They kill the ox, skin it, and cut the meat off the throat and also cut out a few of the vertebræ of the neck (ngata) and place them on the kithito. An iron arrow head is then produced and tied on to a shaft; it must be tied with the fibre from the lilambia bush, and a few thorns of the mulaa tree are also fastened to the arrow. A small bag is made from a piece of the small intestine of the ox and is filled with blood. The officiating elder then picks up the arrow and slits open this bag and allows the blood to drip on the neck-vertebræ and meat, which are placed on the kithito, and calls out to the assembly: “If anyone breaks this peace may he be slit as the mwethi wa kitutu.” The neck bones and meat are then left to be devoured by hyænas.
Before this, however, an oath is administered to each of the captains of the fighting; those who take the oath are naked; the right arm and right leg are smeared with ashes, and a bunch of leaves is fastened over the pubes. Each man takes a bundle of arrows in his right hand and swears by the kithito that he will never again fight the opposite party and that if any should come to his village they shall be received as friends; [[249]]the company of warriors assent to this and say, “If you break this oath may the kithito slay you.”
Blood Brotherhood (Ukamba of Kitui).—The two parties meet and a goat is killed; two pieces of the liver are taken and slightly fried on a fire. A small incision is then made in the right forearm, the chest, and the navel of each party, and a spot of the blood therefrom is smeared on the liver. The two pieces are then exchanged and eaten jointly.
This is a very sacred and lasting oath of friendship. If ever it is broken, the people are very shocked and Engai is believed to injure the village of the one who breaks it and probably both blood kin and stock will die.
It is often difficult to state with precision whether the high god or the ancestral spirits are meant when the term Engai is here used. In this case, however, the high god is probably referred to. And if the opinion be correct, it is a striking example of the belief in the concept of a personal God, who takes a continual and minute interest in the doings of His creatures. [[250]]
CHAPTER V
MISCELLANEOUS CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS
Adoption into a New Clan (Kikuyu).—This is a proceeding which sometimes takes place in Kikuyu, but which rarely comes to the notice of European observers. It is called njama ya ruoro kucharua, which means “the assembly or council of the knife to change,” and, expanded, means “the ceremonial gathering of the knife at which a man changes his clan.” The word ruoro means the knife used for branding cattle.
The candidate first makes an arrangement about the matter with the senior elder of the clan he wishes to enter; a day is fixed for the ceremony and the elder summons the other elders of his clan and the candidate brings his brothers. A number of elders belonging to other clans are also invited as witnesses.