INTRODUCTORY

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

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

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

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

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

[1] “Religion of Semites,” p. 264. [↑]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER I

THE GUILD OF SMITHS IN KIKUYU AND UKAMBA

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

A smith in Kikuyu is called muturi, plural aturi.

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

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

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

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

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

The tools and apparatus used by smiths are as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smiths place their old clay tuyéres on sticks in cultivated fields to protect the crops from thieves; there is no ceremony connected with this, but if at any time these must be removed, the smith removes them, carefully placing a little tatha from the stomach of a sacrificial sheep in the hole in which the stick was erected. This removes the curse and also the possibility of the magic damaging, at some future time, a person for whom it was not intended.

When a smith forges a new hammer for use in his forge, the medicine men of the district come and collect the iron scale from the forging to mix with their medicines, more particularly the medicines they make to protect a village from thieves or wild beasts. The medicine man (mundu mugo) marches round the village with the medicine and then buries it at the gate. It is called kihoho by the Kikuyu.

If anything is stolen from a smith’s forge he calls together all the smiths of the country-side. This assembly is called njama ya aturi. Each one in turn is asked if he stole the article, and whether the culprit confesses or not, they generally fix on one whom they strongly suspect and insist on his taking the oath of the goat (ku-ringa thenge). If the culprit confesses he is [[173]]forgiven and warned, but if he refuses, he is cursed by the bracelet of a dead person. Should he be guilty, the spirit of that person will bewitch him to the peril of his life. He cannot get the curse lifted until the njama ya aturi reassembles and lifts it.

The ordinary Kikuyu native is far too afraid of the magic of the smiths to steal anything from one of them, so that when a smith is the victim of a theft it is easy to guess that the crime has been committed by another smith.

In the old days, the Anjiru clan, before starting on a foray against the Masai, went to a smith and got from him a small piece of iron called kiheto, for which the representatives of the clan would pay a pot of honey beer and one of sugar cane beer. The smith took a little of the beer and spat it out on the kiheto. The Anjiru then took away the kiheto, made medicine with it, and buried it on the path at the entrance to the enemy’s country. This was believed to stop the Masai cattle from being driven off a long way.

Smiths were formerly called upon to settle cases. If, for instance, a man was owed a debt, he would induce some smiths to go to the village of the debtor and order him to pay. And as the smiths were held in fear because of this magic the order was generally complied with.

The Eithaga clan has never counted any smiths amongst its members. The magic of the smiths was always feared by them. When this clan made spells to withhold the rain it is said that they were careful not to let the fields of a smith suffer.

If a medicine man visits the village of a smith he does not sleep in one of his huts, but lodges in the goat hut, thengira; a smith does the same if he visits the village of a medicine man. If a Mweithaga passes a smithy when it is raining he cannot enter to take shelter.

A woman cannot enter a smithy unless she is a smith’s wife, and she can then come to bring her husband’s food. [[174]]

Smiths Among the Kamba of Kitui.—The original smiths all belonged to one clan, viz., the Atui, which is a section of the Anzunzu clan, but members of other branches have now learnt the art and been admitted to the brotherhood. In Machakos district some of the smiths belong to the Eombi clan.

If a man wishes to become a smith he brews some beer and takes it along with a goat to a local smith. They drink the beer together; the smith takes a sip and then ceremonially squirts it over the hand of the novice, saying, “May your hands become skilful at the work which I can do.” They then kill the goat and mix some of its blood with some of the beer, and the smith pours it over the anvil and addresses it as follows: “This man is now the same as I am, and I shall give him a new anvil, and may this new anvil be his friend.”

The anvil is of stone, and when it is worn out the smith searches for another suitable piece of some tough rock, generally granite or gneiss, and instals it in the forge. Before using it, however, he brews some beer and pours it over the anvil, saying, “You are now an anvil, and you must be as good a one as your predecessor.”

The cult of the smith does not appear to be as highly developed in Ukamba as in Kikuyu, for his powers are more limited; he wears no mark of his trade, and he does not dedicate the weapons he forges, as is done by the Kikuyu smiths.

If, however, a man steals a smith’s stone anvil or any tool from his smithy, the smith can curse him by saying: “So-and-so has stolen my anvil, and I curse him, and if he eats this season’s food he will die,” and it is firmly believed that the thief will die before the harvest is reaped.

When a man goes to a smith to have an iron rod forged for branding cattle, the smith will place it in the purchaser’s hand when it is finished and say: “May the cattle branded with this iron be lucky, may they escape disease, and may they be fruitful.” This tends to show [[175]]that the branding of cattle is believed to have a magical value and is not solely intended as an identification mark for the beasts belonging to each clan.

Iron has always played a great part in ancient magic, and continues to do so in many parts of the world. This is probably due to the fact that the art of extracting the metal appeared so marvellous to early man that it was attributed originally to magic. This idea was very likely kept alive by the early iron smelters and smiths. In early times, as at the present day, in certain parts of Africa the same persons smelted and forged, and these men probably invested the process of manufacture with an atmosphere of mystery and combined into a guild pledged to keep the art a secret from the uninitiated.

In connection with this subject, it is interesting to note that some scientists lean to the opinion that the manufacture of iron originated in Africa. Professor Gregory comments on this problem in “Geology of To-day,” pp. 321–322. Referring to the easier smelting of iron than of bronze he says: “Grains of iron oxide are very widely distributed, and in arid areas attract attention by their heaviness and metallic aspect.… The preparation of iron by the negroes in Africa is a far simpler process than the manufacture of bronze. Bronze tools, however, are found in Europe earlier than those of iron, but their earlier presence may be explained by the readiness with which iron tools would perish by rust.… This explanation is, however, not satisfactory, for if iron had been present and removed, the rust would have remained as a stain or as a cement. Moreover, it is clear that in Western Europe the bronze age immediately succeeded the stone age, for the early bronze implements are copies of stone tools. The conflict of metallurgical and archæological argument probably admits of a geographical explanation.

