Bantu Beliefs and Magic / With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war

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BANTU BELIEFS AND MAGIC

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KITUI

A KAMBA CHIEF.

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BANTU BELIEFS AND MAGIC

WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE KIKUYU AND KAMBA TRIBES OF KENYA COLONY; TOGETHER WITH SOME REFLECTIONS ON EAST AFRICA AFTER THE WAR

BY
C. W. HOBLEY, C.M.G.
M. R. Anthrop. Inst., C.M.Z.S., Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.
(Late Senior Provincial Commissioner, Kenya Colony)
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
SIR JAMES G. FRAZER, F.R.S., &c.

LONDON
H. F. & G. WITHERBY
326 HIGH HOLBORN, W.C.
1922

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PREFACE

It is often said that the longer one knows the native the less one knows, and the less one understands him. This expression is doubtless comforting to persons who have not the patience to systematically study him and his views on life, but it could with convenience be replaced by a saying to the effect that the more one knows of the native the more one realises how much remains to be learnt.

The spirit of this is in accordance with the true attitude to all other branches of knowledge, for the more one learns, the more the map unfolds, and one gradually realises the vastness of the country to be explored.

During long years of service in East Africa my work has brought me into close contact with the native tribes from Lake Victoria to the coast, and I early realised that their administration could not be intelligently conducted without close inquiry into their social organisation and religious beliefs, and in this connection I would here like to express my indebtedness to the kind advice and stimulating assistance which I have received from Sir W. Ridgeway, Sir J. G. Frazer, Professor Haddon and others. I particularly wish to thank Sir J. G. Frazer for his kindness in consenting to write an introduction to this work.

My first researches in this field were conducted among the tribes of Kavirondo, and when some years later I left the Nyanza province for Ukamba I became interested in the people with whom this work mainly deals. [[4]]

In 1910 I published a small work styled “The Ethnology of the A-Kamba and Other East African Tribes” which was mainly intended as an aide memoire for colleagues working among the people referred to; the study was continued and certain matters were dealt with in papers communicated to the Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Association.

Further research has, however, brought to light a great deal of additional material and has enabled me to piece together the work, and I venture to believe that the light which it attempts to throw upon the inner life of these important tribes may stimulate further inquiry, and help both official and colonist in his relations with them.

It has long been the fashion to look upon such research as being of only academic value; this view, however, is year by year becoming dimmer, and I would ask all those who are interested in Africa to abandon it.

The late war has forcibly demonstrated the importance of understanding the psychology of our enemies, and if that is admitted I would claim that it is quite as important for workers in Africa to endeavour to understand the psychology of the Africans, whose friendship is of vital necessity to all progress in that country.

In presenting this work to the public, I would like to emphasise the belief that the field is by no means exhausted; all that I have been able to do has been done amidst the insistent rush of official duties, and I have often longed for the chance of being able to concentrate my attention for a year or two solely on researches of this nature.

The language difficulty is one of the greatest obstacles with which a European is faced; native languages are numerous and an administrative officer rarely has time to learn one before he is removed to another area and therefore another language. The elders rarely know much Swahili, the language which is the lingua franca of East Africa. Interpreters are often a snare, and an investigator has to work with one [[5]]for some time before being certain that he has fully realised the spirit of the research, especially when dealing with religious beliefs: indeed many interpreters never grasp the spirit of the inquiry. I had working with me for some years a remarkable interpreter—Juma bin Hamis—who became deeply interested in the subject under investigation, and was of the greatest assistance. When any point was obscure he would go off and unearth an elder who was known to have particular information on the point at issue. Unfortunately, however, I have to mourn his loss, for he died at Nairobi in 1911. Such a man is difficult to replace; his speciality was Kikuyu political organisation and customs, and, although a coast native, he was deeply esteemed by all the people of Southern Kikuyu.

I would here like to express my indebtedness to several of my colleagues and friends, particularly the Hon. C. Dundas, G. H. Osborne, and the late S. W. J. Scholefield, who, living for a long time in the native reserves of Kikuyu and Ukamba in close contact with the people, have given me the greatest assistance upon special points. I am also grateful to Miss du Cros for her kind assistance in revising the MSS. of this work.

With the Hon. C. Dundas’s permission, I have inserted an interesting memorandum by him on Kikuyu dances and certain magical phenomena. He collected the information while in charge of the Kikuyu district.

I also express my gratitude to the many elders who have so fully given me information about many customs and rites which they do not care to discuss with the man in the street. The Kikuyu in particular welcomed my interest in their beliefs. They even urged me to become a recognised elder of the tribe, so that they could impart full information without violation of the rules forbidding the divulging of the ceremonial of their grade to those not initiated to that grade. This election has been of great value, for [[6]]recognition as an elder in Kikuyu franks one, so to speak, among the Kamba, and the elders of that reticent tribe talked freely to me on their rites and beliefs.

Finally I must express my indebtedness to Professor Robertson Smith’s illuminating work on the “Religion of the Semites,” and to Campbell Thompson’s book on “Semitic Magic.” I have referred to these from time to time, as they throw light upon the principles underlying many of the African ceremonies which I describe.

Any description of the languages spoken by the tribes under review being outside the scope of this work, it has been considered inadvisable to complicate it by the adoption of the modern system of phonetic symbols in the native names. The use of the symbols, though based on sound principles, unfortunately renders unintelligible to the ordinary reader many native words.

As the war has occurred since the bulk of this work was written, I have considered that it might not be out of place to add a chapter of a general nature dealing with the position of native affairs after the great upheaval, for Africa has not escaped its effects any more than other parts of the world, and the future of the relations of black and white needs most thoughtful consideration.

C. W. H. [[7]]

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INTRODUCTION

The author of this book, Mr C. W. Hobley, has long been known to anthropologists as one of our best authorities on the native races of British East Africa, or Kenya Colony, as it is now called, where he resided as Provincial Commissioner for many years. The time he could spare from his official duties he wisely devoted to studying the customs and beliefs of the tribes whom he was appointed to govern, and through the knowledge and experience thus acquired he was able to make a valuable series of contributions to ethnography. In the present work he has resumed and largely supplemented his former studies of two important tribes, the Kikuyu and Kamba, enriching his previous accounts with many fresh details and fruitful observations.

The result is a monograph replete with information of great variety and of the highest interest for the student of savage thought and institutions. But the book has a practical as well as a scientific value. Placed in the hands of British officials engaged in the maintenance of order and the administration of justice among the natives, it must prove of real service to them in their task of affording them an insight into the habits and ideas of the people, and thus greatly facilitating the task of government. Indeed, without some such knowledge of the native’s point of view it is impossible to govern him wisely and well. The savage way of thinking is very different to ours, and Mr Hobley is right in insisting that it is by no means simple, but, on the contrary, highly complex, and that, consequently, it cannot be understood without long and patient study. To legislate for savages on European principles of law [[8]]and morality, even when the legislator is inspired by none but the most benevolent intentions, is always dangerous, and not seldom disastrous; for it is too often forgotten that native customs have grown up through a long course of experience and adaptation to natural surroundings, that they correspond to notions and beliefs which, whether ill or well founded, are deeply rooted in the native mind, and that the attempt to discard them for others which have been developed under totally different conditions may injure instead of benefiting the people. Even when the new rules and habits, which government seeks to force upon the tribes, are in themselves, abstractly considered, better than the old, they may not be so well adapted to the mental framework of the governed, and the consequence may be that the old moral restraints are abolished without the substitution of any equally effective in their room. To this danger Mr Hobley is fully alive, and he gives a timely warning on the subject to those well-meaning but ill-informed persons at home who would treat the native African in accordance with the latest political shibboleths of democratic Europe. Such treatment, which its ignorant advocates seem to regard as a panacea for all human ills, would almost inevitably produce an effect precisely the opposite of that intended: instead of accelerating the progress of the natives, it would probably precipitate their moral, social, and even physical decline. In practical life few things are so dangerous as abstract ideas, and the indiscriminate application of them to concrete realities is one of the most fatal weapons in the hands of the moral or political revolutionary.

Among the mass of interesting topics dealt with in Mr Hobley’s book it is difficult to single out any for special mention in an introduction. The subjects to which, on the whole, he has paid closest attention are natural religion and magic. In respect of religion the author again and again notes the remarkable similarities which may be traced between East African and [[9]]Semitic beliefs and rites, and he raises the question how these similarities are to be explained. Are they due to parallel and independent development in the African and the Semitic races? Or are they the consequence of the invasion of Africa either by a Semitic people or at all events by a people imbued with the principles of Semitic religion. In my book “Folk-lore in the Old Testament”[1] I had been similarly struck by some of these resemblances, and, while abstaining from speculation on their origin, had remarked that the hypothesis of derivation from a common source was not to be lightly rejected. On the other hand Mr Hobley thinks it safer, in the present state of our knowledge, to assume that the resemblances in question have arisen independently, through parallel development, in the African and Semitic areas. He dismisses as highly improbable the idea that the ancient Semitic beliefs should have originated in East Africa and spread from there to Arabia. Yet recent investigations in this part of Africa, particularly with regard to the native veins of iron and gold, tend in the opinion of some competent inquirers to show that East Central Africa, including the region of the great lakes, was an extremely ancient seat of a rudimentary civilisation, the seeds of which may have been carried, whether by migration or the contact of peoples, to remote parts of Europe and Asia. In regard to iron, which has been wrought in Central Africa from time immemorial, Mr Hobley quotes Professor Gregory who thinks it probable that the art of forging the metal was invented in tropical Africa at a date before Europe had attained to the discovery and manufacture of bronze; he even suggests that the ingenious smith who first fused tin and copper into bronze may have borrowed the hint from the process of working iron which he had learned in Africa.

