MEN OF THE TREES 





There was no lack of response, and the foremost were 

 from amongst the Akiruru, or Ethiga clan, whose asso- 

 ciation with the forest is hereditary. I had often talked 

 to them of their Katinga, or sacred groves, and one war- 

 rior had confided to me that not many moons before he 

 had been summoned to the death bed of his father to hear 

 the old man's parting instructions which had been 

 handed down to him in turn by his father. These instruc- 

 tions had been given under penalty of a curse devolving 

 upon all those who failed in their performance of the 

 duties contained in the warnings of a dying man. The 

 old man had said, "Guard well the trees that stand on 

 yonder Mirima (hill) for there N'gai communes with the 

 spirits of great men and trees." 



It was not surprising therefore, that the Akiruru, the 

 clan bound by traditional duty to preserve the woodland 

 shrine where chiefs were buried, should be amongst the 

 first to respond when volunteers were called for to re- 

 move the reproach of the name "Forest Destroyers" 

 from their tribe. 



That day five hundred warriors came forward. I no- 

 ticed that they did not all step forward with the same 

 degree of animation and I suspected that many of them 

 had been detailed for the task by their dance captains. 

 So, acting upon my intuition, I intervened. Looking 

 them over I exclaimed, "that's too many, all I shall re- 

 quire today is fifty. I am glad to see so many of you have 

 expressed your wish to become Men of the Trees, but as 

 there are so many of you, there is nothing left for me to 



34 



