THE SWAHILI AND OTHER NATIVE TRIBES
I have always been very keenly interested in the different native races
of Africa, and consequently availed myself of every opportunity of
studying their manners and customs. I had little scope for this at
Tsavo, however, as the district around us was practically uninhabited.
Still there was of course a good number of Swahili among my workmen,
together with a few Wa Kamba, Wa N'yam Wezi, and others, so I soon
became more or less acquainted with the habits of these tribes. The
Swahili live principally along the coast of British East Africa and at
Zanzibar. They are a mixed race, being the descendants of Arab fathers
and negro mothers. Their name is derived from the Arabic word suahil,
coast; but it has also been said, by some who have found them scarcely
so guileless as might have been expected, to be really a corruption of
the words sawa hili, that is, "those who cheat all alike." However that
may be, the men are as a rule of splendid physique and well qualified
for the calling that the majority of them follow, that of caravan
porters. They are a careless, light-hearted, improvident people, and
are very fond of all the good things of this world, enjoying them
thoroughly whenever they get the chance. Their life is spent in
journeying to and from the interior, carrying heavy loads of provisions
and trade-goods on the one journey, and returning with similar loads of
ivory or other products of the country. They are away for many months
at a time on these expeditions, and consequently--as they cannot spend
money on the march--they have a goodly number of rupees to draw on
their return to Mombasa. These generally disappear with wonderful
rapidity, and when no more fun can be bought, they join another caravan
and begin a new safari to the Great Lakes, or even beyond. Many a time
have I watched them trudging along the old caravan road which crossed
the Tsavo at a ford about half a mile from the railway station: here a
halt was always called, so that they might wash and bathe in the cool
waters of the river.
Nothing ever seems to damp the spirits of the Swahili porter. Be his
life ever so hard, his load ever so heavy, the moment it is off his
back and he has disposed of his posho (food), he straightway forgets
all his troubles, and begins to laugh and sing and joke with his
fellows as if he were the happiest and luckiest mortal alive. Such was
my cook, Mabruki, and his merry laugh was quite infectious. I remember
that one day he was opening a tin of biscuits for me, and not being
able to pull off the under-lid with his fingers, he seized the flap in
his magnificent teeth and tugged at it. I shouted to him to stop,
thinking that he might break a tooth; but he misunderstood my
solicitude and gravely assured me that he would not spoil the tin!
The Swahili men wear a long white cotton garment, like a night-shirt,
called a kanzu; the women--who are too liberally endowed to be entirely
graceful--go about with bare arms and shoulders, and wear a long
brightly-coloured cloth which they wind tightly round their bosoms and
then allow to fall to the feet. All are followers of the Prophet, and
their social customs are consequently much the same as those of any
other Mohammedan race, though with a good admixture of savagedom. They
have a happy knack of giving a nickname to every European with whom
they have to do, such nickname generally making reference to something
peculiar or striking in his habits, temper, or appearance. On the
whole, they are a kindly, generous folk, whom one cannot help liking.
Of the many tribes which are to be seen about the railway on the way up
from the coast, perhaps the most extraordinary-looking are the Wa
Nyika, the people who inhabit the thorny nyika (wilderness) which
borders on the Taru Desert. They are exceedingly ugly and of a low
type. The men wear nothing in the way of dress but a scanty and very
dirty cloth thrown over the shoulders, while the women attire
themselves only in a short kilt which is tied round them very low at
the waist. Both men and women adorn themselves with brass chains round
the neck and coils of copper and iron wire round the arms.
The nearest native inhabitants to Tsavo are the Wa Taita, who dwell in
the mountains near N'dii, some thirty miles away. My work often took me
to this place, and on one of my visits, finding myself with some spare
time on my hands, I set out to pay a long promised visit to the
District Officer. A fairly good road ran from N'dii Station to his
house at the foot of the mountains, about four miles away, and on my
arrival I was not only most hospitably entertained but was also
introduced to M'gogo, the Head Chief of the Wa Taita, who had just come
in for a shauri (consultation) about some affair of State. The old
fellow appeared delighted to meet me, and promptly invited me to his
kraal, some way up the hills. I jumped at the prospect of seeing the Wa
Taita at home, so presently off we started on our heavy climb, my
Indian servant, Bhawal, coming with us. After a couple of hours' steady
scramble up a steep and slippery goatpath, we arrived at M'gogo's
capital, where I was at once introduced to his wives, who were busily
engaged in making pombe (a native fermented drink) in the hollowed-out
stump of a tree. I presented one of them with an orange for her child,
but she did not understand what it was for on tasting it she made a wry
face and would not eat it. Still she did not throw it away, but
carefully put it into a bag with her other treasures--doubtless for
future investigation. As soon as the women saw Bhawal, however, he
became the centre of attraction, and I was eclipsed. He happened to
have on a new puggaree, with lots of gold work on it, and this took
their fancy immensely; they examined every line most carefully and went
into ecstasies over it--just as their European sisters would have done
over the latest Parisian creation.
