V 
THE KIKUYU 
47 
woman will think nothing of 100 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 