Among the many curious superstitions recorded by [[10]]Mr Hobley none is perhaps more interesting and suggestive than by the name of thahu or thabu, and which presents points of similarity to the Polynesian taboo. Mr Hobley thinks that the idea involved in it is best expressed by the English term “curse.” But to this it may be objected that a curse implies a personal agent, human or divine, who has called down some evil on the sufferer; whereas in many, indeed in most, of the cases enumerated by Mr Hobley there is no suggestion of such an agent, and the evil which befalls the sufferer is the direct consequence of his own action or of a simple accident. Thus it would seem that “ceremonial uncleanness” answers better to the meaning of thahu than “curse.” Be that as it may, deliberate cursing apparently plays a prominent part in the superstition of the Kikuyu and Kamba; but it is significant that they give it a different name (kirume, kiume) from that which they apply to ceremonial uncleanness. Great faith is put in the effectiveness of curses, especially the curses of dying persons; and as these latter curses often refer to the disposal of the dying man’s property after his death and are intended to prevent the alienation of land from the family, Mr Hobley is led to make the ingenious suggestion that in some curses we may detect the origin of entail and of testamentary dispositions in general.

Not a few of the customs and beliefs described by Mr Hobley remind us of similar practices and ideas in the religion and mythology of classical antiquity. Thus the warriors who, armed with swords and clubs, dance or hop from foot to foot at the time when the mawele grain is reaped, are curiously reminiscent of the Roman Salii, the dancing or leaping priests of the war-god Mars, who, similarly accoutred with swords and staves, danced or leaped, while they invoked Saturn, the God of Sowing. Again, the strange sort of madness which from time to time seizes on Kamba women and under the influence of which, wrought up to a state of frenzy, they caper about with cow’s tails suspended from their [[11]]arms, offers a parallel to the Greek legend of the daughters of Prœtus and the other Argive women, who, oddly enough, were said like their African sisters to have been healed of their infirmity by dances and the sacrifice of cattle.[2] The study of such hysterical and infectious manias among primitive peoples opens up an interesting field of inquiry to the psychologist.

Such are a few specimens culled from the rich collection of East African folk-lore and religion which the author has presented to his readers in this volume. The facts recorded by him provide much food for thought and suggest many lines of investigation for inquiries in the future. For, as he reminds us, with equal truth and modesty, the field of inquiry is far from being exhausted. Let us hope that it will yet yield an abundant harvest to others, who will follow in Mr Hobley’s footsteps and imitate the example he has set them of patient and open-minded research.

J. G. FRAZER. [[13]]

[1] Vol. II. pp. 4 et seq. [↑]

[2] Apollodorus, The Library, II. 2, 2, with my notes. [↑]

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CONTENTS

PAGE

[Preface] 3

[Introduction] 7

PART I

[NATURAL RELIGION]

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PART II

[MAGIC]

PART III

[MISCELLANEOUS]

[L’Envoi] 303

[Glossary] 305

[Index] 309 [[15]]

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

[Kamba Chief, Kitui] Frontispiece

[Typical Muthuri ya Ukuru] Facing 37
(Elder of Grade of Priest)

[Kikuyu Muthuri or Elder] 65
(Prognathous Type)

Scenes at Mambura (Circumcision Festival) 81
(1) [Sugar canes over village gates]
(2) [Eating ceremonial food]
(Photos by A. C. Hollis)
[Climbing the “Mugumu,” fig tree] 87
(Photo by A. C. Hollis)

Kikuyu Circumcision Feast
(1) [Male candidates] 113
(2) [Female candidates]

[A Dorobo Elder, Torori] 183
(Photo by T. A. Dickson)

[Kamba Elder with Kithito] 241

[Kikuyu—Beehive Marks on Trees] 254
(Woodcut in Text)

[Kivata Dance at Kyambu, Kikuyu] 267
(Photo by Hon. C. Dundas)

[Kikuyu Circumcision Shield with Anthropomorphic Figures] 273
[Kikuyu Methods of carrying the circumcision Shield]
(The young men parade the country with these some weeks before the ceremony) [[17]]

PART I

NATURAL RELIGION

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INTRODUCTORY

The main objects of this work are to place on record the results of investigations made among the native tribes in British East Africa, particularly among the Kikuyu and Kamba people, and to endeavour, from a study of their ceremonial with regard to sacrifice and taboo, to obtain a better insight into the principles which underlie the outward forms and ceremonies of their ritual.

It has long been customary, partly through narrow-minded prejudice and partly through ignorance, to class as Pagans all native tribes which have not yet embraced one of the great positive religions, such as Christianity or Mohammedanism. But the time has now come when such negative definitions, if seriously applied, will have to be abandoned. It must be admitted that all savages have a natural religion which is a survival of, and is analogous to, a stage of belief which existed among the ancestors of the civilised peoples of the present day. The admission is inevitable, however distasteful to those who are dogmatic in their religious beliefs and loath to admit that religious thought and the conception of a deity have passed through an evolutionary process and, furthermore, a process which has not ceased. For, after all, the development of mental and moral ideas is a part of the evolution of the living being as much as the development of limbs, cranial shape, or body markings. No positive system of religion descended from heaven as a completely new concept of the deity and with an absolutely novel code. Such a system could never have survived. Any new religious teacher could not fail to be, to a great extent, a [[20]]creature of his environment and of the age in which he was born. He must necessarily graft his scheme on to what went before. As Robertson Smith so truly says, “a new scheme of faith can only find a hearing by appealing to religious instincts and susceptibilities that already exist in the audience.”

In East Africa, various tribes remain in a stage of belief very similar to that which prevailed in Arabia and Assyria from about 1500 B.C. and onward, and which continued till a dogmatic uniformity was forced on the bulk of the people by the teachings of Mahomed about A.D. 650.

Asiatic beliefs were introduced to Abyssinia by the Sabæans or Himyaritic invaders a few centuries before the Christian era, but it is doubtful whether they spread to any extent. For ancient religious influences on Central Africa, we must look more to the channel afforded by the Nile valley which had become a route of exploration as far back as the time of the Pharaohs. Although, however, we know that Egyptian influence was spasmodically exercised for a long distance up the Nile valley, little evidence of any spiritual effect has as yet come to light. This is natural, for the ancient expeditions were at long intervals and were not missionary enterprises, but were in search of material gain.

The only case of permanent settlement which appears to be beyond doubt is the invasion into Uganda, Unyoro, and Ankole, of a light coloured race, now known as the Ba-Hima or Ba-Huma. Some consider that these people came from the Abyssinian highlands; Sir Harry Johnston, on the other hand, believes them to be descendants of ancient Egyptian settlers; according to Dr Seligman they are probably descendants of what he terms Proto-Egyptians—the latter description being a more concrete definition based upon careful researches in the Nile valley, the result of which was not available when Sir H. H. Johnston made his suggestion.

But whatever the origin of the Ba-Hima, there [[21]]appears to be no trace of this infusion of northern blood anywhere east of the Rift Valley, except, possibly, among the Masai who are believed to have migrated south-east from the valley of the Upper Nile. The Nandi, the Lako and Savei of Elgon, the Lumbwa and Elgeyo also came from the north-west, but did not cross the Rift.

The Kikuyu absorbed some Masai blood from time to time, and also intermixed to some extent with the aboriginal Oggiek, but they are mainly Bantu in blood and constitution. The Kamba people, whose ancestors flowed into their present habitat from the south and south-west, are believed to be pure Bantu.

We have, therefore, no evidence as to where the ancestors of the Kikuyu or Kamba lived about two thousand years ago, and, further, whether they were affected by Semitic culture in remote times.

It is, moreover, highly improbable that the ancient Semitic beliefs should have originated in East Africa. We must, therefore, decide whether such similarity as we find to-day is merely a case of parallel and unconnected development, or the result of an ancient invasion of a Semitic race or possibly of a race which had adopted Semitic beliefs. In the present state of knowledge it will be safer to assume that this similarity is due to parallel development, many examples of which may be found in other parts of the world.