We made a short halt for rest and refreshment, and then started again
on our journey to the top of the hills. After a stiff climb for another
two hours, part of it through a thick black forest, we emerged on the
summit, where I found I was well rewarded for my trouble by the
magnificent views we obtained on all sides. The great Kilima N'jaro
stood out particularly well, and made a very effective background to
the fine panorama. I was surprised to find a number of well-fed cattle
on the mountain top, but I fancy M'gogo thought I was casting an evil
spell over them when he saw me taking photographs of them as they
grazed peacefully on the sweet grass which covered the plateau.
Like most other natives of Africa, the Wa Taita are exceedingly
superstitious, and this failing is turned to good account by the
all-powerful "witch-doctor" or "medicine-man." It is, for instance, an
extraordinary sight to see the absolute faith with which a Ki Taita
will blow the simba-dawa, or "lion medicine ", to the four points of
the compass before lying down to sleep in the open. This dawa--which
is, of course, obtainable only from the witch-doctor--consists simply
of a little black powder, usually carried in a tiny horn stuck through
a slit in the ear; but the Ki Taita firmly believes that a few grains
of this dust blown round him from the palm of the hand is a complete
safeguard against raging lions seeking whom they may devour; and after
the blowing ceremony he will lie down to sleep in perfect confidence,
even in the midst of a man-eater's district. In the nature of things,
moreover, he never loses this touching faith in the efficacy of the
witch-doctor's charm; for if he is attacked by a lion, the brute sees
to it that he does not live to become an unbeliever, while if he is not
attacked, it is of course quite clear that it is to the dawa that he
owes his immunity.
For the rest, the Wa Taita are essentially a peace-loving and
industrious people; and, indeed, before the arrival of the British in
the country, they hardly ever ventured down from their mountain
fastnesses, owing to their dread of the warlike Masai. Each man has as
many wives as he can afford to pay for in sheep or cattle; he provides
each spouse with a separate establishment, but the family huts are
clustered together, and as a rule all live in perfect harmony. The most
curious custom of the tribe is the filing of the front teeth into sharp
points, which gives the whole face a most peculiar and rather
diabolical expression. As usual, their ideas of costume are rather
primitive; the men sometimes wear a scrap of cloth round the loins,
while the women content themselves with the same or with a short kilt.
Both sexes adorn themselves with a great quantity of copper or iron
wire coiled round their arms and legs, and smear their bodies all over
with grease, the men adding red clay to the mixture. Many of the women
also wear dozens of rows of beads, while their ears are hung with
pieces of chain and other fantastic ornaments. The men always carry
bows and poisoned arrows, as well as a seemie (a short,
roughly-fashioned sword) hung on a leathern thong round the waist. A
three-legged stool is also an important part of their equipment, and is
slung on the shoulder when on the march.
The next people met with on the road to the Great Lakes are the Wa
Kamba, who inhabit the Ukambani province, and may be seen from M'toto
Andei to the Athi River. They are a very large tribe, but have little
cohesion, being split up, into many clans under chiefs who govern in a
patriarchal kind of way. In appearance and dress--or the want of
it--they are very like the Wa Taita, and they have the same custom of
filing the front teeth. As a rule, too, they are a peace-loving people,
though when driven to it by hunger they will commit very cruel and
treacherous acts of wholesale murder. While the railway was being
constructed, a severe famine occurred in their part of the country,
when hundreds of them died of starvation. During this period they
several times swooped down on isolated railway maintenance gangs and
utterly annihilated them, in order to obtain possession of the food
which they knew would be stored in the camps. These attacks were always
made by night. Like most other native races in East Africa, their only
arms are the bow and poisoned arrow, but in the use of these primitive
weapons they are specially expert. The arrow-head remains in the flesh
when the shaft is withdrawn, and if the poison is fresh, paralysis and
death very quickly follow, the skin round the wound turning yellow and
mortifying within an hour or two. This deadly poison is obtained, I
believe, by boiling down a particular root, the arrow-heads being
dipped in the black, pitchy-looking essence which remains. I am glad to
say, however, that owing to the establishment of several Mission
Stations amongst them, the Wa Kamba are quickly becoming the most
civilised natives in the country; and the missionaries have adopted the
sensible course of teaching the people husbandry and the practical arts
and crafts of everyday life, in addition to caring for their spiritual
needs.