War.—In former times raids were conducted by the anake or warrior class only, but if the country was invaded, the younger elders also fought, while the old men went to hide with the women and stock; elders were armed with bows and arrows, but the anake of Kikuyu carried spears and swords only.

The Kikuyu apparently made a good stand against the Masai invaders, for it is said that the Masai killed most of the Dorobo, so presumably this tribe was unable to stand against the invaders while the Kikuyu held their own. It is probable that the scourge of the Masai was generally much overrated, and that they were as often as not badly beaten by other tribes.

During a Masai invasion it was customary to bury knives at the foot of mugumu trees; this was supposed to give the invaders sore and swollen feet.

Expeditions and raids were led by three anake called asigani. These had first to consult with a medicine man, who would say whether they could be asigani or not; Kamiri was particularly noted as such a medicine man. If approved by the medicine man they had to go alone into Masai country as a test of courage and spy out where the cattle were. Only such men could be leaders of raids, and they remained as asigani until they had passed the warrior age.

On return from a raid the booty was brought together and the elders assembled. The asigani had first choice of the spoil, and got about one quarter more [245]than the rest. The elders merely looked on, and each warrior took his share of the booty home; the father took possession of the cattle so long as his son remained in the village, but if he left the village and settled elsewhere he would take with him the stock he had obtained in war.

The only elder who was actually given any part was the medicine man who had been previously consulted as to the success of the raid. When a raid was arranged, the warriors were collected from everywhere, but no one was forced to join. Special distinction was attained by those who had killed a Masai. Such a man was called mundu wa rohiu, man of the sword; the shield and spear of the Masai he would give to his uncle, from whom, in turn, he received a goat or two; he would also go round to all his relations, who would give him small presents, but to prove his deed he had to bring back the sword of the slain Masai, otherwise he was not believed.

The Kikuyu apparently often raided Masai country, but raids on the Kamba were considered much more dangerous, and were only undertaken by large bodies and with greater precautions. The whole force was divided up into various bodies to guard against total annihilation; attacks were made only at night, and as soon as the stock was captured it was sent, under escort, to Kikuyu so that if they were attacked and killed the stock was saved.

Women and children were also taken and handed over to the warrior’s father, but a Kamba was generally permitted to redeem his wife for nine head of cattle; this is said to have been the practice owing to the former friendship existing between the Kamba and the Kikuyu. This practice was broken later, because the Kamba always stole the wives of the Kikuyu. The Kamba is to this day an incorrigible wife stealer; the same cause led to his breaking friendship with the Masai and Galla, so the legend goes.

It is said that fights with the Kamba were more [246]frequent than with the Masai, and that they were much more feared because of the Kamba arrows, but nevertheless the Kikuyu declare that they penetrated as far as Mumoni, and that they also fought the Emberre. Gachii wa Kichara remembers that on one occasion the Kamba and Kikuyu joined to fight the Masai, but that the Kamba ran away, not because they were afraid of the Masai, but because they foresaw that they would have to fight the more numerous Kikuyu if they were to get any of the booty.

On the whole it would appear that the Kikuyu were no mean fighting tribe; they certainly inflicted very severe lessons on the Masai, and they gave us no little trouble in the early days. One can, however, scarcely imagine them to have been warlike judging from their present character, but the generation of warriors before our time have passed into elders, and the present warrior class has never known war; this class is also rapidly disappearing, and the young native now marries long before the time when wars and raids allowed them to do so in the past.

It is believed to be very lucky to meet a mole on the way to war; a warrior kills it with his spear and carries the skin on the point of it; this is supposed to bring him good fortune in the fight.

Before the Kikuyu went to war they used to sacrifice at the sacred trees in the usual way; the elders attended, but not the warriors; their weapons were not smeared with the sacrificial blood. If any of the warriors killed an enemy during the fighting, the elders who had conducted the sacrifice above mentioned shaved the heads of the warriors upon their return, took away the hair and hid it in the woods. They also smeared their faces with a line of ira, or white earth, and the spear which had done the killing was also smeared with ira. This white earth is generally used as a protecting agent against evil influences, in this case doubtless the spirits of the slaughtered foes.

