WAR AND PEACE
War.—In former times raids were conducted by the anake or warrior class
only, but if the country was invaded, the younger elders also fought,
while the old men went to hide with the women and stock; elders were
armed with bows and arrows, but the anake of Kikuyu carried spears and
swords only.
The Kikuyu apparently made a good stand against the Masai invaders, for
it is said that the Masai killed most of the Dorobo, so presumably this
tribe was unable to stand against the invaders while the Kikuyu held
their own. It is probable that the scourge of the Masai was generally
much overrated, and that they were as often as not badly beaten by
other tribes.
During a Masai invasion it was customary to bury knives at the foot of
mugumu trees; this was supposed to give the invaders sore and swollen
feet.
Expeditions and raids were led by three anake called asigani. These had
first to consult with a medicine man, who would say whether they could
be asigani or not; Kamiri was particularly noted as such a medicine
man. If approved by the medicine man they had to go alone into Masai
country as a test of courage and spy out where the cattle were. Only
such men could be leaders of raids, and they remained as asigani until
they had passed the warrior age.
On return from a raid the booty was brought together and the elders
assembled. The asigani had first choice of the spoil, and got about one
quarter more than the rest. The elders merely looked on, and each
warrior took his share of the booty home; the father took possession of
the cattle so long as his son remained in the village, but if he left
the village and settled elsewhere he would take with him the stock he
had obtained in war.
The only elder who was actually given any part was the medicine man who
had been previously consulted as to the success of the raid. When a
raid was arranged, the warriors were collected from everywhere, but no
one was forced to join. Special distinction was attained by those who
had killed a Masai. Such a man was called mundu wa rohiu, man of the
sword; the shield and spear of the Masai he would give to his uncle,
from whom, in turn, he received a goat or two; he would also go round
to all his relations, who would give him small presents, but to prove
his deed he had to bring back the sword of the slain Masai, otherwise
he was not believed.
The Kikuyu apparently often raided Masai country, but raids on the
Kamba were considered much more dangerous, and were only undertaken by
large bodies and with greater precautions. The whole force was divided
up into various bodies to guard against total annihilation; attacks
were made only at night, and as soon as the stock was captured it was
sent, under escort, to Kikuyu so that if they were attacked and killed
the stock was saved.
Women and children were also taken and handed over to the warrior’s
father, but a Kamba was generally permitted to redeem his wife for nine
head of cattle; this is said to have been the practice owing to the
former friendship existing between the Kamba and the Kikuyu. This
practice was broken later, because the Kamba always stole the wives of
the Kikuyu. The Kamba is to this day an incorrigible wife stealer; the
same cause led to his breaking friendship with the Masai and Galla, so
the legend goes.
It is said that fights with the Kamba were more frequent than with the
Masai, and that they were much more feared because of the Kamba arrows,
but nevertheless the Kikuyu declare that they penetrated as far as
Mumoni, and that they also fought the Emberre. Gachii wa Kichara
remembers that on one occasion the Kamba and Kikuyu joined to fight the
Masai, but that the Kamba ran away, not because they were afraid of the
Masai, but because they foresaw that they would have to fight the more
numerous Kikuyu if they were to get any of the booty.
On the whole it would appear that the Kikuyu were no mean fighting
tribe; they certainly inflicted very severe lessons on the Masai, and
they gave us no little trouble in the early days. One can, however,
scarcely imagine them to have been warlike judging from their present
character, but the generation of warriors before our time have passed
into elders, and the present warrior class has never known war; this
class is also rapidly disappearing, and the young native now marries
long before the time when wars and raids allowed them to do so in the
past.
It is believed to be very lucky to meet a mole on the way to war; a
warrior kills it with his spear and carries the skin on the point of
it; this is supposed to bring him good fortune in the fight.
Before the Kikuyu went to war they used to sacrifice at the sacred
trees in the usual way; the elders attended, but not the warriors;
their weapons were not smeared with the sacrificial blood. If any of
the warriors killed an enemy during the fighting, the elders who had
conducted the sacrifice above mentioned shaved the heads of the
warriors upon their return, took away the hair and hid it in the woods.
They also smeared their faces with a line of ira, or white earth, and
the spear which had done the killing was also smeared with ira. This
white earth is generally used as a protecting agent against evil
influences, in this case doubtless the spirits of the slaughtered foes.
