The whole of these were wrapped in a portion of a plaited Kamba fibre bag (chondo). Stones were arranged on the ground around the package. The end of the kithito parcel faced towards the afternoon sun, i.e., the west.

The officiating elder then stood on the two stones to the west of the kithito and, with a thin stick, touched the kithito and recited the terms of the oath. The object of these stones was to insulate him from the ground while he was engaged in the ceremony.

At each item of the oath the elder took a thin stick and dipped it in some blackish sticky medicine in the shell and recited the particular points, saying: “If [[241]]any man breaks this, may he be thrown away,” and then jerked the stick over his right shoulder in the direction of the sun.

KAMBA ELDER WITH KITHITO.

After the ceremony, the kithito was carried away and a sheep was killed near by and the tatha, or stomach contents, were sprinkled on the ground at the spot where the kithito had been. This was said to be done to cure the ground from the evil effects of the kithito.

The Oath of the Sacred Bead (Chuma cha mchugu) in Kikuyu.—This oath or ordeal belongs to the same class as those described in the writer’s work, “Ethnology of A-Kamba” (Camb. Press), pp. 139–143, viz., the kithathi and ku-ringa thengi ceremonies.

If one man is in debt to another and repudiates his debt, the creditor goes to the elders and demands that they may both be given the ordeal of the chuma cha mchugu (chuma is the Kikuyu word for bead).

Now the bead used for this purpose must be one of a particular kind, which has been handed down from past ages and is evidently believed to be of magical value. Several of the clans in Kikuyu are alleged to possess specimens of this bead, each one being in charge of a particular elder; they are said to be reddish in colour and rather long in shape.[1] Endeavours have been made to get a specimen for examination, but it has not been possible to locate one; the elders state that they have not seen one used for some years. A chuma cha mchugu must not be kept in a house, but is hidden away in the bush—in this particular it is like the kithathi.