C. S. Webb—Some Notes on a Collecting Trip in Kenya



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mission in life being to produce as many cattle as possible, for they

live almost entirely on the blood and milk of these animals but never

touch the wild game. There is no doubt that this warlike tribe, but

for European settlement, would have eventually driven the Kikuyu

off the map, as most of the forests have been burnt to make way

for cattle. The various tribes have now been allotted well-defined

reserves and under European protection they are not allowed to fight.

To get an idea of the intelligence of the Kikuyu, he is best seen at night

when he is asleep. You may then shout, roll him over, or pull his nose,

but all to no avail. He is like some animal gone torpid and reminds

one more of a sloth than a human being. If you wish to bring him

back to life quickly, a bucket of cold water is fairly successful and I

have been told that propping the head up with a forked stick and then

lighting a fire under it is also quite effective. This may not be too good

for the exterior of the cranium, but there is certainly nothing inside it

to hurt. Even “ boys ” who have been trained for a long period cannot

be trusted, and are always doing something idiotic when you least

expect it. An amusing example of this was when my host and hostess

had rather a lot of visitors one day and the house boy couldn’t find

room for sufficient knives and forks when laying the table for lunch.

After a little deep “ thinking ” he laid a place for the odd guest right in

the centre of the table. No doubt he thought that the powers of the

white man were unlimited and that the person in question could stand

upside down on the ceiling and eat his lunch off the centre of the table

without being in anybody else’s way.


In this region I heard quite a lot about the “ Nandi Bear ”. This

is a mythical beast which hundreds of people have “ seen ” and is, of

course, the survival of some native belief which is now well rooted in

the minds of many local Europeans. Many countries have similar

elusive creatures and in Australia the “ Bunyip ” is known far and

wide. This is a monster which inhabits rivers, but is most frequently

reported from the neighbourhood of bars and has even been

seen crawling up the walls and in these situations is usually green in

colour. So far all attempts to shoot or capture one have failed but

“ Bunyip ” stories are as numerous as ever.


It seems that most people really love to believe in something