It is, however, necessary to make it clear that if there should have been any Semitic influence it cannot have been derived from the Arab settlements on the East Coast of Africa, founded during the last few hundred years. Their political hold of the country never extended much beyond the tidal waters, and their only social influence was the slight one exercised at intermittent intervals by a slave raiding or ivory trading expedition. No ancient trace of Mohammedanism can be found among the people under consideration, and their present stage of culture is pre-Islamic in point of time. [[22]]

The religious beliefs of the tribes of Kikuyu and Ukamba generally consist of a rudimentary conception of a high god, corresponding more or less to the old Hebrew concept of Jahveh. To the bulk of the peasantry this idea is naturally very vague and practically subconscious. But the elders of what may be termed the “high place” are believed to have a clear conception of it, and their deity is apparently of the kind which can be influenced and appeased by material attentions. The belief in ancestral spirits—ngoma or aiimu—is the predominating spiritual factor in the minds of the great majority of the people. These are ever present, and the relations between men and spirits are in accordance with the actual patriarchal state of society. The spirits must not be ignored, for are they not of the blood kin? If neglected, they will be angry and punish their children. But naturally no rancour is felt when such punishments are inflicted. There is a total absence of religious intolerance about this cult; failure to worship or failure to contribute to a sacrifice brings its own retribution, and the spirits are swift in detecting a delinquent.

These spirits are not necessarily evil, but there is little doubt that the character of the spirit is believed to reflect to some extent the character of the person from whom it came, and the power of the spirit is intimately connected with the position of the person in the tribe. This explains to some extent why an ordinary person is cast out at death, whereas an elder, qualified to take part in sacrificial ceremonies, receives burial. The burial is probably pleasing to the spirit, and the spirit of an elder possesses more power than that of an uninitiated common person. All spirits, however, appear to be relentless and malignant when neglected, and remain so until they are appeased. At times they are said to assist their clients, and, through a suitable medium, to warn the people of an impending raid.

In old Semitic records the evil spirits or jinn loom very large; they are usually referred to as devils in the [[23]]Old Testament. They have no continuous or fixed personal relations with mankind, but have their own particular haunts in desert places, caves, and so forth. They are, so to speak, outlaws; they appear to man either in human or animal form, and if one is killed, a solid carcase is believed to remain. Among the ancient Semites, the belief became very elaborate and survives to this day in out-of-the-way places. These unwholesome creatures were even classified more or less definitely as jinni, ghouls, mared, lilith, sedim, and so forth.

Among our African tribes this cult, however, has fortunately not developed to any great extent. It may, of course, have been forgotten, or it may have disappeared, but there are still a few traces of it left. A Kamba story, for instance, tells of two girls who took shelter in a cave during a storm. A centipede came in while they were there and the girls threw it outside. But the centipede was an evil spirit and revenged itself by closing up the entrance to the cave, so that the girls were starved to death. This story might have come straight from Central Arabia and be that of a jinni, the sedim of the Talmud, who were supposed to assume any form they wished. The deity or the ancestral spirit is appeased by means of sacrifice or libations, carried out either privately or communally according to the circumstances. A considerable amount of detailed information concerning these has been collected, which it may be interesting to compare with similar practices described in the Old Testament and other ancient literature.

The aiimu ya Kitombo referred to in “Ethnology of the A-Kamba” (p. 89), and the unnatural creature said to be seen at Manyani (p. 87, op. cit.), should also very probably be placed in this class.

The widespread prevalence of “taboo” among these tribes is very surprising, as it is a subject which is rarely mentioned and certainly never openly discussed. It has, nevertheless, reached a pitch of considerable [[24]]elaboration. The reason for many of the prohibitions is obvious, but that of others is extremely obscure.

The tribes under review have a very definite idea of prayer. Their appeals to the deity take place regularly at the sacred place, either on the occasion of sacrifice or when pouring out libations to the spirits. Examples of these are given later. This form of supplication is probably much more common than we are inclined to think. But it is no easy matter to induce people to give a definite enumeration of minor rites which they perform constantly and as a matter of course. The A-Kamba, for instance, when on a journey, and when leaving a spot where they have camped, throw a firebrand on their path and pray that the party should reach its destination in safety and proceed together in amity. This is done by the head of the party, the next man throwing a few leaves on the firebrand and stepping on it. It is a pretty custom, although a European of the present day might consider it a somewhat strenuous method of expressing gratitude! But when people are constantly travelling through parts of a country infested with lions, and when their only protection from wild animals is a small camp fire, one can perhaps understand that they should think it advisable to keep on the right side of the deity.

At Kikuyu, a man was once seized with a sudden fit. When he recovered consciousness, he was given a little water. Before drinking it, he promptly poured a few drops in front of him, then on his right side, then on his left. This was meant as a kind of silent prayer of thanksgiving for recovery. He stated that it was his muungu who had attacked him thus.

Charms are also very common. Many of them are in the nature of sympathetic magic, whilst others are merely a form of perpetual prayer, or rather, of materialised prayers. A German missionary, named Brutzer, gives a good example, and describes the charms worn by a Kamba friend; one was worn round his neck to [[25]]protect him against witchcraft in general; on his wrist was a bracelet containing a charm which would warn him should there be poison in any beer which might be offered to him; if his hand shook on raising the gourd to his lips, it would be a sign of poison. From his elbow two pieces of wood were suspended to protect him from snake bites. And hanging from his waist was a chain to ensure riches.

There are also charms against infection; these are carried by a man when visiting a sick friend. There are charms worn when going to war, charms worn when love-making, to ensure the return of affection. The charms usually consist of powdered wood, roots and herbs. The advice of a medicine man is sought and he recommends a certain plant or tree. Grain is taken to the plant or tree indicated, and six times a single grain is thrown at the tree, the remainder of the grain being thrown the seventh time only. This possibly signifies a sacrifice to the spirit of the tree. The plant is then dug up, or a piece of wood cut off the root of the tree and dried and powdered. Sometimes a firebrand and water are taken to the tree; in this case, the water is placed on the ground, and the supplicant, closing his eyes, walks six times round the tree, then stands under it, facing east, and prays, with eyes still closed: “Tree, I have a favour to ask—I have a sick child or wife or brother”—as the case may be—“and know not the origin of his sickness, as he has no trouble with anyone. I come to ask a favour. I come to you, O Tree, to treat him for it that he may be cured.”

According to some of the missionaries, the natives believe that the fate of each individual from birth to death is decided beforehand; they believe, in fact, in predestination. I myself have discovered no trace of this. A native will sometimes say of a bad character, “Oh, he was born a bad lot,” but this seems to me too vague a statement to serve as the basis of a theory. Conscience does not loom very large as a rule. The [[26]]Reverend Hoffman, who lived for many years in Kitui, however, quotes a saying which undoubtedly shows that the natives have some faint notion of the meaning of it: “Aka nwa Engai” or “God will find him.” Thus do the Kamba refer to an evil-doer.

The Kamba account of creation is very vague. The first man is said to have been produced by the high god Engai out of an ant-hill by the sea, and from him all men are descended. He is referred to as imuuma ndi (he who came out of the earth).

According to the Reverend Hoffman, there is a saying that “the bird was created on the fifth day, and the imundu mwei on the sixth day.” No further explanation of this curious saying is given. The ordinary meaning of mundu mwei is “man of power or wisdom,” and it is used of the medicine man. But in the saying above quoted, it probably refers to mankind generically as opposed to other animals.

Generally speaking, the tribes under consideration attribute the existence of the world and of its inhabitants to creation by Engai. Very little abstract spirituality is to be found in their religion. Almost everything is concrete, and, according to their point of view, strictly logical. The same is probably true of all religions appertaining to human beings on a similar plane of culture.

This aspect of religion is a great snare to the European student. Being the product of a far more complex environment and having been brought up under the influence of religions of a higher type, he finds it extremely difficult to avoid either reading more into a ceremony than actually exists, or, on the other hand, he is apt to overlook some apparently trivial point which may be of deep significance to the worshipper. [[27]]

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CHAPTER I

SPIRIT BELIEFS

Ancestral Spirits.—The belief in the vitality of the ancestral spirits is very strong among both the Kikuyu and the Kamba peoples; the former call them Ngoma and the latter Aiimu (singular Imu). The A-Kamba declare that the life breath ngo becomes the Imu. Curiously enough, the disembodied spirit was called Edimmu by the ancient Assyrians (according to R. C. Thompson in “Semitic Magic”), and they also believed that the soul could return to earth and that ghosts were responsible for many body ills.

Under ordinary circumstances, when a person died and was duly buried his soul entered the underworld, “the house of darkness, the seat of the god Irkalla, the house from which none come forth again.” This would seem to correspond to the Sheol of the Hebrews.

The Assyrian word Edimmu (the root of which is immu) is practically identical with the Kamba word for the same conception, but there is no evidence to show that the identity is anything but accidental.

The belief in the ancestral spirit is merely a form of the belief in a soul, with the difference that the present-day religions of the civilised world would not admit that the spirits of the departed could interfere with the life of man. We still find traces of this belief in Europe in the Feast of All Souls, and in curious ceremonies which take place in some countries on St John’s Eve. [[28]]

The Yezidis of Mesopotamia believe that the spirits of the good inhabit the air, whilst the Kikuyu believe that the ancestral spirits live underground, and the Kamba that they inhabit certain sacred fig trees. This latter belief would seem to be particularly widespread. It is prevalent all over India, and examples of it are to be found at most places along the east coast of Africa.