“Grains of iron ore in sands and gravels are conspicuous in hot, arid climates such as tropical Africa, and it is probable that iron working was invented there [[176]]before the bronze age in Europe. The inhabitants of the moister climates of the Mediterranean and Europe had no such easily found supply of iron.

“Some conspicuous ores yielded tin and copper, and an ingenious smith who had learnt iron working in tropical Africa may have combined them, and obtained bronze.”

This is one view. Professor Sir W. Ridgeway, on the other hand, is, I believe, firmly convinced that the secret of the working of iron in the Western world originated in Central Europe, probably in the Hallstadt region, and there we must leave this problem. [[177]]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER II

THE EVIL EYE

This belief, so widespread in Europe, Morocco, and many other parts of the world has never received much attention from observers in this part of Africa, and it was only recently realised that it received much recognition in Kikuyu. It is called kita or kithamengo.

The word kita means saliva as well as evil eye. The Swahili synonym is kijicho.

A few people here and there throughout the country are believed to possess this gift, women as well as men, irrespective of the guild to which they belong. The possessor is born with it.

It gradually dawns upon the people that So-and-so possesses the power, owing to the fact that if that person audibly admires a beast belonging to a neighbour the animal shortly after that becomes sick. If this occurs several times the various owners compare notes and it becomes generally known that So-and-so is kithamengo.

It would therefore seem that the idea is not based on an evil glance but upon an envious thought.

After that, if a cattle owner hears that a man who has this power (or one ought, perhaps, to term it “this infliction”) has been admiring one of his cows, he will send for him and insist on his removing the evil; this is done by the man wetting his finger with saliva, and touching the beast on the mouth and on various parts of the body with his wetted finger; this is believed to neutralise the enchantment.

Members of the Chera and Anjiru clans are notably [[178]]possessed of this power with considerable frequency; the Ambui and Aithiageni again very rarely possess it. Even a medicine man cannot remove a curse imposed by a person with the evil eye; only the individual who imposed it can remove it, and he can do it only in the morning before he touches food.

Human beings and also inanimate objects are equally affected by the power, for it is said that if a person who possesses the evil eye admires a woman who is enceinte she will abort, and if she is not, her breasts will become highly inflamed, and he has to come and ceremonially rub a little saliva on them to remove the danger.

If an individual object is admired, say a spear, it will soon afterwards be broken, or if, for instance, the leather-covered sheath of a sword is admired it will probably be gnawed by rats and spoilt.

No one who is not born with the power can acquire it, and it appears to be looked upon as an unavoidable misfortune. It is said to be the gift of God (Engai), and if a death or loss occurs the person to whom it is attributable cannot be sued for compensation before the kiama, or council of elders.

In time the people get to know who possesses the power, and if such a person enters a village he is asked in a friendly way to spit ceremonially on all the children to prevent anything untoward occurring to them owing to his visit. If a father possesses this power he can render his children proof against its action either from himself or any other person by shutting his eyes and then ceremonially spitting into each of their mouths.

The power is said to be hereditary, but all the children are not born with the gift. This belief exists among the Masai, and is called ’Ng-onyek oo’-l-tunganak, and will probably be found to account for the ceremonial spitting which was so common among them when they wished to show their friendliness. Refer to Hollis’s “Masai,” page 315, the spitting on children is [[179]]undoubtedly done to show the parents that the stranger is anxious to do the right thing and not afflict the child by the power of the evil eye. Also vide Hollis’s “Nandi,” page 90, spitting is again believed to remove the spell of the evil eye (sakutik).

In Ukamba, Mr Dundas states that it is called kyeni; there is said to be a whole clan in Kitui called Mwanziu which possess the power, and it often happens that when a person has received a slight injury he will go to a member of this clan and ask him to spit on the injured spot, which forthwith becomes whole. Possibly he attributes his hurt to someone with the power of the “evil eye.” It is also said that possessors of this gift have such power that if they admire a stone it will split into fragments.

The evil eye is a belief of great antiquity, for it was even recognised as far back as Mosaic times, cf. [Deut. xxviii. 54]: “His eye shall be evil towards his brother and towards the wife of his bosom,” etc.

The Magic of the Eithaga.—It has occasionally been incorrectly alleged that the power of the “evil eye” in Kikuyu is the monopoly of one clan called the Eithaga or Aithaga, but such does not appear to be the case. The members of the Eithaga clan are credited with supernatural powers, but they are of quite a different character, as will be seen below. The name of the clan is Eithaga or Kiuru, a single member is called Mweithaga. The name Kiuru is an opprobrious nickname, which means “those who bewitch people.”

The stronghold of the Eithaga is Karuri’s country on the east slopes of the Nandarua Mountain, but it is said that they originally came from Karira’s to the north of the Saba Saba River. The present head of the clan is one Kiriri near Karuri’s, and in South Kikuyu the most prominent Mweithaga is Mkone wa Ndawa, and it is said that the chief Kiriri has hair growing on the point of his tongue. The clan is nearly entirely endogamous, that is to say, a Mweithaga generally marries a Mweithaga, and no man of another clan will marry a [[180]]Mweithaga woman, but a Mweithaga man may occasionally find a mate from another clan. The members of the Eithaga clan practically all belong to the Kikuyu circumcision guild. They are, however, divided into two divisions, A-Mbura and A-Kiuru, the first meaning the “rain-makers” and the second the “wizards.”

The former profess to be able to make rain, but their powers in this connection are not considered very extensive, and the majority will only admit that if rain is about, a Mu-Mbura may cause it to fall if it is the proper season for rain. If rain comes on in a camp where one has any Eithaga porters they will turn out, wave branches and blow vigorously in the direction from which the rain is coming, and, what is more, firmly believe that they are having some effect on the elements.

