For centuries the Masai and Akikuyu have been bitter enemies, and in the old days the former used to punish their neighbours for selling captives to Arab slave traders. The Masai are a pastoral people depending entirely on their herds, which must have abundant pasture; while, on the other hand, the Akikuyu are tillers of the soil. In order to make a tract of land clear for sowing, they are in the habit of burning large tracts of forest, a practice which annoys the Masai, because herds of cattle shelter under the trees, where they find fresh grass, when all the country exposed to the sun is parched and withered.
In warfare these two tribes, the Masai and Akikuyu, employ many different methods, for whereas the former are always bold and open in attack, the latter are cowardly and treacherous, always preferring to lie in wait for small bands of enemies, who may be taken at a disadvantage.
When reporting on the Akikuyu tribes, Mr. Hinde, the British Commissioner, says:
“They plant gardens with bananas and Indian corn, and live almost entirely on vegetable food, their flocks being inconsiderable. Honey forms a staple element of their diet. This they collect by hanging oblong honey boxes, made of the hollow trunk of a juniper, in the trees, and smoking the bees out.
“They till and cultivate the ground, but, as it is not manured, the soil is quickly exhausted, and the burning down of large tracts of forest is resorted to as a means of procuring fresh land.
A Kikuyu Man.
“The Akikuyu are a well-built people, with the broad Negro type of countenance and feature. Occasionally they wear their hair long, but more often it is twisted into a sort of fringe about three inches in length. The young men cover their person with mutton fat and red clay, which renders them exceedingly offensive. It has of late years become customary for them to carry both shields and spears; the former they have copied from the Masai, the latter are of their own design, and have a leaf-shaped blade about a foot in length and four inches broad, tapering to a point. The handle is wooden, with an iron spike about six inches long at the other end. The Akikuyu carry swords, and use bows and poisoned arrows. They grow tobacco, which they mix with potash and use as snuff; this they carry in a small bottle suspended by a chain around the neck.”
Shaving the head is a custom copied from the Masai, but although Akikuyu women wear many beads, they do not, like Masai women, decorate themselves with large quantities of iron wire and chains.
