to
warm herself. When she was warm she crept in beneath a bed
and went to sleep.
The guineahen waited in vain the whole night and was ex-
ceedingly cold. When it got hght, she went out to look for the
barndoor fowl, calling continually to her. Finally the fowl heard
her, but she had found her new home much too pleasant to leave.
Accordingly she cried at the top of her voice: »There is no fire
here, there is no fire here!* The guineahen then went away but
came back again the next morning, and the same thing was
repeated. The guineahen then flew away in anger, never to come
back again. »But the day they were cold the friendship between
the barndoor fowl and the guineahen died and never came to
life again ».
Many of the Kamba dogs are undoubtedly of a mixed race,
as many Akamba got pups from Europeans during recent years.
The original race —
I must leave the question unsettled as to
whether there is really only one race — shows a great resem-

blance to our village curs, rather small animals with tails curling
upwards. They often cut the tail off to improve the animal's
appearance. Hildebrandt saw in his time a species of greyhound
I have, however, never come across any of these.
The Akamba are very much attached to their dogs, as they
are to their animals in general, and treat them very well. Thrash-
ing dog may occasion severe hostility, even a life and death
a
struggle.The native dogs are very afraid of Europeans, just as,
on the other hand, the white men's dogs usually show a great
dislike to the natives.
In Hildebrandts time there were no cats. Nowadays they
have a number, obtained from the Europeans.
To keep wild animals as company or for amusement is not
usual.
The different kinds of domestic animals are called with differ-

ent cries. For dogs they whistle or call su, su, su. To goats
they say kcs/t, kceh, kceh, to sheep a sort of buzzing mah, mah and
to poultry a sort of clacking sound which it is difficult to express
in writing. The cattle have names, and each animal is called by
its name.
4. Names for domestic animals in the Kamba language.
Many of the African tribes that keep cattle have an exten-

sive nomenclature for their cattle, having for instance different
words for thesame kind of animal at different ages, etc. and

similarly an enormous number of technical terms in connection
with cattle. My studies in the Kamba language have not given
very great results with regard to these. The rather few terms I
have found for domestic animals are as follows:
'joombB cattle mbu% goat

nzau bull yitSce^gd he-goat
ndcewa ox nd(Pla, 'ggulata castrated he-goat
kasaUy kasalu calf vtwofna female goat bearing
mox heifer, dimin. kanioh young
mulao calf that has finished suck- mbaika young female goat, that
ing has not yet had kids
ndu\ half-grown cattle ndcEna, kateena kid
mupuku (kipuJiu) hornless cattle ^gondu, tlondu sheep
(one occasionally sees such ndatnd ram
cattle) mwqti young female sheep not
ndata barren cow yet bearing
mmbi grey cattle (apart from ^guliu barndoor fowl
this the Akamba have no word nzokolo cock
for grey^) mwcela hen
'ggindd cattle with the horns bent 'ggih, sidu, ikulu, ^gulu dog
forward and backward close to mbaliU cat (Kisuaheli pakd)
the head (they are loose and iôt donkey (onomatopoetic word)
vibrate, as it were, when the 'ggaima camel (= Kisuaheli)
animal moves) mblast horse (Kisuaheli farasi).
We can scarcely expect a closer investigation of these words

to give us any idea of the origin of the domestic animals among
the Akamba. Bantu languages have observed that
Experts in the
most of them are pure Bantu stems. I have not found any res-
emblance to the Masai and Galla languages. In Kikuyu these
expressions are the same as in Kikamba, making allowance, of
course, for the differences due to sound laws.
^ Cf. how the Hottentots have numerous terms for the colour of
cattle, but not for colours on other objects.
The natives, especially the women who have to milk the

cows, give names to the cattle. The sheep and goats also often
get names. Examples:
mwcelu (dim. kcslu) 'the white one' sxo-ntita 'the mother of the duiker'-
kailu 'the little black one' The name is given to a cow

muiund (dim. katund) 'the red one' with a calf like a duiker (Cepha-
katundumu (< tunduma 'to thun- lophus sp.)
der') sxo-kutu: name of a cow that bore

kiGala: name of cattle with a a calf with peculiarly shaped
white blaze on the forehead ears {kutu 'ear'). About the
(lit. 'spot on the ground where prefix sw- cf. p. loi.
no grass grows')
A common name for dogs is masd\.
5. Rites connected with cattle=breeding.
To anyone who has the slightest knowledge of primitive ways

of thought must be obvious that cattle and cattle-breeding,
it
which are so important in the Akambas' life, must have given

rise to numerous rites. There are, as a matter of fact, an infinite
number of such rites, especially of a preventive character, and

they are discernible, among other places, in sexual life. Here
and there in the preceding pages of this work we have come
across examples of how in certain cases sexual connection brings
good luck, is purificatory and is necessary to ritual, and on the
other hand in other cases is inauspicious and must therefore be
carefully avoided. This chapter gives us still farther contributions
to the same subject.
As long as the cattle are out at pasture and in the kicz'ggo,
the outlying farm, it is injurious to them and can cause their

death ifowner has connections with his wife. If, however,
their
this takes place, the herd must, on its return, be first purified
with "gondvi and the craal and the entrance to it {muGid) as well,
before the animals are let in. The '%ondm that is used is de-
scribed in pp. 295 fif., and is made from the hyrax {hhld). Even
if no sexual intercourse has taken place, they sometimes sprinkle
the cattle, on their return home, with ordinary 'gondiu of the goat
in order to be safe.
This strict demand for continence does not seem, however,

to apply to the younger people. As far as I could understand,
a fairly unrestricted freedom prevails among the young people
during the time they stay out herding cattle^. I do not know
the reason for this, but those of them, at least, who have not yet
been circumcised are not real members of the community, and
their behaviour is therefore of small importance.
In a case of infectious disease in a herd, it is rather common
for the cattle-doctor (see below) to forbid the owner and his wife
to have sexual intercourse for a time, sometimes for several months.
On the other hand, when newly-acquired cattle, the proceeds
either of purchase or plunder, are brought home to the village, their
owner has coitus with his wife in the hope that because of it
the cows will » calve well», quite according to the old magic sen-
tence that »like begets like».
If cattle die without an obvious cause, it may be due to
magic or other things, but it may also arise from using utensils
that are supposed to be injurious to the cattle, especially in con-
nection with milk. The Akamba follow, for instance, the well-
known African custom of fumigating the milk-vessels with some
aromatic kind of wood. If some calves die, the wood hitherto
used may be blamed for this, and it will be changed for some
other kind. In a similar way they may change the spoon used
to take the fat out of the calabashes that serve as butter-churns.
If, for instance, they have formerly carved these spoons from the
wood of the mu^cBU tree, they will afterwards make use of another
kind of wood. In this way they try to prevent mortality amongst
the cattle. They also use different kinds of -gondm for cleaning
the milkpails and for sprinkling on the cattle. Plants used for
preparing such waipu (a red-flowered Compositae with
'gondui. are
potato-like roots), imlind'hti and kxo'ggwa (Sanseviera sp.).

A Kamba man never counts his cattle, as this may bring bad
luck. When they are driven into the craal of an evening, they
look carefully, of course, to see that all the animals are there,
but they do so without counting. They recognize the individual
animals by their appearance^.
^ According to Hobley (Akamba p. 166) all herdsmen are exempt

from this prohibition.
^ Vide further Hobley, Akamba, p. 165.
We have seen that the boys of a family, regularly and with

an equal number of days' interval between each, relieve each
other in watching the cattle. A period of this kind is often six
days, but it must never be as high as seven, or it will be dis-
astrous for the cattle ^.
Rites for among cattle. We remember that

a twin-birth
the birth of twins both among human beings and animals is con-
sidered as an inauspicious event (see p. 38). If a cow has twins,
both the mother and the calves are killed, but there is no danger
in eating the flesh. It must be a really strong belief to make the
Akamba cows and calves, as in normal cases they never
kill
do so^. There are, however, men —

although very few in number
— who know certain rites by which the danger can be removed
without killing the animals. One of these men was the before-
mentioned 'gondiu specialist Malata wa Kyambi, living near Ma-
chakos. He had learned the secret from a person who was now
dead and whom he had consulted in a similar case. He had then
used his art with good results (naturally) in the case of a brother-
in-law of his, one of whose cows had given birth to twin calves.
As there is thus a way to ward off the loss, one might per-
haps ask why this secret is not more generally known. The reason
is presumably that cases of twin birth among horned cattle are
rather rare, and when such a case occurs, it is too late to do
anything in the matter, as an expert in the rite is not always at
hand.
In order to show me a favour, Malata initiated me into this
rite, which few men in Ukamba know. For this he demanded in
return several calabashes of sugarcane, beer and two rupees in

cash. The method of procedure is, according to his own words,
which I took down in their original language, as follows:
^ Cf. p. 58, note.

^ Except in or if a cow is barren, a private man
this case,
cannot kill or dispose cows. They are to a certain extent the
of
property of the whole family, and the consent of all the adult males
is necessary before any of them is allowed to take a cow away. The
animals given when a wife is purchased are not an exception to this;
they are, of course, only a deposit, as they go back to their owner,
if the man does not want his wife any longer.
»If a cow gives birth to twins, its owner takes a bee-hive

(i. e. a cyhndrical wooden tube) and puts the calves through it
(perhaps to symbolize a new birth). Another man receives them
at the other end. The calves are taken back to the craal. When
they have finished getting milk from their mother, one of them
is sent away to another village, the other may stay behind with
its mother. When the cow calves the next time, one takes 'gondm
made of mulalo, waipu, the two first of which are,
muta and
perhaps, most common of all 'gondm plants. The plants are
the
crushed on a stone and put in a calabash shell with water (thus
prepared in the usual way). A sheep's tail is taken and dipped in
the 'gondia, the cow's tail is lifted up and the animal smeared with
the •joondvii (first of all obviously the genitals). Now one may milk
the cow (before this its milk could not be used). The first milk
is taken far away and poured out. If anyone treads in this milk
and then goes home and has intercourse with his wife, she will
give birth to twins ».
If a goat or a sheep has twins, they are allowed to live, but
the young ones are given to another person. Presumably the birth
of twins among these animals is too common for there to be
anything remarkable about it.
6. Cattle diseases.
Just as the Akamba have a not inconsiderable experience in

the treatment of human diseases, so they know and can cure
various cattle diseases. Here too, of course, real knowledge
is more or less indistinguishably bound up with riiagic rites
and quackery. Of course every private person doctors his ani-

mals for ordinary ailments, but there are, in addition, special
doctors for cattle diseases, a kind of veterinary surgeons after a
fashion, who are not to be confounded with the medicine men (awd).
Those of them who possess a reputation for skillfulness have an
extensive practice and are called from distant places.
A common and rather severe illness, which I cannot how-
ever identify, is called ^gat (an external form of anthrax?). On the
sick animals body are seen sores and swellings, on which the
milky juice of ikwapa is rubbed for 4 —
5 days, after which the
wound is burned with a redhot iron.

As a remedy for ^gai other plants are also used. The

copious milky sap of kigpa (a small tree with entire leaves —
Euphorbiaceae?), which can produce a burning pain in the face and
eyes, is rubbed on the diseased places and burns away the eviP.
Decoctions of several plants are given to the cattle as a drink.
Such plants are inu6ua6ux (Araliaceai, with flowers on a bare branch),
mutula (decoction made from the leaves), mupulu (Croton Elliotti-
anus), the ol marbait of the Masai, the bark of which boiled to-
gether with meat and blood makes a strengthening soup.

The marks on cattle have already been discussed on
clan
p. 129 ff. I wish to add here that the X-shaped brands that
are seen every now and then on cattle, must not be confused
with these marks; they only indicate that the animals have been
treated for the disease ^gni'. A brand with a similar use is
seen in fig. 141. It is called k^Q kia inaQu> 'the
brand of the lungs'; i. e. it is a mark to denote
treatment for disease of the lungs.
mwgutu or mupunt is a skin disease. Thejskin
gets sore and peels off and ultimately looks fung-
ous, or as was overgrown with some sort of ^
if it '^,' ^^]\ .
lichen. The d.seased places are rubbed with the ^^'"L tTx.)^"
fat of Rhicinus.
A disease of an infectious nature is ikcend. The symptom
is » swelling of body and legs». If an animal dies from this
disease, its flesh cannot be eaten — the Akamba do not despise

the flesh of an animal that has died from natural causes — before
one of the above-mentioned doctors has treated it. It is cut up,
and the doctor pours a mixture, made from certain on it. plants,
A sheep is killed and cut up into small pieces, which are mixed
with the beef, and then this may be eaten. When it is all
eaten up, the doctor puts medicine in the fire on the hearth in
the hut, and then the disease cannot return.

A method commonly used by all these doctors to prevent
the spreading of infection to a herd consists of burying certain
^ The milky sap is so abundant that it almost spurts out when a

branch is broken. It congeals pretty quickly and then grows black.
^ Hobley (Akamba, p. 28) seems to take this brand as a part of
a clan mark.
roots across the entrance to the cattle craal, so that the animals
go over them as they pass in and out.
The infectious disease called ndelu seems mysterious, remind-
ing one of rinderpest, inasmuch as it is said to afifect wild beasts as
well, such as antelopes (the hartebeest for instance). Its symptoms
in the animal are unknown to me, but if a human being eats the
flesh of an animal that has died from this disease, »he vomits,
his body begins to swell and his evacuations have a nasty smell,
which makes others ill. At the swollen places his flesh becomes
loose and falls off with a crack (!)». The disease is usually fatal,
although the Akamba imagine they can cure it with certain herbs,
which are mixed with the milk of the dead animal's mother and
given to the sick persons to drink.
A good deal of superstition is obviously connected with this
disease. The natives also believe that it always claims an odd
number of victims, so that if, for instance, four people have died
from it, they are certain that at least one more will follow.
I have unfortunately to confess that I do not know the name

for rinderpest in the Kamba language, nor the symptoms of that
disease. It is possibly one of the diseases mentioned here.
More ordinary cattle illnesses are stomach complaints and
colds with subsequent diarrhoea, coughs and fever. For colds and
diarrhoea in goats they use a decoction of the leaves of kiluma,
a species of aloe with red, cylindrical flowers, for coug h the
leaves of musoka soka. In cases of fever the animals are washed
with this decoction. For diarrhoea cattle are given a decoction
of mutumba-'ggmo or mukwggum, an Artemisia, ndai, a bush-like
plant with soft, herb-like branches filled with milky sap, is used
for constipation in cattle. The sap is crushed out into water,
which the animals drink.
For sore eyes on cattle the natives chew to pieces the leaves
of the mutula, a plant used, as we have just seen, for ggw, and put
them on the eyes. Whether the leaves are chewed merely to break
them up effectively or whether a healing effect is also ascribed
to the saliva, I cannot say, as the latter possibility only occured
tome while writing. A fact that supports this idea is that another re-
medy for eye-disease in cattle, namely the bitter leaves of the %sidu
bush (Capposidacese?), are also chewed before the compress is put on
the eye^. If we turn, for the sake of comparison, to the remedy

for eye-disease in human beings mentioned in Chap. XV, we find
no support, for though I have certainly noted that a plant is
» crushed* and placed on the eye, there is nothing said about

how it is crushed. We can understand, however, from various
details mentioned in previous pages that saliva is also considered
among the Akamba to possess a beneficial (magic) power. The
old man, for instance, who carries out circumcision spits out over
the crowd of young men after the circumcision is accomplished.
In the rivers there is a sort of larvae or insects called
nâmba, »narrow, as long as a finger» (leeches?), which, when the
cattle are drinking, sometimes bites on to their tongues and make
them bleed 2. The animals are made to release their hold, if the
cattle drinks a decoction of mwinda-'ggud.
^ The Masai spit milk in the animals' eyes in cases of eye-in-

flammation. Merker, Die Masai, p. 169
- According to Hofmann's dictionary the animal is a water-
spider.
Chap. XXVIII. Beekeeping.
Beekeeping is widely spread in the Dark continent, and

thisseems to be especially the case in great parts of East
Africa,where quite wild swarms of bees are always numerous.
The main business of this, in many places very comprehensive
bee-culture — if one can use the expression » culture » of these
more than half-wild bees — is of course a pure plundering of the
habitations of the bees. On account of a too ruthless persecution
— they were smoked out wherever they were found — the num-
ber of the bees diminished, and they began to keep away from
inhabited districts and to take refuge on the steppes, in bushes
or in the primitive woods. Because of this presumably the negro
came to think that he must tempt the bees in some way to come
to him, and so he began to construct beehives. Among the
Akamba these are of the type which, with inessential deviations,
are found all over East Africa, namely a hollowed-out piece of
a trunk of a tree of a half to one metre long. The ends are
closed by thin pieces of wood (in the Machakos dialect called
tribcsngcEO, eastward ynbalaa), which are fitted inside the rims of
the cylinder and are supplied with two holes for entrances for the
bees^. Such a beehive is called mwatu in Kikamba. One end
has on the side turned downwards its owner's mark (see p. 134).
Only certain kinds of tree are used for the making of beehives.
The muku, hGutt (Aberis precatorius) and kmmu (the wild fig-
tree) are considered especially suitable.
Everywhere in East Africa one sees these beehives on the
trees, not seldom a dozen on the same one. They are either
1 Those of the amutce\ clan, who live in Kikumbuliu, have only

one entrance hole in their beehives, and that in the middle of the mark
(seen in fig. 43).
Beekeeping 495
placed on a fork or, more usually, hang down free from a branch.
Their suspension is carried out by fastening lianes or some such
substance^ round the hives near their middle, so that the hive
hangs a little inclined. Through the lianes is threaded a wooden
hook {mboloi), the upper end of which also has a hook, turned
towards the lower one and hung on a branch. The beehives
are often placed so high up and so far out on the branches that
hanging them up really endangers life. Curiously enough, the
Akamba, unlike e. g. the Wataveta and Wadjagga, do not use
rope to hoist the hives up in the trees.
In. Kitui, which is more

rich in vegetation than Machakos,
there aremore beehives than in the latter place, and still
also
more in Ikutha. Here it is not unusual for a single person to
own two to three hundred. The hives sometimes hang far out in
the desert, many hours journey from the owner's village. I saw,
for instance, hives baobob on the road from Ma-
in a solitary
chakos to Kitui about five hours march away from Kitui station.
To tempt the bees to a new beehive the latter is smoked
out before suspension with an aromatic kind of wood, the smell
of which appeals to the bees. The smoke of certain kinds of
wood is also used to keep snakes away from the hives. Herr
Gutmann, the missionary, says that in Kilimandjaro green tree-
snakes are found in beehives, where they, unmolested by the bees,
live on the honey^.
The African bees are known for their fierce temper, of which
even many European travellers have had unpleasant experiences.
To lessen their fierceness, and consequently make it easy to gather
the honey, a beehive is treated in the following way: a kind of
lizard, tmolo^, is put into it and a bit of honeycomb is rubbed
against a bit of mutton, after which the bees are ordered not to
be fierce but to behave as peaceably as the lizard. Both this
and the sheep being very harmless animals, the procedure is evi-
dently a kind of homoeopathic magic. To make the bees gentle
1 The creeper tnu is commonly used for this purpose.

^ B. Gutmann, Bienenzucht bei den Wadschagga, Globus 1909
(96), p. 206, B:s article gives a good glimpse into bee-culture among
an East African tribe.
^ A lizard about i dm. long, grey-black, resembling a snake, with
four short, narrow feet and a short, thick tail.
in this way is called kuQqQya. We have seen (p. 479) that they also
used to ku6o6ia the real domestic animals, such as savage cattle^

It has been observed that the bees have a partiality for cer-
and similarly one knows that the quality of
tain kinds of flowers,
the honey changes according to the flowers from which it is got.
The best kind, a clear, light sort, said to be got from kru^gu^ and
is
mwondd, the latter a red-flowered Malva species. The above-men-

tioned tnuku tree also gives very good honey. It has small short
Fig. 142. Leather bag for carrying honey, Ve nat. size.

Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 33.
flowers with a sweet, pleasant smell. From millet (Penicillaria

spicata), which the bees back on, probably during a scarcity
fall
of flowers, is got a darker honey, which is also considered good,

but not so good as that obtained from the first-named flowers. A
great deal ofhoney can be got from the acacia-Hke mwa'ggd (big pale
yellow or white flowers with long, red stamens), and where these
trees are found, the beehives are suspended in them. The kasalu
(Labiatae) plant is also considered a good honey plant.
^ ku6o6ia is a technical term, which means 'to tame an animal by

a special ceremony'.
* Creeper with tendrils, pulpy, tripartite leaves and red fruit.
Beekeeping 497
The honey is usually gathered after the fall of darkness. The

extremely fierce and aggressive bees, according to the natives'
statements, find it altogether too cold after the sun has set, and
when they are expelled, their first thought is to find a new place
of refuge as soon as possible. A beehive full of honey is a
heavy and the owner usually needs two helpers to take it
article
down from its elevated place. That the bees shall not abandon
the some honeycombs are usually
hive left in it. After being
gathered, the honey is placed in a flat triangular bag made of
goatskin with loops at the sides (fig. 140), in which it is trans-
ported home.
Honey is extracted two to four times a year after the supply.
According to what I was informed at Taveta, there also the
honey is gathered atmost four times a year^. The Wadjagga,
say, according to Gutmann, that the bees need three months to
build their cells and a whole year to fill them.
To take honey out of the beehives is called kutwa, to look for
wild honey kulaha. During my stay in Ukamba I never heard
anything of the honey-indicating bird (Cuculus indicator) which is
well known in Africa, but Hildebrandt says that »it is followed

very cautiously by the Wakamba, because it often only shows
the way to the hiding place of a wild beast».
The honey which is gathered is kept in wooden cylinders
{kipcejnbd) with leather lids, a common type among numerous
East African tribes; these cylinders are hung on the props which
support the roof of the hut. As a rule the honey is very much mixed
with wax and dead bees. Formerly the wax {mawa) was considered
worthless, but now it is sold to the small Indian traders, who have
their simple shops of galvanised iron here and there in the coun-
try.They carry on a by no means inconsiderable export of wax.
The Akamba like to eat honey and even empty honeycombs
which are smeared with honey. The larvae of the bee are a deli-
cacy, which, however, are not eaten by women. We have pre-
viously spoken about honey as food for pregnant women (p. 28). But
the special importance of honey is for beer-making, especially in
places .'iuch as the Kitui district, which are not rich enough in
^ G. Lindblom, Anteckningar ofver Taveta-folkets etnologi, Ymer

1913, p. 166.
water to allow of the cultivation of sugarcane to any extent.

Honey beer wa nzulci)
(ul't is also more appreciated than sugar-
cane beer {uh wa knvd) ^ A mutufma (old man) likes to indulge
•in this privately and at night-time so as not to have to share the
prized beverage. And if he wishes company, he informs a few
intimate friends of the matter with the greatest secrecy. Hospi-
tality, or rather the prevailing custom, would make him share
with his visitors, and such visitors would certainly not be lacking
if it became known that he had plenty of honey beer at home.
As in the case of all important undertakings in the life of

primitive people there are a great many things for the Kamba
man to when he intends to cut the honeycombs from
observe,
the beehives. this work he may not have coitus (sexual
During
taboo). A man who has to have other people to help him, gets
them to take an oath by the kipztiu to abstain from sexual inter-
course, saying, for instance, »If I have connections with a woman,
may I be eaten by this k^pttiu before the end of the month ».
Certainly in such cases they do not use the kiîtui described in
Chap. XI. 4, but one of a less dangerous character. This pro-

hibition seems to be in force for about ten days onward, or during
the time which is considered to pass until the bees have again
begun to bring honey to the hive. When this time is at an end
the owner of the beehive has a look at his bees. If they have
then abandoned their nest or have not begun to collect honey,

he is certain that his assistants have broken their oath to abstain
from coitus. He then prepares 'gondm, a purifying medium, and
spreads it together with a bit of mutton on the beehive.
The role played by sexual intercourse during the time the
honey is taken out of the hives is also shown by the following
fact. They will not give the first lot of honey from new hives
to anyone indiscriminately to eat, so as not to expose themselves
to the risk of the person having already had intercourse. For
this might cause the bees in the new hives to cease their work
or the honey in them to become useless.
Vide further the chapter Beermaking (p. 518).

