Wilfrid D. Hambly

“ Everywhere the Negro is an agriculturist, whose women folk cultivate the yam, maize, or banana, whereas a simple hunting tribe in Australia will rely entirely for vegetable foods on what can be collected in the way of wild fruits and berries.
With respect to clothing, weapons, dwellings, pottery, basketry, agriculture, and other forms of manufacture and enterprise, the inhabitants of East Africa are well advanced, while everywhere there is a great system of exchange or barter, which is not always found among more primitive savages, such as the Australian native tribes. ”

“ Speaking of old women in the Masai tribe, Mr. Hinde says: “As long as she can crawl about she continues her labours, and death is the only release she can hope for.” As a rule, a girl becomes the wife of a man who can afford to pay goats and cattle for her; but the Masai parents consider their daughter’s wishes, and she is not obliged to become the wife of a man she does not like.
The life of Masai people depends almost entirely on herds of goats and cattle, which are driven from pasture to pasture. ”

“ Native children run away screaming on the approach of a train. In the journey from Khartoum to the Red Sea one encounters the Hadendoa people, who make themselves appear very tall and wild by allowing their hair to grow perpendicularly in a huge bush on the top of the head. In Uganda and British East Africa the traveller may have the experience of having his train charged by a buffalo, rhinoceros, or elephant, who mistakes it for some [Pg 15] powerful rival, come to settle in the tropical forest which he has enjoyed undisturbed for so many years. ”

“ Compared with other peoples of Africa the Masai [Pg 32] are not very superstitious, though no doubt we should think their beliefs very strange and fanciful. No poor man is thought to have a soul that can live after his body is dead, but the spirit of a rich man is believed to enter a snake, which then visits the tribe and acts in a peculiar way to warn them of danger. When rain is badly needed, all women and children gather bunches of grass, which are held in the hand, while they stand in a circle and pray to the Black God to send water for their pastures and cattle. ”

“ Uganda and British East Africa can show enormous tracts of park land, where European enterprise is engaged in cattle rearing, and native tribes such as the Masai rely on their flocks and herds for a living. In no part of the world, not even in the Amazon valley, are the forests more dense than those of Uganda, where the traveller finds Bantu tribes existing much as they have done for thousands of years. ”

“ Boys of the Masai tribe have a very hard, unhappy life, for not only are they made to do all the hard work of carrying, milking and driving cattle, but in addition every one treats them harshly, and a boy may not even speak to one of the warriors. Presently the conditions improve, and elder boys go out shooting birds with bows and arrows, in order to get feathers for making mantles worn by warriors. At last the youth reaches an age at which he is allowed to live in the warriors’ camp, where there is strict training, and no excess in eating or drinking is allowed; smoking is quite forbidden. ”

“ The people believe in four gods, each distinguished by a colour. The black god and white god are good, the red god is bad, and the blue god neither good nor bad. It is believed that all these gods lived in the sky, but only the Black God came to earth as a man, and from him are descended the Masai people, who still live near the lofty Mount Kenia, the supposed dwelling-place of the Black God. ”

“ The Masai are a pastoral people depending entirely on their herds, which must have abundant pasture; while, on the other hand, the Akikuyu are tillers of the soil. In order to make a tract of land clear for sowing, they are in the habit of burning large tracts of forest, a practice which annoys the Masai, because herds of cattle shelter under the trees, where they find fresh grass, when all the country exposed to the sun is parched and withered. ”

“ Naturally the young lion was very angry, and ever in search of revenge, which he took one day when the crocodile attempted to play his old trick of pulling the young lion and his prey into the river. On this occasion the lion proved stronger, for not only did he haul out the crocodile on to the mud flats, but quickly settled him with blows from his powerful paws. Now the Baganda people declare that the lion and the crocodile are of equal strength, the former being king of beasts on land, and the latter sovereign of the river. ”

“ The greater part of the surface of Uganda is hilly, fertile, and well watered, and the slopes of the hills are cultivated by natives who grow plantain trees, maize, sugar-cane, tobacco, and coffee. Here and there dense forests are to be found, and in such regions the Baganda hunt the elephant, buffalo, and hippopotamus. ”

“ Kavirondo men and their near neighbours, the Masai, are great warriors. In the latter tribe boys serve a long arduous military training, and it is a proud day when they are allowed to assume the full war-time outfit. The headdress helps to conceal people who are crouching among long grass. The armlets are merely ornamental, but the patterns on shields denote the military unit to which the warriors belong. ”

“ Herds of cattle, though very docile and easily managed by small children, are extremely fierce, and well able to protect themselves against attacks made by hyenas or a leopard.
Though so bold in warfare the Masai are not a race of hunters, and big game such as lions, leopards, or the rhinoceros are attacked only when the skin [Pg 27] is required, or the animal has become a menace to the herds of cattle.
Among the industries, smelting of iron in clay furnaces is very important, as it provides spear-heads and ornaments. ”

“ Outside the huts kneeling women crush the grain—“dhurra”—on slabs of stone; and what an enormous pile of this crushed grain a Sudanese will eat! Seldom does he enjoy the luxury of meat. A whitish, muddy-looking liquid may be offered to the visitor ”

“ The sharp contrast between European beliefs and customs and those of primitive people is in itself an incentive to study and interest. In addition to this, a sympathetic understanding of the many native races who are controlled by English statesmanship is necessary for the material and moral progress of dominions in the British Empire. ”

