The student of anthropology is urged to be precise and accurate in his record of facts, and the haunting fear of giving rein to the imaginative side, especially when dealing with beliefs which have almost ceased to evoke response from Western races, often tends to make one’s narrative seem dull and lifeless.
The poet is bound by no such paltry conventions, but it is rare to find one who strikes the true note—intimate knowledge coupled with acute insight.
The late Captain Cullen Gouldsbury of Rhodesian repute possessed this rare gift, and the writer takes the liberty of reproducing the following poem as a remarkable and unique attempt to express the native point of view:
The Point of View
From Songs out of Exile by Cullen Gouldsbury
(Fisher Unwin, 1912)
White man, cease from your tales—your God may be good for you,
But think you that aught avails to fashion our creed anew?
We, who are born and bred in the fear of ’Mlimo’s wrath,
Heirs to eternal dread shall we cast our Witchmen forth
To take as a load instead the creed of ye from the North?
Lo! we are born in the fear of wild and unspeakable things;
Born in the Bush land here, where the souls of the dead have wings.
Hovering high in the air where the shades of even fall,
Shrinking in dim despair at the gate of each lonely kraal—
Scoff not, white man! beware, when the ghosts of the dead men call.
[304]
There are Spirits that walk by night with their heads behind their backs—
There are Spirits that fade from sight in the gloom of the forest tracks;
There are ghosts of the babes that died in the kraal long moons ago,
Ghosts of cripples that glide with shambling pace and slow,
Ghosts of the new-made bride and of many a girl we know.
Yestereen, when the sun sank low in the western sky,
And silently, one by one, the hovering bats flew by,
Ziwa, pride of my heart, my youngest and best-loved wife,
Drew me a pace apart, saying: “Husband, ’tis done with life,
Nay friend, shrink not, nor start! lend me your hunting knife!”
Ay! and she lies there dead—and the youths and maidens mourn,
They bury her, so one said, in the cool of to-morrow’s dawn—
For the evil moor-hens keep a watch on this kraal, I know,
And perch when the world’s asleep, on the hut-tops then below.
See! I will kill a sheep to ward off a further blow!
White man, laugh if you will! such tales are for babes, you say?
Have you no God of Ill? Do you not cringe and pray?
Offering sacrifice in a temple built of stone?
Do you not seek advice from a priest man of your own?
Do you not pay a price? Are we the heathen alone?
[305]
This includes the native names most used in the text.
Dorobo: Masai word (spelt Torobo by Hollis) often corrupted by travellers to Wandorobo or Andorobo. Dorobo in Masai means tsetse fly. The name for an aboriginal race of hunters who inhabit the great forests of the highlands in East Africa. They call themselves Asi and the Kikuyu call them Adzi. The name of the Athi River is believed to be a corruption of Adzi.
Engai (Kikuyu): The deity.
Eithaga: The name of a Kikuyu clan, members of which are said to possess magical powers; sometimes spelt Aithaga. A member of this clan is called a Mweithaga.
Gethaka (Kikuyu): The portion of a ridge in Kikuyu owned by a particular family, the title to possession of this being obtained from the Dorobo, the original occupants of the forest. Some regard it as a freehold right, others maintain that the Kikuyu only acquired the right to cut the forest in order to make shambas, or gardens. The gethaka rights are, however, very real possessions in the eyes of the Kikuyu.
Huku (Kikuyu): A mole-like rodent—Tachyorctes sp.
Ichua (Kikuyu): A sacrificial fire.
Imu, singular; aiimu, plural (Kamba): Ancestral spirits.
Ithembo, singular; mathembo, plural (Kamba): Sacred place where sacrifices are carried out.
Ira (Kikuyu): White diatomaceous earth which is also used in ceremonial as a purifying agent.
Itwika (Kikuyu): A periodic ceremony which marks the termination of a generation or age in the tribe—it corresponds in some ways to the Masai Eunoto ceremony. [306]
Kikuyu: The missionaries now often spell it Gikuyu. A member of the Kikuyu tribe is called Mu-Kikuyu—plural, A-Kikuyu. In common parlance, however, if one drops the prefixes and refers to a man of this tribe as a Kikuyu (native)—the latter word being widely understood, it is simpler than attaching the appropriate prefix. An upland tribe in Kenya Colony extending from near Nairobi to Mount Kenya.