The Kikuyu will tell you that there is only one ngoma or spirit for each person, and that women as well as men possess it. Cattle are said to have no ngoma, but sometimes they may become possessed with that of human beings, and an evil spirit will now and again enter their body in the hope of destroying the poor beast. An animal so possessed is easily recognised by its peculiar behaviour; it goes about shaking its head, and tears stream from its eyes. This spirit may be of the same nature as the evil demons of Semitic mythology. The Kikuyu declare that it can be driven out by getting the possessed animal to sniff the smoke of a fire made of the dry fruit of the tree known as Kigelia musa. They believe that the high god Engai can control the actions of the ngoma, and they sometimes go to a sacred fig tree, mugumu, and beseech Engai to protect the people from evil spirits.

It is said that the ngoma of a murdered man flies straight back to his father’s village and, as a rule, hovers around it; but, should the murderer run away and hide, the ngoma of his victim will often pursue and haunt him or else influence events in such a way that the guilty one will be discovered and handed over to the authorities, who will deal with him according to tribal law.

I endeavoured to find out from the elders whether the spirit or soul was supposed to be present in the body during life. But they declared that all they knew was that ngere, the life breath, was present during life, and between this and the soul they seemed to make no [[29]]difference. They believe, however, that it is dangerous to wake a man suddenly, as his ngere is away, and, in this semi-conscious condition, he is very apt to strike you if he should happen to have a weapon at hand.

They have quite a clear conception of the ngoma or spirit of the departed, the character of which is said to be similar to that of the person during his or her lifetime.

Unlike the people of Kavirondo, they have no fear of treading on a man’s shadow.

There are no particular customs connected with suicide, although suicide is certainly not unknown among them. When people hang or stab or drown themselves they are supposed to have been possessed by a malevolent spirit.

The general attitude of the people towards the ancestral spirits has been described in the introductory chapter, and many concrete examples will be found in the accounts of the various ceremonies given later. The influence of these spirit beliefs among the Kamba people has been very clearly set forth by the Hon. C. Dundas in his paper on Kitui, R.A.I.J., Vol. xliii, 1913, page 534 et seq.

A quotation from an Assyrian tablet some three thousand years old, which R. C. Thompson refers to in his “Semitic Magic,” shows how slowly man changes:

“The Gods which seize (upon man)

Have come forth from the grave.

The evil wind gusts

Have come forth from the grave

To demand the payment of rites and pouring of libations.

They have come forth from the grave,

Have come like a whirlwind.”

The author goes on to say: “Now if the attentions of its friends on earth should cease and the soul should find nothing to eat and drink, then it was driven by force of hunger to come back to earth to demand its due.” This psalm-like utterance might equally well [[30]]have been made by a Kikuyu or a Kamba of the present day.

The intense desire of Africans for offspring is probably due to the fact that children are expected to sacrifice to the spirits of their dead parents, and the ghost of one who has left no posterity is therefore in a piteous plight. The spirits generally manifest themselves through certain women who, falling into a trance, give utterance to the message with which they are charged (“Ethnology of the A-Kamba,” p. 86). This reminds one of Saul going to Endor to visit a woman with a familiar spirit (Sam. xxviii. 7).

Spirits are also said to manifest themselves and give messages to men in dreams.

The Kitui people say that sometimes when a snake, crawling outside a hut, is attacked, it will suddenly vanish, and they then know that it was the imu of a deceased person which had either assumed the form of a snake or entered the body of a snake. A few days afterwards, a woman will become possessed and fall into a state of semi-trance, and the imu will speak through her mouth and say: “I came into the village the other day, and So-and-so wanted to strike me.” Whereupon the people think it just as well to sacrifice a goat to sooth the feelings of the injured spirit.

The Kamba people, unlike the Kikuyu, do not believe that spirits enter into kimbu or caterpillars.

When a hyæna comes and howls near a village, it is looked upon as an evil omen and as a token of death, and the beast is generally driven away and killed, if possible. They very probably believe that an evil demon has assumed the shape of a hyæna. In the Assyrian tablets mention is made of a spirit called Alu which slinks through the streets at night like a pariah dog and harms people.

There is a curious custom in Ukamba which throws some light on the spiritual beliefs of the people. If a young unmarried man is killed away from his village, his imu or spirit will return there and speak to the people [[31]]through the medium of an old woman in a dance (see p. 86, author’s work on the A-Kamba), and say, “I am So-and-so speaking, and I want a wife.” The youth’s father will then make arrangements to buy a girl from another village and bring her to his, and she will be mentioned as the wife of the deceased, speaking of him by name. She will presently be married to a brother of the deceased, but she must continue to live in the village where the deceased had his home.

If at any time the corporeal husband beats or ill-treats her, and she in consequence runs away to her father, the imu of the deceased will come and pester the people of the village and they will have bad luck; it will probably ask, through the usual medium, why his wife has been ill-treated and driven away. The head of the family will then take steps to induce the girl to return for fear of the wrath of the spirit of his deceased son.

To those who wish to obtain full insight into the sociology of these people, it is of the utmost importance to have a clear understanding of the native’s point of view, and to bear in mind that the ancestral spirits are a very real and vital thing to him and have a very deep influence upon his life.

The leaders of psychical research allege that the survival of human personality after death has been scientifically proved, and that, under favourable circumstances, communications from the dead have been received. If this be so, might it not be said that races on a lower plane of culture are possibly more sensitive to such influences and that their belief in the activity of the ancestral spirits is therefore not wholly unreasonable? The evidence for this, however, is at present quite insufficient to satisfy most, although we think that the question is one which deserves further consideration.

Tree Spirits.—When clearing a forest to make a cultivated field, the Kikuyu people generally leave a large and conspicuous tree in the clearing. Such a [[32]]tree is called murema kiriti and is believed to collect the spirits from all other trees which have been cut down in the vicinity. We have here an interesting example of animism, the spirits so collected being most emphatically declared to be tree, and not human spirits. Now if this tree shows signs of decay and is liable to be blown down, they decide to fell it. Before taking this step, however, they sacrifice a red ram at the foot of the tree, the ram being, as usual, killed by suffocation. The tree is then cut down, and when this is done, the elders take branches from two sacred bushes, mukenya and muthakwa, and plant them on each side of the stump of the fallen tree; two elders cut the mukenya, and two the muthakwa. The elders then say “Nitukuria muti tutemeti,” which means “We pray for this tree we have cut down,” and pour the melted tail-fat of the ram over the stump, smearing the tatha or stomach contents of the animal over the trunk of the fallen tree. The wood from such a tree can only be used by a senior elder, by a very old woman, or for the making of beehives. If young people were to use this particular fuel, they would become ill or die; old people are supposed to be ordinarily immune against the operation of most curses or thahu. It is believed that when a tree is cut down the spirits leave it and settle in another big tree, and, if the above ceremonial is observed, they are not angry and do not vent their spite upon the people, or, as they say, no thahu falls upon them. If such a tree blows down, the spirits are supposed to avenge themselves on the elders, who are held responsible for not having taken the necessary precautions, and they are very apt to die.

There is great similarity between this and the lore concerning the spirit of the oak, mentioned by Professor Frazer. And, from a different point of view, it may also be considered as an example of the slaying of the divine king, expressed in terms of trees: fear that harm may befall the spirit or spirits of the tree, and the consequent ceremonial killing of the tree and [[33]]arranging for the comfortable and formal migration of the spirits to another tree, or to a new dwelling place.

The A-Kamba of Kibwezi have a similar belief: before cutting down a big solitary tree in a clearing, an elder and a very old woman must pour beer and corn at its foot. The man pours out the beer, and the woman the corn. The tree is then felled, and, taking a branch from it, they place it against another tree some little distance away, and declare that the spirit of the fallen tree will then go quietly into its new abode.

In Ukamba of Ulu, Mr Osborne states that his people told him that to fell an ithembo tree would, of course, be considered absolute sacrilege, and according to tradition it was the felling of an ithembo tree on the Iveti Hills by an official of the I.B.E.A. Co. which gave rise to the attacks by the A-Kamba on the Government Station at Machakos in about 1892.

Large trees, however, which are not ithembo trees appear to have a certain sanctity, and when, for reasons of utility or safety, the felling of such trees becomes necessary the following ceremony is practised:

The trunk of the tree to be felled is plastered with the sap of the waithu shrub as a ng͠nondu.

A small branch of the tree is broken off and placed against some smaller tree in the vicinity.

Some earth at the foot of the tree is also taken and placed at the foot of the smaller tree.

The elders then assemble with some beer at the tree to be cut down, and a little of the beer is poured out at the foot of the doomed tree, accompanied by some such prayer as—“We give this beer as a gift to the Engai, if one lives here, and ask him to go to another tree.”

The rest of the beer is then drunk by the assembled elders.

The larger parts of the tree are taken by the elders of ithembo to manufacture into honey barrels, whilst [[34]]the rest is carried off as firewood by the women entitled to sacrifice at the ithembo.

Non-observance of this ceremony is supposed to bring death on the man who cuts the tree down, and on all who make use of the timber.