Beekeeping 499
Of the customs which are connected with the collection of

honey we may finally mention that it is considered lucky for the
community of bees if their owner, before the honey is taken out
of the beehives, should get a goat as a gift from his father or
uncle. Nothing special seems to be done with the goat, but the
receiver incorporates it into his flock.
When an owner of beehives dies, his nearest relations pro-
ceed to his beehives and throw small stones or clods of earth
against these to attract the bees' attention, saying: »Wake up,
you bees! Your owner is certainly now dead, but because of
that you must not cease to work and gather honey !» The Wata-
veta treat their bees in the same way after a death ^. It appears
from this as if the bees are thought to have a close personal
relationship with their owner.
I have noted from Taveta another instance of how they talk
to the bees. When a Taveta man hangs a new beehive up he
unloosens the ring plaited from grass or banana leaves, on which
he has carried the beehive on his head, saying: »Bees, wherever
you are, it may be in Ukamba, Udjagga or elsewhere, come
herel» By this untying of the ring used for carrying, the bees
are also » released », i. e. this symbolic action is intended to bring
them to the place. And B. Gutmann relates how the Wadjagga
invite their bees to a newly-suspended hive by singing^.
It happens often that prayers and exhortations are
verj''
adressed to the bees, and the not infrequently respectful tone in

which .such addresses are made is undoubtedly due partly to a
real respect for the small creatures' touchy temperament, partly
to admiration of their . intelligence and other good qualities,
which the natives with their keen power of observation have not
neglected to notice. The author does not know how much the
Akamba know about the life of the bee, but probably they possess
as great knowledge as the Wadjagga, of whom Gutmann says
that they know very well the various elements in a community of
bees, the queen, the working bees, the drones, the different kinds
of cells, etc.
^ G. Lindblom, Anteckningar 6fver Taveta-folkets etnologi, Ymer

1913, p. 166.
2 B. Gutmann, Bienenzucht bei den Wadschagga, p. 206.
We have already read (p. i6o) that it is considered a very

serious crime to steal honey from the beehives. This does not,
however, prevent the occurrence of such thefts, and, in order to
protect his beehives which are often hung a long distance away,
the owner applies various magical means, »medicine», to them;
this is said to bring unpleasant surprises to a possible thief. Thus,
for instance, the latter may
when he wishes to climb down
find,
the tree, that his way is barred by a snake, which is coiled threa-
teningly round the tree-trunk. Or else his hands are caught as
he seizes the beehive, so that he cannot get free before the owner
himself releases him. I heard of such a thief who was un-
fortunate and could not get free before the owner had spat three
times on his hand which had been caught. It is, of course, to
the interest of the bee-owners to spread the rumour that their
beehives are protected by strong » medicine » and consequently
dangerous to approach.
Chap. XXIX. Agriculture.
I. The fieldwork and the harvest.
Even though cattle-rearing is of very great importance to the

Akamba, still agriculture is their principal occupation, as they
maintain themselves chiefly by the products of the fields. This is
due, as we have seen, not to scarcity in the supply of meat, but
essentially to the fact that the natives do not care to slaughter
their animals. Some decades ago, when the stock of animals
could more easily be increased by plundering from the neighbouring
tribes,and when hunting too was more productive than it is now,
meat played a more important part as food than it does today.
At least this was so in Ulu and the Kitui district, while in the
more southern part of Ukamba, because of the Masais' and Gallas'
plunderings, they had at that time smaller herds than now or even
none at all. Krapf relates, for instance, how in his time the
Akamba living at jata, the now uninhabited plateau east of Athi,
had no horned cattle at all, but only sheep and goats, so as not
to attract the Galla there. And this observation of his concerning
Jata could certainly be extended to apply to many other districts
in the south-east. But this does not, however, necessarily imply
that these Akamba had lost all their horned cattle, for just as,
for instance, even at the present day the Akamba living in Kiku-
mbuliu keep their animals away in the hills because of the tsetse
fly, so in former times they might keep their animals in another
place to protect them from being carried off.
The Akamba arrange their fields (sg. munda, pi. mwndd)

preferably along the banks of rivers, in depressions in the ground
and on the slopes of small hills, thus at the places that are best
watered. Towards the east they also make clearances in the
woods. They understand how to water the fields artificially by
making a network of narrow and shallow ditches (sg,

mutaii) in the fields, into which the water from the
streams and the riverlets of the slopes is guided.
Agriculture is carried on almost exclusively
by
women, a rehc of the distribution of labour at the
time when the men were occupied in hunting, trading
journeys and plundering expeditions. Of course they
help nowadays in the agricultural tasks when it is
necessary, but only one part of this work is carried
out by men as a rule, namely the task of breaking
up new ground for agriculture. This is usually done
by means of fire; bushes etc. are cut down with a
knife of a certain type {nzomo, kasomo, see fig. 143),
which can also be used for digging. The green-
sward itself is then broken up with a long pointed
pole, 2 — 3 metres long {nde), which is held with both
hands. When a worthy father of a family goes to
the field to carry out this work, one can see one of
his minor wives walking behind him, carrying his
digging pole and his snuff-bottle as well. The men
have now done their part of the work and the wo-
men may proceed to loosen the soil, break up lumps
of earth etc. with their hands (kususiq), choppers
and digging Kikumbuliu I seldom saw land
sticks. In
worked in this way; there they used chiefly burn-
beaten land and sowed in ashes. There is no doubt
that they understand the importance of ashes as a
fertilizer, yet no other materials to improve the soil,
such as manure, seemed to be used. Cattle-rearing

and agriculture have, as a matter of fact, not the
143. slightest connection upon each
with or influence
"\^-^- - ^ other. The burning of dry remains of plants, weeds
,
used for clear- ^ '
r , 1 ,
ing the fields ^^^ other rubbish, which always takes place before
old fields are put to rights, thus intended just
Y2 nat. size, the
is
Riksmus, Eth- as much to fertilize the soil as to make the fields clean
nogr. Coll. -jj ^ convenient way. The Akamba, like the Akikuyu,
also understand the importance of letting the soil
rest every now and then, but they do not let it lie fallow before
they see the crop becoming poor. The fallow land may then
Agriculture 503
rest undisturbed for 3 —4 rainy seasons. They also usually change

the grain sown at intervals of a few rainy seasons. If,
for instance, they have had Cajanus indicus in a field

for a couple of years, they then plant something else
instead.
The form of agriculture carried on by the Akamba
is what German ethnologists, beginning with Ed. Hahn,
call »hackbau». No domestic animals are used in the field-
work, the woman's only implement is her digging-stick

{me, ntwe, dim. kamolo). This is made of some hard
species of wood, is 0,5 — i metre long, flattened and
somewhat pointed (fig. 144). It is made by the men.
The following trees, among others, are suitable because
of their hardness: mutandi and munoa mapol'a, a spe-
cies of acacia ^ The fear of working at the fields
with iron tools — there might in that case be no rain

— has been mentioned in the chapter on magic.
The fields are got in order in good time before the
rain comes (kwima to dig'), and when it seems to be
coming, they are sown. The sowing is done by the
woman making holes with her digging-stick, putting the
grain in (putting down the cutting, if there is one), and
then covering the hole over again with her foot. In
the case of small seeds, like Eleusine. they content
themselves with throwing them out with their hands
{kuQanda 'to plant', ku6wia
During this time 'to sow').
the women employed and even youths
are kept fully
and boys are allowed to help, on which occasions they
cannot, of course, refrain from exchanging jibes with
Fig. 144.
the girls.
Womans
When this work is done they have a quiet time digging- stick
until the plants begin to shoot up, when the fields have Vs nat.
to be cleared of weeds {kwta 'to weed'). This is î^^- Riks-
especially the girls' work, and friends and neighbours ™"^*

, , , ,
• ^1 .- 1 , . ,
nogr. Coll.
help each other at it. 1 he fields present an animated t «
aspect, often with a dozen girls in the same field,
^ <noa 'to be tired'? An appropriate meaning would in that case

be »tiiat which makes the axes tired». The form of the verb, however,
is against such a translation.
chattering and singing as they work. If there are no men about,

they take their clothes off and toil away to their heart's content.
They go forward over the field in a row, like soldiers in a firing-
line, and in that way no weeds escape them.
Then the women have a little leisure from the field work.
They merely look now and then at the crop and carry out various
small tasks. When, for instance, the maize flowers, they remove
the off-shoots of the flowers, stating as a reason that the produce
will be better. It is obvious that the maize-cobs then will get more
sun.
A busy times comes when the corn begins to ripen. This
is in February. If one meets a woman during this time and asks
her where she is going, in most cases the answer will be: si am
going to the field to frighten the birds away» {kma nmnn). For
Fig. 145. The watcher of the fields takes his place on

a sort of platform.
they have to keep parasites at a distance. In this category come,

firstand foremost, a great number of birds, but also other animals,
such as wild boars, porcupines and in East Ukamba monkeys as
well, especially baboons, which are serious thieves on account of
their watchfulness. The fields are accordingly guarded against

such enemies. This duty of watching is carried out to a great
extent by children and young people. The watcher takes his
place on a heap of earth or, even better, on a sort of platform
built of posts, from which he has a view over the field (fig. 143).
The birds are driven off by shouting and throwing stones, the
boys also wield their slings with great accuracy. One sometimes
sees long cords, with light objects (banana leaves, etc.) fastened
on them, issuing from the look-out post, and when the birds settle
down at a place, the watcher pulls the cord leading to it. Scare-
crows consisting of objects that move in the wind are also used.
Agriculture 505
Where wild boars and porcupines are especially troublesome, watch

is also kept during the nighttime.
When harvest time comes, there is still more to do if the
harvest is to be got in safely as early as possible. The grain is
cut before it is so ripe that the seeds might and then it

fall off,
is spread out outside the village on the pojnd to dry. Here or at

some other hard place the grain is thrashed {ku6ea, really 'to break
to pieces'; k'tdmo 'thrashing-place'). Standing in a row, like a line
of soldiers, the woman work at the stalks with long sticks, keeping
time to singing. The husks and other rubbish are then separated
by putting the grain in a calabash shell, which is held up in the air
and shaken. When its contents run out, the light chaff is carried
away by the wind. This process is repeated until the grain is
clean. This work is usually given to old women, who are not
strong enough for other work. One never finds the Akamba letting
cattle tread out the corn.
The harvest is then kept in the storehouses — we have spoken
about these in our description of the Kamba village — each kind of
grain in its own vessel, calabashes or large bulging vessels {kn'^gd)^
as much as i m. in height, made of soft grass, preferably */a,
a grass with reddish-brown panicles (Tricholaena rosea). They are
made by the youths, one of the few useful things they do. The
outside of these grass receptacles is thickly coated with cowdung
as a protection against ants and other insects. A part of the maize
is hung up on the ceiling of the hut. In Kikumbuliu I saw the
maize intended for sowing hung up in large bundles in the trees,
where it was thought to be best protected against rats.
Let us now see what the Akamba cultivate in their fields.

The three most important kinds of grain are Sorghum {muOid),
maize {mbcemba) and Penicillaria spicata {mw(E). Eleusine {wtmbi) is
cultivated to a somewhat less extent. Several different species of

leguminous plants are cultivated, of which by far the most popular
is Cajanus indicus (niw, the plant itself is called musu), which
takes two rainy seasons to ripen. We may also notice Phaseolus
vulgaris (mdoso), ndqko (probably haricot beans), mbumbu (Dolichos),
l^gina (presumably Phaseolus mungo), nduha, a kind of red bean,
and finally nzaOt, small beans with a white spot (Phaseolus lu-
natus .?)
Among root-crops they cultivate the well-known sweet pota-

toes {makwast), yams (ktkwa), manioc (ma^ga) and Colocasia
{matQtna). There are several kinds of pumpkins and similar plants,
whose scientific names, however, I am unable to give: malce^gd
(Kisuaheli tangd)^ mo'ggu (Kisuaheli mumunye 'a sort of vegetable
marrow')^, calabash {k'hkiu).
One seldom sees a field with only one kind of crop. Sor-
ghum and Penicillaria are usually sown together, and among Caja-
nus indicus is put, for instance, maize. When the maize is ripe,
a new lot is planted among more slowly growing beans.

the
Calabash plants are also put in here and there.
Sugarcane ijmvd) is cultivated on low-lying ground along the
rivers. It is found especially in Ulu, in the drier east only in cer-
tain places. The irrigation channels are specially arranged with
regard to the sugarcane, which is very highly esteemed.
The banana iîyu) is also very much liked. It is, however,
not cultivated generally, as of course it too needs well watered
ground. There are several different varieties, namely mulalu, of
average size, which is the most delicious of them, inutaQatu^ a large
fat one with rather coarse pulp, ndtOi, a small short one (from the
coast?) and munzq, a species from the Kikuyu country. The banana
is said to have been more widespread in former times than it is now.
The preparation and methods of using the various cultivated

plants for food will be dealt with in the chapter on »Food».
A rapid glance at the names in Kikamba of the plants used
for food shows* that they are practically identical with those in
Kikuyu, and to a great extent with those in Kipokomo (at the
upper Tana) and in Kidjagga (Kilimandjaro), thus with the names
in those dialects that are closely or fairly closely related to Ki-
kamba. There seems to be no affinity with the Galla and Masai
languages in this respect.
Traditions about the origin of agriculture. Among many

peoples there are traditions to the effect that a certain cultivated
plant is of divine origin or has in some more or less wonderful
way been conferred upon mankind. The Akamba have no such
^ E. Steer, A Handbook of the Suaheli Language, London 1908.

^ See F. Stuhlmann, Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte Ostafrikas,
Berlin 1909.
:
Agriculture 507
myth about the origin of special plants, but they have reflected
about the origin of agriculture, and the tradition created in this
way is rather interesting. We remember how the first human
beings, who came up out of the termite hole, had various kinds
of seeds in their left hands. The following tradition was then
attached to this myth
The first seed was put into the ground in small open places.
They did not understand how to work at or loosen the ground.
One year, when they wished to sow again, a huge tree had fallen
and was found lying over one of the small » fields*. With great
efibrts they succeeded in getting the tree away, and then they
sowed the field. When the crop was ripe, it was found that the
plants at the place where the big tree had fallen were much more
vigorous than at other places, because ê soil there was looser.
There were also less weeds. From this arose the idea of loosen-
ing the soil with a stick, and in this way came the digging-stick.
2. Agricultural rites.
Any one who has read the foregoing part of this work will
understand that rites and customs of a religious and magic nature
are connected with the Akamba's agriculture. I have, however,
not very much to offer concerning such compared with what
rites,
I succeeded in learning with regard to others. There is probably

a good deal still to be discovered on this subject.
Sexual relations between man and wife, which, as we have
already seen, are regulated by prescripts in connection with many
different undertakings, have also to take agriculture into considera-
tion. One might expect rites for producing fertility, based on
homoeopathic magic, such as ritual coitus between man and wife

when the fields had been sown and planted. The state of affairs
is, as a matter of fact, just the opposite: all sexual intercourse is
considered to have an injurious effect on the crop before the buds

have begun to appear. A possible explanation of this continence
is to be found in the fact that the primitive mind sometimes tries
to attain a result — in this case a good harvest —
by using a
means that is directly opposed to what might be considered the
natural one. The prohibition applies only to the owners of the
fields, the man and his wife, not to their children.
During the nights when a married couple keep watch in the

fields to protect them against animals they may not have sexual
intercourse, if the woman has children at home. It is believed
that, if they do, these will fall ill, to become thinner and thinner
and, perhaps, finally die (result of »ceremonial uncleanliness»?).
The growing crop is sprinkled with ordinary 'fondue so that
the harvest may be
The time for this treatment is appar-
good.
ently decided by Cajanus indicus (wiw), as the fields are sprinkled
only after these beans have grown a little. The sprinkling is done
by the old people of the nzqma and ipcsmbo (pp. 144, 220).
Cajanus indicus seems to be the only nutritive plant with
whose cultivation additional special observances are bound up.
During the time it is in flower the women may not make pottery;
if they do the harvest of it would be spoiled. Similarly during
this time the women are forbidden to make cords of mupt, a spe-
cies of acacia that is commonly used for twisting into cords. The
old men, who keep good order and maintain the old customs,
watch carefully to see that the prohibitions are observed, and, if
a woman is proved to have oflênded against them, her husband
has to give the goat that is demanded in order to purify the fields.
The reason why it is just niw that plays so important a part in
the agricultural rites is possibly because it is theAkamba's fa-

vourite food. The fact that it is forbidden to make pottery and
cords, i. e. material for plaiting bags, may be explained as due
to an idea that it is dangerous to make preparations for bringing
home the iiiu (the bags) and to make receptacles for it (the pots)
before the fruit has been formed.
The cultivated plant of the Akambas that is most interesting
to the ethnologist is, however, Eleusine {ivbrnbi), as it and the
food prepared from it (^^tma porridge) play a greater part in
public rites and in magic than any other nutritive plant. Instan-
ces of this have been given in the preceding chapters,
p. 33
(birth) — where, however, it is not necessarily a matter of cere-

monial; p. 171 (cursing) and, still more clearly, p. 203. The
special position of Eleusine in this respect is undoubtedly due to
the fact that it is a very old cultivated plant among the negroes,
perhaps the very first cereal they knew, although later on it was
displaced by more productive plants. The traditions of several
peoples point to this. The Nandi, for instance, are known to
Agriculture 509
relate how by hunting and did not know

the tribe formerly lived
of agriculture. But one day some warriors found an Eleusine
species growing wild and took the seeds of it home and planted
them^. And Stuhlmann is certainly right in supposing that in
former times Eleusme was cultivated more in East Africa than it
is now, when in many places and especially in the regions near
the coast it has had to give way to better tasting and more pro-
ductive cereals (maize, sorghum)^. It would be interesting to in-
vestigate this question more closely, to find out whether Eleusine

has been found in pre-historic settlements in Africa, etc. But the
question does not really belong to this part of the subject, although
I have called attention to it here. We shall now return to the
question of » agricultural rites ».
If some special event occurs that threatens the growing crop,
extra precautions are taken. This is done if grasshoppers appear.
A grasshopper is then taken to the sacrificial place (ipizmbo) and
killed there, and at the same time they offer food to the spirits,
slaughter a goat and pour its blood out at the base of the big
tree. The fields are sprinkled with 'gondm. It is exspected that
the grasshoppers will then disappear^.
Although it does not come within the scope of this chapter,
I take the opportunity of mentioning here how they try to extir-

pate ticks in same way as grasshoppers. These are sometimes
the
found in enormous numbers in the grass on the steppe and are
a great plague both to man and beast*. A tick is taken to the
ipcembo and killed there; the ground is sprinkled with gondm.
Before the harvest is taken from the fields a goat and some
corn are offered at the place of sacrifice. This sacrifice is not
only carried out within the families but forms a public festival,
a public sacrifice of the kind described in the chapter on Religion,
p. 187.
The first thing that is eaten of the new harvest seems to be.
^ H oil is, The Nandi, p. 120.

^ F. Stuhlmann, Beitrage zur
Kulturgeschichte Ostafrikas, p. 181.
^ Methods of harmful insects and vermin among
getting rid of
other African tribes are given by Frazer in his siudy upon this subject
in The Golden Bough 5: 2, vol. II, p. 274 ff.
* The author himself was ill with fever and slight blood-poisoning
of the feet for three weeks, probably as a result of tick-bites.
at least to some extent, bound up with rites. When the first
vegetables for the year are eaten, they are mixed with the con-
tents of a goat's kipatia (the stomach that is used in the pre-
paration of ôndm), »so that the people shall not get coughs».
Finally observances of a prohibitive nature are bound up with
the rain and thus intimately connected with agriculture. We have
learned about these in the preceding part of the work, such things
as the fact that an oath on the kipttia may not be sworn during
the rainy season so as not to prevent the rain from coming (p.
171). Cf. also p. 181.
Chap. XXX. Food.
I. Animal food.
The products of the field form the basis of the Kamba peop-
le's food. As we already know, this is not merely a question
of taste, but is due to the fact thatthey do not want to kill off
their herds. In former times, when they were able to steal cattle
and could hunt big-game without hindrance, they ate consider-
ably more meat than now, when this article of food is seldom
eaten by anyone who has not great herds, except on ceremonial
occasions. That the Akamba like meat is shown by the fact that
they unhesitatingly eat it raw and do not mind eating animals
that have died from natural causes, even such as have attained
an advanced state of decomposition. They seem even to be pretty
well known as having a certain penchant to this, and examples
are found here and there in descriptions of travels. I myself once
found the remains of a wild boar, which had been torn to pieces
by a lion and of which my bearers took with them the little flesh
that was left. A. Arkell Hardwick relates, for in.stance, how his
Kamba porters eagerly devoured an ass that had fallen ill and
died \ I have also seen my porters take the bones after my own
mea's and carefully gnaw them clean. Their power of eating all
sorts of things without being in any way famished is shown, among

other things, by the fact that they roasted guineafowls' feet. Dur-
ing the great famine of 1898 and 1899 a few cases of cannibalism
occurred, easily by the extraordinary conditions pre-
explained
vailing ^. On the other hand I have no experience to support the
idea that the Akamba eat lion and hyena flesh ^.
^ An Ivory Trader in North Kenia, p. 138.

^ H. R. Tate, Notes on the Kikuyu and Kamba Tribes of British
East Africa. Journ, Anthr. Inst. 1904, p. 136.
^ C. H. Stigand, The Land of Zinj., London 191 3, p. 275.
By meat they sometimes show

the side of this greediness of
an amazing fastidiousness. I have, for instance, eaten zebra meat
myself without feeling any dislike to it, while my negroes have
refused to touch it, explaining that »it smelled badly ». There
was no religious motive present in this case. Nor will adults eat
monkeys, which one sees the children doing, however; they catch
long-tailed monkeys in traps.
Meat is usually boiled; out in the fields it is roasted over
a grating made of sticks.
We already know that the blood of cattle is drunk. It is
also mixed with milk, millet flour and fat, and this soup is stood
in a sunny place before it is drunk. The blood is stirred with
a mi^pekcBpt^, which is of the type usual in East Africa, namely
a stick split at the end with two thin pieces of wood fixed in the
fork and crossing each other (fig. 146). They also used a dorsal
Fig. 146. Wooden instrument to whisk blood with {mtipekcepi).
Y4 nat. size. Riksm. Ethn. Coll. Inv, 12. 7. 499
vertebra of a small mammal. The utensil is rotated between the

hands, as in drilling fire. Soup, ktpui, is also cooked from meat.
Milk plays, of course, a large part as an article of food.
Goat's milk is used almost only in those districts where there are
no cows, such as Kikumbuliu. Fresh milk {tpumo) is, however,
drunk only by women and children. They all prefer the sour
milk {nia), and the men keep entirely to it. As in many other
North East African tribes the milk calabash {hkami) is fumigated,
before milking, with certain kinds of wood, brands of which are
thrust in the calabash. This is called kut(2a and is thought to
improve the smell and taste of the milk. One of the kinds of
wood used for this is muka'h. The first milk after a cow has
calved, the blestings, is called hpqna.
From the sour milk butter {mauta) is churned. It is prepared
in a calabash {hpulcK kupulya 'to make butter'), which a woman
shakes and knocks against her thighs. Stones are also put in
the calabash to accelerate the process. When the butter is ready,
^ < kupekcepa 'to drill, bore', k. mwqki 'to drill fire'.

Animal food 513
it is washed in water. To get it still more clean it is put in a

pot with porridge and boiled. The melted butter is then poured
off, while the dirt remains at the bottom together with the porridge
and is eaten with it. Besides being used as a food, butter is also
used to rub into the body and into leather garments. A person
who is so poor as not to be able to get sufficient butter from his
cattle uses the oil of the castor oil beans, which are humorously
called »the poor man's cattle».
The Akamba bring considerable quantities of fat into the
market, which is purchased by the Indian traders.
2. Vegetable food.
From the products of the field are prepared the following
important dishes, several of which may be called the Akambas'
national dishes:
tsio, i. e. maize and wfw-beans (Cajanus indicus) boiled together;
eaten practically every day without anything being added to it.
usu is a gruel made of water or sour milk with the flour of

ntwa (Penicillaria spicata) or maize. It is very well liked, has a
sour taste and is really refreshing. At the same time it is very
nourishing and thus serves as both food and drink. It is the
most useful food when travelling. It is considered to be very
good for sick people.
A sort of thick gruel {kina) is boiled with milk and mw^
flour. It is very much liked by old people whose teeth are too
poor to eat solid food.
'ggima is a porridge made of Eleusine flour and water, mixed
with fat. It is eaten chiefly by women and small children. With
its dirty dark brown colour it does not look very appetising. It
is so thick and coherent that the children can run round holding
their portions in their hands. This porridge seems to play a part
in rites.
Another kind of porridge is kitcslid, which is prepared from

the flour of Penicillaria or Sorghum, boiled in water. It has a very
indifferent taste, especially because it contains no salt.
To prevent a pot from boiling over the women put some

twigs in it. They stir with a stick flattened at the end, which
has its place on the hearth among the cooking utensils. Of spoons
Arch.Or. Lindblom. 33
there are, besides large porridge ladles, also smaller and more ele-
gant » made of red acacia wood.

tablespoons*, usually All the spoons
are without any decoration. The natives prefer to eat gruel with
the index finger, which drawn along the edges of the calabash
is
vessel. To eat in this way is called kusuna, and the index finger
is accordingly called km ha {k)usuna ('the finger to kusuna with') ^.
In preparing flour (mutu) the grain is first pounded with a

heavy pole, 2 metres or more long, mupz i<pta 'to grind, crush
into flour'),wooden mortars (nde) fixed to the ground. Then
in
it is powdered still more between grindstones of the familiar type:
a large one, flat and hollowed out by wear, as the nether mill-
stone, and a smaller rubbing stone. The flour falls on to a piece
of skin at the side of the stone. The woman carries on the work
kneeling and leaning forward and usually sings at the same time.
When the grindstones become too worn and smooth, they are
sharpened by being rubbed with a piece of quartz.
From maize flour some natives prepare bread, which, on ac-
count of the method of preparation, contains numerous fragments of
stone. It is called mukad, mukatd or ktmutu (cf. mutu 'flour'), in
East Ukamba also kikid^. The two first names are identical with
the Suaheli word for bread {mkaie), and this method of preparing
bread, which is not in common use, is no doubt borrowed from
without.
A favourite way of eating maize is to roast the spadices and
then nibble the grains ofl". It is called to kuGala.
Turning to the vegetables, we find that taro, yams and manioc
are not cultivated to any great extent. The former, like all Aroids,
has in its fresh condition a sharp taste, and has therefore to
be boiled before being eaten. The commonly cultivated sweet
potato is boiled or roasted in the embers. A favourite food is
pumpkins {maliZ'ggd), which are eaten boiled, and as long as there

is a supply of them the natives scarcely eat anything else. They
say that they are »sweeter than honey ». Their taste reminds one
of artichokes, and with some butter they taste excellent, even to
a European palate. The wiw-beans, which are cultivated especi-
ally in Ulu, are even more liked. When natives who live there
* kusuna < usu 'gruel'?

