After the marvelous deliverance which God had given us, by the timely fall of the great meteorite, there was quite a change in the attitude and actions of the natives towards us. We found them more willing to welcome us into their villages, and to hear from us the Message we had come to deliver. They said that they should listen to the man who had brought fire down from heaven, as they attributed to my husband the celestial incident, which had spread such alarm and amazement among the ranks of their assembled warriors.
We were saddened, however, to find that their hostility to the newly-arrived Government was still wholeheartedly evident. When the natives had partially recovered from the shock, caused by the immense fire-ball which had swept over their heads, several thousands of armed bowmen passed close by our station, on their way to attack the Machakos fort, without any attempt whatever at molesting us in our unprotected lodgings. They carried with them the rifles and other booty, which they had previously taken from the men of the outpost, whom they massacred and mutilated. On reaching Machakos, they were successful in capturing many cattle, which were in the stockade in close nearness to the fort.
The sub-Commissioner, commanding the fort, found it necessary to call in the help of one thousand spearmen of the adjoining Masai tribe, to help his riflemen in seeking to defeat a small section of these unruly Akamba natives. With the assistance, which the Masai were able to give in the punitive raids, about one thousand head of cattle and several thousand sheep and goats were captured by the Government from Mwana Muka's district.
In this attempted conquest, the Akamba warriors, fleet as the breeze which blows over their hills, were able to take care of themselves; but not so, the women and little ones, who huddled together for safety in large numbers, in wooded gorges and shaded waterways. When the keen-eyed Masai discovered the hiding places of these frightened fugitives, their end was sealed, and they became the helpless prey of the violent warriors. In cold savagery these men of the neighboring tribe ripped up the defenseless creatures, until some of the overgrown clefts and ravines became human shambles, stinking with blood of innocent women and children.
One might imagine that such a punishment would have completely limited the bold energy, and broken the warlike spirit of these bold and daring natives. It was not, however, until a considerable force of Sudanese soldiers, with a machine gun, under the command of Capt. Harrison, had been brought up from the Coast, that the warriors submitted to the authority of the Government.
Capt. Harrison asked my husband to go with him into Mwana Muka's country, to interpret for him, while he sought to induce a peaceful obedience to the administration.
On the arrival of the small company of Sudanese soldiers in his country, the old native chieftain, who had so bravely led on his warriors to battle for so many years, at once acknowledged the superior force of trained riflemen, and he, and a large entourage of his elders, filed into camp to offer their submission. The Captain, with much diplomacy, demonstrated to the chief the power of the machine gun, by turning it for a short time upon a giant tree in the forest. The keen-eyed, sprightly warrior, with a leopard's skin deftly thrown around his shoulders, seemed greatly interested, and acknowledged how pointless it would be for his bowmen to face such a death-dealing monster.
These brave and fearless warriors, who for ages had been engaged in never ending conflict with the surrounding tribes, had never before acknowledged themselves defeated. Their efforts at poisoning us had been fruitless. The very spy they had sent, to enable them to trap us, led to their own embarrassment. Their plans had been frustrated by the furious rainstorm, while the fiery meteor coming from the heavens had led them to bite the dust. Now that a band of skillful riflemen, accompanied by awe-inspiring weapons of destruction, had camped in the very center of their wild, jungle home, they were completely baffled and mystified.
Of the history of this wonderful tribe of Akamba people, and that of the endless foes nearby to them, during the past centuries, nothing is known, except insufficient and fragmentary traditions, which their warriors have handed down through each succeeding generation.
The Ukamba country extends, broadly speaking, over a wide area from the Kikuyu territory at the base of Mount Kenya on the Equator, to the Taita mountains; and is inhabited by a hardy race of men, who, together with the Kavirondo on the eastern border of Lake Victoria Nyanza, have been more addicted to nudity of person than any other tribes.
The Akamba are the most expert bowmen on the continent of Africa, and are possessed of a poison which is exceedingly deadly, even to the largest species of antelope. They are the only tribe, who for many years have successfully raided the great Masai clan, and carried off, not only their cattle, but also in many instances their women and maidens.
The western part of what is now known as the Ukamba country was occupied by large numbers of Masai, only a few decades ago. On the rolling grassy fields, which abound among those hills, they pastured their numberless flocks and herds; but the clever Akamba warriors harassed them repeatedly, and eventually drove them out to the open plains.
Our Mission Station at N'gelani was built on the site of a large Masai camp. In digging for the foundation of our buildings, and in cultivating a piece of ground for a garden, we dug up the bones of some of their chiefs, who alone of the tribe were allowed burial, a bed of huge heavy stones being placed over the corpse, so that the body might not be dug up and eaten by the countless hyenas which prowl the jungle. We also found many pieces of double-eared, earthen cooking pots, which, with the stone-covered graves of the chieftains, are both alike peculiar to the Masai tribe.
The Masai are a wandering people, while the Akamba combine a little primitive agriculture with the keeping of flocks and herds. The Akamba natives are the most capable and daring woodsmen of all Equatorial Africa, and are absolutely at home in the bush. At times they have penetrated far beyond their own borders, and have even ventured to form colonies among hostile tribes. Several of their settlements have been found in distant parts of the continent. In the year 1885, my husband and I found quite a large colony of them in Usagara, six degrees south of the Equator. There they had retained their Kikamba customs, and carried with them their bows and arrows, keeping secret from the surrounding tribes the secret of the source of their deadly poison; and, having made friends with the Wasagara, had settled down as a distinct and separate people, under their own form of patriarchal government.