Miscellaneous Spirit Worship.—There are some traces of the belief in river spirits. For instance, at places where there are waterfalls like on the Chania and Thika, the elders, in passing, will spit into the river or throw a little grass into it.

There is a sacred rock near Thembigwa, close to a stream called Kichii—a tributary of the Ruaraka—where the natives pluck tufts of grass as they pass by and throw them on the rock.

If a tree has blown down and fallen across the path, grass is again placed on the fallen trunk. Sometimes, too, stones are laid on a fallen tree. When people come upon the skull of a dead elephant in the bush, they also place grass on it.

The origin of all these customs appears to be lost.

Certain plants are believed to be maleficent, and are possibly thought to be connected with bad spirits. There is a creeper called mwinyuria, which is said to possess sap like blood; the story is told how one day, near Kirawa, three men named Nbota, Kigondu, and Kacheru, cut one of these plants which was growing near a sacred fig tree, and died the same day. When cut, the released end is alleged to spring out like the lash of a whip. This creeper is rare in Kikuyu, but is said to be common in the Kibwezi bush.

The Scapegoat.—The Kikuyu have a ceremony which appears to be an undoubted example of a belief which may be grouped with the Semitic doctrine of the scapegoat.

If a serious epidemic visits a village, the elders take a ram, a he-goat or a ewe lamb which has not yet borne, mwati, and slaughter it at the village. They cut pieces of meat from the carcase and impale them on wooden skewers, ndara or njibe. The men and [[35]]women of the village then each take a piece, walk away some distance from the village and throw it into the bush. They firmly believe that the disease will be carried away with the pieces of meat.

The remaining meat is roasted at a fire and eaten by the villagers; the bones are collected at the place where the meat was roasted and are broken up and the marrow extracted and eaten. Beer is prepared, and next morning at dawn, some is poured on the bones and the hyænas come and carry off the fragments.

When they pour the libation of beer on the place of the fire, they pray as follows: “Twa oria ichua twa oria murimu utika choke muchi”—which means, “We put out the fire at the place where we roasted the meat, we put out the sickness so that it cannot return again to our village.”

Everyone must be awakened before the beer is poured out. The beer is put into an ox-horn and into a piece of gourd, ndayi, the former being held in the right hand and the latter in the left. The beer in the right hand is poured out first to appease the male ngoma, that in the left to appease the female ngoma.

From the ceremony taking place at the village it is clear that the people believe that the ancestral spirits alone require to be propitiated.

The Scapegoat Idea in Kitui.—If a village is afflicted by a serious sickness, the headman will call in a medicine man who concocts some medicine by grinding up the roots of the following plants: muthumba, kiongoa (an aloe), mulema, nthata, kivumbu, and mutaa. A small boy and girl are then chosen from among the inhabitants, the villagers all congregate together, and the small boy leads a goat twice round the group, followed by the little girl and led by the medicine man; the party then passes through the centre of the group of people. The medicine man next makes an incision in the right ear of the goat, and the blood from this is allowed to drip into a half gourd containing the above-mentioned magical [[36]]concoction, mixed with water. The villagers then form up into a procession and, led by the medicine man, run for some distance into the bush towards the setting sun, no one being allowed to look backwards. The medicine man then stops and throws the mixture of medicine and blood in front of him, and the people return. This ceremony is performed in the early afternoon, after two p.m. That night, the village head must cohabit with his wife. This point is considered a matter of such importance that the elder has to take the kithito oath that it has been done.

A Kikuyu Oracle.—There lives in South Kikuyu-land an elder named Kichura or Thiga wa Wairumbi wa Kaumo of the Kachiko clan and the Njenga generation or rika, who is credited with the extraordinary power of being the recipient of messages from the Supreme Being, and in consequence possesses the gift of prophecy. He was interviewed and cross-examined by the writer, and stated that at intervals, about twice a year, during the night, he falls into a deeper sleep than usual, a trance in fact, and that while in this condition he is taken out of his bed and statements are made to him by a voice, but he cannot see who gives him the message. The trance always occurs at night, and he is generally taken outside his house while in this cataleptic condition, but says that he never remembers being able to distinguish the huts or any familiar objects in the village. The interior of the hut appears to him to be lighted up, and the message comes with a booming sound which he understands.

He stated that one day when visiting an elder named Kibutu, he was seized during the night and taken bodily through the thatch of the roof, and was found on the top of the hut next morning. On another occasion a young man of the warrior class, mwanake, belonging to his village, was sleeping alongside him in his hut when he was temporarily carried off, and the young man’s hair all came off as if it had been shaved, and in the morning it was found lying in a heap on [[37]]the floor by the bed, the owner having no idea how this had occurred.

KIKUYU.

TYPICAL MUTHURI YA UKURU.

(Elder of the grade of priest)

He does not sleep in an ordinary hut with his wife, but in a thengira or bachelor hut with another elder. When he is seized with one of his trances the other elder will wake up and find he has gone, but does not see him go or return.

The day following one of his seizures he collects the elders and delivers his message. He states that after one of these seizures he is very exhausted, and for three days cannot rise from his bed. His father and paternal grandfather had this gift or power. His father told him that his paternal grandmother had three breasts, two on her bosom and one on her back, but he did not say whether he considered that this had any connection with the other phenomena.

He stated that he believed the gift came from God and not from the ngoma or ancestral spirits, and that if he did not deliver to the people the messages he received he would be stricken with sickness. He says that he was invested with this power when he was a stripling, soon after he had been circumcised. One morning he woke up with his two hands tightly clasped, and he passed blood instead of urine for nine days. A big medicine man named Wangnendu was then called in, a goat was killed, and the medicine man tied rukwaru bracelets of the skin on to the patient’s wrists. The hæmaturia then stopped, and his hands relaxed, and he was able to open them, and it was found that he had fifteen mbugu in each hand. These are white stones such as are used in a medicine man’s divination gourd. The medicine man then brought a small medicine gourd and placed the mbugu therein.

Kichura still has the gourd with the thirty mbugu, and relates how on one occasion his hut was burnt down and his gourd was destroyed in the fire, but that the mbugu were found quite uninjured in the ashes. He was asked whether he considered that his powers were intimately connected with these stones; he declared [[38]]that he did not believe he could lose them, but if by some mischance, however, they should be lost God would give him some more, and that even if they were lost he would receive oracles as before.

He gave examples of the kind of messages he received. On one occasion, some time before the advent of Europeans, he was told that the Masai would be severely stricken with small-pox, and that subsequently many would settle among the Kikuyu, and shortly afterwards it happened accordingly. On another occasion he was told that a white race would enter the country and that they and the Kikuyu would live side by side in this country, and now it has come to pass.

He was seized before the great famine of 1900 and foretold its arrival. Later, he was told to inform the Kikuyu to sacrifice a white sheep, a red sheep, and a black male goat at the mugumu, sacred fig trees, and that the chief Kinanjui was to sacrifice a mori, white heifer, at the head waters of the Mbagathi River. These orders were obeyed, and the famine and small-pox were lifted from the land.

Early in the present season he was told that the maize and other grains would be lost by drought, and that the food now being planted (April, 1911) would come to a good harvest. He was also told that during the present year the young people would suffer greatly from dysentery, and that they were to sacrifice sheep at the sacred fig trees, and that the women and children were to put bracelets from the skins of the sacrificed sheep on their wrists. Many have done so, and those who have obeyed will escape the visitation. After this he says that small-pox will come from the west of the country, and attack people from Karuri’s (east slopes of Nandarua Mountain) to Limoru. The disease will gradually work its course eastward and decrease in intensity. When he delivers one of his oracular utterances the athuri ya kiama, elders of the council, bring him a sheep and a gourd of beer. He kills the former [[39]]and eats it, and the beer is returned to the elders to drink.

He says that sometimes when rain does not come he is accused of stopping it, but that such accusations are due to ignorance, as he is merely the unconscious and involuntary agent for utterances from a Supreme Power, and that all he can do in such cases is to take a sheep to a sacred fig tree, sacrifice it there, and pray for rain, just like any other elder who is qualified to do so.

In Ukamba, many years ago, a famous medicine man, Kathengi by name, is said to have prophesied the coming of the white men and their domination of the country. [[40]]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER II

SACRIFICE

Although this rite has often been referred to and described in a somewhat desultory way by various writers, it seems to have received very little serious attention. The subject is, however, one which undoubtedly contains many features of great interest and is certainly deserving of special examination and study. There is little doubt that if we can only fully understand the relations of a people to their gods we have advanced a long way towards a realisation of their moral and intellectual development.

It is first proposed to examine the Kikuyu ceremonial.

Among this tribe sacrifice is of two kinds:

(1) The sacrifice at the sacred fig tree, or mugumu, which is always intended as an act of communion with a deity or high god called Engai.

This sacrifice may be either a communal rite, or it may be a personal matter for the head of a village.

(2) The other sacrifice is carried out in a village and is intended as an offering to the spirits of the ancestors who are supposed to live underground. This may be either a communal or an individual act.

Dotted about Kikuyu are numbers of great wild fig trees (Ficus capensis), many of which are used from generation to generation as sacred shrines or places of sacrifice, called mugumu or muti wa Engai.