" In certain places this word signifies 'gruel made from maize
flour'.
5
Vegetable food 5 1
go to a place where this bean is not cultivated, as, for instance,
the Kikuyu country, they miss this food more than anything else,
and their friends sometimes send them some of the longed-for food.
Both with regard to the quantity of the harvest and the
number of different food-plants Ulu is the best circumstanced
part of Ukamba. In Kikumbuliu the natives seem principally to
cultivate only maize, Sorghum and ndoko-heans, while neither
pumpkins nor nzti are to be obtained there.
A number of plants are used for a sort of spinach, which is
sometimes eaten by itself, mixed with fat, and sometimes used as
an addition to other food. In this way are used the leaves of
the ndoi'O'hean, those of ndulu, a Solanum species, which grows
as a weed in the fields, and wua, another weed (Chenopodiaceae?).
The leaves of kaunaapz, a yellow-flowered Oxalis species, are
chewed raw or boiled as spinach. They are considered to taste
salty. Other plants are cooked together with certain dishes to
improve their taste. This, for instance, is the case with kilo'goxo,
a leguminous plant with an aromatic smell resembling new-mown
hay, which is cooked together with gruel.
Of fruit only the banana is cultivated, but it is not important

as an article There is not a single wild fruit of real
of food.
value as food; how poor East Africa is in wild edible fruits,
is well-known to every traveller. A person who had to maintain
himself exclusively on wild fruits would soon starve to death. As,
however, I took the trouble to collect them, I shall give here the
names of some plants with fruit that the children eat or that the
natives occasionally pick a few of when they come across them.
As has been mentioned, they are of no importance to the household.
Among the best of these fruits are the yellow juicy ones of
the kûa tree, which are as big as a French plum and very re-
freshing. Several others resemble plums, such as the small yellow

sourish ones of muka-mbua and the beautiful light-red ones of the
little k'htula tree, the skin of which, however, is very thick and
tastes of prussic acid. They also eat the very sour fruit of the
tamarind {ndumtda), the red, fleshy ones of tnupulwa, which are
smaller than a cherry, and also the round fruits, flattened on one
side, of the little muiwggu tree; the acorn-like ones oi mumu, those
of mu6a (Vangueria edulis?), and the dry, sweetish berries of the
mutuGa bush (Turneraceae?). The berries of the muGth^gwa bush

(Cissus) are eaten by children, and also the red, fleshy berries oi
the low mvûmhu bush and the small lilac sweet ones of the
mu6isa6isi bush (Labiatse).
In times of famine, of course, they make more use of these
and also of a great many others, such as those of the bao-
fruits
bab {mwatriba) and the dum palm. The roots of the ^tf^w (Legu-
minosae) are eaten raw. From the extremely small seeds of the
ukuku grass (Dactylotenium) flouf is prepared. The small green
flowers, placed in a head-like position, of w«^^7/m< (a liana species?)
are cooked by themselves with a little salt or are used to eke out
the 'ggzma-ôrndge. Its taste somewhat resembles cabbage.
Mushrooms {ikunu) are not very common in Ukamba. Certain

species are sometimes eaten by children.
Finally we may mention some things that are uneatable for
Europeans, but which are, however, considered by many of the
natives as delicacies. In the animal kingdom grasshoppers, ants
and lice come into this category. Especially when the boys are
looking after the cattle they are in the habit of catching grass-
hoppers and threading up a number of them living on a twig, just
as Swedish children thread wild strawberries on a blade of grass.
They then take one grasshopper at a time, pull its wings and legs
off, and put the rest of the body They also
in their mouths.
roast them over a fire. The flying ants {mba), which are very
numerous during the rainy season {mbua \a uwd), are similarly
caught by the boys, who roast them on potsherds. Lice are eaten
with delight, especially by elderly women, who catch them in their
heads like monkeys or in the broad beaded belt which they wear
round their waists and which harbours these vermin. Resin {kij)ana)
is also a delicacy for many women.
Their supplies of salt the Akamba nowadays get for the most
part from the Indian traders, who provide them with a very coarse
kind. Apart from this they have from the earliest times obtained
salt from saliferous soil, which they mix with water and then filter,
the water being used for cooking. Thus they do not know of
any real method of preparing salt. According to G. Kolb, in his
time they sold the saliferous sand that they dug up from the
Vegetable food 517
riverbeds^. Women use more salt than men, and in former times
the latter would not eat salt at on certain occasions, such as,
all
for instance, when they went out on a military expedition. They

asserted that the salt had an injurious effect on the joints of the
legs und hips, inasmuch as it reduced their mobility. The great
power which salt is thought to possess and which mankind uses as
a protection — of which numerous instances are found*, although
I cannot, to be sure, give any from the Akamba (cf. however
P- 539) — this very power naturally causes people to act cau-
tiously with it sometimes.
We have still to notice briefly the food that is given to

babies. mother has a good supply of milk, the newborn child
If the
lives practically entirely on this for the first 6 8 months. When —

the mother has been out at work during the heat of the day, she
washes her breasts, which have been exposed to the rays of the
sun, with cold water before giving them to the child, because it is
considered that otherwise the milk will be too warm. Besides mother's
milk many babies are given uncooked fat at an early age. If the
mother's milk is insufficient, they also begin very early to give
the child gruel (usu), which is done by letting it suck a finger
dipped in the gruel. When is considered big enough
the child
to eat all kinds of food, it is weaned by the mother rubbing on
her nipple something with a strong taste or smell such as snuff
or pepper; the latter is bought from the Indian traders. As a rule
they begin astonishingly early to give the children the same
food as the grown-ups eat, much of which is particularly unsuit-
able and indigestible.
Finally a few words must be added about the eating of food
by the same time and in common. As a
different sexes at the
general rule it may be said that women do not eat together with
men, except in the narrower circle of the family. Thus a man

and his wife may eat of the same vessel when they are alone at
home, but if other men come on a visit, the woman may not eat
in company with them. In the same way the man may not eat
together with the women who come and call on his wife.
'
Petermann's Mitteil. 1896, p. 230.
- See, for instance, Haberlandt, Das Salz im Volksglauben, Glo-
bus 1882, p. 265.
Chap. XXXI. Stimulants.
I. Beermaking.
The Akamba use an intoxicating drink («^z), which is mostly-
made from the sugar-cane (tiki wa kiwa)^ but in certain places
also from honey. The latter drink is at least as well liked as
the former, but honey is, of course, also particularly relished
when eaten uncooked, and so in the districts where there are
sugar-canes beer is usually made from them. It is how-
certain,
ever, that the honey beer is the more primitive, the word for
beer {ukt) clearly having the same root as the name for the bee
(nSuh) ^.
To make beer the sugar-cane is cut into pieces, which must

not be too short. These are then pounded in a wooden mortar
with long poles. This work is always carried out by the youths,
anakdy who, singing rhythmically, thrust their poles in the mortar
in a fixedThere are often as many as ten at the same
order.
mortar, it and how they can pound rapidly
is interesting to see
without even colliding with each other, and letting their poles
meet in the mortar. When all the sugar-cane is crushed, the pulp
{kitumbu) is tied up with cords into bundles, out of which the juice
iswrung with the hands into a large calabash shell {ua). It is to
make it easy to fasten these bundles that the pieces of sugar-cane
are not cut too short. A fork-shaped branch {kikcsld), between
the two prongs of which cords are stretched, is then placed across
a large calabash vessel. A layer of grass is placed on the kt:-
kceld and above this the kttumbu. The juice of the sugar-cane is
The Akikuyu distinguish between njohi, beer made from sugar-

^
cane, and uki, made from honey and water. The sugar-cane is certainly
not indigenous in Africa. When it came to East Africa is rather diffi-
cult to tell exactly, but the first Portugese found it cultivated on the
coast, F. Stuhlmann, Beitr. zur KuUurgeschichte von Ostafrika, p. 159.
Beermaking 519
then poured through this filtering apparatus, during which pro-

cess all the lees is stopped by the grass. This is called to ku-
kcEla uki^. The beer is then poured into calabashes, which are
placed in a warm place for a day or so. As a ferment dried
pieces of the fruit of the mwatind (Kigelia africana) cut into slices
are added. Almost every family father keeps this fruit in his hut for
this purpose. The following day the beer is ready to drink, and it
must be drunk quickly as it does not keep. As the liquid is
rarely diluted with water, it thus consists of pure sugar juice.

Honey beer is also fermented with Kigelia fruit.
The top, frothy part of the beer (ki6uo) is considered the

best. It is said to belong to the host's family and is therefore
always drunk by him or his father-in-law, if the latter is present.
Because it is white and floats on top it is called kiOuo, which means
the white shells which, fastened to the hair, adorn the youths' heads.
It has been mentioned that the youths prepare the beer. Women
are never allowed any part in making it;
to do this or to take
the old men would not drink beer brewed by women. At most
they may carry the beer calabashes to the place where the carousal
is to be held. Nor may they drink beer. Among the neigh-
bouring tribe, the Kikuyu, the women may in some places also
prepare the beer, and when Kamba men pay a visit to the
Kikuyu, they adopt the custom of the place and drink their beer
without raising any objection.
According to the old custom, beer-drinking is a privilege for
the old men, the atunna, while not only women but also young
men and boys are forbidden to drink it. A violation of this rule
is punished with a thrashing, in severe cases with the father's curse
(see p. 182). Only after a young man has settled down and
stopped running about with girls can he usually get permission
from his father to drink beer. The old people say that the youths
must choose between girls and beer. The sanction is purchased
by the son with a present to the father, consisting of an ox, a
sterile cow (equivalent to an ox) or, among those who are not so
well off", a goat. To obtain a father's permission to drink beer

by such means is called to kuâ or ku'pa\a (derived from ku^q).
^ Certainly the same verb as in the expression kukcela nzia 'cross

a path'.
This is probably a kupq really means 'to sacrifice", as

ritual act, as
shown by the phrase atmu 'sacrifice to the spirits'.

ktipaia
This prohibition for younger men to drink beer may un-
doubtedly be looked upon as a case of a phenomenon that is
not uncommon among primitive peoples, namely for the older
Fig. 147. Old man's snuff bottle Fig. 148. Wooden snuffbottle,
made from the horn of the a stopper made by strings, b, /,
Eland. Worn by an iron chain brassrings, c copper wire, d
(a) around the neck, h copper copper plate, e tin plate, g chain
wire, c wood. Vi nat, size. made of copper wire. V2 nat. size.
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv.
12. 7. 237. 12. 7. 232.
people to reserve for themselves what is best in the way of

luxuries. But there is in addition another very reasonable cause.
They seem to realize quite clearly, as a matter of fact, that in
the long run beer has an injurious efifect on the body, >It settles
in the legs», as the Akamba say. Now the younger married men
and the unmarried men constitute, of course, the warriors, and
Beermaking 521
it is important that they should keep in good condition so as to

be in full fighting trim. Unfortunately, however, this good old
custom seems to be decaying, and one now
sees even young men drinking beer. This is
caused by the fact that there are no longer

any military expeditions. »What is the use of
keeping nimble », »we can
say the warriors,
no longer begin a war with our neighbours
without the Europeans interfering in it.»
Beerdrinking is the favourite occupation of
the old men, and the way is never too long
for them when it is a case of attending some
beerparty. These are often held, as they take
turns in inviting, and public carousals also take
place, for instance, at sacrificial feasts. The
drink is intoxicating, but considerable quantities
seem to be needed to produce a complete state
of intoxication. As the beer cannot be kept,
this itself encourages excessive drinking. It is
not at all uncommon to see those who are

taking part in one of these festive gathering
considerably the worse for liquor, on which
occasions the atunnay generally so careful about
their dignity, forget it, and sing, babble and
gesticulate in a way that is very amusing to
the spectator. Many of them get very wild
when in liquor, and it may happen that the
pig. Mg.Snuffbottle,
carousal finishes with a fight, when they attack attached to an arm-
each other with their sticks, and have recourse ring, a hornof harte-
even to swords and arrows. A great number beest, b brass nails,
of lawsuits arise from such quarrels, and the c brown wood. */*
nat size. Riksmus.

only Akamba who have been disrespectful to
Ethn. Coll. Inv.
the author were drunk. It is also probable 12. 7. 234.
that immoderate drinking helps
this to make
the men old before their time and to .shorten the duration of
their lives.
2. Snufftaking and smoking.
The Akamba call tobacco kumbato, a very common name

among the negro peoples. It is made from a red-flowered Nicotiana
species, of which a small number are cultivated near the hut or grow
on some refuse heap.
practically wild To make the tobacco the leaves
are plucked and placed to ferment between two layers of leaves,
such as banana leaves, with stones and pieces of wood as a weight
on top. When they have turned a yellowish-red colour, they are
Fig. 150. Wooden snuffbottle of unusual type, with two mouths,

a tin plate, h brass wire, c brass rings, d brass ring, e chain made of
brass wire. Ys "^^t- s*^^- Riksmus. Ethn. Goll. Inv. 12. 7. 233.
left for a day in the sun, after which they are lightly pounded
in a mortar, without, however, being crushed. They are then put
in a calabash, which is shut up and hung for a few days on the
ceiling above the fireplace. The tobacco is then kept in a cool
place until it is to be used. If an extra good mixture is wanted,
pieces of banana or hydromel are added before the tobacco is
placed out in the sun. To make snuff {mbaki), as great a quantity

of leaves as is desired is then taken out and powdered between
two grindstones, designed specially for this purpose, the upper one
of which is almost spherical. They then add a little water and fat.
Snufftaking and smoking 523
and, as is common in East Africa, natron (ja/z, plur. matt, pres-

umably < Kisuaheli magadi). The fat is intended to keep the snuff
damp enough, the natron to make it stronger ^.
The snuff is now ready.

The natives assert that they can dist-
inguish the different kinds of snuff, even at p;,)!
some by their smell, and it is said to

distance,
have happened that a person who had had
his supply of snuff stolen and had afterwards
been invited to take a pinch of it recognized
his own snuff by the smell.
Natron is found in many places in East
Africa, especially on the Masai steppes. It
Fig. 151. Brush of goats hair for taking snuff. Fig. 152. Wooden spa-
a copper wire, h brass chain. ^/2 nat. size. tula for taking snuff.
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 247. a copper wire. Va ^^t.
size. Riksmus. Ethn.
Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 248.
^ Even the smoking tobacco is in East Africa very often mixed up

with natron, a custom also known from the upper Nile and other regions.
F. Stuhlmann, Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte von Ostafrika, p. 370.
is found in Ukamba, at least in Kikumbuliu. It is boiled in
water until the water vaporises.

most of the natives of East Africa the Akamba are
Like
passionately fond of snuff, thewomen at least as much as the men.
Even small girls have their own snuff-bottles. But the snuff is
used differently by the two sexes: the men take snuff in the usual
way, but the women chew it. They find it just as hard to do
without snuff as, for instance, a Swedish farm-hand. »We cannot
work if we do not have the snuffbottle within reach », they say
themselves. During my marches I found out on more than one
occasion that this statement was not exaggerated. It was much
more difficult for my porters to march when their supply of snuff
had come to an end, as they were accustomed to refresh them-
selves with a pinch during the halts. I consequently found it useful
Fig. 153. Smoking pipe, maize cob with Fig. 154. Pipe head of
reed shaft, ^/s nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. black clay.
Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 261, 262. '/a nat. size.
to take a reserve of snuff with me myself on long marches. When

the women have no snuff, they sometimes chew as a substitute
the leaves of mukandm^ a high verticillate.
Snuff is kept in the hwggi, a snuff-bottle made of wood, but
also of though exceptionally, of ivory. They also use
horn or,
bamboo tubes and small, beautifully shaped calabashes and the

hollowed-out kernel of the fruit of the dum palm. The wooden
ones are made preferably of ebony or some other hard species
of wood such as the beautiful red wood of the mufisu, a species
of acacia. The stoppers are cut out of rhinoceros or hippopota-
mus skin.
Great care is taken with the making of the snuff-bottles, and
these elegant articles serve at the same time as ornaments for
their owners. They are usually carried on a chain round the

Snufftaking and smoking 525
neck or fastened on the upper part of the arm. The women Hke
to carry them on the beaded belt round their waists. Various
snuff-bottles are reproduced here (fig. 147 — 150). A person who
has a large quantity of smifif keeps it in a horn or some other
utensil in his hut and then fills up his snuff-bottle when necessary.
When taking snuff a little is held in the hand and then
raised to the nose with the fingers or with a little brush, which
is also carried on a chain round the neck or fastened directly to

the snuffbox (fig. 151). A wooden spatula is also used for the
same purpose (fig. 152).
The Akamba are much more fond of taking tobacco as snuff
than of smoking it. As a matter of fact they only smoke in rare
Fig. 155. Smoking pipes with heads of clay and reed shafts.
Ys nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn, Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 259, 260.
cases, except among the younger generation, who, through contact

with Europeans or Suahelis, have learned to make and smoke
cigarettes. They smoke simple pipes (ndoio), the simplest type
of which is a hollowed maize spadix (fig. 153). They also use,
however, pipe-heads of burnt clay, some of which are reproduced
here (fig. 154—155).
It is interesting to observe that the clumsy and coarse pipe-
heads among those reproduced here were made by a woman, and
the more graceful ones, on the other hand, by a man. The latter
show obvious attempts at ornamentation and are remarkable as
being the only pieces of pottery I saw among the Akamba that
were executed artistically. I have unfortunately omitted to find
^
out whether this difiference in the pipes is only due to chance

and is confined to exceptional cases, but if this should prove not
to be the case, we should find in Ukamba confirmation of the expe-
riences arrived at in other parts of Africa, namely: (i) that among
all earthenware articles pipes are usually the most ornamented
and artistically made, and (2) that these pipes are, as a rule made
by men, not by women ^. In connection with this I wish to make
up for an oversight in the chapter on Decorative art and to men-
tion that practically all the little ornamentation the Akamba
possess, the carvings on the calabashes, etc. is carried out by the
men. We have now arrived at the question of woman's talent
for the free arts, but we must refrain from a discussion of this
question and return to the subject of tobacco smoking.
The pipe is lit by putting charcoal in it, so that the
smoker often inhales a good deal of carbonic oxide as well. The
smoking tobacco, which is unpleasantly strong for these not accus-
tomed to it, is kept and transported for sale in the way usual in
these districts, namely in round packets made of banana-leaves.
This trade in tobacco must in former times have been incompar-
ably more widespread than now, to judge from Hildebrandt's
statement that tobacco from Ukamba was sold to the Masai and
even at the coast
^ Se H. Schurtz, Das Afrikanische Gewerbe, Leipzig 1900, p. 17,

- Hildebrandt, Ethnographische Notizen, p. 373.
Chap. XXXII. Industries.
A. Metalwork.
I. Iron industry.
The Akamba supply their requirements in iron {km) now-

adays largely by imported wire, but also continue to get a certain
amount from their own land. Many rivers contain ferriferous sand,
a fact that can easily be proved, especially in the dry season
when the waterless riverbeds shine black with iron sand. This
has probably arisen from weathering of gneis containing iron
mica. The iron is found less frequently in the form of lumps.
The iron ore is called khlea. In former times the Akamba seem
to have brought iron to their neighbours the Wanyika, who partly
obtained iron from the Akamba, partly from the Arabs ^.
The author had no opportunity of seeing the Akamba's me-
thod of obtaining iron, but according to Hobley (Akamba, p. 29)
»they separate the grains of iron ore from the silica by washing
the sand in a dish made of a gourd in the same way as a pro-
spector for gold would do». And he adds: » These are the only
people in East Africa who appear to know this art». This method
indicatedby Hobley is presumably, however, identical with the
one used by the Akikuyu and described in detail by Routledge
(The Akikuyu, p. 81). Apart from these districts in East Africa,
however, this preliminary preparation of the ore by working the
iron-bearing sand in order to get rid of the sand and concentrate
the mineral seems — as far as iron is concerned — to be prac-
ticallyunknown throughout the world. Professor Gowland of
London, who is an expert on the subject, says that the method
has not been described before (Routledge, Appendix IV). But
a closer investigation would perhaps show that the method
^ Vide Ch. Pickerings, The Races of Man, p. 199.

is not uncommon in East Africa, for R. Stern, the missionary, in
a description of the iron industry among the southern Wanya-

mwezi\ says that they mix ferriferous sand and earth and then
wash out the iron, and, according to Merker and Baumann, the
Akikuyu and the Wapare carry out a preliminary cleansing of
the ferriferous sand by repeatedly pouring water over it^
I am sorry to confess that I have not seen how the iron is
smelted, but according to Hobley the Akamba use »a rude

furnace of the Catalan type», and Routledge describes a similar
method from the Akikuyu '.
The Akamba's bellows consists of two sacks made of skin,
sheepskin being considered best. They are thus of the type
that the Germans call schlauch(sack-)-geblase, as opposed to the
vessel-shaped bellows (schalengeblase or gefassblasebalg), which
is the most common type in Africa. Most investigators assume
that the sack-shaped bellows, which within negroid Africa ismost
widespread in the east, has been introduced there by Moham-
medans from the coast or has come from the Hamites in the
north. Its appearance and method of use has been described so
often (Frobenius, Ankermann, v. Luschan, Stuhlmann, etc.) that

in the case of the Akamba I shall content myself with giving the
main features.
The air-aperture, which is situated in its back end and is
bordered by two ribs, closes when the bellows are pressed to-
gether. At the front each arm of the bellows is bound round with
a V-shaped pipe (km), made of a hard species of wood. This
opens out into a clay tube, made of ordinary potter's clay, which
leads in its turn into the fireplace. This earthenware nozzle gets
burnt away at the end and becomes shorter and shorter.
Like the Akikuyu, Masai and other tribes, the Akamba forge
their iron in the open air, in a shallow hollow in the ground at
the pomd, the open place in front of the village. The bellows,
^ Given as an appendix in F. Stuhlmann's Handtwerk und Indu-

strie in Ostafrika (p. 152).
' O. Baumann, Usambara und seine Nachbargebiete, p. 232.
^ One also gets a good picture of the Akamba's iron industry from
the description of this industry on Kilimandjaro given by R. Andree,
Die Metalle bei den Naturvdlkern, p. 20.
Industries 529
which is managed by a helper^, has an underneath of skin to

protect it fiom rubbing against the sand. To keep it steady in its
place four sticks are driven in the ground round the wooden pipe,
and above it between the sticks is placed a stone as a weight.
In the hollow there is also a heap of charcoal (maka). The
best coal is made from the mukti, a cedar tree, and from the
kioa and mupaii, the latter a small tree with entire leaves and
extremely small greenish-yellew flowers. Near the hearth sits the
smith himself {muiwi < kutua 'to forge') at his anvil. This consists
of a piece of iron, fixed to a block of wood lying horizontally on the
ground, or quite simply of a stone. The only tools of the smith
are a hammer {ki6a, fig. 156) and a pair of tongs (mwtOisto fig.
157)'-
A person who wants a piece of work done by the smith
must himself procure the coal and take it to him. The customer
has not merely to order what he wishes. According to Rout-
Fig. 156. The smith's hammer. Fig. 157. The smith's pair of tongs.
V12 nat. size. nat. size.
Y12
ledge the same thing happens among the Akikuyu, and I think
one may say that it is usual among many African people for the
customer himself to procure the necessary material when he wishes
to have a piece of work carried out.
When a smith hands over the completed article, he usually
spits on it to bring good luck to it.
With regard to the smiths' position it may be observed that

they form no special caste or clan, nor are they despised. Their
skill, on the other hand, gives them a good reputation and they
enjoy even a certain respect. No one dares to steal from a
smith; he may without risk leave his belongings lying about on
the ground. Thus there is the same respect for craftmanship
1 If this helper is a casual one or a pupil of the smith, I have

neglected to find out. The question about the position of helpers
within the different professions is, however, of a certain importance for
the study of the development of the professions. Cf. H. Schurtz,
Das Afrikanische Gewerbe, p. 79.
* The Akikuyu have quite the same word, apart from differences
due to sound laws: mihato, in Kinyamwezi tnwivatyo.

as we shall soon see prevails with regard to stealing pots from

theirmakers ^
We have already come across several examples in this work
of how on certain occasions objects may not be mentioned by
name by certain persons. Such observances apply also to smiths.
If they are to succeed work, they must never speak in
in their
connection with it about ua 'skin' (referring to the bellows), mmba
'potter's clay' or ^goha 'tongs' (cf p. 532, chainmaking).
2. Other metals.
Iron is the only metal found in the country, but the natives
also manufacture trade wire of brass and copper, the old East
African Company's small copper money, and tin, which they also
get through the traders.
All wire is used done here in the
in wiredrawing, which is
same way as over large parts of the Dark Continent, namely by

means of a drawplate fitted with holes of various sizes, through
which the wire is drawn. This is called in Kikamba (and also
in Kikuyu) ufa 'the bow' and is an iron bar about 2 dm. long.
Nowadays, of course, the Akamba do work exclusively with
this
trade wire, but originally the wire was made by hand and this
art is not extinct, even though, for practical reasons, it is rarely
used, although the Kikuyu smiths, on the other hand, still some-
times practise it.
The wire (upuku) is principally used in the Akamba's finest
metal work, chain-making, for which they are well known and
famed over the whole of East Africa. All the tribes use and
make chains, but none of them can compete with those of the
Akamba. Travellers also unanimously express their admiration
of their accomplishments in this craft. The chains are used ex-
clusively as ornaments and are consequently manufactured by the
principal makers of such things, namely the young men. The
material is, as we have said, trade wire, but formerly home-made
wire was used.
^ The Akikuyu consider the curse of a smith to be particularly

dangerous, and, example, among the Nandi nobody
to take another
dares to anything from a smith, as the owner of the stolen ar-
steal
ticle »will beat his furnace and, while blowing his bellows, will curse
the thief, who will surely die*. Hoi lis. The Nandi, p. 37.
Industries 531
Chainmaking is carried out in the following way: First the

wire is rolled spirally round another wire by means of the appa-
ratus k'hlvjagi (fig. 158). This consists of a piece of rhinoceros hide
(Or in the fig.), in which is fixed
a rather long stick {b) as a
handle and another shorter one
(^) fixed in beneath, with which
the wire is wedged The
fast.
metal is seized by thumb

the
and index finger of one hand
and the handle is twisted round
by the other, so that one wire
is rolled in a spiral shape round
the other. The spiral can be
made as long as is bydesired
taking the wedge out and draw-
ing the finished spiral a little
way down through the hole

and the inner wire upwards.
Formerly the whole apparatus
was cut out of a single piece
of wood.
In all East African chain-
making the wire is twisted
round an iron rod, but other
tribes use an iron resembling a
knitting-needle, which is thicker
than the wire, while the Akamba,
as in the apparatus reproduced
here, often hav'e both of the
same kind of wire. The prin-
ciple is thus the same every-
where, but the Akamba have
Fig. 158. Apparatus for rolling wire.
brought the technique to great-
^/i nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn.
er perfection than the other Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 88.
tribes.
The spiral is afterwards cut into links, which are twisted

S-shape, with their ends in different planes (fig. 159, 161 d), while
in other East African chains the links are flattened out, giving the
chain the appearance shown in fig. i6o. The Akamba keep the
finished links in a bamboo tube.
The artist makes his chains sitting on the ground with his little
khtatt (fig. i6i a), on which the loose links are placed, put down
in the ground between his legs. With two iron rods resembling
knitting-needles — they are made preferably out of old umbrellas
which are sold by the Indian traders — the links are taken and
Kamba chain. Enlarged to show the composition.
joined to each other. With a pair of pincers {^go/ia, fig. i6i b)^
they are squeezed together. Each of the ends of the pincers is
fitted, as shown in fig. i6i c, with an oblique groove, which makes
it easier to seize and hold the wire fast. The finished chain is
triangular.
Fig. 1 60. Kikuyu chain, the usual type in East Africa.