They are the most democratic tribe we have yet met with in the equatorial regions, and despise equally monarchy and oligarchy. Unlike the Masai and Kikuyu tribes, they have no great chiefs ruling over large areas of country, but many minor chiefs, who are little more than presiding seniors, without much power beyond the expressed will of the assembled elders or married men, so that their government is, in reality, patriarchal.
They are very skilful hunters and, armed with their bow and quiver of poisoned darts, they have brought to earth more of the fauna of the Equatorial Belt than any other tribe who roam its jungle clothed hills and fertile plains.
The physical organization and facial shape of this and other tribes in East Equatorial Africa remind one of some of the specimens of Grecian athletes or Roman gladiators. There seems to be a general impression among some European circles that all the inhabitants of Africa, comprising one fifth of the entire superficial area of the earth's surface, bear the same characteristic qualities. Natives of Africa, therefore, are all supposed to be distinguished the same features of face, with considerable abdominal development and of rolling step, conveying their ideas in a speech of somewhat inarticulate sounds.
This, however, is quite a mistaken belief. Over those vast regions there are many hundreds of tribes of different races of men, speaking distinct and philosophical languages, who differ infinitely more in character and physical structure than the various nations of Europe.
The features of many of the African races are by no means the same. The Akamba tribe, as we found them, unspoiled by some of the degrading influences which accompany European civilization, are men of very balanced body type, muscular and tall, with a noble bearing and a peculiarly cool, calculating expression, in which there is an appreciable mixture of pride and haughtiness. The carriage of the body is eminently of a distinctly defiant character. The forehead is high, the nose prominent, the eye keen, and the features well cut, pleasing and acceptable from a European point of view.
If a hundred men were taken at random from even the best districts of London, Paris or New York, and compared with the same number of individuals from the Akamba or Masai tribes, there is no doubt whatever that we, ourselves being the judges, could not but conclude that, in perfection of physical organization and shape of countenance, the naked natives would be infinitely superior to the inhabitants of Europe.
Although the natives seem to be carved out of ebony, yet they do not present a rigid, black monotony. Among the different tribes there are many varied shades of color, from the darkest olive brown to the deepest hue of velvet black. On seeing numbers of these undraped denizens of the forest together for the first time, the newly-arrived traveler might be led to think that he never could distinguish one man from another, as the dark color gives the impression of great similarity. After mingling with them for some time, however, one is assured that in the heart of Africa, as elsewhere, God has fashioned distinguishing qualities in the expression of every face.
The honest opinion of these natives, regarding the attractiveness of the white man's features would not in anywise tend to increase our vanity. There can be no doubt whatever that our whitewashed faces are somewhat ugly to them. Many of them believe that we have lost our outer skin. To the soft, smoothfaced Bantu races of the tropics, and to some of the tribes of Nilotic origin like the Masai, the bearded Muzungu does not present a very pleasing appearance, while a man with a mustache under his nose creates giggling laughter, and appears to them as offensive as the upper lip ring of a native would to us.
Over the greater part of the East Equatorial Belt of Africa, the races are lacking beard and mustache. Nature has not, in this particular respect, made any distinguishing mark between the sexes; and if, maybe, a single hair makes its appearance on the chin of an old man, he will carefully remove the offending specimen, pulling it out by the root with a pair of rude tweezers, formed of a bent strip of native iron, which every well equipped native carries on an iron chain around his neck.
Their ideas regarding the undesirability of hair on the face are so strong and forcible, that even the hair which nature does supply for value and decoration, on the eyebrows and eyelashes, is all systematically pulled out by both men and women. Their faces, therefore, have a strangely bald look, and their keen penetrating gaze loses something of its definite expression, by missing of the natural draping of the eyes.
When we arrived in Ukamba the men roamed in unashamed nudity, and had no tradition of wearing any covering. The grown up girls and women wear a piece of skin a few inches square, which is sometimes decorated with beads and pieces of brass wire. A thong of hide twice the thickness of a bootlace is tied around the body, under the abdomen and over the hips, and the small piece of skin is attached to this in front. A narrow, tapering piece of goatskin about twenty-four inches long is fastened behind to the thong, from which it gradually diminishes to a point, and hangs down over the center of the buttocks. When these women are seen in the distance, especially in a stooping posture while at work in their garden patches, they appear to have tails; and, at first sight, a credulous disciple of Darwin might readily conclude that he had, at last, discovered the long-sought "missing link."
Their velvety darkness of skin hides to a great extent the appearance of absolute nakedness, while the marvelous healthiness of body, immunity from disease, faultlessness of physique and muscular energy of the native are great compensations to him, for adopting and maintaining that custom of nudity, which enables him, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, to bathe every portion of his body in the life-giving influences of pure air and sunlight.
The Akamba never allow the curled hair of their head to grow very long. Those who are careless of their appearance among both sexes simply allow it to grow until it becomes like a rough, matted skull-cap. Then with a piece of sharp iron they cut it off, excepting a little tuft, which they leave on the crown of the head, as they say, for seed. The majority of the young men, however, are very careful about their looks—much more so than the females—and have their head shaved in a very unusual manner, which reminds one of a beautiful flower garden, which has been laid out with the skill of a professional gardener. These dandies, with their keen pointed blade, carve out narrow alleys hither and thither through the entangled mop of their head, leaving little plots of curly hair of every imaginable shape, some taking the form of a crescent, triangle or star, while others are round or oval. In some of these fantastic sections of hair, they plant a grotesque selection of assorted feathers.