“ Baking of pottery, too, is an occupation for females, who appear to do all the hardest and most important work of the tribe.
Mr. Routledge gives a list of foods commonly found among the Akikuyu people, whom he has closely studied. The vegetable foods consist of maize, beans, or the tubers of the arum lily, and its green stems. A favourite food for carrying on a journey is a cake made by boiling together various kinds of grain; and as a raw food, a grain very like canary seed is used. The Akikuyu like sweet foods, so honeycomb and sugar-cane are very popular. ”

“ The Akikuyu are a well-built people, with the broad Negro type of countenance and feature. Occasionally they wear their hair long, but more often it is twisted into a sort of fringe about three inches in length. The young men cover their person with mutton fat and red clay, which renders them exceedingly offensive. It has of late years become customary for them to carry both shields and spears; the former they [Pg 35] have copied from the Masai, the latter are of their own design, and have a leaf-shaped blade about a foot in length and four inches broad, tapering to a point. ”

“ Reptiles, birds, insects, and fish are never eaten, grain only at times when meat is scarce, while a favourite food is blood, drawn from the neck of a cow by making a small puncture with an arrow, in such a way as to avoid injuring the animal severely. ”

“ The Masai are a very bright, intelligent, and truthful people; very rarely will a full-grown man commit a theft or tell a lie. Unlike many [Pg 20] African tribes, these people have no musical instruments, and their few war songs and verses, sung while herding cattle, are very simple. Generally speaking, African natives are musical, and flutes, drums, also stringed instruments are very ingeniously made. ”

“ Social Life of the Akikuyu
A homestead consisting of only one hut will have its own little enclosure, but it is quite possible that a rich man will have several huts, one for each of his wives. In former times, when fighting was more common than it is to-day, the enclosure surrounding the huts was very carefully concealed in green foliage, through which one small entrance was made.
Within this enclosure or compound the traveller will see the daily task of corn grinding, pottery making, and the manufacture of string bags going on apace. ”

“ In bridge building the Akikuyu are very expert, and in a short time a stream is crossed by a suspension bridge of creepers, cleverly arranged so as to be hidden among foliage, and so screened from the view of enemies.
Fire is produced by means of rapidly twirling a hard shaft of wood, the lower end of which rests in a hole formed in a soft piece of wood, the dust from which forms the tinder. Dry grass is placed on the tinder, ignited by friction; and, as a rule, two natives, one twirling a fire stick while the other blows the tinder, will produce a flame in three-quarters of a minute. ”

“ The king of the Baganda receives these market dues, which amount to one-tenth of the produce sold, and as the produce offered for sale comprises animals, fish, eggs, salt, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, pottery, tobacco, axes, hoes, and rope, the amount of money due to royalty must be very great. At the end of a busy market day many boys are ready to clean up the market-place, in reward for which they get scraps of meat from the slaughter-house, a few coffee berries, or a little salt. Money consists of cowrie shells, two hundred of which are needed to buy a large earthenware pot ”

“ The Baganda are a very warlike people, who have constantly increased their territory at the expense of neighbours, with whom they have at all times been ready to quarrel. At times the king would lead his army in person, or again the task might be given to generals, who were always elaborately dressed in skins of animals. ”

“ A thief is punished by a heavy fine of cattle or weapons, which have to be paid over to the man from whom goods have been stolen. Sometimes a thief is severely beaten; this is usually done when he has been previously detected in crime, while if a third theft is committed by the same person his hands are burned with a hot stick.
A murderer has to pay all his flocks and herds to the relatives of his victim ”

“ Among European peoples, boys and girls grow gradually into manhood or womanhood, but with the Akikuyu there is a special ceremony at which boys and girls are said to be turned into men and women. For many months before the great event all boys who intend to be initiated practise dancing for long periods, so that they will not be too readily exhausted when the day arrives for the public ceremony. ”

“ The adult male Masai may be described as tall and spare, with sloping shoulders and small hands and feet. The sloping shoulders are probably due to a complete absence of manual labour, and to the constant carrying of a shield or spear in either hand, each weapon weighing eight or nine pounds. Compared with his height an average Masai could not be considered broad-chested. A habit of stooping, and leaning the head forward when running, gives a slovenly appearance, only slightly detracted from by an abnormally long stride. ”

“ Enemies face one another in long lines, and instead of a general attack being launched single pairs are engaged in combats which are a fight to the death. In case of success the victors will seize the best cattle, which are driven off to the pastures of the conquerors. It is said that the Masai never attack by night or by stealth; there is always a preliminary warning and invitation to “come out and fight to the death.”
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Although young boys have such a hard time in order to make them fit to be trained as fighters, girls of the tribe are very kindly treated. ”

“ As a rule, elephant hunters were men who had been trained from very early childhood, so that they became close observers of these animals, followed every movement of the herd, and became adepts in launching spears from a secure position in the tops of lofty trees. The spear had a broad leaf-shaped blade six inches long, mounted on a thick wooden shaft, and a strong arm was necessary in order to deliver a powerful, accurate throw. ”

“ Hut building with such materials as hides, mud, and sticks, likewise the construction of a stone and bush enclosure round the village, take a great deal of time; so also does a complete removal to fresh pastures. Hence in one way or another the time of these people is fully occupied, and it is a great mistake to suppose that all black people are lazy and indolent. ”

“ A son of the royal house will always preserve his father’s skull, which, if kept near, is supposed to bring good luck, and assist in ruling the country. The bodies of ordinary people are just allowed to remain in the bush, and a funeral, burial, and mound of stones are given only to members of the royal household. ”