Enlarged.
One must admire the craftsmanship and taste shown in these
chains. The finest of them, used by the young men for leg orn-
aments, look at a few metres' distance like painting on their legs.
In my collection there are chains as narrow as 2 mm. It requires
^ Certainly identical with Kisuaheli koleo. The fact that these

tongs are somewhat different from and have a different name from
those of the smiths gives rise to the suspicion that the Akamba's
chainmaking been subject to foreign influences. The word for
has
chain, mumo, gives perhaps also an indication of this. In Kisuaheli a
chain is called tnnyoro or tnkufu (I do not know the difference between
these two words) and in Kikuyu, where it is usually called kirengeri,
only a certain kind (I do not know which) is called ntunyoro.
Industries 533
extraordinary dexterity to join together the fine links of which

they consist. Chains of different finenesses are seen in figs. T^,
•J7, 79, 80, 89—92, 94—95, 145—149-
82,
As has been just mentioned, the Akamba's chain are famous
over the whole of East Africa. many remote places there are
In
small Kamba colonies, which have settled down there principally
to manufacture and sell chains. Up at Lake Victoria, for in-
stance, there are at Kisumu a number of Akamba who sell chains
to the Kavirondo people.
d
Fig. 161. Tools for chain-making, a the kltatt (Ve nat. size),
b the pair of pincers (1/4 nat. size), c the ends of the
pincers (V2 nat. size), d links in nat. size.
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 90, 91.
Besides wire the Akamba also get tin, in the form of small
bars, from the Indian traders. This is used exclusively for orna-
mental armrings, earrings, breast ornaments and fittings on snuff-
boxes. When they can get hold of it, they also collect the tin
casing in old packing cases and biscuit boxes. The tin is melted
and poured into a hole in the ground. In this way are made,
among other things, massive armrings (fig. 87), in which pieces of
brass or copper wire are also put as decorations.
Gold and silver are not found in any form. We have touched
upon the treatment of metals in the chapter on ornaments (p. 374 ff.).
B. Woodwork.
Every head of a house makes the wooden articles that are
needed, such as beehives, stools, spoons, snuff-bottles, handles of

axes and knives, etc. Here, as in other places in East Africa,
holes are bored in wood with a red-hot iron. All the larger objects
are cut from a massive piece of wood with the ordinary wood-
Fig. 162. Woman's chair. Vs nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn.

Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 72.
axe {h/foJca), whose iron blade is only about 4 cm. wide, sometimes
still narrower. The coarsely made three-legged stools (kidtla) that
are used in the huts (the same type as among the Akikuyu) are
cut out of a piece of tree-trunk. Especially in Eastern Ukamba
there is used a special stool for women {kitumbd), which is bigger
than the ordinary stools (fig. 162). The stools {tnuinbd) which the
atumia use as a special privilege (see p. 144) are, on the other
hand, neat and comfortable, often real little works of art. Great
pains are making them, and they are usually adorned
taken in
with copper or brass fittings. One of these is shown in fig. 163,
where the seat and the feet are fitted with brass fastened with
Industries 535
small tacks made of brass wire. This stool also shows how cracks in
the wood are mended, namely with pieces of wire, which are driven
in on both the upper and lower sides. There are also really splendid
b
Fig. 163. Old man's stool, a brass, b mended cracks.

^/i nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 74.
specimens of this type of stool, as shown in fig. y6. The superior

specimens, however, are made by specialists in this department.
The heavy work is thus done with the axe, after which the
final cutting is done with the 'ggomo, a sort of chisel or adze with
Fig. 164. The adse ^gomo. Y^ nat. size. Riksmus.

Elhn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 78.
its blade almost at right angles to the handle (fig. 164). This, with
the knife (kaOw), is used for all fine work and is one of the natives'
most important tools. The base of the blade is fixed in a piece
of rhinoceros hide surrounding the end of the handle; this gives
greater stability and firmness to the whole.
53^ Lindblora, The Akamba
The women, who only use axes for chopping fire-wood, have
their own axes for this work and seem not, to be allowed to use
those of the men. The type is however quite the same.
The Akamba choose their wooden material with great care
and with an eye to both the aesthetic and the practical. Thus
for stools and for objects that have to be hollowed out, such as
beehives etc., they take soft kinds of wood, as for instance kiduti
(Aberis precatorius); for snuff-boxes they usually take ebony, but
when they are to be mounted, softer kinds as well. Spoons are
made from the beautiful red wood of the acacia sp. mupcsu. mundwd
and mupq^ a small tree with large yellow flowers (Cassia sp.), are
suitable for knife-handles and sword-hilts.
C. Pottery-making.
Accordingto tradition it was a medicine woman who dis-

covered and taught women the art of making pottery. Before
this, it is said, people cooked in shells. Pottery-making is held
in high esteem among the Akamba and it is by no means all
women who understand the art. There is also a special clan,
mba-kipumbd, whose women are tabooed from making pottery as
long as they belong to the clan. A girl from this clan who gets
married is thus freed from this taboo, and, on the other hand,
women from other clans are subject they become the
to it if
wives of men of the mba-hpumbd clan.

The pots are made of a mixture of black and red clay. As
suitable clay is not found everywhere, the women have, in many
places, to carry the material a long distance home, and in some
places they never have any opportunity of making their pots for
themselves, but have to buy them from distant places. The pro-
cess is as follows:
The clay is mixed with water in a hole in the ground and
is then worked up with poles. The pot is shaped by hand, as
is the case among all the tribes in these districts; the only tool
used is a small oblong piece of calabash, with which the surface
of the shaped pot is finished off, smoothed and polished. The
pots are then placed in the sun to dry, and the dry season (panu)
is considered most suitable for this purpose, so that they take
the opportunity of making their pottery during this time of the
Industries 537
year. After being dried, they are burnt, which is done by the
well-known process of covering them with dry grass (preferably
*/g, Tricholaena rosea) and twigs, which are set fire to on the
windward side. The completely burnt pots have a pale reddish-
brown colour.
The pots are very important articles in the native's life, as
they make possible savoury and practical cooking of food, the
source of all power and life. Their manufacture is consequently
an important task, in which much caution has to be observed.
For this reason the work is carried out preferably at a place
where one is not exposed to strange looks (the evil eye). As an
additional safeguard they also get the medicine man to protect
the place by means of his arts, in the first place against possible
enviers of the worker and against her enemies among the other
women. For it is a good opportunity for such people, by means
of magic, to give the pots pernicious qualities and so injure those
who eat food from them. In addition the women abstain from
sexual intercourse as long as they are working at making pots,
and as they may be spoiled even by sexual intercourse on the
part of outsiders, they are especially careful not to allow any
men to approach the place where they are working. The fact
that the latter is situated somewhat out of the way makes it more
easy to carry out these observances.
In the discussion of agricultural rites it has already been
shown that pottery may not be made during the time when the
w^w-beans are flowering. I do not know any explanation of this
idea, but it would be in accordance with primitive processes of

thought to argue that by making pots, that is by making pre-
parations for cooking these beans that are so much liked, one
runs the risk of producing a result opposite to the one hoped
for, namely a good crop of beans. This way of thinking is ob-
viously closely related to that which, when children die in a
family, causes the parents to give those born later repulsive
names, so as to make the malignant spirits believe that they do
not care for children, in consequence of which the spirits will not
consider it worth while to take the children from them.
At Machakos I once came across some women who were
making pots during the flowering time of the nzu. They did this
very secretl)^ inside an enclosure, and had placed their daughters
to look out and report if any outsider should approach. It would

have been interesting to ascertain why they violated the prohi-
bition in this way, as the women are, of course, usually extrem-
ely anxious not to offend any ritual prescriptions, especially when
it concerns something within their own province.
The Akamba's pots, which are used exclusively for cooking
in — beer, for instance, is preserved exclusively in calabashes —
are very simple and all of the same shape: extended with short
necks and rounded at the bottom, so that they cannot stand by
themselves^. They never have ears, saw sporadically only
which I
in Ikutha. As the pots in general of the African Negroes never have

ears or similar arrangements for taking hold of them, these must
be considered as due to foreign influence. The women in Ikutha
possibly imitated the pots they had seen in the kitchen at the
mission station. The biggest pots I can remember having seen
were 50 cms high; cooking pots are, on the average, rather less.
A cooking pot in general is called niwggu, the big ones are called
htcend. There are also smaller ones, down to 20 cms in height.
One is the muna or kamunq, in which food is cooked
of this size
for the father of the family alone, when he wishes to have some
special dish. In a hut there are seldom more than four or five
cooking pots.
In former times it is said that the natives made pots of such
dimensions that the biggest could hold a human being. They
were used during the happy time when there was a better supply
of meat, that is when they had an opportunity of stealing cattle
from their neighbours. The ordinary size was too small when
they wished to hold a real feast with meat. In daily use, how-
ever, these large vessels were not employed, except possibly for
keeping corn in.
No ornamentation is ever found on the pottery, but many

of them have simple marks at the neck, which are carved there
while the clay is still soft (fig. 165). They are a sort of trade-
mark which are placed there by the woman who makes the pot.
Our figures show some of these. Another consists of two stripes
round the neck, which would certainly be interpreted as a deco-
ration by anyone who did not know that it was a mark. It seems
^ Vessels with flat bottoms seem to be extremely rare among
the African peoples.
Industries 539
also as if the step from these marks to real decoration of the

pots were not far.
There are a number of observances with regard to the use

of pots. No male may eat out of a new pot before a woman
has eaten a little out of it^. Presumably before this they possess
a power that is dangerous to the men, who are unacquainted
with their manufacture. And if a cooking pot is going to break
when food is being prepared in it, and sonre of the food falls
out, must not be eaten 2. For if it
it were, they would be defeated
in the next campaign, presumably according to the old saying that
m
»like produces like*. The women, on the other hand, may eat
t #
v, '/«.
Fig. 165. Trade marks on pottery.
the contents of the broken pot without any risk, but they mix
salt with the food, probably as a sort of prophylactic. We are
reminded once more of the power that salt is generally considered
to possess, although I have not come across any other instance
of it than this one among the Akamba. Apart from this there
is no objection to the use of cracked pots.
^ The Nandi observe the same thing (Hollis, The Nandi, p. 36).
Similarly among them no man may approach the place where pots are
made or watch the women at work.
^ So also among the Nandi.
That the manufacture of pottery is considered to be a rather

remarkable power seems to be indicated by the fact that no one
would dare to steal pots from the woman who has made them
from fear of being destroyed by her hpztm. For if she happens
to be robbed, she makes a little jar and crushes it while uttering
a curse to the effect that »the thief may be broken like the jar».
D. Making of strings and bags.

From the bark of certain trees the women make the strings
{uli pi. ndÔ with which their brisk fingers plait bags. This is
their most important use, but they are, of course, also used for a
great number of different purposes, among other things for making
necklets and other ornaments. The best strings are made of the
baobab, and as this plant does not grow west of the Athi River,
the people Ulu get the desired material by barter from East
in
Ukamba, whence it comes, made into bast, in long packages.

The chief thing given in exchange is arrow poison, as the arrow
poison tree (Acocanthera) is not found in the east. Besides the
baobab a large number of other trees are used to make strings,
such as the wild figtree {miimo), the acacia species kipi and the
plants mwondd and mwinda ^gud (Corchoras). I cannot remember
whether the excellent fibre plants of the Sanseviera species, which
occur abundantly here and there, are used by the Akamba.
The first stage in chewed
stringmaking is that the bark is
so that it shall become

It is soft. meet not at all uncommon to
a woman going along the path with a piece of bark in her mouth
and with her jaws in regular motion. Sometimes even small boys
are put to this work. When the fibre is soft, they twine the
which consist of two strings twisted together to the right.
cords,
They are made with the flat of the hand against the thigh, and
then they are wound into a ball {hh'gga) ^. They use different
sizes, varying from the coarsest down to the thickness of the finest
pack-thread.
As has been shown, the strings are used especially for plait-
ing the sacks (kiondd) in which the produce of the fields is car-
riedhome. The plaiting work occupies a considerable part of the
women's time, and they even do it when they are on their way
J
< kult^ga plait together, put together'.
Industries 541
from one place to another, just as in the country districts in

Sweden one can see old women taking their knitting with them
wherever they go. And during the pauses between their differ-
ent tasks one can see the women sitting in groups outside the
village, talking and working at their bags at the same time. One
may say that a kwndo is an inevitable appendage to a Kamba
woman during her work. When a wife is mentioned in the people's
numerous tales, it is almost always added in passing that she

was plaiting a bag {kntuma khondo < kutuma 'to plait') ^.
Fig. 166. Smaller bag (not yet finished) for carrying field products.
^/4 nat. size. Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. Inv. 12. 7. 27.
The bags are plaited with the fingers from two balls. The
Kikuyu women make them in the same way. So as to have one
hand free they often put one end between the teeth. The bottom
is made first and the bag is held with this upwards during the
work. The size varies from 50 cms in diameter down to quite
small wallet-like bags for small girls. The largest take a month
or more to make.
^ The verb kutuma is also used for 'to sew', an art that the
Akamba themselves do not know.
There is never any ornamentation in the plaiting. Only in
certain places in East Ukamba are the bags adorned with red
and black lines (fig. 1 66), formed by the strings, which are rubbed
with soot or red ochre.
On most bags there are leather straps to carry them (fig. 167),
which are placed over the forehead. The
Akamba, both men and women, carry loads in
this way, and the length of the strap is so
arranged that the load comes on the upper part
of the back. Carrying is made easier by
bending the arms up and catching hold of the
straps. The method of carrying a load
usual
in Africa is, of course, by putting it on the
top of the head, but this method is inconvenient

which consist to a great extent
in these districts,
of thick bush with branches that hang down

over the narrow paths. Even in the Machakos
district, where the vegetation is now very
sparse, they always carry their loads in the
traditional way.
On the smaller bags, which are called
as ornaments —
Fig. 167. Bag with
ndu^g^, hang as fig. 167 shows
leather straps
carrying. a
for
blue
— some narrow leather straps, adorned with
glass beads, b brass glass or brass beads. It is each girl's ambition,
beads, ^/s nat. size. when she gets married, to bring one of these
Riksmus. Ethn. Coll. ndu^gd's with long, pearl-adorned straps as a
Inv. 12. 7. 28.
dowry; it is hung up on one of the posts that
. . support her husband's bed.
The method of preparing straps and leather in general is
described in connection with »Dress» (p. 372).

Chap. XXXIII. Distribution of work between
the sexes.
Instead of illustrating the distribution of work by drawing up

a table such as one often finds in ethnographical works, I prefer
to let the natives themselves put forward their view on the matter,
and, for this purpose, I have translated an extract from a Leipzig
missionary's reading-book in Kikamba^, written by a pupil at the
mission's former station at Rabai, among the coast Akamba. It
is curious to observe how many duties have been laid on the

man's shoulders, and, to judge from the length of the description,
he has a good deal more to do than his wife. But if one exa-
mines this formidable list of tasks, it is found to consist of a mass
of details, all of which I have, however, not included. Instead of
saying, for instance, quite simply » manufacture arrows* there is
a host of minute details, such as: cutting the branches, trimming

them, cutting the two parts of the handle, chewing and fastening
the sinews, putting on the head, etc. In thisway one gets the
impression at a cursory glance that the poor man is overburdened
with work, when, as a matter of fact, it is his wife that has the
hardest part. The husband will not, however, admit this, except
possibly in silence to himself. He enumerates with real devotion
and self-satisfaction how much he has to do, and if the listener
cannot repress a sceptical remark, he is greeted with severe dis-
approval. And with these few words we shall leave the native
writer to speak.
I. Woman's work.
The woman's work is to powder maize, grind flour, chop
wood, fetch water, look for vegetables and cook them, cook food
'
Kitabu tja kutsoma, p. 7.
for her husband and to eat it herself (!)^ Her other duties are:
to milk the cows and churn butter, to dig (the field), sow and
plant, gather in the maize, thrash the millet and Penicillaria and
the ntioko beans; to cut and carry home grass for thatching,
sweep the hut, shut the entrance to the craal and clean it after
the cattle (this is seldom done, however); to plait bags and mend
calabashes; feed children (a very important duty), suckle them,
look after them and bring them up (there is, however, no educa-
tion in our sense of the word).
2. The man's work.

The man's work is to cut the 'ggeti (the framework of the
hut), peel off bark to make cords of, build racks to keep maize
on and other smaller ones to keep things on (they consist of
shelves beneath the ceiling in the hut); to chop material for the
fence around the craal, for the ntuGia (the narrow entrance to
the craal) and for barricading the entrances with; to cut beams
to support the ceiling of the hut and wood for the sleeping-
places and to build the lue (the compartment in the back part of
the hut); to go to Ukamba and buy cattle, goats and ivory to
sell at the coast and then to buy clothes for his wife; to cut
posts that shall be driven into the ground to strengthen the hedge
round the craal; to make brooms to sweep the hut with; to make
the sleeping skins for the beds and the wife's skin dress and to
scrape the hair off this; to sew quivers, make bows and arrow-
shafts, arrowheads of iron and wood and to fix them on; to rub
the arrow
poison on and find small bits of goatskin, rub these
very between the hands, bind them on the arrow-heads and
soft
then fix the arrows in the quiver; to sew the ornaments of ost-
rich feathers on the quiver {htulcu); to cut clubs, make swords
and sheaths for these, fix the hilts on and find a suitable strap to
fasten to the sword; to make straps for his wife to fasten bundles
of wood and water calabashes whh; to hollow out beehives and
make the round lids to put on the ends, provide a wooden crook
to hang them up with and go to hang them up; to hollow out
^ From many a cross husband I have heard the unjust opinion

that a woman is no use for much more than eating food and sleeping.
Distribution of work between the sexes 545
honey jars and make lids of skin for them; to make chains; to
look after the cattle (if he has no children); to cut out snuff-bottles
and make the tweezers for pulling out the hair of the beard and
eyelashes.
The work of arranging all the different things is very many-
sided.
Arch. Or. Lindblom

p. VI.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Chap. XXXIV. Mental Characteristics, etc.
As I have now reviewed both the Akamba's spiritual and

material culture, I shall, for the sake of completeness, add a de-
scription of their mental characteristics, an idea of which may, as
a matter of fact, be obtained to a great extent from what has
gone before. It is not my intention to make any scientific ana-
lysis of their spiritual life — it is, of course, beyond my power
to do so — I content myself with describing them on the
basis of my practical experience, to set forth the qualities that
are most prominent among them.
It is very risky to generalize on such a subject, for it is un-
necessary to emphasize the fact that even among primitive people
there are, of course, individual peculiarities, exactly as is the case
among those who are more civilized. One can, however, say, to
begin with, that the Akamba are intelligent and, when they like, even
easy to teach. Most travellers, missionaries and settlers will agree
with this verdict. They have also a quick power of apprehension.
For mission wprk their alert intelligence seems, however, to be
of little use, a hindrance rather than an advantage. Among them
mission work advances much more slowly than among the neigh-
bouring tribes. When one thinks of the competency as re-
gards education and the unprejudiced and practical view of their
work that both the American and the German missionaries in
Ukamba possess, it is quite astonishing to find that after lo to 20

years' assiduous work they have obtained so little result, at least
as far as one can see, with regard to religion. And yet there
are many natives in the neighbourhood of the mission stations
who attend divine service regularly and know the elements of
the christian faith quite well, but seem to have no desire to live
according to its teaching.

Besides intelligence the Akamba have also practical ability
to carry out a thing, if they are properly instructed. When they
wish to work — for they do not always wish to do so — they

easily obtain places that the natives of many other tribes seldom
attain Thus they compete with the Indians for places as
to.
firemen on the Uganda Railway's engines, and similarly on the

steamers on Lake Victoria many of the firemen are Akamba,
while members of other tribes have to be satisfied with less im-
portant posts, such as deck hands, etc. In smithies and work-
shops in Nairobi the Akamba are also superior to the other blacks
with regard to craftsmanship.
A thing that one is struck by among the Akamba with regard
to their work — and that is indeed characteristic of most negroes —
is the onesidedness of the individuals. Everyone who has had
native boys in his service knows what I refer to. They do their
definite work pretty well, but only this, and object to doing other
duties. Each becomes a sort of specialist at his own occupation.
One is thus practically compelled to have a houseboy, a cook, a
person to do washing, a groom, a gunbearer, etc. One notices
the same tendency to specialisation among themselves at home.
The medicine man, for instance, knows and can cure only one
illness, a certain individual makes only chairs for sale, another
only arrows, etc. In the same way different kinds of wood are
often used only for certain kinds of work, for instance, to make
knife handles. It is rather laughable to hear, when one asks what
a certain bush with soft leaves is used for, that it is employed
as toilet-paper for the babies.
The Akamba popular as porters on Safari, and many
are
travellers them the best of all their bearers, although
consider
they seldom carry as heavy burdens as bearers from many other
tribes. »For all-round usefulness the Akamba are hard to beat»,
is A. Arckell-Hardwick's verdict on his Kamba porters after a
long and adventurous journey from Nairobi to the districts far
north of Kenia. And
German traveller, who has otherwise no
a
great opinion of the Akamba, says about them as bearers: »I
must admit that they differ from bearers from the coast and
Wakikuyu in a way that is not to their disadvantage*^. To
mention a Swedish investigator. Prof E. Lonnberg has expressed
to the author his great satisfaction with the Akamba who served
^ A. Kaiser, Die wirtschaftliche Entwickelung der Ugandabahn-

lander, p. 56.
Mental characteristics, etc. 551
with' his great zoological expedition in East Africa in 1910 — 191 1.
One could easily collect a great many of these favourable opini-

ons from the abundant literature of travelling^.
We thus see that the Akamba are not without the capacity
to accomplish work, but for one kind of work that is of great
importance to the white settlers they are not so useful, namely
in cultivating the ground. This is perhaps due not so much to
idleness as to the fact that they consider themselves toogood to
be in the service of the white man as workers. A number of
them work at Machakos, but in Kitui it is, or at least it was in
my time, very difficult to get any Kamba workers, and they had
to take Akikuyu, although these are at least as lazy as the
Akamba. The Akikuyu is the tribe from which is recruited the
greatest part of the labour needed for the farms. Not a few of
the Akamba keep Kikuyu workers themselves, while it would be
unthinkable, under normal conditions, for the Akamba to go to the
Kikuyu country to look for work.
This last point leads us naturally to a rather prominent feature
of their character, namely
their pride. Without doing them an
injusticeone may assign to them the position of the aristocrats
among the Bantu tribes of East Africa. They have of old kept
to themselves, and did not permit their women to marry outside
the tribe. But the great famine, when many women had to seek
for foodamong the neighbouring tribes, put an end to this, and
now many Kamba women go to be the wives of Indians and Wasu-
ahelis, among whom they get out of doing work and are called
bibi (mistress).
They never appear grovelling even to Europeans, but, on
the other hand, sometimes go too far in the other direction, and
do not show them due respect. It sometimes happens, for in-
stance, that they do not go to one side for a European when
they meet on a path. This occasional unsympathetic stubbornness
is undoubtedly due partly to the fact that the Akamba have never
had chiefs to whom they have had to cringe, but it is unquestion-

ably also encouraged sometimes by rather great indulgence on
the part of the English authorities. This is not a criticism of the
latter, as they must, of course, adopt the principles drawn up in
England for the treatment of the natives in the colonies.
^ Among others C. H. Stigand, The Land of Zinj, p. 202.
The Akamba are a cheerful people, rather loud and noisy in

their They have a mind open to humour and app-
demeanour.
reciate good joke. A humorous word, produced at a suitable
a
time, seldom fails to have its desired effect, and more than once
I have seen ill-will and sullenness disappear before a joking rejo-
inder. I have used these tactics to advantage with my porters,

and have been able, by means of some joke, to make them forget
fatigue and the hardships of the road. In the same way I have
also been able to divert opposition and grumbling and have made
it all finish in a releasing laugh.
As is to be expected in a hunting people and in people in
general who live in intimate contact with nature, their powers of

observation are exceedingly well-trained, and they can understand
very small details about animals or other objects, especially if it
concerns something within their own circle of experience. Their

rich treasure of riddles and proverbs, which in many respects
give one a good insight into their psychology, show good in-
stances of this. They also have an acute eye for the peculiarities
of a person, what is typical both in his exterior and in his cha-
racter, which is shown by the nicknames they have given to
Europeans with whom they have come in contact.
The negro is generally a clever speaker .and the Akamba too
have a good command of language. Above all they are adepts
at telling stories or describing the course of an event. There is
feeling in their speech, their play of features and their gestures
are picturesque. A number of onomatopoetic expressions give
life and colour to the whole; when describing animals they imi-
tate their cries, they reproduce the sound of the fire crackling
on the hearth, the songh of the storm in the branches of the
trees, etc.
Similarly they have a good power of adaptability. When

they speak their language to a European, many of them try to
talk more slowly and, from our point of view, more clearly than
when speaking among themselves. On closer acquaintanceship
they quickly form an idea of our knowledge of their language and
choose, when speaking, words and forms known to us.
In their mutual relations to each other they are constant and
helpful. This is, of course, especially the case with regard to
relations and members of the same clan. A poor family who
have no milk for their children can be almost certain of obtaining

some daily from better situated kinsmen. The bond of friendship
between unrelated persons is also strong, and for a friend they
will make considerable sacrifices, even of a pecuniary nature. They
sell things cheaper to him than to others and try, as far as is
possible, to fulfil his wishes. When a friend or any or his family
comes on a visit, a goat or a bull-calf is killed in the guest's
honour. On have often had occasion to observe how my
Safari I
porters used to help each other with their loads and share their
stores of food and water. I found that their mutual help was
considerably greater than that, for instance, which Swedish con-
scripts show each other on the march and on similar occasions.
And we have already shown how during military campaigns a
man may, at the risk of his own life, try to check the enemy
in order thereby to rescue a wounded friend who cannot fly
because of his wounds.