They rarely ever wash their bodies, but periodically smear themselves with red clay and oil, which latter they extract in large quantities from the bean of the palma Christa; and when this becomes sour they apply a fresh coat of the unctuous ocher.
When we first met them, many of the warriors were marked with oblique stripes, which they drew in white clay over the black, oily skin of their abdomen and legs. This form of decoration had evidently been suggested to them by the enchanting hide of the wild zebra, which, for richness of color and boldness of marking, is not surpassed by that of any other species in the animal world. To this primitive decoration, the natives often add a touch of yellow ocher over various parts of the face, with a little dash of blue under the eyes.
The appearance of these native mashers is not yet quite complete. Around the head, about two inches above the eyebrows, is a small iron chain, which they make with links as fine as those of a lady's watch chain; and suspended from this, over the center of the forehead, is a piece of white shell, about the size of a half crown piece.
Slung around the neck are similar fine chains of iron and brass, to which are attached several amulets of various native brands. These have been obtained from the powerful medicine man, at the cost of a sheep or a goat each, and are supposed to be powerful charms against the attacks of lions, rhinoceroses, leopards and snakes.
Encircling the waist are several chains, to one of which is attached an exquisitely carved snuff-box, inlaid with small cuttings of different kinds of wire in varied patterns, or a similar holder made of the outer shell of a palm cone.
Between the knee and the calf of the leg are several coils of thick brass wire, drawn tightly around the limb; and above the ankle are worn open, bowl-shaped bells of a shell pattern, with loose iron pellets enclosed, which give forth a loud, tinkling jingle at every movement of the limbs. These are greatly prized by the warriors in their bloodthirsty and predatory incursions, as they are considered effective in inspiring courage in the hearts of the young and inexperienced fighters, while the combined volume of noise, proceeding from the limbs of the oncoming warriors, is designed to implant the enemy with fear. The bells are tied on with thongs, so that they may be easily removed, when it is deemed desirable to make a quiet and secret approach on the enemy.
Men and women alike decorate their ears with chains and large ornaments. At an early age the lower lobe is pierced, and a piece of stick is thrust into the opening. This is soon replaced by larger sections, until a piece three or four inches in diameter can be received. As the lobe stretches, a still larger carved ornament is inserted, until the capacity of the opening is beyond credibility. The Kikuyu and Masai carry this custom to a still greater excess, the one piercing, at intervals, the outer rim of the ear, which they stud with most extravagant decoration, and the other weighing down the lobe of the ear with heavy, grooved stones, until the ornament inserted in it lies upon the breast.
The youths of both sexes of the Akamba race have all their front teeth filed to a sharp point, as slender as the prongs of a table fork. This ceremonial is carried out in a very rough and painful manner with a small native ax. They are under the impression that it improves their appearance, but alas! it plays havoc with their beautiful white teeth. They sit stoically under the ordeal, exemplifying the truth of the saying that pride feels no pain. The strictest inquiry and investigation have never elicited from them the origin of this custom, or any reasonable reason for its continuation. The men say that if their teeth were not filed the women would not marry them, while the ladies assert that they undergo the operation so that they may be the better able to bite their husbands.
The women are of Amazonian physique and of full and rounded form, being much stouter than the nimble and muscular warriors. No doubt their rotundity of figure is due, in a measure, to the healthy course of life in the open air, which they quietly pursue day by day, in fulfilling the numerous duties which fall to their maternal lot.
As a rule they wear the same class of ornaments as the men, but are, in addition, very partial to numerous coils of thick brass wire on their arms, with which they are invested by the smiths of the tribe. In the case of young girls, where the circumference of the limb has increased by growth since the rings of metal were placed in position, there may be seen large, fleshy skin bulging out, above and below the ornaments.
They also indulge in a form of cicatrization, which, they believe, enhances to a considerable extent their attractiveness and beauty. Incisions of a well defined pattern are made over the chest and abdomen, and into these gashes is rubbed the juice of a shrub, which causes the wound to heal with an elevated surface, so that the ornamental design stands out clear and prominent on the surface of the body.
Among the fighting native tribes of the East Equatorial Regions, the female is the beast of burden, the hewer of wood and the carrier of water. This is a custom which is old with age, but should not be attributed only to the natural selfishness and dominant ideas of the male. During the past centuries, intertribal warfare has been continually raging between the different races, and the attacks have been usually started with an alarming and overwhelming suddenness. For this reason it has been necessary that the men should always be prepared to face the enemy, and defend their wives and children, herds and flocks.
These conditions of life have naturally led to the burden of the work being laid upon the shoulders of the women. After all, it sits very lightly upon them and, were it not for the heavy loads they are occasionally obliged to carry, of firewood from the forest, and grain and pumpkins from their little gardens in the distant bush, they do not seem to have too much to do.
The climate encourages laxity, for although among the hills the shade temperature is rarely over 80°, yet in the sun, on the exposed surface of the earth, a temperature of 160 to 165 Fahr. is often registered. These climatic conditions do not lend themselves to a very vigorous and energetic life.
