Waka

“ The bulk of the nation has, however, remained faithful to their nature-worship. Nevertheless the Gallas believe in Wak, Waka, or Wakayo, a supreme god whom they confound with the sky, and pray to for rain during the dry season, and for victory over their enemies. They have also other inferior gods, to judge from their names evidently of foreign origin. ”

“ The spectacle is witnessed by the abandoned beauty and her guardians, who have come thither riding upon the great lizard; and on this occasion Waka denounces and disgraces her disowned grandchild.
Left alone by her grandmother, lordly lover, and rascally husband, Laieikawai turns to the five virgin sisters and the great lizard to raise her fortunes. The youngest sister proposes to make a journey to Kealohilani, or the Shining-heavens, and fetch thence her oldest brother, who dwells in the "taboo house on the borders of Tahiti." ”

“ I have every belief that Waka Nene will remain as true to your people as he was in the old war, when he fought against Heke, and did such good work in beating back Kawiti. My mother's brother, a noted chief, died fighting for your people. But this will bring the tribes nearer together; they may make common cause against the pakeha. It will be a fight to the death. Some of the friendly tribes may waver. I would advise your going to your own people without delay from Rotorua. ”

“ He was again directed to go still farther along the windward side of the island till he should come to the Ana puhi (eel’s cave) , a singular cavern at sea level in the bold cliffs between the valleys of Waikolu and Pelekunu, where Kauhuhu, the shark god, dwelt, and to him he must apply. Upon this away went Kamalo and his pig. Arriving at the cave, he found there Waka and Moo, two kahus of the shark god. “Keep off! Keep off!” they shouted. “This place is kapu. No man can enter here, on penalty of death.” ”

“ Waka falls dead, and Aiwohikupua is dispossessed of his landed rights. Next, he rewards her friends with positions of influence, and leaving the ruling power to his wife's twin sister and her husband, returns with Laieikawai to his old home in the heavens.
In the final chapters the Sun-god himself, who is called "The eyeball-of-the-sun," proves unfaithful. He falls captive to the charms of the twin sister, sends his clever youngest sister, whose foresight he fears, to rule in the heavens, and himself goes down to earth on some pretext in pursuit of the unwilling Laielohelohe. ”

“ But against the wooden chop boxes, the bags of cornmeal potio, the bundles of canvas that made up some of the loads, the long safari sticks went tap, tap, tap, in rhythm. This tapping was a steady undertone to the volume of noise that arose from thirty throats. Every man was singing or shouting at the full strength of his lungs. A little file of Wakamba sung in unison one of the weird wavering minor chants peculiar to savage peoples everywhere ”

“ They needed only a leader, and the experience and prowess of Wakatta, together with the presence of their ancient and rightful chief and his son, inspired them with confidence and courage. Gathering a small, but resolute, band of warriors, they awaited the favourable moment to strike a decisive blow; and then, emulating the secrecy and suddenness of Atollo’s recent enterprise, they sallied forth at night, from their rendezvous in the forest and fell upon him and his adherents. ”

“ The Swahilis accepted their loads without a murmur; were they not the best fitted to carry the bwana's belongings? But one of the Wakamba, a stout little fellow with one eye, uttered a terrible wail when he lifted his bundle to his back, and, letting it down again, began to expostulate in a torrent of gibberish, of which the bwana, of course, understood not a word. The others instantly followed his example, and all three began to wrangle and gesticulate and abuse one another with a deafening clamour. It was plain that every man wanted the load of somebody else. ”

“ Wakâwa sleeps on the sacred hill,
And Wakínyan Tânka, his son, is chief.
Ah soon shall the lips of men forget
Wakâwa's name, and the mound of stone
Will speak of the dead to the winds alone,
And the winds will whistle their mock regret.
The speckled cones of the scarlet berries [58]
Lie red and ripe in the prairie grass.
The Si-yo [59] clucks on the emerald prairies
To her infant brood. From the wild morass,
On the sapphire lakelet set within it,
Magâ sails forth with her wee ones daily.
They ride on the dimpling waters gaily,
Like a fleet of yachts and a man-of-war. ”