The relations between neighbours are also usually good, and
they help each other when necessary, as, for instance, in hut-
building and in gathering in the harvest. If their neighbour is
threatened with some danger, they try to help or at least to

warn him. I heard of people who had been sentenced to death
by the kivoh (p. 176), being warned by their neighbours, who
wished by this means to evade the unpleasant duty of taking part
in the execution of the death sentence.
Their help is restricted, of course, chiefly to relations, friends
and acquaintances, but they are often generous and hospitable even
to strangers. Anyone who comes to a hut is almost always invited
to have some milk or food, and they bring out a chair for him
to sit on. Towards visiting Europeans they are also polite and
hospitable, but never servile.
This custom, so pleasant to the observer, of showing hospit-
alityto almost every stranger is not, however, entirely due to
goodness of heart. It is simply a custom to do so, a custom that
seems common to all people at a low stage of culture. It is
practically necessary to show hospitality in a country where there
are no inns; all travelling would otherwise be rendered difficult.
It is thus in one's own interest to entertain a traveller, as one

may be in need of the same favour oneself on another occasion^
^ A. L. Kroeber, The Morals of Uncivilized Peoples, p. 441.
In many cases the motive for this is the desire to be on good

terras with a stranger, who otherwise might perhaps take his
revenge by woXy black magic.
They have also a certain delicacy in their dealings with each
other. I often found that a person who had a claim on his neigh-
bour and would like to have it paid did not care to remind him
about was considered unbecoming. And in the same way,

it. It
if a man had lent an axe or some other tool to another person,
who had kept it for a long time, he was slow to » remind him
with his mouth » about it, even if he wished very much to have
his tool back. Such sensitiveness appears exaggerated to us
Europeans.
Almost all unspoilt primitive people have a good idea of
right and wrong, especially when it concerns themselves. If a
Kamba has committed a misdemeanour, he bears his punishment
without murmuring. After this, in his opinion, all is well again,
and he bears no ill-will to his punisher. But if he is of the
opinion that he has been subjected to wrongful treatment, this
feeling may remain and rankle in his mind for a long time and
make him deceitful and revengeful.
An attractive feature in the Akambas' nature is their love
for children, especially small children. A person who sees any-
one treating a child brutally will rush wildly to its help, even
if he has not the slightest idea whose child it is. It is not un-
common to see men, perhaps stern and powerful old men, take
a child, even a strange child, on their knees and sit and prattle
to it for long periods. It is, however, parental love that is, of
course, most conspicuous. On entering a village I have often
been received coldly, but when I turned to the small children,
asked their names, praised their appearance, etc. the good people
soon thawed and have sometimes even given me presents. »You
have become friends with the children, you are also our friend*,
they have said.
Thus it is quite clear that the children are treated well,
especially by their mothers, to whom they seem most attached,
which is, of course, easy to understand in the case of a polyga-
mous family. One sees the children creep up to their mothers and
caress them with their small hands. The mothers, on their side,
show their children all possible marks of tenderness. I have seen
mothers and children kissing each other or rather » caress each

other with the mouth », as kissing in our sense of the word is
unknown to the natives^. Especially when a child dies the
mother shows deep and sincere sorrow. I remember one woman
Avho, after the loss of her son, could not bear the sight of his
playmates, and when she saw his ornaments hanging on a post in
the hut, she wept.
The parents' weakness for their children often, however, be-
comes excessive, and it is therefore extremely common for the
latter, as soon as they have grown up a little, to be spoilt and
disobedient. The young boys are the worst. It is true that they
seldom directly oppose the injunctions given to them, but they
prefer to say yes to everything, while at the same time they are
often quite determined not to obey them. This is especially
the case, as we have already seen, when the dances are proceed-
ing at their height. Dancing is their life, and for it they will
defy almost anything. During the dancing season they go from one
dancing-place to another, from one district to another, where they
eat and sleep with their relations and in addition always find people
to show them hospitality. Generally speaking, however, the young
people show respect for their elders, especially for the old men.
Their answer to an old man's greeting is a long drawn a, an
•exclamation of respect.
Even though the young people thus enjoy great liberty, one
may still say that the children are, to a certain extent, the objects
of education. The boys are soon made to help in looking after

the cattle, and while the girls are still quite small, they have to
look after their still smaller brothers and sisters and to accompany
their mothers to the fields to work there. The initiation rites
must also be looked upon as a part of education. To be safe I
should also add that chastisement of children also takes place,

although it appears to be less frequent than among us^.
^ This is the case among most, if not all, negro tribes, but it is not
•uncommon for small children to caress their mothers with kisses. See,
for instance, M. Meyer, Die Barundi, p. 112.
* With reference to education and the relations between parents
and in general among primitive, peoples see S. R. S te in-
children
met z's attempt at systematization in his essay Das Verhaltnis zwischen
Eltern und Kindem bei den NaturvSlkern. Zeitschrift f. Social-wissensch.
Berlin 1898, pp. 607 ff. H. Floss's well-known work, Das Kind, also
deals with this subject (Africans, p. 209).
In this chapter we shall also touch on public morals. In the

sexual relations between men and women there exists no refined
love; the whole thing consists of sexual intercourse.* This does
not exclude, however, the existence of a deep and sincere feeling,
which may be so strong that a person will not live without the
one he loves. More than one Kamba by an avariciousgirl, sold
father to some rich old voluptuary, has taken her life by hanging
herself with her leather strap in her hut or on some tree. Al-
though this is very rare, it is said, however, that the same thing-
has happened because of unrequited love^. We know that free
love is permitted among the young people, but even the married
women are not so particular about matrimonial fidelity. This is
quite easy to understand when, as often happens, a rich old man

has several wives — among
them even young women whom he has
procured in his old —
and has not time nor strength to
days
attend to them all. They then keep lovers and meet them secretly.
In the same way women who have been married against their
will continue to remain in secret connection with the men they
love. It is probably superfluous to add that a married man need
not observe any greater fidelity towards his wife.
This free love among the yong people usually, however, leads
to marriage. But with his practical disposition the native looks
carefully to see that he gets an industrious wife. If the one he
chooses is lazy, he continues his connection with her as long as it
amuses him, but marries someone else.
between the young men for the favour of the

Competition
girls may be rather strong, and manifestations of jealousy are not
infrequent. One has occasionally a good opportunity to observe
this at the dances, which sometimes end with a fight. To be
^ We thus see that suicide occurs among the Akamba, though not
often. Another thing it is when a
has had intercourse
that causes girl
with a man of the same clan and becomes pregnant, thus committing
an uncommonly serious crime, and in despair over it and from fear of
the results she takes her life. As a means poison is also used, usu-
ally kihamtbtt (Jatropha sp.). Suicide occurs, although to a ven.^
slightextent, among many, perhaps most negro tribes, and the usual
method is hanging. Routledge (p. 248) gives in the case of the Aki-
kuyu also drowning and stabbing. It seems to be blameworthy, among
some peoples, such as the Masai (Merker, p. 216), even a punishable
offence, to try to take one's own life.
just one must, however, nowadays they proceed

admit that
calmly and peacefully, generally speaking. But the older men's
recollections of the dances contain a good deal about combats.
Merely because another person danced with his sweetheart a
young man would challenge the real or supposed rival This was
done by taking a handful of earth and throwing it at the hated
competitor and then drawing one's sword. If any of their relations
or any members of their clans were, present, they were not slow
to interfere and come to the help of their friends, and thus a
big fight would arise.
Married men too are, of course, sometimes inveigled into
/Committing deeds of violence because of jealousy, but the motive
is at least as frequently a different one, namely that they consider
that their right of ownership is violated, if anyone else tries to
approach their wives. »They have not paid out their cattle for
nothing », as they say themselves, meaning that, as they have bought
and honestly paid for their wives with good cattle, no one else
has a right to enjoy their pleasures. The lover whp enjoys their
favours for nothing is looked upon as a thief.
It cannot be too often emphasized that the negro's sexual

morality, like his racial psychology in general, must not be mea-
sured according to the same standard as our own. And the
numerous prescriptions regarding sexual life that are found we —
have got to know a great many from the Akamba are based —
less on moral than on other factors, such as practical experience,
^
religious and supernatural ideas, etc.
The Akamba are closely attached to their homes and their
native district, and although, especially in earUer times, they
travelled far and wide, they always long to be back and always
find their native place better than other places. It happens
sometimes that a girl refuses a suitor, whom she likes in other
respects, merely because his village is so far away that she can-
not go home often enough.
In comparison to the men the Kamba women
more con- are
servative and more superstitious. We have seen that when they
believe that their interests are threatened they are by no means
submissive creatures, but can show proofs of great stubbornness
^ H. Berkusky, Die sexuÛe Moral (êr Naturvolker, Zeitschr.
f. Social- wissensch. 1909, pp. 717 ff. .
,
and in many cases get what they want. And when they get an
idea in their heads it has to be carried out as soon as possible.
The verdict is given, especially in older descriptions of travel,
that the Akamba are given to stealing. »They are very thievish »,
says von Hohnel, and Arckell-Hardwick's experience of his por-
ters was that >the Wakambas' great weakness on the march was
a penchant for stealing from the native villages whatever they
could lay their hands on». I have heard similar opinions from
British officials in Ukamba. It is also certain that they have ac-
quired a name as desperate cattle thieves. To give merely one

example, one of the scholars at the Leipzig mission, a Kamba
youth, describes in his autobiography how a Kamba caravan,
which he accompanied on a journey to the Giriama country, stole
cattle on the way^. And the Akambas' wars were pure plunder-
ing expeditions to steal cattle, a thing which is, however, charac-
teristic of all African warfare. It is only exceptionally waged for
its own We
must remember, however, in this connection
sake.
that such thefts must not be judged according to European moral-
ity, for they are usually committed against strangers, thus, ac-
cording to the primitive point of view, against enemies. And when
they took place within the country, they were directed against
hostile districts. Thefts of cattle from strangers are, according to
primitive morality, not stealing, but rather an honourable action,
and consequently they find it very difficult to understand why
the new masters of the country, the Europeans, do not allow them
to continue with these praiseworthy deeds.
Thus, from the native point of view, a robbery takes place
only when something is taken from members of tribes with whom
one is living in friendly relations. From the chapter on judicial
customs we know also that such robbery is severely punished.
From my own personal experience I cannot call the Akamba
thievish. was never robbed by them during my stay among
I
them, my tent, which contained various things much

although
desired by the natives, was completely unwatched for several hours
each day, and once actually for three weeks at a stretch. At
the mission station in Machakos they could, after the day's work
was finished, leave hoes and other tools lying in the fields over-
^ Eriebnisse eines Kambajungen, Verl. d. Ev.-Luth. Mission, Leipzig
1906, p. 10.
night. It ought perhaps to be added that both the missionary
and I were on very good terms with the natives and enjoyed
their confidence. If, on the other hand, they had thought that
they had something to take revenge on us for, it is certain that
our things would have disappeared.
That older travellers so often pronounce unfavourable judge-
ments as a rule on the Akamba seems to be due to some extent
to the fact that they know them less from their own experience
than from the descriptions of the coast dwellers. The Akamba
were in former times unpopular at the coast, the chief reason being
perhaps that they tried in trading to avoid the dependence of the
Wasuaheli, which aroused the jealousy and ill-will of the latter.
Krapf, who had a better opportunity than any other of the white
pioneers to become acquainted with the Akamba at home among
themselves, speaks to some extent very well of them, although they
often treated him without any consideration. He calls them cou-
rageous and persevering, enterprising, hospitable, and says that
there was a certain grandeur about them.
One cannot rely on the Akambas' word very much. They
readily make promises, but are not so careful to keep them, per-
haps, on the other hand, determined from the beginning not to do
so. This is especially so in the case of promises to Europeans.
This is the experience of both missionaries and officials. I will
mention as a typical case how an old man, who had promised to

sella drum to me, when reminded three times of his promise, an-
swered each time that he would come » tomorrow*, but never came.
On the contrary I soon realized that he never intended to come.
Another typical feature of their character may also be stated.
It appears, as a matter of fact, more or less markedly in all
people. If the Akamba are exposed to something unpleasant,

which rightly ought to fall upon others as well, they are very
careful to see that the others are not allowed to escape it. Thus
I have noticed several times that, when porters run away, their
friends are very desirous that the names of the deserters should
be posted up, so that afterwards they may be punished. And in
fixing the hut tax, which, as we know, is arranged according to
the number of wives, a man is rarely fortunate enough to » declare
too low», as there are always people wiUing to inform the tax
collector of the real state of affairs. In such cases there seems
560 Lindbloni, The Akamba
to be scarcely any feeling of solidarity among the natives against

the white men.
Although it is not connected with their character, I will de-
vote a few words in passing to the Akambas' aesthetic disposi-

tion. One must recognize that they have a certain amount of
good taste and sense of beauty, shown, among other things, by
their ornaments. The combinations of colours in their decorative
objects, beads, etc. are always well chosen, never clashing. With
regard to female beauty they seem to have about the same taste
as we Europeans, at least when I asked the young men at the dan-
ces which girls they thought looked best, they usually pointed
out those whom I myself would have decided for. Thick lips,
for instance, are not considered beautiful. Only one detail in their
conception of female beauty seems to be strange to European
taste, namely their idea that long breasts on a woman are beaut-
iful. This seems to be typical of negro women and so belongs
to the beauty of the race.
may also be added that they consider their own colour
It
more beautiful than ours, which they compare to the colour of

raw meat, a comparison which is not so much amiss in the case
of white people in the tropics before they have obtained the sallow
colour that comes from malaria and other illnesses. For this reason
they originally did not call Europeans » white people » but »red
people » [andu atund).
If finally we should venture to attempt a summary of the
scattered information brought together here, we can without he-
sitation say that the Akamba, like all people, possess both good
and bad traits of character. It seems to me that older travellers
are generally too severe in their conception of the Akambas' cha-
racter, although none of them goes so far as the English official
who stated quite categorically that, 33 negro tribes he

of the
visited, both in West and East Africa, the Akamba were undoubt-
edly the most faithless, the laziest, the most obstinate and the
worst morally. One must admit, however, that the picture pre-
sented by the Akambas of our days, namely that of an obviously
rather peaceful and harmless people, is not the original and genu-
ine one. Fear of being called to account by the white men
restrains them, but if an opportunity offered most of them
itself,
would certainly exchange the now prevaiUng calm state of aft"airs
for the feuds and plundering expeditions of former times.

Chap. XX\^ Somatic Characteristics, etc.
As the author is not a speciaUst in this subject, he has not

attempted any anthropological investigations. Careful measurements
were, however, taken of about 70 adult natives, according to a scheme
drawn up by the Swedish anthropologist D:r G. Backman of Up-
sala, and they include 14 cranial measurements, 21 measurements
of trunk and extremities, notes on flesh, hair, pigmentation (accor-
ding to Martin), etc. A number of specimens of hair, drawings
of the outlines of hands and feet, and fingerprints were also
taken. Of the individuals investigated only a few are women, as
it was almost impossible to persuade any of them to submit to
the measurements. In addition a dozen skulls were collected ^ The
material was handed over to D:r Backman to be worked at, but
he has so far had no opportunity to carry out this investi-
gation.
The only investigation on the physical anthropology of the
Akamba that, I know, has been carried out (apart from
as far as
my own and Hobley's measurements —
ten individuals, see Hobley,
Akamba p. 1 1) was published by N. M. Ley and J. A. Joyce under the
title »Note on a series of Physical measurements from East Africa»^.
In this note, however, we only find details as to five measure-

ments, namely head length, head breadth, nasal length, nasal breadth
and stature. With regard to the results it may be noted that the
figures seem to indicate that »the Kenia tribes, the Kikuyu, Kamba
and Embu, being, as it were, outposts of the Bantu, in a northerly
have mixed with the tribes across the border, and have
direction,
thus acquired an affinity with the Baringo Nilotes, Suk and Kama-
^Hobley gives measurements of three Kamba skulls (Akamba p.

9). Another description of a Kamba skull is given by F. Shrubsall
i A Study of Bantu Skulls and Crania, Journ. Anthr. Inst. 1898, p. 85.
- Journ. Anthr. Inst. 19 13, p. 195.
Arch.Or. Lindblom
.^62 Lindbloni, llie Akamba
sia,and the Nilotes of Kavirondo» Mess'** Ley and Joyce's '.
measurements were carried out in Mombasa.

To a great extent there are found among the Akamba, as
among most Bantu tribes, many different types from an anthro-
pological point of view, from the »negro type» in the popular
sense, with massive lower jaws and thick up to higher types,
lips,
many of which, who are certainh- pure Akambas, remind one

of Hamitic peoples, Masai or Galla. There is, however, various
foreign blood as well among the Akamba, due to the fact that many
mothers are captured Masai or Kikuyu and, in the P2ast, also Galla
women. If one asks individuals, for instance in Ulu, about their
«jrigin, one finds many whose mothers and even grandmothers are
Masai women. After a little experience these half-Masai are not
so difficult to recognize; their features are, in our opinion, more
intelligent and bold, their noses narrower and more straight, etc.
The body is generally slim, the Kamba men being consider-

ably more slender than the average Suaheli. For the weight of
the body I have got an average of 117.56 lbs, based on the
weight of 60 prisoners at the time they were put into the jail at
the Kitui government station. The absolute minimum among
these prisoners was 79.5 lbs., and the absolute maximum 133 lbs.
The rather slim build of the Akamba. makes it impossible
for them to carry such big burdens as the Wasuaheli and many
other tribes. The 60 lbs. that the latter can easily carry for many
days at a stretch, are, according to my own and others' experience,
too much for most Akambas. There are, however, contrary opi-
nions. One traveller says, for instance: »The Kamba possess
wonderful power of endurance, though of small physique. Some
of our men carried altogether 90 lbs. dead weight during one or
sometimes two marches a day for weeks at a stretch, often on
insufficient food and sometimes on no food at all»^.
An abnormality that is not uncommon is the presence of too

many fingers, each hand having six. The extra finger, which is
not infrequently as much as 2 cm. long and has a completely

developed nail, but no bone, proceeds from the base of the little
finger, to which it is connected by a very thin connecting joint,
^
Journ. Anthr. Inst. 19 13, p. 202.
- A. Arckell-Hardwick, An Ivory Trader in North Kenia, p. 7.
Somatic characteristics, etc. 563
•
so that it can be bent in all directions. Nothing is done to re-
move this rudimentary finger, but it often happens that it is cut

off when the child creeps about. The wound that is then made
heals and leaves a wart-like swelling.
. In the same way a sixth toe is found. On one girl I saw
another variation, an extra toe on each foot close to the little
toe, but situated a little higher up on the foot itself and hav-
ing bones inside. Children who are born with superfluous toes
or fingers always get the name ndula. The phenomenon does not
.seem to any fixed rules or to be connected
occur according to
with certain families or clans. These superfluous fingers or toes
are also met with among the Akikuyu.
Another abnormaUty may be mentioned, namely the presertce
of only one testicle. The natives say that in such cases the other
is »in the stomach », by which they mean, quite correctly, that it
is farther in.
A rather common deformation of the feet is caused by elephan-
tiasis, which seems to occur among all East African tribes ^ The
well-known jiggers (chigoes) may also, if they are neglected, bring
about deformation of the feet; more toes esp-
the loss of one or
ecially is not uncommon. Nowadays, however, the natives are
very skilful in removing the jiggers without injuring them; this is
done with an acacia thorn or a nail. But before they had learned
to do this, many feet had been disfigured or destroyed. Children
especially who creep about on the ground often get jiggers in
their knees and hands. The author himself had one even on the
waist. The natives say that the whites brought the jiggers to
the country, an idea that is probably due to the fact that the
animals became numerous in these districts at about the time of
the of the Uganda railway at the end of the 'nineties'''.
building
The jiggers, as is known, came with the ships from South Ame-
rica to the West Coast of Africa, whence they became spread
over the continent.
People whose toes »go in» are called nda'gi or matcB'go. They
are considered to be good runners. This position of the feet
appears especially among older men and may possibly be due to
^ Merker (p. i8o), however, has not observed it among the Masai.
" According to Merker (p. 191) the jiggers came from Uganda to
the Masai steppe in 1897.
3
564 Lindbloni, I'he Akamba
the narrow paths. The Akamba state, however, that it is con-

genital.
Cripples are very rare, which is certainly due, to a certain
extent, to the fact that the babies are carried on their mothers'
backs in the above- described baby-carrier made of skin iggo))
and because of this they are less exposed to the danger of fall-
ing to the ground. I can only remember having seen a single

cripple, a man, and his disability was congenital. It would not
occur to the Akamba to kill a child born a cripple or disabled
in any other way, so that the small number of these cannot be
ascribed to any such factor.
Cross-eyed and one-eyed people {nô'ggo) are more often met
with, but even they are relatively uncommon. They are consi-
dered, as is the case in many other parts of the world, to be
more shrewd than people in general, and when hunting they sel-
dom miss. One-eyed people also play a prominent part in the
Akamba's folklore. I have only seen a single blind person {hit-
linda), who was said to have been born blind.
The result of some simple investigations to find out the na-
tives' power of moving their fingers and toes, opening and shutt-
ing one eye at a time, etc., may be added:

21 of the individuals whose anthropological measurements
were taken (including 5 women) were tested with reference to their
power of opening one finger at a time from the closed hand. Out
of these 16 could do this without any difficulty, i could do it
fairly well, 4 let the little finger open at the same time as the
ring finger, and i, a woman, could not do it at all.
12 of these persons, of both sexes, attempted to take up a

stone with their toes and they all succeeded. They used the big
toe and the second toe.
31 of the measured individuals tried further to shut one eye
at a time. 1 3 of them were able to do this more or less without
trouble. A number of them could not open one eye at a time.
6 were unable to shut the right eye, while 5 could shut the left
one. Finally 7 were quite incapable of doing any of these things.

1 of them were also tested with regard to their ability to
move their ears. Only 6 of these could do so, i other could

move the right ear a little, all the others could not do anything.
Somatic characteristics, etc. 565
Most of them could not move their scalps, several could not even
wrinkle their foreheads.
As far as age is concerned the Akamba, like most exotic
peoples, age prematurely and die comparatively young. By chance
I was able to ascertain fairly exactly the age of one of the oldest
people in East Ukamba, a woman. This was done by means of
an event that was a memorable one for the natives, namely the
arrival of the first white man in their country, that of Krapf the
missionary at the end of 1849. The woman in question remem-
bered him very well and was at that time a young wife carrying
her third child on her back. With the help of this her age in
191 1, when I met her, can be put at about 85. She knew only
two of her ntiukd (age-class) in the district still living. The old
woman was still vigorous and both her sight and hearing were
good. In was a man of about the same age. He
Kitui there
»went to dances», he was a young man, in the time of the
i. e.
wellknown Kivui, the contemporary and friend of Krapf, and was

present at Kivui's death in 1851. Both these people were looked
upon by the other natives as very old.
The natives who reach a great age are able, if they marry
early, to see several generations of their successors. Kituva, a
very old man near Machakos, perhaps as old as the two individu-
als just mentioned, had a son and a grandson, both atmma. The
latter had a son who was ndald, who in his turn had a young
boy. Thus there were five generations living at the same time.
A few scattered details may finally be collected here:

The natives make water sometimes in a standing position,
.sometimes bent.
They have coitus lying on their sides.
When as, for instance, when they beckon some -
they beckon,
one to come to them, they do so with the flat of the hand tur-
ned towards the ground. The gesture is thus almost the same
as when we ward ofi" something.
When one asks a Kamba the way or some such question, he
usually indicates the direction by stretching out his tongue. This
can, of course, scarcely be because it is easier, but has probably
arisen out of their custom of keeping their hands concealed be-
neath their blankets, from which they cannot often immediately

draw them without a certain amount of trouble.
When resting they sit on the ground, when no stools are to
be had; on such occasions the men sit bent with their knees
drawn up towards the chin; the women, on the other hand, sit
with their legs stretched straight out.
addp:nda
Addenda.
p. lO. The Akamba's expansion in German East Africa.