If cattle were captured the captain of the warriors, as [247]soon as possible after the fight, would choose a fine bullock from the spoil and slaughter it as near as possible to the scene of the fighting. This was done as a thank-offering to the deity, Engai. The bullock should be a whole coloured beast, either black, white, or red, and not spotted or parti-coloured.

The elders who go to sacrifice and pray at the sacred tree before the fighting, and the captain of the warriors, eat the meat; the bulk of the fighting men do not participate. The hide of the bullock is left on the spot after the feast.

Peace Ceremonial (Kikuyu).—Seven elders from the clans or tribes at enmity each meet with a number of the warrior class, the different sides providing a ram or he-goat, which is slaughtered. An elder of one side then takes the intestines and cuts them with a razor and says: “Who breaks this peace may he be cut as this is cut.” An elder from the other side now takes the intestines from the animal provided by his side and goes through the same ceremonial. Both sides then eat the meat together.

In the days of the early travellers, some fifteen to twenty-five years ago, the Kikuyu were noted for their treachery; one day they would make peace with a caravan and the next day attack it. The elders were asked the reason of this, and whether they believed that peace deliberately broken would bring evil on the breakers of it; they said it was quite true that many had been guilty in this respect, but that the great famine of 1899, and the smallpox which followed it, had killed off all the guilty ones.

In former war-like times when a member of another tribe came to the village of an elder and wished to enter into brotherhood and settle among the tribe, the elder would summon his colleagues and kill a bullock. The stranger would be formally adorned with a bracelet made of the ox hide, and he would then be safe from harm. The meat was eaten by the assembled elders and the villagers. The elder then chose a daughter [248]for him to marry. If, for instance, the head of the village belonged to the Anjiru clan, the stranger became a Munjiru; and he also adopted the circumcision guild of his host. If, after this, anyone belonging to the tribe were to kill him, the murderer would have to pay a hundred goats and nine rams to his adopted father, nine rams for the elders and nine rams for his mother.

Peace Ceremonial, Ukamba (Kitui).—The elders of the vanquished side bring an ox, and the elders of the winning side bring a kithito. The elders of each side assemble in two groups in the centre, and the warriors are collected in two masses, one on either side of the area chosen for the ceremony. The kithito oath is then administered to the leaders of the two groups of fighting men.

They kill the ox, skin it, and cut the meat off the throat and also cut out a few of the vertebræ of the neck (ngata) and place them on the kithito. An iron arrow head is then produced and tied on to a shaft; it must be tied with the fibre from the lilambia bush, and a few thorns of the mulaa tree are also fastened to the arrow. A small bag is made from a piece of the small intestine of the ox and is filled with blood. The officiating elder then picks up the arrow and slits open this bag and allows the blood to drip on the neck-vertebræ and meat, which are placed on the kithito, and calls out to the assembly: “If anyone breaks this peace may he be slit as the mwethi wa kitutu.” The neck bones and meat are then left to be devoured by hyænas.

Before this, however, an oath is administered to each of the captains of the fighting; those who take the oath are naked; the right arm and right leg are smeared with ashes, and a bunch of leaves is fastened over the pubes. Each man takes a bundle of arrows in his right hand and swears by the kithito that he will never again fight the opposite party and that if any should come to his village they shall be received as friends; [249]the company of warriors assent to this and say, “If you break this oath may the kithito slay you.”

Blood Brotherhood (Ukamba of Kitui).—The two parties meet and a goat is killed; two pieces of the liver are taken and slightly fried on a fire. A small incision is then made in the right forearm, the chest, and the navel of each party, and a spot of the blood therefrom is smeared on the liver. The two pieces are then exchanged and eaten jointly.

This is a very sacred and lasting oath of friendship. If ever it is broken, the people are very shocked and Engai is believed to injure the village of the one who breaks it and probably both blood kin and stock will die.

It is often difficult to state with precision whether the high god or the ancestral spirits are meant when the term Engai is here used. In this case, however, the high god is probably referred to. And if the opinion be correct, it is a striking example of the belief in the concept of a personal God, who takes a continual and minute interest in the doings of His creatures. [250]