“ The surest blow ever struck at the tribe of the Wakami was indeed given by the hand of God; and, to use the words of the Diwan, "God's power is wonderful, and who can resist Him!"
I again resort to my Diary, and extract the following:
April 30th.—Passing Msuwa, we travelled hurriedly through the jungle which saw such hard work with us when going to Unyanyembe. What dreadful odors and indescribable loathing this jungle produces! It is so dense that a tiger could not crawl through it; it is so impenetrable that an elephant could not force his way! ”

“ In fact, the white man is almost completely unable even to pronounce many of the words. V., who is a "Masai-man," who knows them intimately, and who possesses their confidence, does not pretend to talk with them in their own tongue, but employs the universal Swahili.
XL.
THROUGH THE ENCHANTED FOREST.
We delayed at V.'s boma three days, waiting for C. to turn up. He maintained a little force of Wakamba, as the Masai would not take service. The Wakamba are a hunting tribe, using both the spear and the poisoned arrow to kill their game. ”

“ All our plans are yet uncertain. Wakatta meditates a secret return to Tewa, confident that by his presence there, now that the formidable Atollo is no more, he can restore his chief to liberty and to his hereditary rights, if he yet survives.
An experiment has been made with the yawl, in order to ascertain whether she can safely convey our entire party, savage and civilised, in case we should conclude to leave the island. ”

“ Thus, among many of the tribes the sun is wakanda—not the wakanda or a wakanda, but simply wakanda; and among the same tribes the moon is wakanda, and so is thunder, lightning, the stars, the winds, the cedar, and various other things; even a man, especially a shaman, might be wakanda or a wakanda. ”

“ One of the Dakota words for “aged” is kan (kaŋ in Riggs’s alphabet) ; but though this refers to persons we can not tell whether it is related to wakan (or wakaŋ) .
In the Ȼegiha, the language spoken by the Ponka and Omaha, Wakanda means “the mysterious” or “powerful one,” and it is applied in several senses. It is now used to denote the God of monotheism. Some of the old people say that their ancestors always believed in a supreme Wakanda or Mysterious Power. It sometimes refers to the Thunder-being. On one occasion, a Ponka shaman, Cramped Hand, said to the author: “I am a Wakanda.” ”

“ No one term can express the full meaning of the Dakotas Wakan. It comprehends all mystery, secret power and divinity. Awe and reverence are its due, and it is as unlimited in manifestation as it is in idea. All life is Wakan ”

“ The Wakamba, who had been watching eagerly, swarmed down, shouting.
We dined just at sunset under a small tree at the very top of the peak. Long bars of light shot through the western clouds; the plain turned from solid earth to a mysterious sea of shifting twilights; the buttes stood up, wrapped in veils of soft desert colours; Kilimanjaro hung suspended like a rose-coloured bubble above the abyss beyond the world.
XXI.
RIDING THE PLAINS.
From the mere point of view of lions, lion A hunting was very slow work indeed. ”

“ The Wakambas are of a roving disposition, and being accustomed to long journeys, they are chiefly employed for keeping up the commercial relations throughout the vast region comprised between the Mombaz coast and Lake Victoria Nyanza. Most of the porters engaged by the Swaheli traders in the transport service across this region are members of the Wakamba nation. These natives have the curious habit of drinking cows' milk mixed with blood drawn from the necks of their bulls. Beyond the volcanic plateau, the watershed of the Victoria Nyanza is again occupied by tribes of Bantu speech. ”

“ Above them rank the semi-pastoral, as the Wakamba, who, though without building fixed abodes, make their women cultivate the ground: these clans indulge in occasional or periodical raids and feuds. The first step towards civilization, agriculture, has been definitively taken by the Wanyika, the Wasumbara, the Wanyamwezi, and other tribes living between the coast and the inland lakes: this third order is usually peaceful with travellers, but thievish and fond of intestine broils. ”

“ I might say here that the porters of East Africa, taking them all round, are a happy, careless lot. They will go through the greatest hardships on a journey, and on their return at once forget all their troubles in the pleasure of spending their wages as quickly as possible. They are chiefly Swahili, with a mixture of a few other tribes, such as the Wakamba. The Masai, however, even to this day, will not lower themselves to carry loads. ”