Scattered and brief statements about this expansion are found
in the earlier literature, from which it is seen that enclaves of
them occured —
and still occur in many places here and there —
over great regions of the eastern parts of the German colony,
especially in Upare, Usambara, Uguru (Unguru), Usagara, Useguha,
Uluguru^ and Usaramu. A fairly good account of these are given
by Carl Peters, who mentions the following dwelling-places of
the Akamba*: In Usambara at Buiti, Kalamera, Gonya, the River
Mbaramu and the Mgandu Swamp. In addition from Kitivo north-
west out to Lungusa in the Mehikui hills (Dara) south of Kitivo
and in the north-eastern part of Uguru and northern Usagara.
According Stuhlmann^ the Wadoe have a tradition to the
to
effect that the Akamba
from Kerenge and the province of Gedja in
the present Uguru pushed forward as conquerors to the coast and
settled down between Bagamayo and Windi, which is situated
north of the former town and south of Saadani. But the con-
quered people called in the help of the Wazaramo — these two
tribes are said to be related to each other ^ — and with their
united strength they drove away the Akamba, who returned to
Kerenge, »in the neighbourhood of which small colonies of them
are still found at the present day in south-western Uguru, Gedja,
north-eastern Usagara as well as in Usaramo». In former times
many Akamba are said to have lived there.
^
Uluguru is a hilly country in Ukami, west of Uzaramo, thus
situated down towards the middle course of the Rufidji.
^ C. Das Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Schutzgebiet, pp. 38,
Peters,
815 (see theand map). See also F, Stuhlmann, Mit Emin
index
Pascha ins Herz von Afrika, p. 425.
' F. Stuhlmann p. 38, 815.
* F. Stuhlmann p. 33.
57° ,
l.indblom, The Akamba
R. Hartmann ^ also mentions this push of the Akamba to the

coast, as he informs us that they are said to have lived formerly
in »Schikiani at Sadan, opposite Zanzibar* (Sadan is probably
identical with the harbour of Saadani), and he thus gives us
another of their dwelling-places in these parts. He adds that
these Akamba waged continual war with the Wadoe (Watutu),
who formerly ruled over the whole district south of the River
Pangani. In order to be able to wage war against so powerful
a people the Akamba who
lived here must certainly have been
rather According to a tradition quoted by Hartmann
numerous.
the Akamba were not conquered but left these parts voluntarily.
For, he says, as the Wadoe cooked and eat their prisoners and
even killed Akamba, were seized by such an aver-
the latter
sion to the Wadoe went away from their country and

that they
looked for new dwelling-places in districts »that had been aban-
doned by the Galla».
The rumour that the Wadoe were cannibals seems to be
quite undeserved and is probably due, according to Stuhlmann^,
to one of the religious rites in use among them, as at a certain
time each year an entirely black man was eaten by special persons
who were decided on for this purpose; these persons had been
chosen from the same families for generations. The above-men-
tioned tradition seems accordingly, at least at first sight, scarcely
probable. There is, however, the possibility to be taken into
account that the cannibalistic rite is the remains of a cannibalism
that was previously more wide-spread among the Wadoe. In this
case a considerable period must have elapsed since they were
cannibals. Hartmann does not state any time, but if we note his
statement that the Akamba emigrated to parts »that had been
abandoned by the Galla», we may perhaps find support from
another quarter for the probability of the whole tradition. From
the knowledge we already possess of the wanderings of the Galla
we know that in late times they have not been much farther south
than Sabaki. But Paulitschke has shown that some centuries ago
they had already penetrated as far as the River Pangani, from
which in the fifteenth century they were again driven back north-
' R. Hartmann, Abyssinien, p. 165.

- Mit Emin Pascha, pp. 33 ff.
Addenda 571
wards »by the Masai and the Wakwafi» *. Yet in the 16'^ century
they are said to have overrun the whole country around Umba
River north of Tanga^. If we combine this statement of Paulitsch-
ke's with the tradition quoted by Hartmann, the latter, which

by itself sounds quite like a legend, becomes not at all impro-
bable. And then we should also be able to date the earliest
known history of the Akamba as far back as the fifteenth century.
With this we shall continue our investigation of their distri
bution in German East Africa in modern times.
Stuhlmann gives ^ as one of their dwelling-places in Usagara
Mangubugubu near Kidete (south-east of Mamboia). The Wa-
sagara lived here originally, but they were driven out by the
Akamba.
I know nothing about the Akamba in Usaramo, but their
number seems to be not inconsiderable, as on several maps we
find the name Wakamba and a place Mkamba in the hinterland
of Dar-es-Salaam, about 70 km. south-west of this town*. Burton
also came across Kamba villages at a distance of a three days'
march in Bagamoyo ^. In addition I may mention in passing that,
according to him, Wazaramo the assert that they are related to
the Akamba, because of which he calls them »a sub-tribe of
the Wazaramo>. There is nothing to support this relationship,
either in the material culture of the Wazaramos — the usual coast
culture with an Arabic admixture — or in their language as it
has been noted down by Meinhof.

It may also be pointed out that even the name Ukatnba is
found on the maps of several writers as a term for a district north

of the lower course of the River Wami (Uame), opposite Zanzibar''.
^Ph. Paulitschke, Die Wanderungen der Oromo oder Galla Ost-

Afrikas, Mitteil. d. Anthrop. Ges. zu Wien 1889, p. 175.
- A. C. Hollis, Notes on the History of Vumba, East Africa, Jourii.
Anthr. Inst. 1900, p. 281.
^ Mit Emin Pascha,
p. 821.
* See Pfeil, Die Erforschung des Ulanga-gebietes, Petermann's
J.
Mitteil, 1886 (pi. 18), and C. Peters' map in Das Deutsch-Ostafr.
Schutzgebiet.
''
Burton, Zanzibar, City, Island and Coast, I, p. 55.
R. J.
' A. Bloyet, De Zanzibar a la station de Kondoa, Bulletin
See
de la Soc. de Geographie 1890, p. 469; W. Junker, Reisen in Afrika,
vol. Ill (map); Petermann's Mitteilungen 1891, pi. 13.
The literature to which these maps belong does not, however,

give any information as to this.
In their capacity of traders and elephant hunters the Akamba

undertook expeditions still farther southward. The most southerly
point of these excursions that I have found mentioned in the
literature is given by J. T. Last, a missionary at Mamboia. He
says that the Akamba Nguru cultivated only very little land,
in
just enough to supply them with the corn they needed. When
the was gathered in, they went on hunting expeditions,
harvest
sometimes as far as the southern end of Tanganyika. They
brought the ivory home, and when they had collected sufficient,
»they make up a caravan for Mombasa, where they sell it» ^ Even
in these remote districts the Akamba thus retained their old fame
as the foremost elephant hunters in East Africa. We have pre-

viously shown that the famines were the strongest factors in these
wanderings, but it is possible that elephant hunting ought to be
given the first place.
The Akamba seem as a rule not to have been popular among
their neighbours, the tribes among whom they settled. Although
in most cases they were probably numerically inferior, they were
arrogant and inconsiderate in their conduct. In addition they
were not infrequently cattlestealers. La.st relates in his essay
quoted above how they stole cattle from the Wakaguru and
Wanguru in the district north of the Mamboia mission station. It
is clear from what has been said above that they also carried out
really warlike attacks.
P. 14. The origin of the Akamba.

An additional detail may be added in connection with the
assumptions of the Akamba's having originated from the Kilman-
djaro district, which have been previously given. The Wâdjagga
in Ken-Ko-Towo have a tradition that the Akamba
the province of
originate from there, more exactly from a place called Kirien".
It is possible, of course, that some Kamba clan does so or that
in former times some Akambas have lived there.
1
J. T. Last, A Journey into the Nguru Country from Mamboia,
Proceed. R. Geogr. Soc. 1882, p. 150 (with a map).
J. Schanz, Mitteilungen uber die Besiedelung des Kilimand-
-
scharo durch die Dschagga and deren Geschichte, Baessler-Archiv,

Beiheft IV, p. 5.
Addenda 573
P. 19. The Wadjagga originating from the Akamba.

Several families of chieftains at Kilmandjaro say that they
originate from Ukamba, from where their ancestors are said to
have come. This is true of families of chieftains in the pro-
vince of Useri on the eastern slope of the mountain, not far
from the southern boundary of Ukamba (their ancestor is said to
have been called Msei)^ The others are also situated in this
district, namely Mkuu, Kenj (Ko Tengia), Mwika (ancestor Urio),
and Marangu (Moran). The well-known chieftain Mareale said

that his ancestors came originally from a place in Ukamba^, Umon
(cf. Mumono). which appears to be situated eastward from Nairobi.
The second chieftain was called Ngovi, which is a genuine Kamba
name. Of the names of provinces given above Mkuu and Mwika
might very well be Kamba names (cf. %tka age, clan').
In the province of Oru (Uru), situated somewhat farther to
the west, it is said that the families of Wamaturu and Wandzau
also originate from Ukamba (cf. Kamba nzau 'bull').
P. 22. Name of the Akamba.

R. T. Burton says that the people of Mombasa call the
Akamba Warimangao, and Guillain has the same word, M' rimangao
or Ouarimangao (sing, and plur. respectively), which he translates
»gens qui vont nus»^. The meaning of these expressions is un-
certain, but it is word nguo 'clothes' forms
clear that the Suaheli
part of Krapf's Waumanguo. Warimangao is perhaps a corruption
of wari manguo^ which might mean 'those who have no clothes'.
P. 22. Masai- akipo^go.

It must certainly be called akipo^go, not kipo^go. Kisongo
is the name of a country, namely the great Masai province that
extends south-east of Kilimandjaro. The Masai are often called
after the separate provinces, e. g. Kisongo-Masai, Loita-Masai,
J. Schanz, tiber die Besiedelung des Kilimandscharo

^ Mitteil.
durch die Dschagga und deren Geschichte. pp. 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 19, 20.
- Vide also C. Peters, Das Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Schutzgebiet,
p. 121.
' R. T. Burton, Zanzibar, City, Island and Coast, II, p. 66
Guillain, Documents sur I'histoire, la geographic et le commerce de
I'Afrique orientale, p. 216.
etc. As Merker has shown ^ earlier travellers misunderstood these

terms and thought that they meant special tribes. The fact that
the Akamba formerly called the Masai ahpo]ago indicates that
they lived in former times near just the Masai of Kithongo, which
undoubtedly supports Krapf's statement that they originally lived
.somewhere near Kilmandjaro (cf. p. 14).
P. 29. Geophagy.
R. Lasch has shown ^ that geophagy, even of a
especially
non-pathological and not only among pregnant women,
nature
occurs all over the world and not least in Africa.
P. 94. Women's language.

I give below the few words I found that were exclusively or
almost only used by women:
nibunu 'Rhicinus' seeds instead of the usual mba\kt

ki6wu 'water' » » » » inanzi
kistedd 'wind' » » » » '^gutani
kiisonolia 'to be ashamed' » » » » kzviuia nboni
^ma (onomatopoetic ) , ,
^ > sheep » » » » 'hlondu

I sum a mmo )
mbuJ)(Z'ggd 'firewood' (used by

old women only) » » » » ggw
ukati 'clitoris' » » » » uûpu.
ukath really means 'horn' of goats or of cattle. As long as
a girl is not yet circumcised her mother uses this word instead
of wûpu.
P. 95. Maternal uncle.

It may be worth while mentioning that among the Masai too
there exists a sort of reciprocal power of taking property and
that this applies especially to a nephew and his maternal uncle ^.
^ Merker, Die Masai, 2"*^ ed., p. 9.

^ R. Lasch, Ueber Geophagie, Mitteil. d. Anthr. Ges. in Wien
1898, p. 214.
•^
A. C. H oil is, Notes on the Masai system of relationship, Journ.
Anthr. Inst. 19 10, p. 473.
Addenda 575
p. 97. Terms of relationship.

The terms in use among the Masai show no resemblance to
those among the Akamba. Only the terms for so-and-so' are the
same in both languages, namely 'jogama. On the other I cannot
help calling attention — without, however, venturing to draw any
conclusions — to the fact that the Kamba word ima 'mother' is
very similar to the Galla word ind mother', an honourable appella-

tion given to every elderly woman.
P. 114. Clan {mbai).
Without venturing to draw any conclusions I only wish to

state that the word inba^ and its forms in other Bantu dialects
remind one of the Arabic bam 'children, descendants' (hence 'clan,
family').
P. 192. War-flute.
It would be interesting to make a comparison of the signalling
flutes For
that are found scattered at different places in Africa.
instance the bushmen between Swakop and
Orange River have the
one of these flutes, the shrill notes of which can be heard in
calm weather at a distance of two or three kilometres. A definite
number of notes with short and long pauses means »The enemy
^
is there », » There is water here», etc.
P. 195. Burial of a warrior fallen in battle.
The Wadjagga did not bury those who had fallen, either,
but put them in the dense bush if they had an opportunity. To
bury them would be disastrous for their fighting comrades".
P. 210. Ancestral spirits {atmti).
It may seem very bold, but as I have never seen the com-
parison made before, I cannot refrain from stating the striking
resemblance that seems to exist between the aimu^ etc. of the
Bantu peoples and the old Assyrian word edimmu 'ghost'. The
1 Trenck, Die Buschleute der Namib, Mitteil. aus den Deutschen

Schutzgebieten 1913, p. 3.
" B. Gutmann, Trauer- und Begrabnissitten der Wadschagga,
Globus 1906, p. 199.
latterwas also supposed to come back to earth for many reasons.

It grew hungry and restless if its descendants ceased to pay it
due rites or offer sacrifices on which it might feed.
P. 278 fif. The *â^«-custom.

The meaning is unknown to me, but
of the word ipaOu
it represents the known from practically the
curious custom —
whole of mankind —
of throwing stones or sticks by passers-by
at a place where something has occurred The Kamba native '^.
who sees human excrement near a path puts a branch or a stone

on it. A woman who is carrying a load and accordingly may
find it difficult te get hold of a stone or a branch perhaps takes
a handful of maize or beans from her food-calabash and throws it
over. The excrement of hyenas is same way,

treated in the
according to the natives' statements, because the hyena » swallows
everything he comes across* and its excrement might conse-
quently contain things that are closely connected with some human
being.
According to Hobley (Akamba p. loi), in former times each
passer-by throw sticks or stones at one of these places »till quite
a heap accumulated*. The author has never seen or at least has
never had his attention drawn to any such heaps of stones in
Ukamba, but I have heard a place mentioned where there was a

heap of this sort. It was a place in the wilds where a famous
medicine man had died (by accident) and been buried. Everyone
who passes throws a stone there.
The motives behind this custom often seem uncertain and it
is clear that they are of various origins. They are undoubtedly

so primitive that their original meaning has long ago been for-
gotten. In the last case mentioned we may possibly be con-

cerned with a sacrifice, as it frequently happens that a person
who passes an ordinary sacrificial place, which is often, of course,
a grave, throws a stone on it, as has been [previously mentioned.
And Andree's exposition referred to above shows us that in many
cases it is really a sacrifice.
^ See examples from various places in R. An dree, Ethnographische

Parallelen und Vergleiche, I, p. 46 ff. and D Kidd, The Essential
Kafir, p. 263 ff.
Addenda 577
I may add here that among the Wataveta from KiHmandjaro

I found that a branch or a handful of grass
is thrown not only
on excrement but also on a broken object on or by a path, such

as a jar that has been dropped there. One ought to avoid step-
ping over such objects, and this is especially dangerous in the
case of a man whose wife is pregnant. If he does she may have
a miscarriage.
Finally we may
add to the chapter on magic the follow-
also
ing procedure, which
undoubtedly of a magic character, but
is
which could not be conveniently arranged under one of the pre-

ceding main headings:
When a person has been wounded or killed by an accidental
shot, for instance by an arrow shot during a hunt, the head man
in the deceased's village takes the fatal arrow and touches the
wound with it. He then carries the arrow out into the wilds and,
with his eyes shut, he puts it into a hole or crack, saying some-
thing like the followmg sentence: »Thou who hast killed our man,
mayst thou lie here and not kill again ». He then covers the
opening up.
This procedure is probably based on a desire to prevent the
arrow or the power dwelling in it from doing an injury again,
as, according to native ideas, an accidental shot may very well
be due to the secret arts of some enemy. The reason why the
man shuts his eyes is perhaps that the place shall soon be for-
gotten, as with the eyes shut he cannot quite know, of course,

what he is doing. With regard to the custom of touching the
wound with the arrow and then hiding the latter, this seems, if
it is be very similar to, the cases of sym-

not identical with, to
pathetic and contagious magic dealt with by Frazer in The Golden
Bough; cf., for instance, the following quotation given by him
from Boas: » Among the Lkungen Indians of British Columbia it
is a rule that an arrow or any other weapon that has wounded
a man must be hidden by his friends, who have to be careful not
to bring it near the fire till the wound is healed » ^. The sympathe-
tic connection assumed to take place between a wounded
that is
person and the weapon that has wounded him is also, according
to Frazer, probably » founded on the notion that the blood on the
^ The Golden Bough, I: i, p. 201 ff. London 191 1.
weapon continues to feel with the blood in his body». This does
not, however, explain our case above, where we are concerned
with a dead man.
P. 329. Birds of prey and ostrich eggs.

I have not succeeded in finding any confirmation in zoological
textbooks of the idea that certain birds of prey, as the Akamba

state, break ostrich eggs with stones. But Charles Andersson,
the well-known Swedish traveller, gives the same information from
natives living by the Orange River. When in the middle of the
day the ostrich leaves its nest in order to look for food, one often
sees a white Egyptian vulture hovering in the air with a stone
between its claws. It carefully investigates the ground beneath

and then suddenly drops the stone ^.
P- 333- The use of animals in magic.

Many animals are also useful to the medicine men and in
magic.
In the stomach of the lion there is said to be an object as
big as a fist which the lion sometimes vomits. It is, however,
very rare and very much sought after by the medicine men as a
remedy.
ndundii, the ant-lion, is used as a remedy for women who
do not love their husbands. The medicine man rubs the animal
against their foreheads.
A man who is fond of a girl but has a favoured rival has to
take the excrement of the nhmba (»a striped animal like a cat,
but smaller*), mix it with powder from certain trees and bury all
this on the path leading to his rival's hut. »The latter will then
cease to trouble about the girl».
"bawd, a sort of night-jar (cf p. 479), is used to prepare medi-
cine which makes a person who takes it invisible or at least very
difficult to see. This medicine was formerly used by spies during
military expeditions and by the caravans that used to take ivory
from Ukamba down to the coast, so that they might escape the
plundering Galla and Masai, etc. Here we have a good example
of homeopathic magic or of »like producing like*, as this bird is
"^
Ch. Andersson, Sjon Ngami, I, p. 246,
Addenda 579
so bewilderingly like the ground on which it usually perches that

it is practically impossible to detect it.
P. 352, Slave trade.

In H. Drummond's map of the slave roads in Central Africa
the Kikuyu country is given, probably with great exaggeration,
as one of the principal districts of the slave trade ^. Machakos
is on the map just at the edge of the territory marked
situated
with red. It is, however, certain that the fort was first constructed
so that the slave trafic between the Lake and the coast could be
supervised. Kitui too was originally built and the district occupied
to enable the Government to check slave caravans. Arab and
Suaheli traders found this route a safer and more convenient
one from the time the caravans of the East African Company
and the Government began to traverse the main road from Mom-
basa to Uganda^.
P. 440. Fire-drilling.
According to some the art of making a fire in this way was
originally a secret of the medicine men.
P. 474. Catching birds.

The boys catch small birds on lime-twigs. The lime {ulcsmbwa,
Icsmbwa) consists of the sap of the wild fig-trees. It is sometimes
boiled, so that it may be more viscous.
The boys are also very clever at catching birds with their
hands. At Machakos — the district with its almost treeless vegetation
on the borders of the steppe — they are in the habit of sitting on
a termite hill or some other raised place of an evening and noticing
where the birds seek places to sleep in the trees by the nearest
river. When darkness has fallen a whole lot of the boys go out,
some of them take up their positions by the different trees and
the others shoo the birds, which, half asleep, make for the nearest
tree,where the stationed boys try to catch them in their hands,
which they sometimes succeed in doing.
^ H. Drummond, Central-Afrika, p. 64.

^ Directory of British East Africa, Uganda and Zanzibar, p. 68.
P, 560. Conception of colours.

The Kamba word for » colour*, ila'ggi, seems to be the Kisua-
heli term rangi. Originally they had perhaps no special expres-
sion for » colour*. In order to test their sense of colour I made
experiments with colour charts and found only three colours,
namely black, white and red. The terms for these are, as far as
their roots are concerned, -tu, -cbu (nâu) and -iund respectively.
Black is identical with soot {mbm), white with a sort of lime {ea),
and red with a sort of clay (mdo). Green and blue are called by
them black, yellow is called red. Transitional colours are defined
very hesitatingly; it seems as if they had never reflected about
them. When asked, for instance, what they called yellowish-
brown and light yellow, they said white.
Markets.
Akamba had a sort of unperiodical market
In former times the
or day (Mââ), when the women met together and ex-
market
changed their products, especially pottery, which not all women,
of course, could make. Nowadays there is no trace of this, and
the expression ki'ga'ga has almost passed into disuse. Instead of
goods to the Indian bazars at Machakos
this the natives take their
and Kitui or to the shops of the Indian traders, which are scat-
tered here and there over the country.
Concluding remarks.
The author began his work on this monograph without any
preconceived opinions and theories. There was only one respect
in which the Akamba seemed to me to offer a greater interest
than an average negro tribe of the Bantu race, namely as being
one of the most north-easterly outposts of this race against the
Hamitic peoples. Because of this one might have expected a
considerable influence from the latter with their higher culture. If,
however, we take a broad view of the material put forward by

me, we shall not find this supposition fulfilled. We can instead
very safely state that the Akamba have remained very free from
foreign influences, both physically and as regards material and
spiritual culture. This is probably due partly to the character of
the people and to their national pride, partly to the fact that their
contact with their neighbours has been chiefly of a hostile nature,
and partly, finally, to their separation from their neighbours by
more or less inaccessible wildernesses poorly supplied with water.
But we shall see below, however, that an influence can to a certain
extent be detected.
As I believe I have shown, the Akamba were originally a
hunting people, with their native place probably somewhere in the
Kilmandjaro district; it seems impossible to define it more closely.

They seem to have been continually on the move, and we know
how, chiefly as elephant hunters and ivory traders but also with
the object of plundering, they have wandered about large parts
of East Africa, from the districts at the southern boundary of
Lake Rudolph and Abyssinia as far as the south end of Tanga-
nyika. And in many places they have founded colonies. It will
be clear without any further explanation that with this great geo-
graphical expansion they must have played a rather large role in
East Africa, a part of the Black Continent that has, as a matter
of fact, been the scene of so much wandering of peoples. It would
be specially interesting to study the scattered Kamba colonies in
German East Africa. It is fairly probable that a study of these
would afibrd valuable information about the tribe as a whole.
It is also worth while noting the traditions and statements
that are found among several neighbouring tribes to the efiect

that parts of them or certain families originate from the Akamba.
Such statements are known from the Akikuyu, the Wataveta, the
Wadjagga and the Watharaka. The Wakitu on the slopes of
Kenia also state, according to Dr. Kolb, that they derive their
origin from the Akamba. In addition he mentions the Wandui,
who live to the west of Mumoni, as a »bastard tribe of the Wa-
kamba» ^. Both these tribes are unknown to me and the names
probably refer only to the population of some small districts.
From a physico-anthropological point of view it is certain
that the Akamba in the most western parts of Ulu have adopted
some Kikuyu and Masai blood, but the extent of this admixture
is difficult to determine without a more thorough investigation of
^ G. Kolb, Von Mombasa durch Ukambani zum Kenia, Petermann's

Mitt. 1896, p. 224.
the conditions. It is a rather unexpected result that Messrs Joyce

and Ley arrive at in their above-mentioned measurements when
they say that the Akamba have acquired an affinity with the
Nilotes make no mention
of Kavirondo and Baringo, while they
at all of any resemblance to the Masai or Akikuyu, which one
would rather have been inclined to expect. But they carried out
their investigations in Mombasa, and although they do not indi-
cate the native places of their subjects, it is very probable that
they belonged to the coast Akamba or the eastern Akamba, among
whom one can, of course, scarcely expect to come across the
mixture of race we have mentioned.
we take a rapid glance at the language we find that the
If
dialect in Mumoni resembles Kikuyu and the languages to the
north (Kitharaka, etc.) —

among other respects in its vocabulary
and by the occurrence of r, which does not occur in real Ki-
kamba. In south-eastern Kikumbuliu isolated loan-words from Taita
and Kigiriama may also be noted. Other isolated words indicate
Hamitic influence from the north. Thus the curious word sulu or
Ugulu dog' may be of Hamitic origin, and also tOax 'arrow-poison'.
Several terms for wild animals are the same in the Kamba and
the Masai languages, but in this case it is tempting to assume
that the Masai, who are of course immigrants and who do not
hunt or eat the flesh of wild animals, have adopted the names
used by their neighbours for a number of these animals. One or
more additional words in the Kamba language of a suspicious
character might be added, but to obtain any results from this
material it would be necessary to have a knowledge of the Hamitic
languages that the author unfortunately does not possess. For the
sake of comparison I shall only mention Somali miji 'plain' and
Kamba wipt Galla chaka 'forest' and Kamba kt^cBha 'wilderness,
forest', Afar di(je 'cattle' and Kamba ndux 'half-grown cattle'.
Finally a word as to Suaheli-Arabic influence. Trading cara-

vans from the coast have, of course, from time immemorial crossed
East Africa and purchased ivory from the inland tribes. But in
the British East Africa of our days their influence from a cultural
point of view has not extended far J"rom the coast, since the traders
have not founded colonies and trading stations here, as they did
along their routes through German East Africa, for instance. We
accordingly find that the Akamba still continue to be practically

quite independent of the coast culture.
The brief indications of foreign influences given here can be

eked out by additional information scattered here and there in
the monograph. As this consists, however, of rather unessential
small details, it seemed to me unnecessary to collect them here
in detail. I content myself instead with pointing out once more
that on the whole the Akamba have remained astonishingly free
in all respectsany dependence on outside peoples, even
from
though such dependence can in certain tracts and in certain cases
be traced from their contact with their principal enemies, the
Masai and the Galla, and from their more peaceful connections
with their neighbours of the Bantu race, with which the Akamba
are closely related.
If we turn to the material culture, we may venture to say that
the Akamba have obtained at least a part of their stock of cattle
from the Masai and in the east from the Galla as well. From the
former they have probably borrowed their cattle-brands too and
the custom of bleeding their cattle. The greyhound, which Hilde-
brandt came across in Ukamba, must also have come from the
Hamites in the north. From the Galla they have, in addition,
perhaps learned the operation, mentioned on p. 312, of removing
the uvula, when it is swollen.
The ornamentation of the Akamba, although simple and unde-
veloped, also seems to have adopted some foreign elements, as the
oval decorations on armlets (p. 381) presumably derive their
origin from the Masai or the Galla.
Among musical instruments the fiddle {nibcsOd, Arabic rebab)
is undoubtedly a loan, but it is uncertain whether it, like the
'ggoma, the drum which is furnished with two skins, and which
is found in the Kibwezi district, has come from the coast. On
the other hand, one may safely say that the little toy flute called
nzumali is, as its name alone shows, of Suaheli-Arabic origin.

