A smith will not make the sheath of a sword; he makes the wooden hilt, but the owner himself covers it with raw hide and also makes the sheath.
One of the important functions of the smiths is to [[170]]make certain articles used in connection with the circumcision rites of the tribe. These are as follows:
- Ruenji—A razor which is especially made for the circumcision rite.
- Mukuha—A needle for piercing the ears of small boys. When a boy is circumcised the elders ceremonially pass this through the hole in the novice’s ear.
- Ngunju—A small iron ornament placed in the ears of boys and girls at the circumcision ceremony.
- Kahiu kaithinja—A knife especially forged to kill the sacrificial ram at the circumcision ceremony.
The head of the village where the rites are to take place orders these articles from a leading smith before the ceremony. When the smith delivers them he is given some honey beer, and he ceremonially spits a little of it on each of the things to free them from any suspicion of containing bad magic.
When a smith marries, another smith is called in to forge an iron bracelet, which is placed on the bride’s left wrist. The husband then kills a ram, and the fat and the tatha (stomach contents) of the animal are boiled together in a pot, and the bracelet is dropped into the mixture. This is supposed to free the bride from any bad magic which some evilly disposed ancestral spirit might bring upon her by means of the bracelet.
The Kikuyu smiths state that they have no special language or dialect peculiar to their guild. When they die, they are buried or thrown out in the bush, according to their grade, in the same way as other members of the tribe, and no symbol of their trade is buried with them.
Some smiths belong to the Masai circumcision guild, others to the Kikuyu guild.
With regard to the magic powers of smiths referred to above:
A smith can place a spell on a patch of forest to [[171]]prevent anyone from destroying it. He takes an iron necklet or bracelet which belonged to a deceased person, cuts it into small pieces, and walks round the piece of forest which is to be protected. He then deposits the pieces at the foot of a tree within the area, and woe betide anyone who infringes the prohibition! If at any time the spell is to be lifted, the smith proceeds to the area, sacrifices a ewe, removes the pieces of bracelet, and smears the spot with tatha, or stomach contents, of the sacrificial animal.
If sugar cane is stolen from a garden, or goats are stolen out of a village by night, the owner often goes to a smith and seeks his aid, taking with him the iron necklet or bracelet of a deceased person. If the smith agrees to intervene, he will heat this in his smithy fire and then sever it with a chisel, saying, “May the thief be cut as I cut this iron.” Or he may take a sword or an axe-head which he is making, heat it in his fire and then quench it in water, saying, “May the body of the thief cool as this iron does,” i.e., “May he die.”