METHOD OF CARRYING THE CIRCUMCISION SHIELD.
Natives, of course, often sing either in chorus or singly, and at any time; such songs are also called ngoma. On one occasion the author met a man who [[273]]was a sort of primitive travelling minstrel. It was his vocation in life to go about the country singing songs, for which people gave him a few cents. The natives said that he was the only man known to do this, and he was therefore perhaps rather a freak. [[274]]
CHAPTER VIII
WOMEN AS A FACTOR IN TRIBAL ORGANISATION
Although far from negligible, the part played by women in the life of a savage tribe is very apt to be overlooked by a man. The reasons are obvious; the African woman is not obtrusive; she is perpetually busy, and one rarely comes into contact with her. Her inner thoughts and beliefs are a sealed book to the investigator, and one is at first inclined to believe that her influence is not worth consideration. The longer the experience, the more clearly one realises that this lack of information about the woman is one of the weak points of any inquiry.
Among the Kikuyu there is a council, or kiama, of old women in every district; they collect goats periodically and present them to the elders of ukuru, or priestly class. They occasionally fine troublesome women, and the fine, usually a goat, has to be obtained by the culprit either by extra work or by begging one from her father. The men fear the women’s kiama, as it is believed that the members of it have the power to bewitch people.
It is to be regretted that so little is known about the methods of initiation and the scope of their activities in this direction, but complete information could only be obtained by a female investigator who has exceptional opportunity and great sympathy.
The official recognition of the wife of a candidate for admission into the grade of ukuru among the Kikuyu has been described at another place. This is unusual in African ritual, but can readily be understood [[275]]when one learns that old women, past the child-bearing age, can participate in sacrificial ceremonies at the sacred trees. This is due to the fact that the growth of cereal and other vegetable food falls to the woman, and they alone are responsible for the food of the family.
This leads to great difficulty, as the women are intensely conservative, and when an energetic district officer wishes to improve the economic products of his district and distribute better seeds he is invariably up against the opposition of the women, which is very difficult to overcome. The woman knows by long experience that, given a certain area, a certain seed, and a certain rainfall she can feed the family, and one can understand that she should be loth to waste labour on experiments, the result of which is doubtful. This feeling is very deep-rooted, and consequently most difficult to overcome: the same obstacles are met with in connection with the introduction of big European hoes for agriculture. The African woman has for generations done her planting with either a digging stick or the small African hoe; the tiresome European comes along and worries the men to buy the big heavy hoe, and one can hear the annoyed woman inquiring of her husband why she is being bothered to give up the implement she has been brought up to use with one hand, for a strange thing which is more expensive and requires two hands. For all that, however, the European hoe is making good progress, and will eventually win. It is hoped that this, and the introduction of ox-drawn ploughs, will result in the male section of the population taking a more active part in agriculture, and alleviating the lot of the women. It is believed that if instructors could be detailed to travel about and demonstrate the benefits of utilising oxen to plough, women would soon champion the cause of progress.