The European must not judge these natives too harshly, because they do not love labor simply for its own sake. They are the product of their environment. Across the Equatorial Regions, lady Nature is overgenerous in her gift, and supplies their needs with a minimum outflow of human energy. They have only to cut off, with their rude, slender tomahawks, the branches of a few trees, set fire to the accumulated debris beneath, turn over the surface after the rains have fallen with a whittled stick, drop a few seeds here and there in mother earth; and those multiplying forces of nature, which spring from the beneficent Author of all life, return with a plentiful liberality, into the hands of these wild folk of the woods, several hundred-fold. The women of Ukamba, nevertheless, are fairly active and industrious. They build the grass huts of the tribe, bringing in large burdens of grass and slender rods for the purpose, do all the necessary cultivation in their little gardens in the jungle, with the small, indispensable, pointed stick, and plant, sow and weed their plots.
When the grain is ripe they harvest it ear by ear, plucking it with their hands, beat it out, winnow it, and store the produce under the cover of tiny grass huts, about three to four feet high. On a bowl-shaped stone they grind the grain, with a smaller round stone held in the hand; and, as they proceed with the work, they skillfully sweep off the flour on to a skin which has been stretched below.
They cut firewood in the forest, and carry it home in huge loads, sometimes with a child of five or six years sitting on top of the burden, and a baby at the breast. They draw water in gourd shells, milk the cattle in similar natural vessels, and cook the necessary food of the family.
The women also make a rude clay pot, which is the only manufactured utensil they possess. One of these is found in every habitation, balanced on three stones over a little fire, in the center of the hut. Lying about are one or two gourd shells, and some broken pieces of these on which they serve the boiled grain.
Around the conical grass dwellings there is erected, at some distance, a high thorn fence. Branches of different kinds of thorn trees, which have been cut in the bush, are inserted in a trench three feet deep, and closely bedded together. In some instances the fences are doubled and even trebled, to give greater security to the occupants. Inside these enclosures the cattle and goats are kept at night, for safety from lions and leopards and the raiding warriors of the surrounding tribes.
The natives do not remain long on one site, but move their home every year or two. If disease, death or any disaster come to pass, their migration from one part of the country to another will be hastened thereby. On these occasions, the women may be seen literally carrying the old hut on their back—the smoked grass and the dome-shaped framework of rods, which is to be placed, once again, on virgin soil and in the middle of new surroundings.
These huts of the natives are so isolated among jungle growth, and their few lonely plots which have been cultivated in the bush are so insignificant, compared with the surrounding forest and open glade, that an inexperienced traveler might pass through the country and think it uninhabited.
The gardens are never in close nearness to the huts, but are selected in the bush, two, three and, in some cases, even five miles distant from the habitation. The goats and cows would destroy any cultivated plots near the villages, and besides, it is necessary that the dwellings be hidden, so as to confuse the approach of the enemy. If they were built close to the gardens the sight of a broken piece of ground would be an indication to the plundering warriors of the neighboring tribe that the villages, and therefore the cattle, were nearby. As it is, however, the presence of cultivated ground gives no evidence whatever as to the direction in which the huts are to be found.
Polygamy is general among the petty chiefs of the different districts, and with a few of the elders who have a considerable number of cattle. Some of them have two or more wives, and there are found here and there a few who have accumulated a harem of thirty to forty women. It is necessary, however, for a man to be rich in flocks and herds to gain such a following. Three fourths of the natives have to be satisfied with a monogamous life.
If one man monopolizes more than his share of wives, others must suffer or wish for a spouse, for Providence has ordained that the sexes should be born in about equal numbers over the face of the earth. Therefore a number of the males are forced to put up with bachelorhood, which, in Ukamba, is an humiliating and shameful condition. So great is the disgrace attached to celibacy, that an unmarried man will lie about his lonely condition, and declare that he is the proud possessor of a wife and children.
Throughout Ukamba land, over the entire country, there is not to be found an unmarried girl of mature age. They are usually engaged or purchased when about ten to twelve years old. The ‘money’ or means of payment is sheep, goats and cattle. About five to ten of the humped zebu cows, or an equivalent in flocks, is the usual price paid for a wife. The more solid and healthy the maid, the higher price she commands. Very often the mercenary father, irrespective of the girl's own choice, will give his daughter to the man who is prepared to pay the largest number of cattle, though the purchaser may already be the owner of several other wives.
If the wife is found to be barren, she is returned to her father, and the cattle which were paid for her are given back. Should the parents have an equal number of sons and daughters, the cattle they receive for their girls are paid out in buying wives for the boys. If the father of a young man has no cattle whereby to purchase a wife for his son, the young warrior joins those of his comrades who are in a similar condition, in a raid upon the neighboring tribe, with the intent of either capturing the maidens of another race, or stealing cattle with which they may get wives among their own clan.
If a man has two or more wives he builds a separate hut for each, and the children, during the period of childhood, are reared apart. There is very little jealousy among the women as a rule, and they are quite friendly with each other, accepting their position with patient indifference.
They are blessed with remarkably good health, due no doubt to the beneficial effects of manual labor, which is conducted under the most wholesome conditions, with the pure air and bright sunlight bathing their undraped bodies. From the dawn of morning until the sun sinks low in the heavens, they are rarely ever in their huts. And so they are free from many of the aggravated sufferings which follow in the train of an slothful and luxurious civilization.
