A HORN WITH A HISTORY 



first man to reach the Lorian Swamp by way of the 

 Tana Valley. During his travels he has gathered 

 together a unique collection of great ethnological and 

 historical interest, part of which I had the privilege 

 of seeing. Amongst other things which particularly 

 struck me was an enormous ivory horn, made from 

 the tusk of a large bull elephant, very richly carved 

 and ornamented. The history of this very interest- 

 ing instrument and that of the brass horn from which 

 it was copied, was written out for him by the Sultan 

 of Witu, and I give it here, exactly as it was trans- 

 lated from the Swahili : — 



History of the Brass Horn 



The Sultan of Manda bought it from a dhow 

 which came from Arabia, previous to the Ivory one 

 being made (Hejira 701). 



The Wazee of Lamu for some reason thought 

 they ought to possess it, or wished to possess it. 



They accordingly went to the man in whose 

 charge it was and said, " We will pay you well if you 

 let us get possession of the horn." He said, "No! 

 I cannot do this, as if the Sultan knows I gave it to 

 you he would kill me." The Wazee of Lamu replied, 

 " You can tell the Sultan that we took it by force 

 from you," and he agreed to do so. Therefore one 

 day when he was out blowing it at sun-set, he handed 

 it over to the Lamu people and reported to his 

 Sultan that men from Lamu had taken it by force 

 from him. 



A war between the two peoples was the conse- 

 quence, but the Lamu people kept the " Horn." 



They cast lots as to who was to look after it. 



34 