“ The Wazaramo, or, as they often pronounce their own name, Wazalamo, claim connection with the semi-nomade Wakamba, who have, within the last few years, migrated to the north-west of Mombasah. Their dialect, however, proves them to be congeners of the Wak’hutu, and distinct from the Wakamba. As in [108] East Africa generally, it is impossible to form the remotest idea of the number of families, or of the total of population. ”

“ When we are near that safari we tie up the two shenzis. Then we get Bwana Nyele and tie him up in a secret camp. Then after two weeks we send two men to tell the bwana where we are. But, bwana, how do we get Bwana Nyele?"
"That I will tell you soon. One thing you forgot: you must reach the Duyche before he gets into M'tela's country. This means travel night and day--fast travel. Can this be done?"
"We shall pick good men, bwana, runners of the Wakamba. We shall do our best."
"Good. Each man four days' potio, and what biltong he can use. Simba, take my small rifle and fifty cartridges. ”

“ Compare this with some of the pictographs on the war chart of the Kansa tribe: Fig. 4, Wind songs; the connection between the winds and war is shown in § 33. Fig. 8, Deer songs. Fig. 9, an Elk song. Fig. 10, seven songs of the Wakanda who makes night songs. Fig. 11, five songs of the Big Rock. This is a rough red rock near Topeka, Kans. “This rock has a hard body, like that of a wakanda. May you walk like it.” Fig. 12, Wolf songs. The [Pg 446] wolf howls at night. Fig. 13, Moon songs. Fig. 14, Crow songs. The crow flies around a dead body which it wishes to devour. Fig. ”

“ On the 14th January Marshall and Grant with two Dayak collectors, forty-six coolies, thirty-one Papuans, and about forty soldiers and convicts, by far the largest number of men we had ever sent off at one time, set out for the Wataikwa river. A few of them went on with the Europeans to the Iwaka, where a track was cut for two marches up the valley of that river, while the rest, after leaving their loads at the Wataikwa depôt, returned to Parimau to fetch more loads of stores. ”

“ Ԁaȼin-nan-pajĭ said that there were seven great Wakandas, as follows: “Ugahana [p] aze or Darkness, Maxe or the Upper World, ┴ande or the Ground, Iñgȼan or the Thunder-being, Min or the Sun, Nianba or the Moon, and the Morning Star. The principal Wakanda is in the upper world, above everything.” (This was denied by Joseph La Flèche and Two Crows; see § 93.) The author thought at first that these were the powers worshiped by Ԁaȼin-nanpajĭ and the members of his gens or subgens ”

“ Though by no means as appropriate a designation as could be found, it seems clear that for the so-called Wakash, Newittee, and other allied languages usually assembled under the Nootka family, the term Wakash of 1836 has priority and must be retained.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.
The tribes of the Aht division of this family are confined chiefly to the west coast of Vancouver Island. They range to the north as far as Cape Cook, the northern side of that cape being occupied by Haeltzuk tribes, as was ascertained by Dr. Boas in 1886. ”

“ When Alinkawahu and Pahanle-gaqli are singing them, they think that this Wakanda walks behind them, holding up his hands toward the Thunder-being, to whom he prays for them.
[Pg 386]
When the war pipe is smoked by any Hañga man, he holds the pipe in his right hand, and blows the smoke into the sacred clam shell, in his left. The smoke ascends from the clam shell to the Thunder-being, to whom it is pleasant.
The Kansa used to “cry to” the Thunder-being before going on the warpath. When the captain (the head of the Large Hañga gens) smoked his pipe, he used to say,
i. ”

“ But once you have, by a judicious display of firmness, gained their respect, they, with of course some exceptions, prove to be a hardy, cheerful, and intelligent people, capable of enduring great hardships without a too ostentatious display of ill-feeling, and will even go so far as to make bad puns in the vernacular upon their empty stomachs, the latter an occurrence not at all infrequent in safari work away from the main roads.
The Wa’kamba, on the whole, are a very cheerful tribe, and though of small physique, possess wonderful powers of endurance, the women equally with the men. ”