Certain big medicine men like Njau wa Kabocha have special trees; it appears that the original choice [[41]]of a tree as a sacred place devolved on certain notable medicine men, and if a sacred tree happens to fall owing to age, the elders assemble there and sacrifice a ram and a male goat; they eat one half and leave the other half of each carcase at the tree and pour the fat over the stump of the fallen tree to appease the deity.

It is then the duty of the local magician and the elders of ukuru to choose another tree. They sacrifice at the new tree, and if their prayers are answered they know that it is acceptable to Engai, but, if after several trials no result is obtained, they dedicate another to the service of Engai.

The idea of sacrilege is very marked. If, for instance, an impious person cuts a portion of a sacred tree, dire results are believed to ensue, and the elders make the offender pay a ram and a male goat. These are sacrificed at the tree, and the elders apply a strip of the skin to the place where the incision was made in the tree and anoint it with fat and the tatha or stomach contents. The breast of the ram is cut off and hung in the tree, and the remainder of the carcase and the whole of the carcase of the goat, eaten by the elders.

No beast or bird can be killed or shot in a sacred tree. The sacred tree and its environs is often called Kithangaona cha inja, which means the “sacred place of the ceremonies.” On the occasion of a sacrifice the elders of ukuru send word to the elders of Athamaki or Athuri ya mburi nne or elders of four goats and any senior to that grade, saying tuthieni mutini—“Let us go to the tree.” No elder whose father is alive can attend. No elder must go to the tree in a state of anger; no one must display anger with a wife, child, or even a stranger the day before he attends at the tree.

Elders of both of the circumcision guilds go together to the sacred tree and also elders of all clans.

If two elders, or their people, have a blood feud they are not allowed to attend or take part in a sacrifice [[42]]at the sacred tree until the feud is at an end; if they do, they are supposed to die.

A person who is alien to the tribe, but who has been formally admitted to it, may attend a sacrifice.

Oaths or ordeals are not administered at the sacred tree.

Strict celibacy must be observed the night before they go to sacrifice and the night after. The night before, they sleep in their usual huts, but the night after, they sleep in the thengira or goat hut. The morning following the sacrifice they go and bathe in a river and then resume their ordinary life.

A departure from this rule of celibacy by anyone present will entirely spoil the efficacy of the sacrifice, and, if an offender is discovered, he will have to pay a fine of two goats, and the elders will spit on him ceremonially and sacrifice afresh on the following day.

Arms must not be taken to the sacred tree. The elders wear their usual garments.

The following things are collected on the day before the sacrifice at the village of the elder who provides the sacrificial ram, and that night they stay at his village:

• 2 gourds of honey beer.
• 2 gourds of sugar cane beer.
• 1 cooking pot.
• 1 half gourd.
• 1 small knife for skinning the sacrifice and making the incision to bleed it.

The sacrifice is always a ram, and it is called ngorima. One year it will be black, but if that particular year the seasons are not propitious they consider that the deity is displeased and therefore change the colour, choosing either a red or a white one.

In former times a he-goat was said to be sacrificed before going to war. The ram must have the clan mark on its ears, and must also have had its tail cut. [[43]]

The provision of the sacrificial animals is settled by the elders, who pick the donors by rotation. At a specially important sacrificial ceremony, however, an important medicine man is called in and decides who shall provide the ram.

The proper time for a communal sacrifice is about two p.m., but private sacrifices take place at nine a.m.

It is said that the later time is usual for a communal sacrifice because it takes some time for elders who live far away to reach the place.

When the assembly arrives at the tree, one of the elders lifts up the ram into a standing position on its hind legs, facing the tree. This is called Kurugamia ngorima mugumuini—“To stand the ram before the tree.” The idea is probably to show the sacrificial animal ceremonially to the deity.

Only senior elders are allowed to go to the actual foot of the tree, and the elders of the four goat grade collect the wood for the ichua fire.

A gourd of honey and one of sugar cane beer are then poured into the ground at the base of the tree and the elders call out: “Twa kuthaitha Engai twa kuhoia mburi twa kuhoia indo chiothi”—“We pray to God, we sacrifice a goat, we offer all things.”

It is curious that they use the word mburi, which really signifies a goat, whilst the Kikuyu use the word mburi in a collective sense, which, in this way, often refers to sheep as well as goats.

The sheep is then suffocated by clasping its muzzle. As soon as it is insensible, but before it is actually dead, its throat is pierced by the sacrificial knife and the blood is collected in the half gourd called kinga, mentioned above. The blood is then poured out at the foot of the sacred tree, cf. [Exodus xxix. 10]: “And thou shalt slay the ram and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” The animal can be strangled by any elder present, and it does not appear to be the duty of any particular person to pierce the animal’s throat. It is said that [[44]]the animal is strangled so that its life breath should not escape. A sheep killed for food is also strangled, but an animal which has its throat cut can also be eaten.

Should an ox be killed, it is stabbed at the back of the neck, but an ox is said never to be offered as a sacrifice.

The right half of the carcase is then skinned, that portion being cut away and removed, and the left half wrapped in the skin and placed at the foot of the tree and left there. This is believed to be eaten by a hyæna or wild cat which is moved to do so by the deity.

A fire is then lit at a little distance from the tree and the pieces of meat from it are stuck on skewers, roasted and eaten by the elders. In olden times this fire was always supposed to be kindled from new fire made by friction, but nowadays a firebrand is often brought from a village, or better still from a fire in a garden.

The place at which this sacrificial fire is kindled is called ichua. The meat is laid on the branches of certain sacred trees, viz:

• 1. Muthakwa.
• 2. Nahoroa.
• 3. Muthigio.
• 4. Mugumu.
• 5. Mararia.

which are collectively termed mathinjiro. The skewers used for roasting the meat are called ndara, and must be of muthakwa and muthigio wood. The branches and the skewers have to be burnt in the sacred fire on the same day as that on which the meat is cooked. The burning of these is said to be in the nature of a prayer to Engai, and it is specifically stated that this is not done for fear of anyone using these branches and skewers as fuel as everyone would dread touching them.

When the meat is cooked, it is eaten by the elders, who each drink a horn of beer. The fat of the ram is [[45]]boiled down in the cooking pot provided for the purpose, and one of the elders climbs into the sacred tree, and pours the liquid fat on to the main stem of the tree. The breast of the ram is often cut out and also hung up in the tree. Cf. [Exodus xxix. 26]: “And thou shalt take the breast of the ram and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord.” The bones of the portion of the sacrificial ram eaten by the elders are each broken into two parts and placed at the foot of the tree, the marrow not being extracted. Not a single piece of the meat may be taken back to the villages. The elders then retire some little distance away and chant as follows: “Tathai Engai mwangi utue mbura”—“We Mwangi elders pray God to give us rain.”

If, of course, the sacrifice is for another object the prayer is varied. After the prayer no man must look back at the tree. Each man returns to his village. Next morning the principal wife of each elder goes to the tree and deposits at its foot offerings of uncooked bananas and various kinds of grain.

If, however, they notice that the sacrificial meat is untouched they do not deposit their offerings, but retire to some distance and call out to their husbands, telling them that Engai has refused the sacrifice. The elders assemble and send the women back with their offerings. They then select another elder and direct him to provide a fresh ram, which is sacrificed as before. They pray to Engai and beg him not to refuse their sacrifice a second time, as they have brought a fatter sheep. Their exhortation is: “Tiga Engai kutumbia”—“Beg God not to refuse.”

The women come again on the following morning, and, if the meat is eaten, they leave their offerings and return to their villages, chanting a pæan of joy as they go. The chant is called Ngemi, and is a form of what is usually known as “ululuing.”

They sacrifice at the sacred trees to invoke rain, and they also sacrifice to check the progress of an epidemic, when they say: “Kurinda murimo utikaoki [[46]]muji”—“To stop the sickness that it may not come to the village.”

They sacrifice and pray for relief from famine: “Kuoya mugumuini ng͠naragu ithire”—“To pray at the mugumu tree that the hunger may finish.”

Here again a ram is sacrificed, but before the animal is killed an important magician pours medicine into its mouth, and also squirts beer from his own mouth into that of the ram.

Unlike other tribes, they neither shave their heads nor deposit offerings of hair at the sacred tree. It is said that sometimes lights are seen at night in a sacred tree, and the following day they hasten to sacrifice there. Every season, when the maize is just coming up, the elders summon the important medicine men to go with them to the sacred tree to sacrifice. One of the magicians pours medicine into the mouth of the sacrificial ram before it is killed, and also pours it on the fire on which the meat is roasted. The bones of the animal are then burnt in the fire. These are supposed to be burnt so that the smoke may ascend into the sacred tree and be pleasing to the deity. “It is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is sweet savour an offering made by fire unto the Lord” ([Exodus xxix. 18]).

The blood is caught in a half gourd, njeli or kinga, and then placed in an ox horn; one half is poured at the foot of the sacred tree, the other half being mixed with tiny pieces of intestinal fat and placed in the large intestine of the sacrificial ram. This is roasted over the fire and eaten by the senior elders of ukuru. The mixture is called ndundiru.

