THE WAKIKUYU AND WAKAMBA 



mendous appetite and a big stomach, and very 

 black in colour. He looked quite decent, when, at 

 intervals, I gave him a new loin cloth of two yards 

 of Americani, but in a day it was as black as him- 

 self. If I said anything to him he generally stood 

 looking rather like an idiot, with a wide grin show- 

 ing off his filed fangs to great advantage. He was 

 one of my outdoor boys and rather hopeless at any- 

 thing, except what needed strength — he was thick- 

 set and strong, so could lift heavy weights with 

 ease and carry them on his thick skull. A Kikuyu 

 I had at the same time, had double his intelligence 

 and quickness, but not his strength. 



They have a strong belief in witchcraft, and their 

 witch doctor is supposed to be able to find the per- 

 petrator of an offence. But, alas ! it is always a 

 woman who has to bear the blame, and bribery is re- 

 sorted to to propitiate the medicine-man. When he 

 has settled on a poor woman (whose relations, may 

 be, cannot afford a big enough bribe) the elders are 

 informed, and her friends fall away ; finally all the 

 people leave her and a man creeps back and pins 

 her to the ground with his spear. Then she is left 

 to wither and die ; if not dead on the return of her 

 neighbours they stone her. 



This practice is called "Kinyolla," and in that 

 way some innocent woman dies, because of sickness 

 among the tribe, or failure of crops, or some such 

 calamity that has befallen the rest. 



Ill 