In connection with these rain-making powers, it is curious to note that no Mweithaga may drink or cook with rain-water that has been collected in a cooking pot; if he does so he will surely die. Further, no Mweithaga may carry embers of fire in a fragment of crock from a cooking pot. He must either carry the fire in some green leaves in his hand or get a firebrand.

We now come to the wizard branch of the clan. Only the males have magical powers. It is said that a Mweithaga will take an ox or Kudu horn and blow it, and so doing will bewitch an enemy, saying, “I blow this horn and your heart will become like the wind I blow through this horn,” meaning, it will disappear and be lost. The person will then be bewitched, will cough up phlegm, and eventually die unless he takes offerings to the Mweithaga and beseeches him to remove the spell. The proper thing is to take a ram and some sugar cane, and if this is done the wizard is unable to refuse, and will keep the sheep, cook some of the fat and put it in his mouth with some of the juice from the sugar cane. He will then squirt a little into the mouth of the bewitched person, and will also put some into a [[181]]gourd for the patient to take back to his village and give to his children. After this ceremony the patient recovers, and, what is better, it is said that no Mweithaga can again bewitch him in this way.

A Mweithaga, if he wishes to bewitch a village, will go into the bush and find francolin eggs, and will put these, together with the leaves of the mkurwe (Albizzia) bush, on a fire and will say, “As these eggs burst and as these leaves shrivel up so shall this village be destroyed,” and it is believed that evil will forthwith fall on the people of that village, but only upon the people, for the Eithaga do not harm live stock. Some will put the francolin eggs with water in a cooking pot on a fire and then break the pot and the eggs with one of the hearth stones. The Eithaga rarely use herbs or material substances in their magic, their spells being done by invocation. No medicine man can remove a spell imposed by a Mweithaga; it can only be removed by the one who imposed it or by another Mweithaga. If, however, a mysterious sickness falls on a village a mundu mugo, or medicine man, is called in, and he can diagnose it and tell whether it is due to the magic of Eithaga. A Mweithaga cannot bewitch another Mweithaga, nor can he bewitch a person belonging to another tribe such as Masai or Kamba.

Sometimes, however, they are of use, for they are believed to have the power of bewitching unknown thieves, and so it occasionally happens that a person who has had, say, some goats or some sugar cane stolen, will call in a Mweithaga and ask him to throw a spell on the thief. He will come to the village and take a piece of mud containing the spoor of one of the stolen animals or one of the stems from which the sugar cane has been cut, as the case may be, and he will say “A rokwa nguo,” “I bewitch the thief.” The thief, who is probably not far away, will hear people talking of this, and being convinced of the effects of the magic will hasten to return the stolen property to its owner.

The Mweithaga is then called again, and the owner [[182]]of the goats takes one and kills it, the Mweithaga cuts out the stomach with part of the œsophagus, wets his finger with saliva and touches the end of the œsophagus with his wetted finger, and then inflates the stomach by blowing and makes passes with it over the body of the thief, thus removing the spell. He finally fastens a rukwaru, or strip of the goat skin, on the thief’s wrist and the thief has to pay a sheep to the Mweithaga as a fee. If the theft is that of such a thing as sugar cane the thief has to find the sacrificial goat and then be purified as above described.

No Mweithaga may eat wild game, and in no case can he even wear the skin of a wild beast; the only exceptions to this law are that they can eat locusts and can make honey bags out of the skin of the ngunu, a small reddish antelope, probably a duiker.

For all their magical powers the Eithaga, like other people, are subject to the incidence of thahu, and are also subject to the power of the evil eye.

There is a kind of constitutional antipathy between the Eithaga and the smiths of the tribe, and it is said that there are no Eithaga smiths. A Mweithaga may not sleep in a smith’s house or vice versâ; if this did occur it is believed that illness or even death would supervene. The evil spell can, however, be removed by the owner of the house; that is to say, if a smith sleeps in the house of a Mweithaga, the Mweithaga could remove the evil, and vice versâ.

The Kikuyu are very afraid of the Eithaga, and in former days after someone had been killed by their black art the elders would induce one of them to come and remove the spell from all the people of the village where the man had died. They would then collect as many of the members of the clan as they could find and insist on their taking the oath known as ku-ringa thenge, by which they would swear not to bewitch any more of their neighbours. Sometimes, however, they would turn out en masse and slaughter all the Eithaga they could lay their hands on. It is said that [[183]]a Kikuyu would never enter the village of a Mweithaga uninvited.

KIKUYU ESCARPMENT.

A DOROBO ELDER, TORORI.

If a Mweithaga goes to a village and becomes embroiled in a quarrel with a member of another tribe, goats must be exchanged to make the peace, and the Mweithaga must spit on the other party to obviate any evil effects. The Mweithaga then invites the other man to his village to drink beer with him, and will take a sip from a horn of beer and eject it back into the horn, the man then drinking the beer, after which he is immune from the effects of any Eithaga magic.

The Eithaga are believed to have the power of protecting forest, and their powers are sometimes invoked for this purpose. If a man wishes to protect a patch of forest on his property, he sends for a Mweithaga to put a spell on it; the magician proceeds to the spot with the local elders and brings with him a cooking pot taken from the deserted hut of a deceased person. He fills this with water drawn from each spring and stream in the piece of forest, and boils it on a fire made on a path in the said forest; the pot is supported on three stones. After this a little of the water is poured back into each of the springs or streams, and the pot is then shattered by dropping one of the hearth stones on it. The magician then blows his horn and announces that if anyone cuts the trees in the forest his heart will burst forth like the blasts of the horn. [[184]]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER III

KIKUYU MAGIC AND MAGICIANS

Njau wa Kabocha.—There is, in S. Kikuyu, a curious old medicine man named Njau wa Kabocha, belonging to the Anjiru clan, who is held in great esteem on account of his magical powers and his priestly functions. He possesses a sacred tree, at which sacrifices are believed to be very effectual. He is said not to deal in bad magic, and one of his specialities is the removal of a plague of caterpillars, ngunga, or wireworms, vigunyu, from the crops. He was good enough to give a description of the procedure used to effect this useful object.