Near the time of the harvest, when the crops are ripe, but before they are cut, the elders take a ram to the sacred place and slaughter it. They pour the blood at the foot of the tree and pray: “Engai twaoka kukui enyama tutikarware enda twa getha iriu wega”—“O God we have to bring meat so that we may not get ill, for we have good crops and are glad.”

The elders then eat the meat. After the feast, [[47]]they take the tatha or stomach contents of the sacrificial ram and sprinkle it over the ripe crops, and also sprinkle some over the mukumbi or big wicker bottles in the grain huts and over the big gourds in which grain is stored. It is believed that if the elders failed to do this, the people would suffer greatly from diarrhœa. The last two rites are evidently rudimentary forms of the ancient Semitic ritual of the offering of the firstfruits, or cereal oblation. The sprinkling of the crops and of the grain receptacles with tatha indicate either a conservation of the crop for human consumption, or a purification of it from all influences which might be harmful to the consumers. The latter is probably more in accordance with their line of thought.

On the particular day when sacrifices for rain are offered, no one may touch the earth with iron; not even a spear or sword may be rested on the ground, as the sacrifice would then be useless.

The Kamba have a somewhat similar belief, and think that to till the soil with iron drives away the rain.

Among the Kikuyu, however, the ground on such days must not be struck by anything, and an elder may not even strike his mithege staff into the ground in the usual way.

Sacrifices for good crops are also made at the mugumu trees by medicine men. On the same day, a mwanake (a young man of warrior age) patrols the whole district (ridge) with a torch, which he finally throws on the ground. No one may then come from another ridge or leave the ridge to go to another.

Sanctuary.—The ancient idea of a sanctuary at a holy place is known to the Kikuyu. If a murderer, or a person who has committed a serious crime, runs to a sacred place and touches the tree, he is safe from vengeance. The criminal cannot, of course, stay indefinitely at the tree or he would starve, but the elders come and take him away, and his life is safe. He cannot, however, re-enter a village, and his clans-men [[48]]have to go to the tree and sacrifice a ram, which they are supposed to offer in exchange for him. He is smeared with the tatha, and a line of white earth, ira, is drawn from his forehead to the tip of his nose by a senior elder, of ukuru. After which he is tahikia, or ceremonially purified, and can return to his family. All the meat of the sacrifice is eaten by the elders, and none is left at the tree. Some of the tatha, however, is sprinkled at the foot with the object of purifying the spot where the criminal stood. In a case of this sort the criminal does not pay blood money himself, but his blood relatives have to pay for him. If in war an enemy were pursued and took sanctuary at a sacred place, he could not be attacked whilst he was there, but would probably be seized and killed at some distance from the sacred place.

If, again, a man should kill a tribesman, he can run to the house of his victim’s father and, by confessing his crime, obtain sanctuary there. The father will then kill a ram and place a strip of skin on the right wrist of the homicide, who must have his hand shaved and be ceremonially purified by a medicine man—tahikia, as it is termed. He will henceforth become as the son of the deceased’s father.

Private Sacrifice to the Deity.—The head of a village usually has a private sacred tree at which he sacrifices to the deity for good fortune or for assistance in times of trouble.

The ceremony described by Routledge—“A Prehistoric People,” pages 232–734—is a private sacrifice to the deity.

As we have said before, women are not allowed to attend a sacrifice to the deity at one of the regular sacred trees. But at a private sacrifice for good fortune, carried out at a sacred tree belonging to a particular village, the village elders attend with their wives and children, their cattle, sheep and goats.

The sacrificial ram is killed, and the whole family, as well as flocks and herds, are smeared with fat. [[49]]The party then returns home, uttering the usual African cry of joy, sometimes called “ululuing” which the Kikuyu term ngemi.

The women and children are not actually allowed to come near the tree, but must remain some little distance away. The people belonging to the Masai circumcision guild use muzigio, mutumaiyu (Olea chrysophylla), or mugumu trees for their private sacrifices. They would probably begin with a mutumaiyu or muzigio tree, and if the luck was not good they would change to a mugumu. Those belonging to the Kikuyu guild use either mugumu or muthakwa trees.

In a private sacrifice, the skin of the sacrificial ram is taken back to the village and presented to the head wife of the elder, but this is never done at a public communal sacrifice.

The night before the sacrifice, the elders of the village sleep in their own huts, but must observe celibacy. The night after, they sleep in the goat hut or thengira.

For two days before and after a sacrifice, no stranger is allowed to sleep in a village; nothing is sent out of the village to sell, and nothing is allowed to be carried away. If a stranger comes, he can be fed, but he must eat the food there and not take it away. At both a public and private sacrifice the eyes of a ram must be very carefully removed from the carcase, for it is considered an extremely bad omen if an eye should burst during extraction, and a fresh sacrificial ram then has to be provided.

Two days after a private sacrifice, ceremonial beer drinking takes place at the village, the men drinking together in the goat hut, or thengira, and the women in the hut of the principal wife; this is called a kithangaona ya muchi. During the ceremony they pray to the deity: “Twa thuitha Engai utue endo chiothi chiana na mburi na ngombe”—“We pray thee, O God, that you will give us all things, children, goats, and cattle.” [[50]]

On the morning of the day following a private sacrifice the wives go to the sacred tree and deposit offerings of grain, bananas, and other things.

Sacrifice to Ancestral Spirits.—In addition to the sacrifice at the sacred trees to the deity Engai, the Kikuyu sacrifice to the ngoma, or ancestral spirits. These rites, however, never take place at the sacred trees, but in a village, close to the village shrine.

The animal sacrificed is a ram. It is killed in the same way as those sacrificed to the deity, the carcase being laid upon branches from certain sacred trees, viz:

• Mukuyu—Ficus sp:
• Mutumaiyu—Olea chrysophylla.
• Muthakwa—Vernonia sp:
• Mutare.
• Mugumu—Ficus capensis.

The branches are called mathinjiro.

Four skewers, ndara, are cut from each of the above species, and the pieces of meat which are eaten are impaled upon the skewers and roasted at a fire specially kindled for the purpose, called ichua and muzigia. Mutumaiyu or makuri wood must be used.

The branches on which the meat has rested, as well as the skewers, must be burnt the same day in the fire on which the meat was cooked. Early next morning, before sunrise, beer is poured on the spot.

The ichua fire was formerly kindled on the spot from new fire made by friction, but nowadays it is supposed to be brought from a village.

These sacrifices generally take place at about nine a.m.

An elder usually sacrifices a ram every three months or so at the grave of his father. He pours blood, fat, and beer upon it and leaves the skin there.

If the father died away from home, on a journey, the son proceeds some distance along the road by which the father left and sacrifices a ram by the roadside. [[51]]The son and his wives eat the meat of the sacrifice, but a wife married after the father’s death, as well as the man’s children, are not allowed to touch it.

The sacrifice must take place before sunrise. This would seem to be a very common feature in many ancient sacrifices, and some authorities consider that it may be in some way connected with the worship of Venus, the morning star. It is, of course, a difficult question to settle, but I would venture to suggest that it is more likely to have some connection with the idea that ancestral spirits are more active at night, and therefore more appreciative of attention, and that they lapse into inaction with the sunrise.

There appears to be no particular day in the month for the celebration of these sacrifices.

If, on the occasion of a sacrifice at the sacred tree, the elders chance to see a snake, they say that it is a ngoma, or ancestral spirit, which has taken the form of a snake, and endeavour to pour a little of the blood from the sacrificial ram on its head, back, and tail.

If the owner of the village should meet a large caterpillar, called thatu, near the gate, he pours a little fat and milk in its path; if it turns back, all is well. If, on the other hand, it should walk round the spot where the fat, and so forth, was poured, and still come on towards the village, the people know that it is a spirit which has assumed the form of a caterpillar, and a ram is sacrificed in the village. If one of these caterpillars is found in a food hut, a ram is again sacrificed for the same reason.

Should anyone set fire to the grass or scrub on the spot where the dead are thrown out, spirits of the departed are supposed to be heard calling out. When this happens, the person who lit the fire gives a ram, which must be killed on the spot, and the elders of ukuru sprinkle the tatha all round to appease the ngoma.

Sometimes a spirit will come and call in a peculiar [[52]]way outside a village at night. The people believe that it is hungry, and next day sacrifice a ram.

The elders, when they eat, always throw a little food to the spirits before commencing their meal, and at a beer-drinking always pour a little beer on the ground to propitiate the spirits so that they may not harm them. Women, too, when they are cooking porridge or gruel, invariably throw some on the ground for the spirits.

Description of a Sacrifice at a Sacred Fig Tree in Kikuyu. (Witnessed by the Author.)—The elders first took some sugar cane and poured a little on each side and in front of the tree, praying at the same time. The sacrificial ram was then strangled, held up before the tree, and its throat pierced. The blood was collected in a cow’s horn and a little poured out on each side of the tree and allowed to trickle down the trunk. At this stage of the proceedings another prayer was uttered.

A strip of skin and fat running from the throat of the carcase down to its belly, and including the genitals, was then cut off and hung up on a small branch projecting from the tree. The elders now prayed again. After this the ram was dismembered and the feast took place.