This is particularly seen the matter of parturition. A woman will give birth to her child on the track in the bush, and, having used a ligature of plant fiber drawn from the nearby surroundings, will cut the umbilical cord with her teeth, and bring home her newly-born baby without any help. This is not at all an uncommon event, but is quite general among the women of the Akamba tribe: in fact to many of the mothers of several children, childbirth has never occurred in the hut.
The babies are usually carried in a skin on the back. A piece of cow or buffalo hide, about twenty inches long and sixteen wide, is prepared; and to each of the two bottom corners is fastened a strong thong, while to the two top corners is sewn a smooth strip of skin, like the strap of a school satchel. This flat piece of dressed skin is thrown over the back of the mother, and the two lower thongs are tied tightly around the waist. The upper strap is borne on the front of the forehead, leaving a space sufficient to allow of the child being dropped in between the hide and the bare back of its mother, while the feet of the little one protrude on either side, and enable it to rest in a sitting posture, with its back supported by the rigid piece of ox skin.
Thus placed, the child accompanies the mother on her way to the distant gardens, and usually remains on her back while she is engaged in cultivating, weeding and harvesting tasks. When she wishes to feed the baby, she takes the strap off her forehead and whirls round the skin with the baby to the front, throwing the head strap over the back of her neck. At times, when the child is likely to sleep, she will lay down the little naked body on the ground and cover it with a piece of skin, and proceed with her work until it awakes, or hunger induces it to draw the mother's attention to its needs.
Rarely do these babies cry, so satisfied are they with their surroundings, and so healthy and agreeable are their conditions. The natives seek children very much, and there is great rejoicing over their birth. The natives of Africa, unlike many of the inhabitants of the East, welcome with supreme gladness the birth of females, for these speak wealth to the parents.
The babies never take the name of either father or mother, but each child has its own distinctive title. If it is desired to discriminate a person particularly, they adopt the old Hebrew method of describing a man as the son of his father, mentioning the names of both individuals. Just as we read in Moses of the old chiefs, Samlah of Masrekah and Central Africa to-day, we hear of Kiluluti wa Machako and Mwato wa Nzau.
When there are no important coincidences at the time of birth, the child may get the name of some animal or reptile, such as Nzai, The Zebra; Mbiti, The Hyena; Nzoka, The Snake; Munyambo, The Lion. As a rule, however, children are given names according to some striking circumstance closely associated with their arrival. Muzyemi signifies The hunter—a child born while his father was engaged in the chase; Njiani, On the track—a name conveying the fact that the child was born on the path through the bush; Monda, A garden—born while the mother was cultivating a remote plot in the jungle; Mituki, The quick-coming one; Mumo, The dilatory or difficult one; Ntheketha, The passage maker, signifying premature and unexpected birth; Maltha, The enemy—coming to light while the marauder was at the gate; Muthama, while flitting or moving the hut; Mutili—born during a lunar eclipse, literally, The boy who cut a slice off the moon.
The women follow the ancient Jewish practice of not weaning the children until three to five years of age. A little boy, after playing about with his fellows, will often run up to his mother and, grabbing her breast, will satisfy his thirst at nature's fountain. These tiny little folk are greatly fond of their mother, with whom they spend most of their time, trotting along at her heels while she is drawing water, cutting firewood, or working in the garden plots. In these occupations she gets ready and willing help from her daughters, of even very tender years. These little maidens may be seen trudging along, with a fair-sized load on their back, accompanying their heavily-laden mother.
The children of these fierce naked natives are sweet, tender and loving little dots. In looking upon them, I have often thought of the words of Jesus, "Of such is the kingdom of God," and "Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven." The young folk of the tribe are particularly bright, and, up to the age of eight or nine years, are much more sharp and intelligent than the average European child.
Shortly after this period, there comes an abrupt and definite break in their mental development. They are then initiated into all the evils of the savage lifestyle, and soon there is to be found quite a different expression on their face, which to the discerning mind of the long experienced guest among them, betrays the unnameable, hidden life of these wild children of the forest.
The rite of circumcision is performed on boys about the age of ten. They are then gathered together in camps in the bush, where they remain for a period guarded by the warriors, until they have sufficiently healed to return to their villages. These young fellows, armed with bows and arrows, assist the elder ones in pasturing the flocks and herds, and defending them against the attacks of leopards and other carnivores. In this way they soon become expert marksmen, and are prepared for the warrior and hunting life of mature manhood, and fitted to fill the places of those who have fallen before the foe, or left the fighting ranks due to old age.
For ages the Akamba warriors have been engaged in predatory attacks against their neighbors the Masai and Kikuyu, when the capturing of women and cattle has been their chief plan, in the accomplishment of which they have ever been ready to sacrifice their lives. Due to this unending intertribal fighting, there exists between the different races deadly and unquenchable hatred, so that the sight of men of an adjoining tribe rouse such bad feelings of hateful bitterness that they rush at one another to the death, or run away from each other as hardened enemies.
The Kikuyu tribe, being much weaker, though more treacherous and vindictive than the Akamba, are unable to leave the sheltered strongholds of their forest which lend to them such security, and revenge the plundering raid.
The Masai, however, whose habitation is the open plains, are as bold and brave as the Akamba, and never fail to strike back and seek to recover the stolen goods, which the bowmen have taken by trick or open conquest. In these deadly conflicts, the Masai ever aim at showing a united front, but, inasmuch as they carry heavy shields and spears, they are not as swift and agile as the Akamba, who, fleet as the wind, play with them in detached companies to their clear advantage. While a small body of archers make a frontal attack on the oncoming bearers of spear and shield, another band of bowmen, getting around to the rear, deliver their showers of poisoned darts upon the exposed and vulnerable backsides of the enemy, and thus at times drive them in hurried escape from the field.