The art of inlaying the men's small stools with metal wire
is known by so few individuals that we cannot consider it as a
native element in the Kamba culture. I cannot however, give any
opinion as to the correctness of the statement that it is borrowed

from the Wagiriama and other neighbouring tribes towards the
coast (p. 369), as I do not know what are the attainments of
these tribes in this respect.
Turning to the spiritual culture we have first of all to note
the word 'ggax, the term used for the Supreme Being. We attri-
bute the use of this word and its notion to influence from the
Masai. It is thus used most in West Ulu, the regions on the
borders of the Masai steppe. In addition we note the many
strange spirits that tempt the women. In the department of ma-
gic, especially black magic, we can also trace a number of borrow-
ings from the Akikuyu and the neighbouring tribes to the north
and south-east.
The use of grass as a sign of peace or for magic purposes
which is sometimes found among the Akamba (see Index: grass)
is Throwing grass in the air is a sign
perhaps of Hamitic origin.
of peace among the Masai, and some of the Galla throw grass at
a lion when they meet one^.
^ C. G. Seligmann, Some aspects of Hamitic Problems in the

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List of illustrations.
I — 7. Figures from musat-sticks p. 54

8. Piece of musax-stick 54
9— 16. Figures drawn in the sand 55
17 — 22. Clan marks for cattle 130
23 — 38. Clan marks on arrow heads 132
39 — 51. Clan marks on bee-hives 134
52. A ktpitiu from Ikutha 166
53. War-flute {^guh) made of the horn of the Thomson
gazelle 192
54. Warrior's breast ornament (wea) made from the
mane of a zebra 194
55. Sacrificial hut, situated ina grove 217
56. Place of sacrifice at the foot of a figtree 220
57. Women assisting an exorcism of spirits 231
58. Women dancing the k'hlumi 232
59. A medicine man's representation of Ngai and Mu-
lungu 251
60. kuausia-vc\^. The medicine man is pouring out his
pebbles on a piece of a leopard skin 260
61. Medicine man curing a possessed woman 265
62. Young man playing with snakes 305
63. Moons and stars carved on a calabash shell 338
64. Calabash bowl, Ikutha 359
65. » » East Ukamba 360
66. Calabash decorations. East Ukamba . 361
67. Details from a calabash, East Ukamba 362
68. Hunting scene on the steppe. Details from a ca-
labash, East Ukamba 363
69. Decorations from calabashes 364
70. Conventionalized (?) motifs on a narrow calabash
from East Ukamba 365
71. Animal decorations on calabashes 366
72. Figures painted with red ochre on a long dance-drum 366
73. Decoration in red ochre on a dance-drum 367
Arch Or. Lindblom 38
74. Dance accessory made of wood, bound with wire.

Machakos. Represents a young man p. 367
75. Dancing accessory from Machakos, bound with copper
and brass wire 368
"j^. Old man's chair with wire decorations 369
T"]. Young girl's tail, decorated with beads and fine
iron chains 373
78. Girl's apron, made
of brass cylinders 374
79. Girl's collar. East Ukamba. Iron chains with Conus
shells attached ,
377
80. Necklet of metal beads. Brass chain with ornaments
of tin attached 378
81. Neckring of copper wire 379
82. Breast ornament of copper 379
83. Necklet, made of grass roots 380
84. Armlet of copper 381
85 — 86. Armlets of brass 381
87. Armlet of tin with copper insertions 382
88. Armlet of ivory 383
89 — 91. Ear-rings of tin with metal chains 383
92. Ear-ring, consisting of 7 copper rings 383
93 — 94- Tweezers for removing hairs 388
95. Tweezers used by elder men 388
96. Cicatrization on a man's upper arm 390
97. Cicatrization on a man's arm 390
98 — 102. Cicatrices on breast and back of men and women 391
103. Black tattooings on the face '.
392
104. Teeth of three young Kamba men, Machakos 393
105. Pointed teeth from Ikutha, East Ukamba 393
106. Teeth-chipping 393
107. Tool for teeth-chipping. Knife of European manu-
facture 394
108. Tool for teeth-chipping, the old original type 394
109. Dance drum {mbqha) 399
no. Dance drum {kio) 399
111. The musical bow of the medicine man 403
112. The m/^fgfo-fiddle 403
113. Wind-instrument {so) 406
114. Flute {nzumali), toy for boys 406
115. Detail from a mbqlia-dsince, Machakos 409
116. The band of a nidq/ia-dance 410
117. Doll (woman) made of pipe-shaped stalks 419
118. Clay doll (woman) 420
119. Wooden top 421
120. Sling plaited from strings 422
121. Kamba village, Kitui, owned by one man 432
List of illustrations 595
122. Kamba village, Kitui. Man with six wives. The

mother's hut in an enclosure by itself on the left... p. 433
[23. A village, Kitui. Four families 434
24. Entrance to a village in East Ukamba 435
[25. Sketch of a Kamba hut 438
26. Fire drilling 440
27. Kamba arrows 451
;28. Wooden spatula to rub poison on the arrows with 455
[29. Kamba bird arrows 459
:
30. Quiver decoration of ostrich feathers 460
31. Kamba sword 462
32. Club-shaped stick to carry in the hand 462
33. Club with head of stone 462
34. Trap for smaller beasts of prey 470
35. Running noose {muh'wa) 471
36. Running noose 472
37. Falling bird snare 473
38. Trap for catching moles 473
39. Arrow for bleeding cattle 481
140. Cattle-bleeding 481
[41. Cattle-brand 491
[42. Leather bag for carrying honey 496
[43. Knife used for clearing the fields 502
[44. Womans digging-stick 5^3
[45. The watcher of the fields takes his place on a sort
of platform 504
[46. Wooden instrument to whisk blood with 512
[47. Old man's snufiljottle of the horn of the eland ... 520
[48. Wooden snuffbottle 520
[49. Snufi"bottle, attached to an armring 521
50. Wooden snuft"bottle of unusual type, with two
mouths 522
51. Brush for taking snuff 523
52. Wooden spatula for taking snufi" 523
53. Smoking pipe, maize cob with reed shaft 524
54. Pipe head of clay 524
55. Smoking pipes with heads of clay and reed shafts 525
56. The smith's hammer 5^9
57. The smith's pair of tongs 529
58. Apparatus for rolling wire 531
59. Kamba chain. Enlarged to show the composition 532
[60. Kikuyu chain of the type usual in East Africa ... 532
[61. Tools for chain-making 533
[62. Woman's chair 534
[63. Old man's stool 535
[64. The adze 'ggomo 53^
165. Trade marks on pottery p. 539

166. Smaller bag (not yet finished) for carrying field
products 541
167. Bag with leather straps for carrying 542
Errata.
M 1- 5 Kraft for Krapf

18 » 5 P- 118 » p. 126
i8 >> 2 fr. below a Bantu people and » a Bantu people, and
35 » 9 » (cf. p. 103) » (cf. p. io8J
35 note I Ch. XII » Ch. XIII
41 1. 7 Chap. VIII » Chap. VII
46 » 13 fr. below (P- 135) » (p. 144)
61 » 2 » (see p. 138) » (see p. 144)
62 » 7 p. 103 » p. 108
62 » 12 (Chap. VI) » (Chap. VII)
79 » 20 Chap. VII » p. 121
114 » 19 mba-mindele » ba-mindele
125 note I Chap. XII » p. 224
128 » I Chap. XII: i » p. 212
128 » 2 Ch. XIII: 6, XIV: 3 . » pp. 292, 326 ff.
169 1. 7 mukulwa » rmtkulwa (Acalypha)
240 » 15 (cf. next chap.) » p. 269
248 » 13 Chap. XIV. 5 » p. 290
253: the passa;ge » Fresh and smooth wounds the

Masai x to be excluded
312 1. 13 with a with thread ^ for with a thread
349 » 10 Akikuya » Akikuyu

369 » 5 fr. below clothes » cloths
372 » 21 » skin » skins
373 » 24 » the young » that of the young
374 » 12 » these » these cyUnders
374 » 8 » or >> of
393 fig. 106 describel » described

n
INDEX.
Aberis-seeds 255, 287. 186, 188, 200, 225, 229, Animism 242.
Abortion 38. religion 247, 259, medi- Ankermann, B., 114, 116,
Abuse, terms of 448. cine men 269, 274, 285, 401,402,404,405,406,528.
Abysinians 298, 401, 404, purification rites 300, Antelope, as an ornament
454. 307, 312, food 332, 340, 358.
Acacia, used in rite 168, 343, 351, 372, ornaments Anthropology 547.
173, 2G4. of 380, 382, 383, 385, Ants 292, 445, eaten 516.
Accidents 157, 161. hairdress 387, 390, 401, Ant-lion 227, in magic 578.
Acocanthera sp. 454, 540. influence of 436, Kamba Arabs, 12, 13, 141, 150,
Adams, P. G., 101. superiority towards 448, 188, 191, 234, 307, 351,
Administration 149. cattle 476, 486, agricul- 400, arabic influence 404,
Adultery 158. ture 502, beer-making 407, 469, Arabian tra-
Age, of people 565. 518, 519, 527, blacksmith vellers 349, 527.
Age-classes 142, 147. 528, 530, 534, 540, 550. Arckell-Hardwick, A., 346,
Agriculture 275, magic 297, Alberti, J.,
71. 351, 511, 550, 558.
beginning of 442, 477, Aloe 447. Armit, VV. E., 303.
501 ff., origin of 506, Ambele, tribe (vide Wam- Armlets 380.
rites 507. bere). Arrows, marks on 135, in
Air-guns 421. Amulets 241, 285 flf., 442, war-rite 197, 452 ff.,
Akamba, in German East 466. power of penetration 454,
Africa 10, 569, as a tra- Amwimbe, tribe, 43, 69. for bleeding of cattle
ding people 12; origin Ancestor worship, 30, 33, 480.
13, 17, 572, the name of 34, 294, 303, 466. Arrow-poison 312, 316, 332,
the tribe 14; their names Ancestral spirits: vide Spi- 454 ff.
for other tribes 21; neigh- rits. Art, decorative 357 ff.
bours 17; as hunters 12; Andersson, Ch., 578. Ashes, in rites 47, 177, 241,
division 15; dialects 15, Andree, R., 104, 123, 240, in magic 479, as a ferti-
17. 528. lizer 502.
Akikuyu 16, origin 17; Andrian, F. V., 307. Asses 483.

Kamba myth of origin Animals 116, taboo of 127, Assyrians 575.
252, 353; custom at birth souls of 210, worship of Astronomy 335.
32, 43, 69, 58, 73, 75, 212, people transformed Asylum 141.
84, 99, 107, clans of 126, into 281, 288, as omens Athaisu, tribe 15.
property-marks 131, 144, 292, knowledge of a. Atharaka 20, 131, 167, 274,
age-classes 148, 154, 325 ff., unknown a. 327, 2f79.
theft 160, 167, 174; war in magic 578. Australian natives 124, 211.
Avoidance, theories for 96, Bechuana 124, 279, 293. Brutzer, missionary 4, 16,
97. Bed 439. 99, 108, 156, 173, 175,
Axe 534, Bee-hives 135, 494, 535. 197, 216, 223, 241, 255,
Beekeeping 494 ff., rites 259, 288, 295, 307, 425,
Babies 447, food of 517. connected with 498, bees 426.
Baboons 116, 328, 504. wax 497. Bugueau, F., 56, 58.
Babylonian mythology 337. Beer, youths not allowed to Bull-roarer 421.

Bachelors 81. drink 182. Burial 103, 146, of warriors
Backman, G., 309, 561. Beer-making 497, 518 ff. 195.
Bags 446, 540. Beer-party 435, 521. Burton, R. F., 352, 353,
Bahima 213. Bellows 528. 571, 573.
Bamboo drums 401. Bells 237, 412. Bushmen 213, paintings of
Bamboo flute 405. Berkusky, H., 557. 358, flutes of 575.
Bananas, not eaten 29, 93, Birds, as an omen 293, Butter 512.
221, in rites 273, culti- 441, 329, in ornamental
vation of 506. art 362.
Bangala 423. Bird arrows 457. Cajanus indicus 440, 503,
Bangveolo 402, 450, 457. Bird-shooting 450, ritual 505, in rites 508.
Bantu 9, 17, 30, 33, 38, 71, 452. Calabash, divinatory 259,
81, 83, 95, 101, 104, 118, Bird-snares 472. decorations of 357 ff.
123, 128, 152, 158, 209, Birth 29, new b. 67, ab- Callaway 89.
212, 216, 217, 219, 243, normal b. 37, 90. Calves 479.
245, 247, 249, 252, 271, Birthmarks 36. Cameroons 407.
293, 310, 329, 331, 333, Bleeding of cattle 480. Cannibalism 352, among
starnames 335, 404, 486, Blessing 184. the Wadoe 512.
551, 562. Blood, medicine 304, 319, Cap, of skin 375.
Baobab 26, 219, 516, 540. drunk 512. Capital punishment 159,
Bark, use of 540. Blood-brotherhood 140, 306. 160, 176 ff.
Baronga 95. Blood-money 129, 131, 154, Caravan routes 352.

Barrenness, vide Unfruitful- not paid 178, 202. Carrying loads 542.
ness. Blood-vengeance 155. Castration 480.
Bartels, M., 316. Bloyet, A., 571. Cats, domestic 485.
Barth, H., 79. Bone, broken 311. Cattle, symbolical raid of
Barth, M., 257, 264. Botany 321. c. 57; not counted 88,
Barundi, tribe, 5 (= Wa- Bourke, J. G., 182. 309; luck to 127; brands
rundi). Bow, miniature bow in rite of 130, 491; source of
Basket 445. 52; as a musical instru- dispute 162, 482; raids
Bathing 448. ment 259, 264; weapon of 193, 514; division of
Batonga 238, 259, 260, 279, 449 ff., ritual treatment 196, 284, 288, 297; ill-
302, 335. of 200, 452. ness and diseases of 323,

Batwa 353, 402, 450, 457. Boys 448, 489, 555. 335, 478, 490 ff., cattle
Baumann, O., 10, 13, 528. Brazil 401. and moon 337, 350, 352,
Bavenda, tribe, 279. Bread 514. cattle craal 435, grazing
Beads, different kinds of Brehm, A. E., 298, 331. 452, 478, myths about
376. Bride-price 73. the origin of 475, cattle-
Beans 339, 505, 537. Bride-stealing 75. breeding 477 ff., 501,
Beard, treatment of 386. Brother-in-law 91. bleeding of 480, watering
Index 599
of 481, riddles about Comets 335. Dancing-place 185, 408 ff.
483, names of 486, rites Conception 30, 211. Daughter-in-law 92, 97.
connected with 487. Congo 67, 68, 104, 114. Death 41, 103,condemn
Cattle-doctors 488, 490 flf. Consumption 302. to 159, the myth of the
Caysac, missionary, 247, Conus shell 377. coming of d. 253, neo-
269. Cooking, forbidden 277. phytes looked upon as
Cellars 219. Cooking-pot, in magic 284. dead 66, 298, 323, 324,
Centipede 362. Cosmology 334. 499.
Chains, as ornaments 379, Counting 88, 309, cattle Debts 162.
making of 531. never counted 488. Decle, L., 4.
Chair: see Stool. Court 153. Deformation, of the ears
Chameleon 331, in orna- Cousins 95. 383.
mental art 358. Cows 476, 479, not slaugh- Delaware Indians 138.
Champion, A. C, 18, 131, tered 489. Deniker 14.
267. Cow-bells 480. Dennert 396.
Character 552 ff. Cow-dung 437, 445, 505. Dialects 15, 17.
Charms: vide Amulets. Cowry shells 376. Diarrhgea 316, 447, among
Chiefs 149, 258, 287. Crawley 76, 77, 96, 168, cattle 492.
Children, illegitimate 35, 183, 248. Diet 312.
child-marriage 78, ow- Creation, myth of 252. Digging-stick 502 ff.
nership of 86, death- Criminal law 154. Disease, ritual 105, 106,
rate among 88, burial of Cripples 564. 128, 261, 271, of cattle
106, 310, 447, food for Crocodile, in art 358. 284, 478, 488, 490 ff
517, rites performed by Cross-eyed people 564. Divination 258, 298, 441.
children 104, 452, sacrifi- Culin, S., 428. Divorce 78, 82.
cial of 124, 125, 224, Cult 216 ff. Dogs 445, 485.
education of 555. Curses 128, 145, 171, 182 ff., Dolls 282, 419.
Cicatrization 390. 336, 519, 540. Domestic animals 293
Circumcision 37, 42 flf., 57, Customs, reason for 3, (omens), 475 ff., 483,
85, 259, 298, 493. kind of 125, disappearing names of 486.
Civil law 162 if. of old c. 348. Door, a new door made 32,
Civil feuds 201. in rites 273, in magic
Clans 17, 113 ff., clan ani- 284, 285, 304, 437.
mals 116, list of 136. Dreams 212, 254.
Clan-marks 129 ff., 172, Dacotah Indians 248. Dress, warrior's 188, 371 ff.
252, 529, 536, 575. Dahlstedt, H., 314. Drummond, H., 579.
Clouds 334. Dances, of circumcision 44, Drums, used by women 181,
Clothing 371 ff. 58, 59, 66, 68; 98, tote- alarm 201, used at spirit
Clubs 146, 463. mistic d. not found 121; seances 231, 275, diffe-
Club-house 147. forbidden 122, 413, 414; rent types of 398 ff., 410,
Cock, in magic 282. religous d. 210, 221, 230, 414.
Coitus, vide Sexual connec- 257, 269, 276, different Dum palm 516, 524.
tion. types of 407 ff., ritual Dundas, C, 4, 5, 143, 436.
Coix Lacrymae Jobi 380. harvest dance 413, pas- Dundas, K., 7, 61, 126,
Colocasia 506. sion for d. 415, 443, 555. 146, 148, 168, 301, 342.
Colour 236, 272, red 293, Dancing-accessories 366,
452, 463, 580. 402, 450, 463.
6oo Lindblom, The Akamba
Ear ornaments 383. Famine 10, 11, 24, 84, 277, 298, 110, 144, 408, used
Earth, eaten by pregnant 326, names of famines at curses 183, warrior's f.
women 29. 339, 350, 413, 480, 516. 189, the first f. eaten
Earth-quakes 386. Fat, in rites, 32, 37, 47, 53, 442, 498 (honey), 510
Eating regulations 145, 76, of people 167, as a (vegetables), for goats
eating the totem 119, protective medicine 170, 483, eggs not eaten 484,
299; eating elephant 467; 198, 219, 224, 238, 241; 511 ff., animal food 511,
517. bows rubbed with 450. vegetable f. 513, for ba-
Ebony 286, 524. Father, authority of 182, bies 517, 537, supersti-
EcHpse 336. 446. tion connected with 539.
Eggs, of snakes 331, in Father-in-law 91, 97, 441. Footsteps, in magic 280.
magic 479, of poultry Fees, at circumcision 43, Fort Hall 18.
484. 45, 51, paid by novices Fortification, of villages
Elephant 116, 126, 213, 327, in hunting 468. 433.
hunting of 289, 333(trunk Fever 313, 317. Foster-brothers 140.
of), 450, 456, 465 Fiddle 404.
fif. Frazer 4, 35, 36, 95, 96,
Elephant hunters, orna- Fields, 165, 171; purifica- 114, 117, 119, 138, 149,
ments of 382. tion of 172, 181, 227, 168, 198, 213, 214, 219,
Elephantiasis 563. 285, watch-keeping on 242, 440, 509, 577.
Eliot, C, 23, 84, 86. 445. Frobenius, L., 69, 336, 385,
Eleusine, in rites etc., 33, Field-work 501. 401, 402, 407, 449, 528.
241, antiquity of 442, Figtree, in rites 32, 56, as Frogs 227, 292.
508, 503. a totem 116, as a place Fruit 515.
Entrance, to the village 432, of sacrifice 219, 540.
443. Figures, cut in bark 54;
Epidemics 150, 219, remo- drawn in sand 56, 67;
ving of 271. human f. 363, 368. Qalla, 13, 14, 18 ff., 21, 57,
Evening star 335. Fines 66, 122, 154 ff. 195, 204, 219, 229, 234,
Evil eye 45, 123, 281, 478. Fingers, superfluous 562. 285, 312, 344, war with
Eyebrows 387. Finger-rings 384. 353, 501, ornaments 381,
Eyelashes 387. Fire, as an ordeal 176, fire- war-rings of 384, 486,
Excrements, human in brand at curses 184, 212, language 506, 582, wan-
magic and rites 64, 66, firebrand in rite 245, fire- derings of 570.
182, in magic 279, 282, making 345, 440. Gambling 426.
283, 298, in medicine Fire-place 439. Games 418 ff., 423 ff, of
313, 315, 484, of python Fishes 128, 325, not eaten chance 426.
479. 332, as ornamental figu- Gate 434.
Exogamy 79, 115, 121. res 362. Gedge, E., 19.
Exorcism 230 flf., 264, 414. Fishing 474. Gennep, A. van, 30, 43, 67,
Eye-affections 315, of cattle Flour 514. 68, 71, 113, 127.
492. Flutes 405 ff., 440. Geographical ideas 343.
Folk-lore225, 227, 261,325, Geology 336.
327, 329, people with Geometrical patterns in or-
tails 344, 397, 437, origin naments 374, 382.
Family, statistics 86, 114, of poultry 484. Geophagy 29, 574.
f. sacrifices 218, f. Hfe Food, of pregnant women Gerhold 336.
445 ff. 29; forbidden 56, 88. 97, Gerland 20.
1
Index 60
(German, P., 71. Held, T. v., 253. Hunting, symbolic 52, 135,
Gillen: vide Spencer. Herdsmen 487, 488. big game 332, 337, 347,
Girls, arrogance of 411, Hermaphrodite 326. return from 405, 465 ff.,
pastimes of 418 ff., 426, Heydrich, M., 358, 365, skill as hunters 469.
523, education of 555. 369. Hut 44, 105, price of 165;
Goats 261, in purification Hildebrandt 3, 14, 31, 33, h. for initiation 46, 62;
rites 108, 227, 273, 299, 70, 75, 142, 146, 188, hut-tax 80, 559, sacrifi-
omens 292, 295 ff., 439, 195, 214, 267, 277, 298, cial h. 217, 222; hutbuil-
483. 347, 352, 365, 371, 382, ding 257, 296, rites con-
Goldenweiser, A., 30. 384, 385, 389, 400, 401, nected with 441, 436 ff.
Government 149. 405, 406, 413, 461, 483, Hyena 106, 110, 116, 118,
Grain, kinds of 505. 485, 497, 526. 215, excrements of 282,
Grass, in rites 346, 441, 584. Hip-disease 315. 326, worship of 327, 416,
Grasshoppers 171, 213, 509, Hippopotamus 116, 290. Hyrax (in rites) 297, 298,
eaten 516. History 349 ff., originally a 487.
Grave 103, 108, 288. hunting people 442.
(Greetings 101. Hobley, C. V., 4, 7, 20, 30,
Ihering, H. v., 396.
Gregory, J. W., 4, 14, 17. 39, 61, 70, 86, 108, 116,
Ikutha, 23, 105, 107, clans
Greyhounds 485, 583. 126, 130, 143, 144, 151,
in 138, 167, 170, 203,
Grindstones 514, 522. 165, 168, 215, 218, 228,
218, 227, 277, 303, 314,
Gruel 313, 513, 515. 229, 239, 259, 264, 279,
339, 351, 392, 404, 416,
Guillain 350, 573. 286, 300, 308, 327, 334,
453, 495, 538.
Guinea-fowls 331, 484. 335, 336, 347, 369, 371,
Illnesses, caused by 269,
Gutmann, B., 14, 183, 199, 405, 427, 439, 442, 457,
ritual i. 298 ff., different
215, 216, 225, 244, 247, 466, 472, 475, 487, 491,
kinds of 313 ff., 330.
331, 341, 425, 446, 495, 527.
Immorality 414.
497, 499. Hofman, missionary, 4,
Imprisonment 160.
17, 23, 32; 47, 73, 81,
Indians 84.
107, 121, 224, 229, 273,
Industry 435, 527 ff.
Haberlandt 517. 280, 301, 302, 304, 317,
Inheritance 162 ff.
H addon 286. 336, 350, 493.
Initiation rites 45 ff.
Hahn, E., 337, 477, 503. Hohnel, L. v., 4, 371, 386,
Insects 292, 325.
Hail 334. 453, 558.
Intoxication 521.
Hair 110, in magic 283. Hollis, A. C., 22, 30, 154,
Iron in rites 34, 277, 278,
Hairdressing 386. 168, 247, 248, 292, 294,
442.
Hamitic types 562. 326, 385, 476, 509, 530,
Iron industry 527.
Hammarstedt, N., 293. 539, 571, 574.
Irrigation 502, 506.
Hammer-bird 128. Home Hfe 445.
Ivory 352, ornaments of
Hare 329. Honey, 29, theft of 160,
382, 524, in native pos-
Hartland, S., 30, 250. magic 290, different
session 468.
Hartman, C. V., 7. kinds of 496, 518.
Hartmann, R., 401, 570. Honey-indicating bird 497.
Harvest 501, 505. Horns, as instruments 405. Jackal (omen) 292.
Headache 313, 316. Horn-bill 329. Ja-Luo, tribe 88, 464.
Head-dress 188. Hospitality 81, Jealousy 411, 557.
Hedgehog (omen) 292. Hottentots 329, 486. Jiggers 563.
Hein, W., 381. Hubert and Mauss 465. Joest, W., 396.
Johnston, C. F., missionary 413, 414, 475, 495, 497, Liver, not eaten 118, illness
7, .'^93. 501, 551, 579. in 316.
Johnston, H. H., 216. Kivauni, mountain 116,211. Lizard, as an ornament 358,

Johnstone, H. B., 4, 69. Kivui, chief 149, 349, 565. in rite 495.
Journeys 218, magic on Knife, used at circumcision Loango 177.