The owner of the afflicted crops brings a ram, ndorume, and some beer; the ram is strangled and the lower intestine, mutura, is extracted; a number of the caterpillars are also collected. The magician drinks a draught of the beer and then bites the caterpillars in half, one after another, and lays the pieces on the leaves of the mutundu (Croton macrostachys) and mukuyu (Dombeya sp.). He then places fragments of the caterpillars in the intestine of the ram, goes away into the bush and buries the parcel in the hole of white ants’ nest (Muthongonina).[1] He next takes some wood of the morika and muirangani trees and lights a fire near the place where the caterpillars are buried, and in this fire he burns the above-mentioned leaves and the remaining caterpillars. [[185]]

The magician does not eat any of the meat of the ram; this is consumed by the owners of the fields and the elders who have accompanied him.

A second ram is then provided, and the magician, together with the village elders, goes and sacrifices this at the nearest sacred fig tree; the breast of the ram is cut out and hung in the tree, and the remainder of the sacrifice is eaten by the magician and the elders. After this, the magician takes the ngorima (colon?) from the second ram, some beer, njohi, some unfermented beer, ngogoyo, honey, beeswax, medicine, of which he would not disclose the nature, and the horns of the ram; these he burns in a fire, ichua, in the afflicted field. The bones are all broken intentionally, but the marrow is not extracted, as it is said that when the fat and bones are burnt in the fire they make a smell which is very acceptable to the deity Engai. The fire is called ichua, the particular name for a fire lit at a sacrifice—a sacred fire in fact.

This is the end of the ceremony, and the magician then receives two or three miati, ewes which have not yet borne a kid. It was stated that after the ceremony above described the caterpillars would disappear in a day or two; they would either be killed by heavy rain, eaten by soldier ants, siafu, or the sun would dry them up.

On the day after the ceremony no person is allowed to cultivate the fields, the men may not eat beef that day or the next, and that night every man must observe celibacy. He must not sleep in one of his ordinary huts, but in the thengira, or goat hut, among the unmarried men.

Njau wa Kabocha declares that he can, if he wishes it, bring a plague of caterpillars upon any section of people who treat him badly, and that he can do this by pouring out some beer in his village and praying to Engai. Within fourteen days, he alleges, the caterpillars will begin to appear, but he admitted that he could only do this about the normal season when caterpillars are apt to come in swarms. [[186]]

In the old days, when the Kikuyu used to fight the Masai, Njau’s father, who was a great magician, was a specialist at making medicine to enable his people to check the Masai invasions, and when they came, to ensure victory for the Kikuyu. The knowledge of this art is said to have come down from his ancestors.

This magic is called mwita, and its most important instrument is a kiheto, or small piece of iron obtained from a smith. A small clay pot is made in which the kiheto is placed and some medicine called njeku, and this is brought to the path by which the Masai usually came to attack. If this failed, Njau’s father would go to an old woman of the Asi or Dorobo tribe, buy from her an earthenware pot; this he would take, along with a ram, and proceed secretly through the forest near Ngong Mt., to a spot close to the Masai raiding track. He would then kill the ram as if for a sacrifice, cook the tail fat in the pot, then melt down some of the body fat, taking care to pick out any pieces of flesh which had accidentally been put into the pot. He would also add some tatha from the stomach of the ram and some sugar cane beer to the melted fat in the pot. He would next seek out a straight and lofty tree and bury the pot and its contents at the foot of it, being careful that the mouth of the pot just showed above ground. This is what the Swahilis call kafara, and it is believed to stop a raiding party from passing that way. If, however, they did succeed in passing, their raid would be abortive and many would be killed. The power of this magic is said to be derived from the deity Engai and not from the spirits.

The medicine above referred to and called njeku is stated to have been made from a piece of cloth or an old discarded sandal secretly obtained from an abandoned Masai kraal; this is charred, ground up, and then mixed with certain magic herbs.

Kamiri wa Itherero.—The Hon. C. Dundas has furnished some interesting information with regard to the magic powers of one Kamiri, who is the same [[187]]medicine man referred to in the curious incident described in “Ethnology of A-Kamba,” p. 143 et seq.

Close to Kyambu there lives a medicine man of the name of Kamiri wa Itherero who is said to be one of the most renowned of all Kikuyu. Like most medicine men, Kamiri is possessed of more character than most of his countrymen, and this is shown by his manner and appearance to a far greater extent than is usually the case among other natives. He is one of the few members of the senior generation of Maina, which in itself is a claim to veneration; this means that he has practically withdrawn from the council of elders, and that he must be a man of considerable age. Yet Kamiri looks younger and better preserved than many an elder of the Mwangi generation. This may possibly be due to his temperate habits, for it is said that he has never in his life touched intoxicating liquors. In height Kamiri is much below the average of his tribe, but his remarkably clear features and the penetrating look of his eyes give him a dignified appearance.

For the European, Kamiri, on the whole, has no liking, and he does not trouble to conceal this; in his own mind he is clear on the point that we do very little good and cause vast damage by upsetting all good customs; in particular the injurious effect of our administration on the manners of women troubles him. And this is not surprising, for Kamiri has suffered much by our intrusion. In former times the success of raids depended to a great extent on his advice and aid, and this, coupled with his deep knowledge of the art of medicine in general, had won him great respect, and one can even say that he was held in awe. Kamiri, in fact, was probably the principal man of the tribe and the nearest approach to a chief that his countrymen of that day could imagine. To-day he is a small headman, but nevertheless enjoys no small standing, as we shall show.

