An ivory trader in North Kenia

by A. Arkell-Hardwick

AN IVORY TRADER IN NORTH KENIA

THE AUTHOR.

AN IVORY TRADER IN
NORTH KENIA
THE RECORD OF AN EXPEDITION THROUGH
KIKUYU TO GALLA-LAND IN EAST
EQUATORIAL AFRICA
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RENDILI AND
BURKENEJI TRIBES
BY
A. ARKELL-HARDWICK, F.R.G.S.
WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS, AND A MAP
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1903
All rights reserved

To
COLONEL COLIN HARDING, C.M.G.
OF THE
BRITISH SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE
TO WHOSE KIND ENCOURAGEMENT WHEN IN COMMAND OF
FORT CHICKWAKA, MASHONALAND
THE AUTHOR OWES HIS LATER EFFORTS TO
GAIN COLONIAL EXPERIENCE
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED

PREFACE

Although there may be no justification for the production of this work, the reader will perhaps deal leniently with me under the “First Offenders Act.” Among the various reasons which prompted me to commit the crime of adding a contribution to the World’s literature is the fact that little or nothing is known concerning certain peculiar tribes; to wit, the Rendili and Burkeneji. They are a nomadic people whose origin is as yet wrapped in mystery. In addition to this, an account of the trials and difficulties to be encountered in the endeavour to obtain that rapidly vanishing commodity, ivory, will perhaps please those into whose hands this work may fall who delight in “moving accidents by flood and field.”

It has been to me a source of lasting regret that a great many of my photographic negatives were in some way or other unfortunately lost on our homeward journey, and as usually happens on such occasions, they were those I valued most, inasmuch as they included all my photographs of the lower course of the Waso Nyiro River and also those of the Rendili and Burkeneji peoples. I am, however, greatly indebted to Mr. Hazeltine Frost, M.R.P.S., of Muswell Hill, N., for the care and skill with which he has rendered some of the remaining badly mutilated negatives suitable for the purposes of illustration.

In the course of this narrative it will be observed that I name the people of the various countries or districts through which we passed by prefixing Wa- to the name of the district they inhabit. This is in accordance with Swahili practice, as they generally designate a native by the name of his country prefixed by an M’, which in this case denotes a man, the plural of M’ being Wa-. The plural of M’Kamba, or inhabitant of Ukamba, is therefore Wa’Kamba, and an M’Unyamwezi, or inhabitant of Unyamwezi, is Wa’Nyamwezi in the plural. Doubtless a hypercritic would argue that this rule only applies to the Swahili language, and consequently the names of those tribes who are in no way connected with the Swahilis would be outside the rule. He would be right; but I am going to call them all Wa- for the sake of convenience and to avoid confusion.

I have endeavoured to place before the reader an account of the incidents, amusing and tragic, as they appeared to me at the time. Should the narrative prove uninteresting, it will, I think, be due to faulty description. The incidents related were sufficiently exciting to stimulate the most jaded imagination, and they have the rarest of all merits—the merit of being true.