THE STORY OF MUNYAI 



white man, it is, however, often discredited by those who 

 have not penetrated its secret. But there are already in- 

 dications that a more reasonable attitude is being 

 adopted towards native usages, and it may well be that 

 in the near future, this ancient Institution will be turned 

 to better account under future administrations. 



It is to certain members of the Kiama that I owe 

 much of my opportunity for making friends for the 

 Forestry Service and the planting and care of trees. Al- 

 though many of their tribesmen had become Forest 

 Destroyers, yet by reason of their traditions they were 

 at heart lovers of trees which they regarded as animate 

 beings rather than inanimate things and to which they 

 always referred as persons. Their sympathy for trees is 

 proved by the fact that whenever they cut down a 

 forest to make a farm, one tree is left in each area to 

 collect the spirits of the others trees that had been felled, 

 so that they might not feel uneasy or go wandering 

 about without a home. 



Although the young men were not allowed to enter 

 into the secret of the Kiama, the instruction given to 

 them by its members must of necessity have been af- 

 fected by its sacred law. It was the elders of the Kiama 

 who first responded to my appeal and made it possible 

 for me to inaugurate The Men of the Trees, and it was 

 their influence in the first instance which led the youth 

 of their tribe to cooperate in voluntary forest protection 

 and tree-planting. 



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