Missionaries designate Kamiri as the “official poisoner”; yet one missionary, who knows him better [[188]]than any other European, tells me that if Kamiri is hired to poison a man he will first call that man and tell him so and then he will inquire into the case and endeavour to settle the quarrel, in which respect he is usually successful. If Kamiri is a poisoner he is essentially the “official” poisoner; he uses his art with discretion and in legitimate causes. There is a great difference between the medicine man of Kamiri’s type and the average witch doctor of to-day; the medicine man of the old school knows what he does, and dooms a man perhaps as conscientiously as a judge when he hangs a murderer.

Nothing which we or our influence could do has broken his position as a medicine man; even the paramount chief has a great respect for him, and he has been seen to get up and give his place to Kamiri. It is believed that no Kikuyu, however strongly supported by the Government, would really dare to go against Kamiri. A few years ago he demonstrated this power by hanging up a bag of rupees in a tree by the pathway and left it there for several months: no one dared to tamper with it. Natives attribute marvellous powers to him, and it is pretty certain that once he has detected a criminal no Kikuyu has any doubt as to his guilt, neither would they think that any man poisoned by him had been unjustly dealt with. It is not very surprising that this cunning medicine man, with his uncomfortable supernatural powers and his science of detection, should not enjoy great popularity, and that there should be rather a feeling of distrust between him and his people.

On one occasion Kamiri volunteered to detect a case of theft of some cattle in which two men, A, a herder, and B, a man remotely suspected, were in custody on suspicion. As far as is known Kamiri knew nothing about the case or the persons suspected. Having set some boys to catch lizards, Kamiri placed the two men before him and dabbed some white powder on their noses and on the palms of their hands. The [[189]]same substance was streaked on one of the lizard’s heads and he then waved the gourd containing this medicine round the lizard and likewise round the suspected man. He then asked B if he had committed the theft, to which the man replied in the negative. Kamiri then held the lizard to the man’s nose for some minutes, but it made no signs. Next he repeated the performance with A, and immediately on his denying the charge the lizard caught hold of his nostrils with its mouth. This it did several times. Kamiri was then asked if the man was guilty. He replied that he was not, because if he had been so, the lizard would have held on and not let go, but he was also not innocent, otherwise the lizard would have acted as with B, and therefore he concluded that the man knew about the theft and had probably abetted it. The charge was never proved against this man, but it was almost certain that he must have had some knowledge of the theft. The natives had not the smallest doubt about it after Kamiri’s decision, and were highly surprised that B was not at once liberated.

A famous trick of Kamiri’s is to make a small sheep grow large. The writer has not seen this, but was told by a European that he had witnessed it and that he made the sheep swell to an enormous size. One of Kamiri’s feats is related with great satisfaction by the natives. Kamiri once gave some medicine to a European in order that he should win a race, and the story goes that the medicine worked satisfactorily. So now there is a profound belief that Kamiri’s medicine, unlike most others, does not lose its potency with Europeans.

Kamiri’s pupil is his son Kithege, who is said to be almost as practised in the arts as his father, and he is now generally sent in his father’s place when there is any distance to go. Kithege was seen to perform the same trick with the lizard in another case of theft. This time the lizard hung on to the man’s nose and remained so even when not held. The man was at [[190]]once pronounced to be the offender, and even admitted himself that he had never heard of Kamiri making a mistake before, although he denied having committed the theft. On this occasion endeavours were made to discover how the trick was done. It was certainly not due to any pressure of the hand; a trial was also made with various colours, but with no effect. Seeing that the writer was sceptical, Kithege, at his own suggestion, picked out at random two men from the crowd and tried it with them, but the lizard would not bite either of them.

Finally the conclusion was come to that there must be some connection between the breathing of the man and the lizard’s action; possibly so long as the man breathed freely, the lizard would not bite, but when he held his breath or breathed strongly, after holding it for a time, the lizard, for some reason, hung to his nose.

The idea that a reptile will fasten on to a criminal has its parallel in the New Testament, vide [Acts xxviii. 3–6]: “And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on to his hand they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.” Possibly there is an idea that the reptile is really a spirit which has temporarily assumed this form.

It is considered impossible that a medicine man should maintain a real standing and the absolute faith of the people by mere trickery. Still less is it likely that a charlatan would have so much self-confidence as Kamiri, and therefore one is driven to the conclusion that a man such as Kamiri must repeatedly have proved himself to be right in his detection. The most successful practices in this respect will always be such as work automatically, and the more one sees of noted medicine men the more one inclines to the idea that many of their powers are neither trickery nor mystery, but are simply due to the nervousness or to the mental effect upon the victim or patient.

Kithege was asked if he had any other ways of [[191]]proving the man’s innocence or guilt, and he immediately expressed his readiness to try another test. Asked what he would do, he announced his intention of taking the man’s eye out, and on being stopped he volunteered to put a venomous snake round the man’s neck. Unfortunately both of these experiments entailed more risk than the confidence of the observer would permit, although the suspected man seemed to have no apprehensions as to the danger he was running. [[192]]

[1] A Syrian superstition quoted in “Religion of the Semites,” p. 443, deals with a ceremony to rid gardens of caterpillars, and in that, one of the insects is bewailed and buried and the caterpillars then disappear. [↑]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER IV

MISCELLANEOUS MAGICAL PRACTICES

Rain Magic (Ukamba).—The Kamba have no medicine men who specialise in rain-making, and in times of drought they pray and sacrifice at the ithembo, or local shrine, in the manner already described. Some people, however, pretend that by means of a certain medicine they can make rain pass by and not fall at a particular place. The ingredients of this are kept very secret and are only known to a few people. It is a black powder and is placed in the palm of the hand and blown in the direction of the rain storm. Some is also placed in the horn of an antelope and stuck in a tree. It is addressed as follows: “You are now a man and are placed here to keep the rain away; if you fail you stay out here in the rain and I will not take you back into the house, but throw you away into the bush.”

