KIKUYU TO THE VICTORIA. 31 



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heavy sword is also worn. A band of leather orna- 

 mented with white beads is tied round the waist, 

 and they appear to prefer blue beads as necklaces. 

 In their quivers they always carry firesticks. One 

 of these, which has a small hole in it about the 

 middle, is put flat on the ground and held in 

 position by the toes, while the second stick is 

 held vertically between both palms, the point being 

 in the hole of the other, and twisted very rapidly 

 round and round. It is very hard work, and if 

 the weather is at all damp it takes half an hour 

 and two men to ignite the tinder. The Wanda- 

 robbo possess a few cattle and grow a little Wimbi 

 (Panicum exilum) or hungry rice, but they seem 

 to depend more on hunting than any other race 

 I have seen. 



From the deep gorge of Eldoma one enters on 

 the Mau forest, an extremely steep ascent to about 

 8,000 feet. In the gorges and sheltered valleys 

 the trees are often of large size, with trunks more 

 than 18 inches in diameter, but on the more ex- 

 posed ridges there seem to be usually a number 

 of slender stems springing from the same root. 

 The bamboo, which occurs in vast numbers to- 

 wards the top of the Mau forest, has, of course, 

 the same method of growth. I fancy it is due to 

 any trunk that has become of very large size being 

 blown down by the wind, in which case several 

 suckers spring up from the root ; as these slender 

 stems are able to bend freely in a wind, they are 



