THE BANTU OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



321 



to this spirit, which are appropriated by 

 the chiefs of the order. They uphold their 

 dread of the spirit by a drum, of which the 

 sound is louder than the roar of a lion; 

 this, they say, is the voice of the Old Man 

 of the Woods. They have a certain faith 

 in a future life, though they think it will 

 not be so pleasant as the present. 



The position of women in this tribe 

 is unusually favourable. They have been 

 described as monogamous, and marriage 

 occurs much later than with the coast tribes. 

 The Pokomo have a proverb that the weak- 

 ness of the Suahili is due to the birth of 

 children by children. The women spend 

 most of their time in the villages, and do 

 little work in the fields and on the river. 

 During seed-time and harvest they help 

 the men; but, they take the lighter part 

 of the tasks. When travelling on the river, 

 the paddling is always done by the men. 

 terms with the men. 



Photo by the Rev. E. E. Xickisson. 



WATEITA BOYS, EAST AFRICA. 



The women, however, join in the dances on equal 



THE WAKAMBA. 



The Wakamba are the leading Bantu tribe along the line of the Uganda Railway. The 

 original home of the tribe was in German East Africa; but it migrated northward and settled 

 in the hills of Kikumbuliyu, Iveti, and Kitui. The Wakamba are a well-built race, tall, 

 muscular, but slimmer than the Pokomo. They are brave, though not aggressive; with their 

 light spears, bows, and poisoned arrows, they have held their hills against the attacks of 

 Masai, Kikuyu, and Somali. They are keen traders, and not only enjoy bargaining with 

 passing caravans, but send trading expeditions to the coast. They take down grain, tobacco, 

 ivory, gum, cattle, and sheep, which they exchange for beads, brass, cloth, and tools. In 

 trading they use many of the Suahili methods: for example, they measure the cloth by the 

 "hand" or by the length from elbow to finger-tip of an average man. 



The Wakamba wear little clothing: the younger men wear only a flap of skin over the 

 shoulders; older men and women have a longer, loose mantle of cotton-cloth or skin. The 

 body is generally kept rubbed with oil and decorated with streaks of paint, usually a white 

 band across the face, enclosing the eye, and stretching from ear to ear. The upper incisor 

 teeth of the men are filed into pointed fangs. 



Bows and poisoned arrows are the main weapons, but spears and simes, or double-edged 

 swords, are also used. The chief ornaments are made of brass wire and big blue beads. 

 Agricultural work is mainly done with wooden implements, the ground being dug up with 

 pointed stakes and the clods broken by curved sticks. The people live in rectangular huts 

 with vertical walls and thatched roofs. These huts are collected into kraals, each of which 

 contains practically a family group. Each kraal has its own plantations, the boundaries of 

 which are marked by hedges, heaps of stone, or irrigation channels. In the plantations are 

 grown beans, plantains, pumpkins, maize, dhurra, and especially millet, which, boiled into 

 porridge, is the staple food of the tribe. Tobacco is grown for snuff; but smoking has been 

 learnt at the coast, and the practice is spreading. 



The weapons and ornaments are made by a class of smiths. Grains of iron oxide are 

 collected from the stream-beds, smelted in charcoal furnaces, and wrought into spear- and arrow- 