If the head of a village notices the appearance of disease among his flocks and herds, or among his people, he sacrifices at his own sacred tree. But he first of all consults a mundu mugo, or medicine man, to find out whether the affliction comes from the high god or is due to the offended ngoma, or ancestral spirits. The medicine man throws his stones, and if, after sorting them into little heaps, the balance left is eight, he knows the trouble comes from the high god; if, on the other hand, the balance is seven, the trouble is attributed to the ngoma or ancestral spirits.

For a man, the heap consists of five stones, and for a woman three. [[53]]

The sacrificial ram is obtained from a neighbour.

If a bad storm comes and damages the crops, or if there is too much rain or a drought, a large assembly of elders is convened. They meet and sacrifice at the communal place of sacrifice, called the big mugumu.

Sacrifice among A-Kamba.—We will now examine the ceremonial connected with sacrifice among the A-Kamba, and principally among those of Kitui. These people have two kinds of sacred places, or mathembo (singular, ithembo).

(1) Sacred places for the whole country, or rather for each big division of the country, at which they pray and sacrifice to Engai or Mulungu for rain, and in the event of a pestilence among human beings and cattle.

(2) Sacred places for a group of two or three villages, where they pray to the aiimu, or ancestral spirits, on the occasion of sickness among people or cattle.

The holy places are almost always at a tree. For the first-mentioned a fig tree of the species known as mumo is chosen. For the village shrine, on the other hand, the tree may be either a mumo, fig tree, another variety of wild fig called mumbo, or a mutundu tree.

The mode of procedure of a sacrifice for rain at an ithembo of the first kind may be taken as an example, and the following description was given by a couple of leading elders:

On the day settled for the ceremony, the elders of ithembo assemble early in the morning, and at about nine a.m. proceed slowly to the sacred place, taking with them an nthengi, or male goat, usually black in colour, as well as milk, snuff, and a small quantity of every kind of produce which is grown.

The following were specified: mbaazi (cajanus), mawele (millet), mtama (sorghum), bananas, wimbi (penicillaria), sugar cane, beans, sweet potatoes, cassava, and pumpkins; also some sugar cane beer (honey beer is not allowed), red trade beads and [[54]]cowries, the leaves of a sweet smelling plant called mutaa, butter and gruel.

The men lead the goat and carry the milk, gruel, snuff, and beer, each one putting a little butter in the milk, whilst the other items are carried to the tree by the old women.

The women are not allowed to approach the tree, but dance together some distance away; as mentioned above, the ceremony commences at about nine a.m., and goes on till about two p.m., when the actual sacrifice takes place. The proceedings are not hurried, as some of the elders have to travel long distances before reaching the spot.

Six senior elders and six old women are selected, and all proceed to the tree; they can wear their loin cloths, but their blankets are taken off and left some distance away. The men go first and taste a little of the milk, gruel, and beer, which they spit out at the foot of the tree, and then give way to the old women who go through the same ceremony. The men again return to the tree and pour the balance of the milk and so forth at its foot. Each elder now puts some of the snuff in the palm of his hands, takes a little, and deposits the remainder. The women again come up and pour the foodstuffs at the foot of the sacred tree, the butter being smeared on it.

When the offerings are deposited, the officiating elders—one can almost call them priests—pray as follows: “Mulungu chao ya nekeu twenda nbua na aka machisi na ngombe kisia na mbui kisia engai tupiengea muimu andu ma kakwe”—“Mulungu, this is food. We desire rain and wives and cattle and goats to bear, and we pray God that our people may not die of sickness.”

The sacrifice of the goat comes next, but before this is done, they take the roots of two trees called mriti and muthumba, grind them together, mix them with water, and make the animal drink the mixture with a view to sanctifying it. This done, they lead the goat [[55]]up to the tree, stand it on its hind legs before the tree, or, as they say, “show” it; its throat is then pierced and the blood allowed to flow over the offerings previously enumerated. The carcase is skinned and an incision made from the throat to the stomach. The upper portion of the skull with the horns is cut off and buried at the foot of the tree. The leg bones, however, must not be broken, but carefully disarticulated at the knee-joints and elbows. Small pieces of meat are cut from every part of the carcase and from every internal organ and deposited at the foot of the tree. The meat is then divided, the left shoulder and part of the back is given to the officiating old women, whilst the elders take the rest. (Cf. [Exodus xii. 46]: “The bones of the meat of the passover feast must not be broken.”)

Each party, male and female, lights a separate fire and eats, the selected officiating elders eating with their fellows. The fire must be made of the wood of a mumo tree, not that of the sacred tree, but of another of the same species. The six men and six women each impale a fragment of the meat on a skewer of mumo wood, roast and eat it. This is a ceremonial meal, and when it is over the remainder of the meat is divided up, and any kind of firewood can be used for cooking it.

The actual sacrifice of the goat is called kutonya ng͠nondu, to pierce the sacrifice. The mere word sacrifice, however, hardly expresses it, for the word ng͠nondu really implies purification, or perhaps expiation, the underlying idea being that the goat is an expiatory gift offered with the object of relieving the country from the effects of the deity’s displeasure and of the consequent drought.

No work is done on the day following the sacrifice, and no cultivation is undertaken, neither any house building. A man may stroll over and see a friend close by, but he is not allowed to go on a real journey.

The night before the sacrifice the elders must [[56]]observe celibacy, as well as on the six following days, the day on which the sacred meat was eaten counting as the first.

No elder can participate in this ceremony if he has the stain of death on him; that is to say, if his wife or child has died, and the purification ceremonies connected with the event have not been completed; or again if he, or one of his men, has killed someone and the ceremonies for removing the bloodstain are not over. Any fighting or quarrelling or fighting among the people would also be likely to destroy the efficacy of the ceremony.

If a man breaks a stick from the sacred tree the elders at once fine him, and a bull or goat is sacrificed. The wound in the tree is anointed with butter, and milk is poured at its foot. Lights are sometimes seen at night in mathembo, but people very rarely go out to them while it is dark; those who have tried it declare that stones were thrown at them from the tree, and that these stones strike fire when they hit the ground. If a person be thus attacked, it is a sure sign that he is fitted for a medicine man.

Another account of the procedure was obtained from elders in a different part of the Ukamba country, and as this varies a little and contains a few additional details, it is considered advisable to describe it.

The day before the sacrifice, the women of the neighbourhood gather together and go to the sugar cane plantations, every woman bringing back two or three sticks of cane and taking them to the thomi, or village meeting place, of one of the elders, where they are crushed to make beer. In the evening, the elders of ithembo take the beer and place it near the sacred tree. They light a fire there with a firebrand from the village, and the gourds of beer are put near it; a little beer is also poured at the foot of the tree and they pray to the imu of the person to whom the tree is dedicated, and then return home. It is believed that the object of this ritual is to attract the attention of [[57]]the guardian spirit of the shrine, and to propitiate it and to ensure, as it were, its attendance on the morrow as the intermediary between the people and Engai.

In the morning, the elders of ithembo and certain very old women proceed to the ithembo. The elders bring the sacrificial beast and first suffocate it; they then quickly skin its throat, and the oldest of the elders stabs it in the neck with a knife, collecting the blood in a half gourd (nzeli). The skinning is then completed, and small pieces of meat are cut from the tongue, ribs, and the left flank. One kidney, one testicle, and a piece of the liver, heart, and every internal organ are also taken, all these fragments being placed in a half gourd. They then take a half gourd of beer, and the gourds containing the meat and the blood, and empty them at the foot of the tree. The old women now approach and deposit samples of every kind of field produce—beans, maize, and so forth—and milk. Some of the food is cooked and some is raw.

When the men deposit their offerings they pray as follows: “Engai twaevoya mbua kuamba eyima sionthi Engai”—“We pray to God that rain may bless all our country.”

The women merely say “Twaevoya mbua”—“We pray for rain.”

The sacrificial meat is then cooked and eaten. The first to partake of it are the four senior elders.

The fire for cooking the meat is lit a little away from the tree, and the fuel must consist of dry sticks picked up in the sacred grove. The fire having been lit, a small staging is built over it, and the pieces of meat are placed thereon to roast. The place of the fire is called ivuvio; the wood used for the framework is muthakwa; the sticks composing it are mbatwa, and the whole framework when completed is called ndala.

When removing the marrow the bones of the sacrificial animal must not be broken.

After the feast the bones are collected and placed [[58]]on the fire and covered with the stomach contents (tatha or muyo), and the smoke which rises to heaven is said to be pleasing to Engai.

A private sacrifice is called kithangaona by the Kamba people, its object being to purify a village from sickness. The ceremony is also termed kuvindukia muimu—“to cleanse the place from the spirit” (ku-indukia—to cleanse) and may possibly have an implied meaning to the effect that the spirit must be appeased.

Sometimes a woman who goes into a cataleptic condition, which is known as being seized by aiimu, will say that to obtain rain a beast of a particular colour must be sacrificed. A black goat is said to be preferable as a supplication for rain, the colour probably being symbolical of the rain clouds.