Charms.—The Kikuyu people sometimes place a human skull in a tree in a garden to prevent people from stealing; it is not quite certain whether this is believed to have any magic power. They also place the clay tuyéres from a smith’s furnace in trees to protect gardens; in this case they are probably trading on the dreaded magic powers of the smiths.
The horns of the first ox presented to a man by the father or his son-in-law are not thrown away, but placed on the roof of the hut of his principal wife. The significance of this is not very clear; it may be done merely to commemorate the event, but in these matters it is never safe to jump to conclusions. [[195]]
The following observation in Kikuyu may be classed among magical procedure. A man was sued for return of some cattle which he was obliged to return. On doing so, he pulled out a few hairs from the animals’ tails. It appears that when certain medicine is made in the village the owner has only to pull out a few tail hairs from a beast and it will always return to his village.
Occasionally in a Kikuyu village the vertebra of an ox may be seen transfixed on the stick which surmounts a grain hut. This is a charm to keep butterflies away from the village, as it is believed that these insects carry sickness to the goats and sheep.
Fear of old Women.—Old women in Kikuyu are much feared, particularly those who are blind, toothless, and decrepit; they are often believed to possess magic power. When meeting them, it is safer to pass by or to speak to them pleasantly. If they are annoyed they may bring all sorts of ill luck. Being bothered one day by a number of very old women, Chief Marraro and his elders were asked to send them away, but were afraid to tell them to go, and even many of the police dared not talk to them.
Knots, etc.—When a Kikuyu warrior goes to war he ties knots in the grass on the way, so that he may find his enemy sleepy. Or again, if he is going to visit anyone he does the same in order that he may find his friend at home.
If a man is at war, it is bad for the wife to make string for a food bag (chondo); it is probably believed that the twisting of string would have the same deleterious effect as the tying of a knot is supposed to have on certain occasions. Further, the wife must not sweep out the hut while her husband is away with a war party.
A zebra was shot by the writer some time ago in Kitui, and when the meat was brought to camp a Kamba was observed to tie a knot in the hair of the tail; the reason given for this was that zebras being rather subject to diarrhœa, it was a good thing to tie a [[196]]knot in the tail, as the persons who eat the meat would then not be likely to suffer from this complaint.
In Kitui, also, if two men are starting on a cattle trading expedition and one gets ahead of the other the one who is delayed plants a stick in the ground and ties grass to it, this being supposed to delay the first man, and, the other passing him, will then be able to sell his cattle first and therefore at a better price.
War Medicine (Kikuyu).—Before a young warrior departs on an expedition, the father goes to a medicine man and obtains some medicine called njeku and smears it on his son’s shield, the object of this being to protect him from the weapons of his enemies. It is said that sometimes the medicine man, out of spite, supplies bad medicine and the warrior will then be killed. This alternative is no doubt the explanation of casualties, and it would be interesting to know how the medicine man defends himself from the accusation of having supplied the wrong medicine.