If cattle were captured the captain of the warriors, as soon as
possible after the fight, would choose a fine bullock from the spoil
and slaughter it as near as possible to the scene of the fighting. This
was done as a thank-offering to the deity, Engai. The bullock should be
a whole coloured beast, either black, white, or red, and not spotted or
parti-coloured.
The elders who go to sacrifice and pray at the sacred tree before the
fighting, and the captain of the warriors, eat the meat; the bulk of
the fighting men do not participate. The hide of the bullock is left on
the spot after the feast.
Peace Ceremonial (Kikuyu).—Seven elders from the clans or tribes at
enmity each meet with a number of the warrior class, the different
sides providing a ram or he-goat, which is slaughtered. An elder of one
side then takes the intestines and cuts them with a razor and says:
“Who breaks this peace may he be cut as this is cut.” An elder from the
other side now takes the intestines from the animal provided by his
side and goes through the same ceremonial. Both sides then eat the meat
together.
In the days of the early travellers, some fifteen to twenty-five years
ago, the Kikuyu were noted for their treachery; one day they would make
peace with a caravan and the next day attack it. The elders were asked
the reason of this, and whether they believed that peace deliberately
broken would bring evil on the breakers of it; they said it was quite
true that many had been guilty in this respect, but that the great
famine of 1899, and the smallpox which followed it, had killed off all
the guilty ones.
In former war-like times when a member of another tribe came to the
village of an elder and wished to enter into brotherhood and settle
among the tribe, the elder would summon his colleagues and kill a
bullock. The stranger would be formally adorned with a bracelet made of
the ox hide, and he would then be safe from harm. The meat was eaten by
the assembled elders and the villagers. The elder then chose a daughter
for him to marry. If, for instance, the head of the village belonged to
the Anjiru clan, the stranger became a Munjiru; and he also adopted the
circumcision guild of his host. If, after this, anyone belonging to the
tribe were to kill him, the murderer would have to pay a hundred goats
and nine rams to his adopted father, nine rams for the elders and nine
rams for his mother.
Peace Ceremonial, Ukamba (Kitui).—The elders of the vanquished side
bring an ox, and the elders of the winning side bring a kithito. The
elders of each side assemble in two groups in the centre, and the
warriors are collected in two masses, one on either side of the area
chosen for the ceremony. The kithito oath is then administered to the
leaders of the two groups of fighting men.
They kill the ox, skin it, and cut the meat off the throat and also cut
out a few of the vertebræ of the neck (ngata) and place them on the
kithito. An iron arrow head is then produced and tied on to a shaft; it
must be tied with the fibre from the lilambia bush, and a few thorns of
the mulaa tree are also fastened to the arrow. A small bag is made from
a piece of the small intestine of the ox and is filled with blood. The
officiating elder then picks up the arrow and slits open this bag and
allows the blood to drip on the neck-vertebræ and meat, which are
placed on the kithito, and calls out to the assembly: “If anyone breaks
this peace may he be slit as the mwethi wa kitutu.” The neck bones and
meat are then left to be devoured by hyænas.
Before this, however, an oath is administered to each of the captains
of the fighting; those who take the oath are naked; the right arm and
right leg are smeared with ashes, and a bunch of leaves is fastened
over the pubes. Each man takes a bundle of arrows in his right hand and
swears by the kithito that he will never again fight the opposite party
and that if any should come to his village they shall be received as
friends; the company of warriors assent to this and say, “If you break
this oath may the kithito slay you.”
Blood Brotherhood (Ukamba of Kitui).—The two parties meet and a goat is
killed; two pieces of the liver are taken and slightly fried on a fire.
A small incision is then made in the right forearm, the chest, and the
navel of each party, and a spot of the blood therefrom is smeared on
the liver. The two pieces are then exchanged and eaten jointly.
This is a very sacred and lasting oath of friendship. If ever it is
broken, the people are very shocked and Engai is believed to injure the
village of the one who breaks it and probably both blood kin and stock
will die.
It is often difficult to state with precision whether the high god or
the ancestral spirits are meant when the term Engai is here used. In
this case, however, the high god is probably referred to. And if the
opinion be correct, it is a striking example of the belief in the
concept of a personal God, who takes a continual and minute interest in
the doings of His creatures.