2B0, 285, 287, observan- 37, 43; worn in dances Loin-cloth, a woman's in
ces on 345 flf., 440. 237, 239; for cutting 502, rites 184, 374.
Juncker, W., 571. 535. Lonnberg, E., 116, 328.

Junod, H., 31, 95, 96, 105, Koch-Grunberg, Th., 401. Love, free 38, 147, love and
213, 238, 259, 260, 302, Kohler, J., 84. magic 322, 323, 578.
335. Kolb, G., 3, 200, 343, 381, Lundell, J. A., 7.
Justice 152 flf. 516. Luschan, v., 528.
Krapf, missionary, 1, 3, Lynch-law 150, 176, 279.
Kafirs 478. 10, 12, 14, 75, 149, 160,
Kaiser, A., 313. 224, 242, 280, 349, 353, Machakos, 5, 81, 83, 84,
Kanig, G., 180, 184, 211, 370, 373, 385, 501, 559, 105, 106, 121, 131, 135,
246, 351. 565. 162, 164, 189, 196, 199,
Karagwe 405. Krause, M., 456. 203, 205, 216, 219, 223,
Kavirondo 86, 88, 344, 405, Kyumbe, mountain, 210, 232, 236, 239, 260, 263,
438, 461, 464, 533. 211. 294, 295, 301, 314, 340,
Kersten, O., 350. 345, 373, 384, 387, 409,
Kibwezi 61, 108, 210, 225, Labour, division of 80. 446, 454, 483, 494, 537,
228, 234, 236, 241, 268, Lagerheim, N. G., 314. 542, mission station of
297, 313, 315, 336, 337, Laman, K. E., missionary M. 558, fort of 579.
350, 392, 400, 404. 114. Mackenzie, J.,
293.
Kidd, D., 89, 94, 215, 244, Lamu 13, 204. Madness 240, 270.
271, 292. Land tenure 164. Magic 139, 171, 174, at war
KigeHa africana 519. Lang, A., 249. 190, kiUing by 199, 229,
Kikamba, the importance Language 15, of women 94. 254 ff., m. remedies 263,
of 12, dialects 17. Lasch, R., 396, 574. 270; m. power 268, 272,
Kikumbuliu district, 17, 54, Last, J. T., 10, 572. 279, 283, 288; sympathe-
57, 60, 61, 67, 74, 107, Law 152 ff. tic 261, 276, 297, 315,
clans in 138, 210, 229, Leaves 181. 319, 495, 499, 554, rain
234, 256, 282, 289, 293, Leipzig mission 558. magic 275 ff., black m.
392, 437, 438, 445, 478, Leopard 116, 119, skin of 1. 269, 278, 289, 322, 408,
482, 494, 501, 502, 505, 259, 261, 287, 456. contagious m. 280, 285,
512, 515, 523. Leprosy 301. 303, 306 ff., 442, 500,
Kikuyu, vide Akikuyu. Le Roy, A., 210, 243, 244, connected with hunting
Kilungu district 14, 16, 79, 249. 465 ff., to prevent cattle
125, 202, unrest in 240, Lice, eaten 480, 516. to butt 479, animals used
252, 283, 302, 373. Lightning 334. inmagic 578.
Kissing 555. Lindblom, G., 13, 20, 29, Maize 504 ff., 514, 515.
Kitui district 5, 15, 17, 60, 56, 497, 499. Malaria 313.
61, 107, 115, clans in Lion, clan animal 116, 119, Malay-nigritic influence
138, 149, 158, 168, 181, protective against 263, 401.
224, 228, 263, 274, 277, 282, 287, 326, 456, in Mamboia, mission-station
279, 296, 374, 377, 392, magic 578. 11, 572.
Index 603
Man-eaters 225, Melanesians 248. Mumoni district 9, 17, 115,

Maniok 506. Menstruation 35, 39 ff. 313, 392, 436.
Mantis religiosa 213. Mental characteristics 549. Mushrooms 516.
Mareale, Djagga chief 573. Merker, M., 14, 131, 138, Musical instruments 258,
Markets 580. 189, 191, 284, 312, 326, 398 ff., music bow 402,
iMarret 248. 335, 385, 392, 427, 448, musical talent 404.
Marriage 72, 89, 115, for- 456, 481, 528, 556, 563, Mutilation, of enemies 195.
bidden 121,140,141,409. 574. Mutton, in rites 37, 498.
Masai 12, origin 17, Kamba Metal ornaments 374, 375. Myths, of the first men 13,
myth of origin 252, 353, Metal work 368, 527 ff. 125, as to the origin of
69, 81, 97, 99; property- Metaphors, in the Kamba the world 252, origin of
marks 131, age-classes language 74. the Akamba 353, origin
148, 149; war 186, 188 fif., Meteorology 334. of cattle 475, origin of
199, 200, 203 ff.; 214, Meyer, M., 555. agriculture 506.
219, 229, 234, 236, reh- Midwives 31.
gion247,261,280, magic Military organisation 187 ff.
Nails 282.
284, 287, 289; omens 292, Milk, in rite 184, as a sa-
294; 326, food 332, 343, crifice 223, scarcity of
Names 33, 74, 80, 90, 92,
taboo of 93, 100; of dead

346, 372, ornaments 381, 319, in magic 490, 492,
persons 214, 215, magic
383, 385, hairdress 387, as food 512, 517, milking
power in 288 ff., n. of
390, game of 427, 433, 435, 478.
plants 321, of wild ani-
436, 437, 448, 454, cattle Milk-vessels, fumigating of
mals 325, of domestic
476, 478, 482, 486, 493; 488.
animals 486, of objects
501, language 506, trade Millipede 362.
530.
with 526, suicide among Mirror 191.
Nandi, tribe 168, 326, 479,
556, Masai blood among Miscarriage 282, among
508, 530, 539.
Akamba 562, Masai pro- cattle 323, 324.
Nassau, R. H., 69.
vinces 573. Mkunumbi, harbour 13.
Natron 522.
Matriarchate 96, 128. Mohl, von der, 101.
Natural history 321 ff.
Mc Gregor, missionary, 99, Moles 473.
Navel cord 31.
248. Money 74.
Necklets 379.
Meat, right to eat 144, Monkeys 504, 512.
Neligan, C. \V., 239.
longing for 159. Monogamy 81.
Medicine (and remedies) Months, names of 340.
Neumann, A., 12.
311 fif. Moon 114, 117, 124, in folk-

Ngai 239, 245 ff., 256.
Medicine-man 31, 173 ff., Night-jar, in magic 479,

lore 183, 336, 337, in or-
578.
role at war 188, 213, 216, namental art 363, 391.
218, 220, 222, exorcising Morals 556 ff.
Nilsson, M. P:n, 139, 222.
Nubians 21.
spirits 233, 241, general Mother-in-law 76, 77, 89 ff.
characteristics of 254
Numbers, odd 33, 58, 218,
ff., Mourning 110.
241, 259, 285, 290, 489,
pretended power of 268, Mulango, mission station
272, 274, 291, 295, 297,
492, n. of children and
213, 226, 234, 300, 350,
shaving of 387, 402, 414,
cattle 87, 88, 488, magic
420.
of 306 ff.
441, hutbuilding for 443, Miilungu 46, 125, 243 ff.,
consulted by hunters representation of 251,

465, 537. 252, 277, 297, 319, Oath 60, taking of 165 ff.,
Meinhof, C, 224, 279, 571. 466. 190, 196, 498.

Ochre 389. (for cattle), in magic 508, 509, of warriors 198

Old men 144; council of 322 ff., plant-names 321, 233;epidemics271,272ff.
149, 181, 187. for polishing 386, 450, 279, 295 ff., 299 ff., 335
Omens 128, 291 ff., 306, for making bows and 444, plants used in p
335, bad o. 441, good o. arrows 450, 452, for 324, 452, of cattle 452
441. making poison 455, giv- 487, 490, of beehives
Operations (medical) 312. ing milk 319, 479, for 498, of the bow 452.
Ordeals 173 ff. purifying cattle 488, 490. Pygmies 460.
Orde Browne, G., 43. Ploss 31, 36, 38, 40, 555. Python, not killed 127, 212,
Ornaments 106, 142, inhe- Point, to, in magic 281, 298, 313, 330, 339, ex-
rited 164, warriors' 189, 284. crements of 479.
in art 357 ff., 526, per- Points of compass 344.
sonal 375, 396, 560, on Poison 29, test with 175,
pottery 538, on bags 541. in food 279, 287, of Quiver 440, 461, 480.
Ostrich 329. snakes 303 ff., for arrows
Ostrich egg, shells as orna- 312, 454 ff
ments 386, 578. Polishing 386, 450. Rabai, mission station, 10,
Ovaherero 396. Polygamy 79. 11, 108, 543.
Owl 292 (omen). Porcupine 128, 285, 332, Rain 23, 171, 224, 334,
Oxen 482. 504. prayers and sacrifices
Oxpecker 330. Porridge 442, 513. for 245, 248, magical
Portugeese 349, 350, 518. protection against 285,
Possession (by spirits) 229 ff. 288, 290, 323.
Paintings 365. Post, A., 38, 73, 152, 155 Rain-bow 274, 334.
Painting the body 389. 158, 160. Rain-making 275.
Parents 99, 575. Pottery, forbidden to make Rank-classes, 63, 143.
Parents-in-law 89 ff., 92. 124, 508, marks on 135, Rape 157.
Passage, rites of: see Door. 525, making of 536 ff. Rattles 419.
PauHtschke 13, 19, 21, 312, Poultry 298, in medicine Ratzel, F., 449.
331, 571. 315, 319, 484, origin of Raum, missionary 246.

Peace-making 202. (myth) 484. Razor 387.
Peg-top 420. Prayer 46, to trees 56, 240, Reinach, S., 96.
Perfumes 389. to ancestors 110, to god Reincarnation 36, 127, 211,

Persians 404. 244, 257, to bees 499. 212.
Peters, C, 569, 571. Pregnancy 29, 39, 79. Reintegration rites 67, 68.
Pfeil, J., 571. Preuss, K. Th., 64, 96, 264, Relationship, natural 99,
Pfitzinger, missionary, 42, 289, 291. fictitious 140, 155, 172,
61, 65, 66, 151, 234. Prisoners 196, 202. 438, terms of 575.
Phonographic records 417. Property 86, marks of 131. Religion 209 ff.
Pickerings, C, 345, 352, Psychology 238. Religious dancing 414.
527. Puberty 43, 143. Remedies 263, different
Pigtail 387. Pumpkins 506, 514. kinds of 270.
Pipes 525. Punishments 154 ff., 160. Resin, eaten 516.
Pitfalls 468. Purification 35, 40, 82, after Reuterskiold, E., 118.
Placenta 31. death 108, 121, 150, 158, Rhicinus oil 491.
Plants, in rites 301, 452; in 164, 171, of the fields Rhinoceros, in circumcision
medicine 314 ff., 490 ff. 172, 178, 181, 277, 296, rites 50, 62; 116.
Index 60s
Riddles 152, 325, 389, 397, Seasons 340. Snakes, not killed 116, my-
439, 483. Secretary bird 452. thical 274, snakecharm-
Rinderpest 271, 335, 478, Secret initiation rites 60, 68. ers 303 flf., s. bites 304,
492. Secret societies 68, 146. 316, 330, 332, for mak-
Roots, ornaments made of Sentries 200. ing poison 455, 495, in
379. Seven (number) 58, 307, magic 500.
Root-crops 506. 308, 489. (Vide also: Sneezing 291.
Roscoe, J.,
36. Number.) Snuff 331, 521 ff.
Rosen, E. von, 353, 402, Sexual connection : neces- Snuff-bottles 107, 524, 535.
449, 450, 457. sary as a rite 34, 39, 44, Social organisation 142.
Routledge, W. S., 17, 32, 47, 51, 57, 66, 73, 85, Social ranks 63.
43, 131, 148, 154, 225, 106, 109, 442, forbidden Soderblom, N., 127, 250.
247, 259, 285, 300, 527, 30, 35, 76, 108, 158, 170, Sodomy 158.
556. 171, 200, 211, 296, 301, Solanum fruit 57, 108, 264,
Riitimeyer, L., 463. 452, 456, 487, 488, 507, 307, 330, 426.
537, free 38, 141, 412 Somalis 19, 21, 195, 331,
(during the dances) 488, 344, ornaments 381, poi-
Sachs, C, 404. danger of 444, among son of 454.
Sacrifice, to the spirits 33, children 419, on jour- Somatic characteristics 561.
44, 46, 110, 117, of a neys 347, 498, position Songs, of circumcision 47 ff.,
child 124, 125, 150, 181, at 565. 58; at marriage 76; of
224, at war 188, 214, Sexual diseases 318. victory 199, 236, of
216 flf., 233, 237, 509, to Sexual initiation rites 65. women 276, 407, 416 ff.
«God« 244, 273, 274, Shadow 209. different kinds of, 426.
281, 442, 466. Shame, feeUng of, 50, 89, Son-in-law 89 ff.
Sacs 540. 372. Soul 106, 209, of animals

Saliva 124, 161, 304, 492. Shaving, ritual 67, 110, 210, transmigration of
Salt 516. 323, the head 386. 212, of plants 242.
Samburu, people, 13. Sheep, in medicine 313, Sowing 503.
Sandals 345, 375. 319; in rite 491, as a Spears 414, not used 449.
Sartori, P., 441. domestic animal 483. Spencer and Gillen 124,
Sauberlich, missionary, 3, Shield 449. 211.
4, 7, 16, 24, 107, 203, Shooting 461. Spencer, H., 139.
224, 234, 239, 269, 318, Signals, in war 191, s. drum Spider 213, 455.
350, 353, 414. 398. Spinach 515.
Scapegoat 271. Singer 408, blind s. 416. Spirits, ancestral 34, 41,
Scare-crows 504. Sister-in-law 91. 106, 127, 181, worship of
Schachtzabel, A., 434. Skin disease 491. 209 ff., domestic animals
Schanz, J., 572, 573. Skin garments 372 fF. of 213, mortality of 215,
Schneider, W., 244. Slavery 160, 197. nature spirits 218, 230,
Schoeller, M., 200, 373, Slave trade 352, 579. 242, 245 ff., 255, 271,
375, 386, 404. Sling 421, 504. 273, 276, 398, 414, 442,
Schurtz, H., 146, 526, 529. Smallpox 337, 350. 537, 575.
Scolefield, commissioner, Smell, and sexual desire Spitting, as a blessing 52,
173. 380. 56, 123, 164, 259, 308,
Scotland 123. Smith 114, 117, 529 fif. 448, 493, 529.
Sculpture 366. Smoking 525. Spoons 488, 513, 535.
Sport 425. Swimming 346. Trees, prayers and sacrifices

Stadling, J.,
231. Sword 461. to 240.
Stafif 144, 284. Syphilis 318. Trenck 575.
Stapleton 104. Triangle, as an ornament
Starcke 76, 86, 163. 365.
Stealing: vide Theft. Trumpet 406.
Steere, E., 329, 506. Taboo, sexual 96, 105, 189, Tsetse fly 483.
Steinmetz, S. R., 69, 555. 452, 456, 498, of names Tuaregs 79.
Stern, R., missionary 528. 93, of food 119 (121), Tweezers for removing hair
Stigand, C. H., 512, 551. 129, 146, 408, of animals 387.
Stihs, used in dance 413. Twins 38, 70.
127, at marriage 129.
Stoll, O., 448. garment Twin-birth among cattle
Tails 238, as a
Stomach-aflfections 316. 373, in the dance 414. 489.
Stones, used in rites 168, Talismans 286, 466. Twitching (as an omen)
173, 218, as amulets 287, Tamarind 386 515. 291.
in magic 290. Tana River 9, 13, 18, 20,
Stone-club 463. 23, 469.
Stool 144, 369, 534. Tate, H. R., 4, 351, 512. Ukamba, country in Ger-
Storbeck, F., 350. Tattooing 390. man East Africa 14;
Storehouse 445, 505. Taveta, vide Wataveta. division of 17; physical
Strandes, J.,
350. Taylor, W. E., 69, 335. geography 22.
Strangers, treatments of Teeth, 37, 106, children's Ulu district 15, 17; 51, 57,
443, 553. teeth 312, extraction of 68, 104, 124, 146, 153,
String instruments 402. 392, « false teeth » 395. 154, 157, 167, 224, 277,
String-making 540. Teeth-chipping 70, 392 flf. 279, 336, 339, 341, 372,
Struck, B., 253. Theft 158, 285, 500, 529, . 376, 392, 454, 501, 506,
Stuhlmann, F., 454, 506, 540, 558. 514, 540.
509, 518, 522, 528, 569. Thompson, J., 248. Umkulunkulu 244, 246.
Suaheli, vide Wasuaheli. Threshing 504. Uncle 85 (maternal), 95,
Sub-clans 115, 122. Thunder 334. 100, 129, 162, 198, 574.
Sucking 141 (symbolic), Ticks 509. Uncleaness (vide Purifica-
sucking out 265, 269. Time, determination of 338. tion) 106, » ceremonial"
Suckling 319, 447. Tin 533. 299 ff.
Sugar-cane, used in rite 33, Tobacco 521. Unfaithfulness 158.

44, 56, cultivation of Toes, superfluous 563. Unfruitfulness 33, 78, 80,
498, 506, 518. Tools 450. 83, 87, 211, 212, 270,
Suicide 78, 556. Tortoise 128, 213, 332. 297, 444, among cattle
Sumatra 289. Torture, in initiation rites 489.
Sun 124, at curses 183, in 64, 161, of prisoners 202. Urine, human in rites 44,
folklore 183, 336, in magic Totemism 113 ff., list of 64, 182; in medicine 319.
285, 338, in ornamental totems 136, origin 139. Ussukuma 406.
art 363. Toys 405, 418 ff. Uvula, removal of 312.
Supreme being 243 ff. Trade 12, 13, 188, 218,
Swallows 282, 351 ff., 512, 526, 579.
Sweepings 433, sweeping Trade marks 538. Wadjagga 12, 183, 199,
the hut forbidden 444. Traps 469 ff. 215, 225, 244, 247, 258,
Sweet-potatoes 506, 514. Travelling 345, 440. 328, 331, 333, 340, 425,.
Index 607
446,495, 497, originating 148, 154, 160, 495, 497, »big» w. 162, 438, 444,
from the Akamba 573. 499. treatment of 446.
Wadoe, tribe 570. Water-places 481. Women, language of 94^
VVaduruma 21, 192, 352, Watwa 21. 574, burial of 105, as
400. Watt, S., 224, 247, 302, asylums 141, committing
Wagiriama 14, 21, 69, 282, 336. offence 161, 171, inter-
303, 335, 369, 454, 584. Wax 497. vention of w. in the ad-
Wahuma 405. Wayao, tribe, 248, 249, 252. ministration of justice
Wakahe 12. Wazaramo, tribe, 570, 571. 180, possessed by spirits
Wakefield, T., 352. Weapons 164, 188, rite of 229 ff., 264, medicine w.
Wambere, tribe 16, 21,279. 197, 449 ff. 257, 267; gathering of
Wandorobo 138, 456, 465. Webster, H., 69. 275, performing purifica-
VVanguru 572. Weeks, H., 423. tion 299, 301; breast of
J.
Wanyamwezi 528. Vegetables 514. 333, 560, dress of 372,
Wanyika 10, 146, 192, 195, Weiss, M., 82, 456. 436, work of 437, 502,
229, 242, 326, 352, 395, Weissenborn, 128. 540, 543, cannot make
J.,
400, 449, 454, 527. Wells 165. fire 440, position of 446,
Wapare 71, 285, 401, 437, Werner, A., 104, 216, 219, 557.
arrows of 453, 458, 528. 253, 335. Wood, J. G., 405,
Wapokomo, 18, 69, 204, Vessels 505. Woodpecker 128, 238, omen
246, language 506. Westermarck, E., 75, 82, 293.
War 149, 186 ff., leaders in 85, 141. Woodwork 534.
w. 187, ornaments 188, Weule, K., 81, 83, 147, 358, Work, distribution of 502,
519, 575. 440, 453, 454. 543 ff.
War-flute 191, 405, 575. Whetstone 387. Worship, of animals 127,

Warundi 243. Whips (in magic) 264, 274, 212; of trees 242.
Waseguyu 401. 308, 421. Wounds 312, 314.
Washing (ritual) 40, 67. Whistling 482, 485.
Wasotik, tribe 200. Whooping-cough 318.
Wasuaheli 12, 21, 141, 151, Widemann, A., 14. Yams 506.
168, 188, 191, 234, 246, Widows 84, 109, 163, 444.
Yaunde people 407.
307, 316, 329, language Widower 110.
of 2, 343, 351, 400, in- Village 431.
fluence of 407, 469, 476, Wind instruments 405.
532, 579, 583. Wire 530. Zebra 512.
Wataita 14, 18, 21, 69, Witchcraft 119, 178, 278 ff. Zoology 325 ff.
406, 449, 454. Wives 79, 92, 94, 101, 143, Zulus 89, 94, 186, 203, 238,.
Wataveta 12, 29, 56, 109, inheriting of 163, the 244, 264, 292.
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CO

des Forges et Acieries d'AvESTA (MM. A. Johnson

de M. Frans Kempe, Phil. D:r, a Hernosands^Stocks!

de la Fabrique Suedoise des Roulements a billes,

de la Fabrique de Cuir de L. A. Matton a Gefle

de la Soc. anon. NoRDSTjERNAN, Armateurs a Stocks!

par J.-A. LUNDELL

THE AKA/VIBA IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA

UPPSALA 19 18 — 1920. APPELBERGS BOKTRYCKERI AKTIKBOLAG

GERHARD LINDBLOM 0^^7-v >

versity dissertation (discussed publicly at Upsala, May 2y'^, igi6).

This treatise comprised Chaps. I— XII, corresponding to Chaps. I —

XII, XIV ff. are <juite neiv.

COUNT ERIC VON ROSEN

Chap. I. The Akamba — their country and neighbours... 9

Chap. II. Child-birth 29

Chap. IV. Marriage 72

Chap. V. Relations between persons connected by marriage 89

Chap. VII. Deatli 103

9, List of clans and their totems collected by the author 136

Chap. IX, Social organisation 143

Chap, X, Government and administration 149

Chap. XI. The administration of the law and judicial

1. Criminal law 154

Chap. XII. Warfare and customs connected with it 186

P. III. Belief and Science.

Chap. XIV. Medicine men and magicians.

Chap. XV. Medicine 311

Chap. XVI. Natural History

Chap. XVII. Cosmology

Chap. XVIII. Geographical ideas and conceptions of other

Chap. XIX. History and historical traditions 349

P. IV. Art and Games.

Chap. XXII. Music and dancing

Chap. XXIII. Toys and games 418

Chap. XXV. Weapons 449

Chap. XXVI. Hunting 465

Chap. XXVII. Domestic animals

Chap. XXVin. Beekeeping 494

Chap. XXIX. Agriculture

XII Lindblom, The Akamba

Chap. XXXI. Stimulants.

Chap. XXXII. Industries

Chap. XXXIII. Distribution of woric between the sexes ... 543

During my linguistic and ethnographical researches in East

At the risk of seeming pretentious I consider that I may claim

have with my own eyes been a witness of most of the practical

cases when I have been driven to fall back on oral statements, I

vidual returns different answers to the same question on different

order to please. Even when leading questions are avoided, caution

often by no means the case.

and the interpreter finds himself driven to resort to other words,

nitiesof making this observation more than once at the English

the solution of a problem, which has to be abandoned for the

J. L. Krapf, Reisen in Ost-Afrika 1837 55. Stuttgart 1858.

L. Decle, Three years in savage Africa. London 1900.

Evangel. Luth. Missionsblatt, Leipzig, from 1898.

There are a considerable number of works in which the

L. V. Hohnel, Zum Rudolph-See und Stephanie-See. Vienna 1892.