Presumably the concept is that by these means a human, or perhaps anthropomorphic spirit, having the power of averting rain, is bottled up in the horn by the potent medicine, or it may be that the spirit is supposed to be in the medicine itself. It is a pity we do not know what the medicine is composed of, as the reasoning might be the easier to follow.

Burglar’s Magic.—In the author’s “Ethnology of A-Kamba” an example of this in connection with the Machakos district was given—p. 95. The same kind of thing is evidently practised in Kitui, where it is said that a thief will sometimes obtain medicine from a magician and rub it on a stone. He then goes to a village at night and throws it on to the thatch of a hut. [[193]]It is stated that he then probably waits till he hears the people say: “Let us sleep.” He presently enters the hut and goes to the owner and says: “I have come for a cow which I am going to take away.” The owner is apparently hypnotised and unable to refuse, for he answers: “Take such and such a one,” and the people go on sleeping till late the next morning. A neighbour calls at the village early next day, and is surprised to find the door of the hut and of the cattle kraal open, one or two cattle missing, and the people still asleep.

Women often fashion little clay images of men and hang them up in their gardens to frighten youngsters who go there to pilfer the crops; the children believe that if they take anything they will be stricken with a thabu. The elders, however, declare that such charms are only a sham, as the women do not really wish to harm the children, but only to scare them.

Hunter’s Magic.—If a Kamba hunter shoots a very fat beast he must not take snuff while he is skinning it or he will be seized with diarrhœa.

Elephant hunters often carry a medicine called ngatho, of which a little is placed on each arrow before it is shot at an elephant; it is carried in a hollow reed in the hunter’s quiver. The hunter must not eat or touch mutton before he returns from hunting or this medicine will prove ineffective. The medicine man who concocts the medicine places it in the quiver of the hunter with his own hands, and the quiver must not be opened till the hunter is in the presence of the elephants. Hunters often carry another medicine called “nzebi,” which, if blown in the direction of game, prevents it from seeing the hunter.

In Kitui, if a man has made his preparations to go on a hunting expedition, he must not cohabit with his wife the night before he starts.

If there is a new-comer in a hunting party and an elephant is killed, the leader of the party will cut off the trunk and breasts of the beast before the new-comer comes up, and hide them in the bush. It is said that if [[194]]this is not done the new-comer might joke about the peculiar appearance of these parts and in so doing turn their luck so that no other elephant would be killed. The elephant spirit would evidently be annoyed.

An officer, some time ago, shot an elephant in Kitui, and two of the natives who accompanied him came up and asked if they might perform their ceremony, the object of which was to bring him much luck and good sport. He agreed, and a goat was killed and some of the blood collected; one of the men tasted a little of the blood, and then each of them took a little in his mouth and ejected a few drops on the tusks of the dead elephant, the remainder being poured out as a libation.

The leader or leaders of the hunting party who are termed A-thiani in Ukamba and Tha-mati in Kikuyu can alone eat the trunk of an elephant.

When the hunting party returns it is the duty of the leader to sacrifice an ox and brew some beer; the blood of the ox and the beer are mixed and poured out in the village as a libation of thanksgiving.

The same ceremony is observed after the sale of the ivory.

A man who organises successful hunts, or proves himself a good leader of caravans to the coast, obtains great honour among his people.

Charms.—The Kikuyu people sometimes place a human skull in a tree in a garden to prevent people from stealing; it is not quite certain whether this is believed to have any magic power. They also place the clay tuyéres from a smith’s furnace in trees to protect gardens; in this case they are probably trading on the dreaded magic powers of the smiths.

The horns of the first ox presented to a man by the father or his son-in-law are not thrown away, but placed on the roof of the hut of his principal wife. The significance of this is not very clear; it may be done merely to commemorate the event, but in these matters it is never safe to jump to conclusions. [[195]]

The following observation in Kikuyu may be classed among magical procedure. A man was sued for return of some cattle which he was obliged to return. On doing so, he pulled out a few hairs from the animals’ tails. It appears that when certain medicine is made in the village the owner has only to pull out a few tail hairs from a beast and it will always return to his village.

Occasionally in a Kikuyu village the vertebra of an ox may be seen transfixed on the stick which surmounts a grain hut. This is a charm to keep butterflies away from the village, as it is believed that these insects carry sickness to the goats and sheep.

Fear of old Women.—Old women in Kikuyu are much feared, particularly those who are blind, toothless, and decrepit; they are often believed to possess magic power. When meeting them, it is safer to pass by or to speak to them pleasantly. If they are annoyed they may bring all sorts of ill luck. Being bothered one day by a number of very old women, Chief Marraro and his elders were asked to send them away, but were afraid to tell them to go, and even many of the police dared not talk to them.

Knots, etc.—When a Kikuyu warrior goes to war he ties knots in the grass on the way, so that he may find his enemy sleepy. Or again, if he is going to visit anyone he does the same in order that he may find his friend at home.

If a man is at war, it is bad for the wife to make string for a food bag (chondo); it is probably believed that the twisting of string would have the same deleterious effect as the tying of a knot is supposed to have on certain occasions. Further, the wife must not sweep out the hut while her husband is away with a war party.

A zebra was shot by the writer some time ago in Kitui, and when the meat was brought to camp a Kamba was observed to tie a knot in the hair of the tail; the reason given for this was that zebras being rather subject to diarrhœa, it was a good thing to tie a [[196]]knot in the tail, as the persons who eat the meat would then not be likely to suffer from this complaint.