When these men of the bow and quiver are tired of fighting, they turn their attention to the chase, in which they have no peers among the East Equatorial tribes. They are infinitely more at home in the wilds of the forest than by the fire-stones of their own hearth, in the grass huts among the hills. So adapted and adaptable are they to their surroundings, that they seem to be the very complement of the wild jungle itself. How skillfully they thread their way through its labyrinths; how highly sensitive is their ear to the faintest sound—the breaking of a twig, or the crackling of a dry leaf; how quickly their keen eye discovers even a blade of grass, which has been turned by the hoof of the sleek-skinned buck or capering gnu; and, if a startled zebra or hartebeest emerges from its shaded seclusion, and comes within their vision, how skillfully the bow is drawn, and with what precision and power the silent and fatal shaft strikes the target.
The Akamba, however, do not spend much of their energy in seeking and following food. Often they lie secretly hidden at the watering places, covering their flat body up to the shoulders with dirt, to lessen the release of human odor; and when the thirsty animal comes to drink, they deliver their well directed arrow, and in a few minutes the poison has paralyzed the brain, and the animal whirls round and falls to earth.
The cunning hunter then takes from his quiver a couple of firesticks, and soon there is the crackling of burning wood, and a fire is at once brightly blazing, on which he will immediately roast a portion of the game. These implements for producing fire consist of two insignificant pieces of wood. One is a flat, oblong section, a few inches in length, in which there is cut a small hole. The other is a slender rod, which fits loosely into that hole, and in which it is twirled with such speed between the open palms of the operator, that, in the course of a minute, the tinder of dried grass or other similar material, which has been placed around the base of the spinning rod, bursts into flame.
While the full-grown fighting men are not engaged in raiding or hunting, a few of the most experienced and elderly of them may be seen secretly making their way to the forest, with a large clay pot, to make the deadly poison into which they dip their arrows. The origin of this deadly mixture has been so hidden by these wily woodsmen, that its source has been unknown to the surrounding tribes. Having reached a private spot in the jungle, they cut down a large spreading tree, named kivai, and strip from it the bark, which they chop into small pieces and boil down, until the remainder is of the consistency of wax.
A number of the warriors may also be found sitting in the "thomi" or rude bower, which is constructed outside the border of every village. This is simply a canopy of brushwood, resting on a few forest saplings, and modifying the burning rays of the equatorial sun. Underneath its shade they create their neat ox-hide quivers, style their long iron blades, and repair and sharpen their keen, barbed arrows. After smearing the latter with their fatal and destructive poison, they bind the point of each in a strip of fine, prepared goatskin, so that the moisture of the poison may be retained and its full death-dealing properties preserved.
At frequent intervals the natives engage their idle hours with dances, and sometimes several days are set apart for a great dancing festival. These assemblies congregate at an appointed open space in the forest, where the noisy party is carried far into the night. When the disc of the moon is not fully illuminated, they make huge blazing fires to keep off lions and leopards. The greater part of the wooing is accomplished at these carousals, and there life-long attachments are often formed.
The ladies have the one and only right of choosing their partners. The gaudily decorated and freshly painted warriors stand in long lines, nervously waiting the ordeal of selection, while opposite to them are the assembled maidens. Each girl, in turn, calmly scrutinizes the array of decorated and oily bachelors; and when she beckons her chosen one, he leaves the ranks with a smile, broad enough to transform his entire face. To the continual, monotonous melody of a number of drums, the natives go through their weird motions, contracting the muscles of their body, and causing their flesh to shake and quiver as if it had ceased to stick to the bones.
When a young man has made up his mind regarding the maiden who is to be his future wife, he approaches her father with presents of wild honey, one or two sheep for roasting purposes, and several gourd shells filled with "oke," the fermented juice of the sugar cane. The men of the district in which the potential bride resides are invited together to the open-air feast. The suitor is accompanied by a talkative friend, who may be able to bring forward, in a forcible manner, the young warrior's commendable traits of character. The most worthy qualification usually presented by the friendly supporter on these occasions, is the fact that the young man who seeks her hand is an "ngumbau," which means that he has been fearless and daring in the raiding incursions of the tribe, and has encountered the enemy with courage and bravery.
To the mercenary fathers of Ukamba, however, the major concern is the number of cattle he is prepared to pay for his future wife. After much drinking of oke, an agreement is eventually made; but, in most cases, the young man is not able to hand over the required number of cattle, and so he is obliged to resort to the installment system, paying, at the moment, perhaps two or three cows and twenty to forty goats. He will not, however, be able to claim the maiden, until the full number of cattle has been placed in her father's possession.
When that necessary beginning has been complied with, the day of marriage is then chosen. The man has already got his mother and her female friends to build a grass hut for his chosen one. On the marriage day, the bridegroom takes with him a large following of his comrades, and goes off to bring home his wife. The bride is supposed to hide herself on that eventful morning, and this she takes care to do in a place where she may be easily found. The party having arrived at her father's hut, finds that she is nowhere to be seen. A diligent search for the missing one is immediately begun, and the friends of the bridegroom pursue their search, until their efforts are crowned with success. They then carry her off from her hiding place, while she, in an affected manner, makes an attempt at resistance. This, however, is useless and, at once, she utters a few cries of assumed lamentation and sheds some crocodile tears, as she is triumphantly taken away from the limits of her village towards her new home in the jungle.
