THE KIKUYU 47 



woman will think nothing of ioo lb. In a certain 

 privately owned forest near Nairobi it is, or was, 

 customary to allow the women to cut and take 

 away for the sum of half a rupee as much dead wood 

 as they could carry. This involves the ascent of 

 quite a steep hill. Yet one bundle, being weighed, 

 turned the scale at 180 lb., and 150 lb. would be by no 

 means unusual. The weight of the damsel herself 

 would very rarely exceed 100 lb. It is probable that 

 it is this excess of physical strength over the male 

 which accounts for the very fair proportion of 

 women's rights that they possess. The load is always 

 carried on the back supported by a strap round the 

 forehead. This method dates from the time, of which 

 indeed it is a proof, when they lived mainly in the 

 woods. The Wa-Kikuyu were originally almost 

 entirely a forest-inhabiting race. Until quite recent 

 times nearly the whole of the tract they inhabit was 

 one vast forest. The amount of destruction they 

 have accomplished in this forest ever since it has 

 been under our protection is almost appalling. It is 

 rather difficult to understand how or why a tribe 

 which, from time immemorial, has existed in and 

 through the agency of forest, should suddenly com- 

 mence to destroy the same wholesale, but I imagine 

 the answer lies in the altered conditions wrought by 

 the introduction of the Pax Britannica. The Kikuyu 

 were always a most miserable, cowardly race, preyed 

 upon by their neighbours on all sides, but more 

 especially by the Masai. This wholesale spoliation 

 both kept their numbers down, and made a forest 

 into which they could flee and hide a matter of 

 necessity for their existence. Now that they live in 

 peace and without fear, they have increased and are 