Kamba: Mu-Kamba is the singular; A-Kamba is plural and collective. In the same way as above, it has become more usual to simply refer to them as Kamba (native). Their country is termed Ukamba, and their language Ki-Kamba. A tribe in Kenya Colony, east of Nairobi. There are detached portions of the tribe near Mombasa, near Taveta, and in Tanganyika territory.
Kithangaona (Kikuyu): Sacred place.
Ku-roga (Kikuyu) verb: To place upon or to bewitch.
Kihe (Kikuyu): An uncircumcised boy.
Kamwana (Kamba): An uncircumcised boy.
Kin͠gnoli (Kamba): Collective killing or execution by the people of a person convicted of certain serious offences.
Kafara (Swahili): A charm placed at cross-roads to avert misfortune. If anyone carries it away it is believed that the misfortune or disease will be carried with it.
Kirume (Kikuyu): The dying curse which can be suspended over his descendants by a dying man.
Kiume (Kamba): The dying curse which can be suspended over his descendants by a dying man.
Konono (Masai): A clan of serfs believed to be of alien race who live among the Masai and who are the smiths to the tribe. They correspond to the Tumal of the Somalis.
Kita (Kikuyu): The power of the evil eye.
Kiama (Kikuyu): Council of elders.
Mwanake, singular; anake, plural (Kikuyu): Warrior class.
Mutumia, singular; atumia, plural (Kamba): Tribal elders.
Muthuri, singular; athuri, plural (Kikuyu): Athuri ya Ukuru—the senior elders.
Mumo (Kamba): Sacred fig tree. [307]
Mugumu (Kikuyu): Sacred fig tree, often called muti wa Engai.
Makwa (Kamba): Afflicted by a curse. See thabu.
Mwati, singular; miati, plural (Kikuyu): A young ewe which has not borne a lamb.
Miatini (Kamba): The fruit of Kigelia musa or Kigelia pinnata—used for fermenting beer.
Mulungu (Kamba): The deity.
Mathamaki, singular; azamaki or athamaki, plural (Kikuyu): An elder of council; his official title, not his grade rank.
Muturi, singular; aturi, plural (Kikuyu): A smith.
Mundu Mugo (Kikuyu): Medicine man.
Murogi (Kikuyu): Medicine man who deals in black magic.
Muburi (Kikuyu): Goat.
Ngoma (Kikuyu): Ancestral spirit.
Ngoma (Swahili): A dance. This word is also widely used by up-country natives.
Njele (Swahili): A half gourd used as a domestic utensil for drinking water, gruel or milk.
Nzeli or nzele (Kamba): A half gourd used as a domestic utensil for drinking water, gruel or milk.
Nthele, singular; anthele, plural (Kamba): Young married man.
Ndorume (Kikuyu): A ram, a favourite form of sacrifice.
Ng͠nondu (Kikuyu): A ewe, which is also used as a sacrifice on certain occasions.
Ngunga (Kikuyu): Caterpillars.
Njohi (Kikuyu): Native beer, usually made from sugar cane.
Nzama (Kamba): Council of elders.
Njama (Kikuyu): A consultation by the elders; the proceedings are generally secret.
Rika (Kikuyu): Generation—age grade.
Rathi (Swahili): Happiness, blessing—generally used of a formal blessing. Kuwarathi—to be satisfied or content with. [308]
Rukwaru (Kikuyu): A strip of goat skin bound on the waist of a person to signify that he has duly performed a certain ceremony.
Ruenji (Kikuyu): A razor.
Ruoro (Kikuyu): Knife used for branding cattle.
Shamba, singular; ma-shamba, plural (Swahili): Cultivated field or garden, widely used by up-country Africans.
Ku-tahikia (Kikuyu), verb: To purify. Ku is the infinitive prefix common to all verbs.
Thabu (Kamba): A curse or afflicted by a curse—a condition which is the result of certain acts, analogous to some forms of tabu.
Thahu (Kikuyu): A curse or afflicted by a curse—a condition which is the result of certain acts, analogous to some forms of tabu.
Thengira (Kikuyu): Literally the goat hut. It is synonymous with the hut in which the unmarried men sleep.
Thomi (Kamba): Open meeting place outside every village.
Tatha (Kikuyu): The semi-digested vegetable matter which forms the contents of a sheep or goat. When an animal is sacrificed this is used as a purifying agent to remove evil. In Kamba language called muyo.
Uji (Swahili): Gruel—also widely used by East Africa Bantu tribes. Uji is usually made of maize or millet meal.
Uki (Kamba): Beer, especially mead, made from honey, but the word is used for all beer. [309]