In Central Africa the medicine man, the rain doctor, and others of that breed have had power a long time. For centuries they have dominated the tribes. The chiefs have nominally ruled, but, in many cases, the charlatanic brotherhood have virtually taken the seat of power. No warlike exploit, nor raid for women, nor hunting expedition can be effectively planned, and conducted to a successful result, without their possible help. Their advice must be sought, and their occult powers requested and paid for, under every conceivable circumstance of importance, while the ruling chief himself must promote these professional deceivers.
The medicine man has only one redeeming quality: he never asks his patients to swallow his potions. These are for external use only. His simple request is that his client should wear his decoctions, suspended by a chain thrown around the neck. Discarded gazelle and goat horns of tiny size are very numerous in the wilds of Africa, and into these the medicine man rams his compounds, and carefully seals them with gum or beeswax. A small hole is made in the top of the horn, through which the recipient may pass his slender iron chain. There are many kinds of these amulets, but they are all guaranteed to bring marvelous results, in preventing a silent and unexpected approach of the enemy, removing disease, and enabling the wearer to make a good escape from lions, leopards, rhinoceroses and snakes. The price of each is usually one to three goats.
However clever the medicine man may be in banishing malignant problems, throwing dust in the eyes of the approaching enemy, and warding off the attacks of wild beasts, he is entirely thrown into the shade by the pompous pretensions of the rain doctors.
The manner in which this fraternity ‘control’ the weather is amazing beyond belief. The heart of Africa is their happy hunting ground, and especially those parts of the Equatorial Regions where the rainfall is variable or uncertain, and where drought is persistent and long-drawn-out. In the Ukamba country there are two dry seasons every year, one of which continues for a period of over five months without a drop of rain. The natives have no means of storing any quantity of grain; and the little they do lay past is visited by numerous insects and bush vermin, which join freely with them in eating the produce. For this reason when the rainy season is due there is not much grain left; and, whatever remainder there may be, is rendered hollow and non-nutritious by a species of small boring beetle, which eats out the kernel of the grain.
At this period, therefore, the natives are anxiously looking for the expected rain. If it fails to come at the usual time, which they correctly mark by the clear path of the sun, then there is a constant demand for the intervention of the supernatural powers of the rain doctor. On the Equatorial Belt, rains are rarely diffused over a large area at the same time, but generally fall in heavy local downpours. This is particularly so at the beginning of the wet season. In a certain place there may be a very small torrential rain, and a mile or two away the ground absolutely dry. The natives of each section of the country, therefore, are anxious that they may have their full share, and there is as a result a regular rush to the rain doctor, so that he may guide the course of the precious fluid in their particular direction. Each applicant must bring at least one sheep or goat.
Marvelous to tell, the old gentleman generally gives satisfaction to all his clients. The 'doctor' is careful to keep his weather eye open at this important season of the year, and is quick to discern favorable conditions. If he sees a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, denoting a collection of suspended moisture, he is out in full feathered decoration, with his drum and iron bells, to direct the course of the accumulated watery particles. As the cloud increases in size and density, he puts more energy and force into the beating of the drum. When the drops fall and the rain comes down in torrents, he skips about with great animation in his drenched feathers, and, after working himself up into an almost hysterical condition, he struts back to his hut with a victorious expression, as much as to say, 'That's the way to do it!'
The esculapian and rain-producing powers usually descend from father to son; but occasionally some highly inflated, bombastic fellow will rise up, and, by the sheer force of his magnetic character, make his way into the profession, and draw to himself the trust and support of the surrounding district.
Although the Akamba have only a meager knowledge of medicine, yet they are very skilful in surgical and anatomical operations, and display a surprisingly close understanding with the structure of the human body. Their method of treating bone fractures is practical, though rude. Accidents are exceedingly rare, but if a man happens to fall from a tree and break his leg, they set the bone with splints derived from the bark of a forest tree, which they secure in position with strips of fiber. An sloping hole is then dug in the ground, and the limb of the injured man is placed in the hollow, while he remains in a sitting posture on the surface. The sandy loam is then filled in, and a fire kindled over the returned earth to regulate the temperature of the soil. There he remains, guarded by his companions from wild animals, until the bone is healed, which, in a healthy native, is done in a remarkably short period of time.
The natives are extremely healthy and suffer from very few diseases. One never sees a feeble or deformed figure. Rheumatism is unknown, although men lie out on the bare ground for weeks at a time. Nervous afflictions are unheard of among these tribes, and there is no mental illness within their borders, while self-murder is to them inconceivable. The scourge of pulmonary consumption has not entered their sphere, and the rustic life, in the sunshine of a beneficent Creator, probably accounts for their immunity from this disease.
They are entirely free from anxious care and, quite unknown to themselves, they live in the spirit of the words of our blessed Lord and Savior, "Take no thought for tomorrow." A large part of the people attain an advanced age in perfect salubrity and many are extremely active and lively at an age of perhaps eighty years. None of the natives have any idea of their own age, and do not reckon backwards more than a few rainy seasons. An old man of ninety, if asked concerning the number of his years, may hold out his two closed hands, signifying that he is ten. My husband, in his itinerating work, has traveled some hundreds of miles, at the rate of twenty-five miles in the day, with men whom he had every reason to believe were octogenarians. Many of them die from simple senile decay.
