After a due time has elapsed the man can apply to the senior council to be admitted to that body. As a rule his entry is not refused, but it is said that he cannot demand admittance to this grade without the approval of its elders. He pays a fourth goat as entrance fee, and the same ceremony as for the lower grade elder of one goat is gone through. He then has to pay a fine thenge, or male goat, which counts as two ordinary goats, whereupon the elders reveal to him the secret matters of their grade and instruct him in the procedure of the council. They also invest him with his staff of office, the mithegi, and hand him the bunch of sacred leaves, mutathia (Clausena anisata and also Clausena inaequalis), and he is then a fully fledged elder of council and is called muthuri ya imburi nne or ithano, elder of four or five goats, as the case may be, and is entitled to be called muthamaki, which may be translated as magistrate or judge, or one who is entitled to try cases.
Ordinary elders are allowed to carry a bunch of leaves of mutathia (Clausena inaequalis, also C. [[211]]anisata), but until they become ukuru, they cannot carry the leaves of muturanguru (Vernonia sp.).
It is now necessary to consider the functions of the various grades. There are two councils, or kiamas: kiama cha kamatimo and kiama cha athamaki. The council whose legal powers are recognised by Government is the kiama cha athamaki.
The following table shows how these councils are composed:
| Name of Councils | Composed of |
| Kiama cha kamatimo | Athuri cha imburi imwe |
| Athuri,, cha,, imburi,, igiri | |
| Athuri,, cha,, imburi,, itatu | |
| Kiama cha athamaki | Athuri,, cha,, imburi,, nne |
| Athuri,, cha,, ithano | |
| Athuri ya ukuru. |
The members of the kiama cha kamatimo have no judicial power; they attend at a meeting of the council but do not sit with the athamaki; they are grouped at some little distance, the word, in fact, meaning those who sit away. This body generally correspond to the kisuka of the A-Kamba.
The kiama cha athamaki actually means those who adjudicate or settle cases. The term athuri ya kiama, elders of council, is generally understood to refer only to the elders of the kiama cha athamaki. The athuri ya ukuru still remain members of the kiama cha athamaki, but when they reach this grade, as years go by, they generally take a less active part in judicial matters, although they are always called upon to settle knotty points of tribal law and custom.
When a man becomes a muthuri ya ukuru he assumes more definite priestly functions, and becomes responsible for the proper conduct of the periodical sacrifices at the sacred trees. When such a sacrifice is made the athuri ya ukuru are alone privileged to eat half of the head and the kidneys of the sacrificed ram.
In the same way when a sheep is brought to the kiama as a judicial fee, it is eaten by the elders present, and the ukuru, if they happen to be there, claim the [[212]]head and the kidneys, which, according to custom, they pass on to the small boys of the village.
When an elder enters the grade of ukuru he can wear in his ears the flat discs of brass-wire known as ichui.