In Kitui, also, if two men are starting on a cattle trading expedition and one gets ahead of the other the one who is delayed plants a stick in the ground and ties grass to it, this being supposed to delay the first man, and, the other passing him, will then be able to sell his cattle first and therefore at a better price.

War Medicine (Kikuyu).—Before a young warrior departs on an expedition, the father goes to a medicine man and obtains some medicine called njeku and smears it on his son’s shield, the object of this being to protect him from the weapons of his enemies. It is said that sometimes the medicine man, out of spite, supplies bad medicine and the warrior will then be killed. This alternative is no doubt the explanation of casualties, and it would be interesting to know how the medicine man defends himself from the accusation of having supplied the wrong medicine.

If a man collects the saliva of an enemy and takes it away to a medicine man (murogi) who makes suitable medicine of it, the owner becomes afflicted with a bad throat.

A wife must not sleep away from her village while her husband is on a journey, nor bring a male friend to the village; she may shave her head in his absence, although this is barred among some tribes.

Magical Remedies for Sterility.—Among the A-Kamba of Ulu there are various remedies for barrenness in women. The husband consults a medicine man, who casts lots, “piga mbau” to find out which of the various remedies must be adopted. When the proper kind of remedy has been discovered, the husband takes his wife to the discoverer of the remedy (ng͠nondu), who administers it.

Various remedies are in vogue, viz:

Medicine is also made from the following:

A branch of mulali tree sufficiently long to go round the woman’s waist is then cut.

The woman’s loin skin apron is cut into two pieces, and a knot is tied in one of them.

The mulali branch is then passed round her waist and tied into a knot.

The twigs 1 and 2 are then placed to the woman’s lips, and she bites some of them and spits out the pieces three times. Part of this is taken and thrown on a main road for passers-by to tread on. The rest is taken by the husband, who walks in front of the woman, dropping it for her to tread on as far as the village. Water in a nzele, or half gourd, is then drawn by the husband, and all the men and women of the village rinse their hands in it. A goat, given by the husband, is made to drink the water in the nzele; it is then killed, and the chest is taken and eaten by husband and wife. The husband does not cohabit with his wife till the second night after the ceremony.

Among the Kikuyu if a married woman does not prove fertile a medicine man takes her to a mukeo, mukenyia, or muthakwa tree, and there suffocates a mwati (a young ewe which has not yet borne a kid); the elders of the husband’s clan take the small intestine of the mwati and twine it around the woman [[198]]and the tree, the intestine being then cut through with a sharp splinter of wood. The ceremony concludes with the anointing of the woman on the forehead with castor oil, and some fat from the carcase of the mwati is melted and poured out at the foot of the tree.

It was impossible to discover the exact significance of this ceremony; it may be a form of so-called tree marriage, a ceremony by which presumably the fertility of the tree can be given to the woman.

Inoculation Against Snake Bites.—Although these observations are classified under the heading of magic, it is not at all clear whether the procedure adopted is based on the knowledge of prophylactic or antiseptic drugs. The subject is worthy of professional investigation by a trained pathologist.

The author is indebted to Mr G. H. Osborne for the description of the process of inoculation for snake bites which took place in his presence at Machakos in Ukamba.

The practitioner was a young man of some twenty-five years of age, Waita wa Mathendu by name; the patient a boy of about sixteen, called Kaboyi wa Kimoino—both natives of the Iveti Hills. At the writer’s request the native doctor brought specimens of the medicinal plants. They consisted of:

(1) A branch of a shrub called musobi (Kikamba). This has a leaf measuring about two inches in length, bright green on the top and a lighter shade below; the edges are serrated but not sharp, and the whole leaf has a velvety feel to the touch. It bears a fruit which is red when ripe and which is eaten by the A-Kamba. It is also used as medicine for colds in the head.

(2) Two branches of a shrub called mthingii. The leaves appear to grow on a single stem, and are composed of some six petals on either side of the leaf stem. The leaf, full grown, measures about one and a half inches by three quarters. In the case of the first, a piece of the stem as it stands in the ground is lightly [[199]]scraped three times with a knife. In the case of the second, grains of mtama grain are thrown three times to strike the bush.

Both are then completely dug up by the roots, and the two roots, the stems and leaves, are put on the fire without water and dried completely. These are the vegetable ingredients of the medicine.

The animal ingredients are:

(1) The heads of various kinds of snakes. When a medicine man captures a snake he takes it by the neck in his right hand and passes its tail three times around and behind his waist with the left hand, like a belt, the third time passing its head to his left hand, which is grasping the tail, and then clasping neck and tail in the left hand and holding it out from his body. He makes three gashes with a knife on the back of the snake’s head, just above the neck, at the same time making a gash in the back of his left hand, which is holding the snake’s head and tail. He then takes some of the blood from the gash on the back of his hand and smears it with his knife point in each of the gashes in the snake’s neck. The snake dies after the man’s blood has been smeared on the gashes, and its head is then severed below the gashes and put into the nzele with the vegetable ingredients. These are then pounded up till the mixture becomes a pitch-like substance. It is put back on the fire until thoroughly dried, when it is ground up into a powder varying from dark grey to black in colour.

The medicine is now ready for use and is placed in its several receptacles. The vegetable ingredients are always the same, but as each kind of snake is treated, each vessel holds a different kind of medicine. On this occasion the doctor had only three snakes fastened up in a gourd with air holes bored into it. Before explaining the initial process he took them out and put the first round his neck and the second on his lap, [[200]]where it lay diversifying its position by coiling round his arm.

The snakes brought for inspection were:

(1) Ndau (female).—About eighteen inches long, dark green on the back and light green underneath. It both spits and bites, and lives mostly in trees. Its darts are very rapid.

(2) Syomelule (female).—A dark grey colour on the back and light grey to light yellow below; the pattern appeared to be almost in squares. It was about two feet long and had not digested a mouse which had got half-way down. It is said to be a tree snake; it both spits and strikes, and after striking sticks on to the bitten part.