The natives do not bury their dead, but throw them out in the bush, a few hundred yards away from their huts, to be eaten by the hyenas and other carnivorous scavengers which prowl about in the jungle.
There seems to be a very general impression among European circles that the barbarous tribes of Central Africa have no idea of God, and that it is the business of the Missionary to go out and inform them of His existence. There could be no greater erroneous belief than this. The many hundreds of different races of Africa, like the inhabitants of every other part of the globe, believe in a Supreme Being. No missionary has ever yet discovered a race or tribe, even in the heart of Africa, who were destitute of a knowledge of God. This knowledge is innate to humanity, and as universal as mankind. Whether men bow down before an idol, adore a fetish, venerate a charm, or do reverence to the spirits of their ancestors; whether they delight in the shedding of human blood, or in the eating of human flesh, they all recognize a Lord God Almighty, the benign and omnipotent Creator, and are all in some way anxious for reconciliation with Him.
In our travels in East Equatorial Africa we have met with twenty-eight different tribes, speaking different languages; and with more than a dozen of these races we have lived in close personal relationship for lengthened periods, and every one of them believe in an Almighty God, in a Devil, and in a future state.
More than one European writer, who has come into casual touch with various African tribes, and who is anxious, no doubt, to represent their ideas quite faithfully, has asserted that the natives adore thunder and lightning as God. To those, however, who have lived with the natives and studied their language, it is perfectly clear that the assertion is contrary to fact. If the native hears the loud crash of thunder overhead, as if the heavens were being rent asunder, and sees the stroke of forked lightning across the ethereal vault, he may put his hand upon his mouth and exclaim "N'gai! N'gai!" (God! God!) By this exclamation, however, he does not convey the idea that the thunder or the lightning is the Supreme Being, but that the Almighty God is the author of the phenomenon which has been brought so vividly before him.
The Right Honorable Lord Avebury in his book recently issued from the press and entitled "Marriage, Totemism and Religion," states that it is a frequent thing to find a native tribe which has no name for a Supreme Being. I am certain that his statement is contrary to fact, and challenge him to give proof of any race of men in existence who are without a name for Almighty God, the Creator of the universe. Resting on this false foundation, he unfolds his erroneous theory that religion is part of the development of the human race.
A gentleman who traveled for a short time in tropical Africa published a small booklet, in which the Akamba were described as a people who had no idea of a God, a soul or a future state. His inference was that Europeans acknowledged the existence of a God because they had been taught to do so, but that these natives had received no such tuition, and hence were without such belief.
No more groundless representation of the Akamba race could possibly be made. If the gentleman had only lived with these fierce woodsmen for a period and learned their language, he could not have written thus. The Akamba people believe in a Supreme Being more truly than many of the hundreds of thousands of merely nominal Christians and formal church-goers, who daily walk the streets of the metropolis of ‘Christian’ England. They speak of Him as freely and as naturally as a child would talk of its mother.
They are not even satisfied with the Cain-style offerings of the fruit of the ground, which most African tribes present to the Creator, but devote to Him an Abel-like offering of the fatlings of the flock. Once every year these warriors sacrifice sheep to God, underneath the canopy of some large umbrageous trees in the jungle. There the elders meet and spill the blood of their offerings before the face of the Almighty. A certain part of the sacrifice is laid at the base of a tree, as "Kilungu kya N'gai" (God's portion). The residue is roasted on the fire which they have kindled, and the old men partake of their share of the sacrificial offering in respectful silence, in the hope that they may thereby gain reconciliation with the Great Being.
So definite are the ideas of the Akamba regarding the soul of man, that they speak of their body as the tabernacle or house in which they live, and believe that after the body dies, the kyuu (soul) returns to the God who gave it. So little importance do they attach to the body'—the shell they occupy—that, at death, it is thrown out to the wild beasts, as soon as the departing spirit has left the tabernacle of clay. To God they ascribe the creation of the universe, their own existence, and all the blessings which come to them in rain and sunshine and the produce which the earth brings forth. To the Devil, whom they recognize as the arch-enemy of mankind, they attribute every evil, including sickness, disease and death. Therefore, when severe illness comes upon any member of the tribe they have a devil-dance to appease him. In this ceremony the natives glide about in absolute silence, assuming the most hideous forms possible. By contortion of the visage and writhing and twisting motions of the body, they try to approximate the form of the Evil One, according to their own conception of his personality, so that he may be satisfied with their representation of him and remove the disease. So utterly do they transform their appearance in these dances, that familiar faces are quite unrecognizable. Not only do these natives acknowledge God, but the law which was given by God to Moses is written in their hearts, with the one possible exception of the fourth commandment, "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." We have never been able to discover the faintest trace of an idea concerning this law, in the mind of a single individual of any tribe, nor any tradition regarding it.
Although they admit that it is wrong to steal and murder, yet they have been plundering and shedding human blood as long as they have been able to hold a spear or control a bow, just as many nominal Christians in civilized lands admit the moral law to be binding upon them, and yet ignore its precepts every day of their life.
This is only to be expected, for Scripture asserts that, "the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be, and they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Both alike require the dynamics of the regenerating Gospel of the grace of God, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to change the heart and make the man a new creature in Christ Jesus.