(3) Kiko (male).—Marked like a puff adder, black, with a broad flat head. Unfortunately this one had had a slight difference with the second snake, which had struck and killed it on the way to the station. It was in the bottom of the gourd and was not visible. It is said to lie on the road, shamming death, and rearing suddenly, to strike at the thigh. The larger ones also spit, and are especially dangerous to people drawing water.

There were in all seven small gourds of powder, each containing a mixture of the vegetable ingredient and a different kind of snake. In addition to the three snakes above mentioned the gourds contained the powder made from four other kinds of snakes:

(4) Nguluku.—Said to be a small, reddish, whip-like snake of which larger specimens have also been found living near streams; their bite is very deadly.

(5) Kimbuba (Swahili Bafu).—Puff adder.

(6) Kisilu.—A very black snake seldom leaving its hole in the daytime.

(7) Yaitha.—A tree snake which is very fond of taking up its residence in large birds’ nests. It darts down on the passer-by from a tree, strikes the head, and then retires again to the tree. In 1907, one of them lived in a tree on the road to Mumoni, not far [[201]]from Gai, and killed two people in a short time. The District Commissioner was asked to kill it, but two Kamba went out together and one of them killed it as it tried to strike the other. This is probably a Dendraspis. The doctor takes the skin of the patient’s upper palm, just below the knuckle of the finger and thumb, and cuts three small gashes in the skin. He does this just above the upper wrist bone and upper elbow joint on the outside. The tongue is also slightly gashed in places till blood is drawn.

The writer only saw these particular places cut, as there was not sufficient time, but anyone undergoing the full treatment would be cut on the top of the foot, just above the toes, on the upper thigh, the buttock, and the shoulder, the process being repeated on the other side of the body.

The practitioner then pours into the palm of his left hand a little of each powder—seven kinds in this case. With the first finger of the right hand he puts the mixed powder on to each of the three gashes, then spits on the places and rubs the powder into the gashes with the second finger of his right hand. The remaining portion in the palm of the left hand is licked three times off the palm by the patient’s gashed tongue. The doctor then carefully wipes his hands, and, the operation being over, the powder is allowed to dry into the gashes.

To show the writer the efficacy of his medicine he took out the Syomelule snake and put it on to the finger of the patient, the mouth being closed over the first finger just below the nail, where it hung for several seconds. Then he took it off and returned it to its receptacle. One fang—the upper one—had drawn blood in the finger. He then took a knife and scraped the place of the bite on the upper and lower side of the finger. He said this was to scrape off the fangs of the snake. No blood was drawn on the under side of the finger. The patient said that the snake, when hanging [[202]]to his finger, did not hurt him, but that he merely felt as if his finger was being tightly pinched. Both the doctors and the writer’s boy who were present declared that instant death was the usual result of a bite by such a snake.

The result of the treatment is that a person can seize hold of any snake and, by making a circle round its head three times with the first finger of the right hand, render it innocuous. If a person sees a snake enter a clump of grass, he walks three times round the clump, and at the place where the snake has entered puts his hand in till he catches it by the tail. He pulls it out, and the snake strikes back. He allows it to strike his hand three times, and then seizes it by the head or neck and lets go the tail. He then makes three circular passes round its head with the first finger of the right hand and the snake can no longer hurt anyone unless a person forcibly puts his fingers into its mouth. It can be carried about or worn with impunity.

If a person who is immune spits and strikes a snake with the spittle, the snake becomes sick and dies at once. The patient was at the writer’s house for quite an hour after the operation. He still had the other side of the body to be operated upon. He showed no signs of swelling or illness.

The usual price for divulging the identity of the plants and the method of concoction to a fellow tribesman is a cow and a bull. For this reason the doctor brought the twigs tied up in a piece of cloth, so that their nature was not apparent to a passer-by.

This inoculation may be a system of immunisation or it may be that the snakes produced for the operation had had their poisonous fangs extracted. Its efficacy is, however, implicitly believed in by the Kamba people of these parts, and no one who has been inoculated is known to have died from the bite.

It must be noted that a certain amount of formality is observed, there being a favourite number for the magic “passes” and for the gashes made for inoculation. [[203]]

Another observer writing from Kikuyu states that while standing at a particular place with some elders a snake was seen in the long grass. One man commenced to feel about in the grass for the snake, and when another man struck at it, he picked it up alive. He seemed to have absolutely no fear of snakes, and explained that he had medicine for their bites—not to prevent bites, but to neutralise the poison. Later, he was further cross-examined and denied that he had this medicine.

The author also saw in Kitui a man who professed to have no fear of snake bites. This man one day walked into Kitui Station carrying a big puff adder (Bitis arietans) in his hand; he was not holding it by the neck, but was gripping it about eighteen inches below its head. He had heard that snakes were wanted for a collection, and had come to sell it. After the puff adder had been safely disposed of, he pointed out two deep scratches, not punctures, bleeding freely, at the base of his thumb and produced a black powder, some of which he rubbed on the wounds and some of which he placed on his tongue and swallowed. The wounds were inflicted by the adder. This man accompanied the writer for a ten days’ journey, and during that time caught various live snakes. His general procedure was to lie down and put his arm into the recesses of a white ant nest which is a very favourite shelter for snakes during the heat of the day; he would feel about and sometimes extract a snake. The idea of feeling about in a dark hole in a district where cobras, puff adders, and other poisonous snakes are common, made one shudder. But nothing untoward happened, and he suffered no ill effects from his scratches by the puff adder’s fangs. He was asked what the black powder was made of, and produced about six plants, the roots of which, when dried, charred and ground up, were said to constitute the antidote. It was, however, not possible at the time to identify the plants. [[205]]

PART III

MISCELLANEOUS

[[207]]

[[Contents]]