An ivory trader in North Kenia : $b the record of an expedition through Kikuyu to Galla-land in east equatorial Africa; with an account of the Rendili and Burkeneji tribesArkell-Hardwick, A. (Alfred)
History
An ivory trader in North Kenia : $b the record of an expedition through Kikuyu to Galla-land in east equatorial Africa; with an account of the Rendili and Burkeneji tribes
Arkell-Hardwick, A. (Alfred)
Africa, East -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Africa, East; Rendille (African people); Samburu (African people)
They wear a good many beads as ornaments, which are carefully worked
into necklaces and armlets of artistic design, and not put on
haphazard, as is the custom of the surrounding tribes, and of those
south of the Waso Nyiro. The beads are usually strung on hair from the
tail of the giraffe, which is as stiff as thin wire. With this they
make broad collars and bands for the arms and ankles, the beads being
arranged in geometrical designs, such as squares and triangles, of
different colours, red and white being the favourites. The demand for
_seninge_ (iron wire) was extraordinary, though _serutia_ (brass wire)
ran it a close second. Copper wire, strange to say, they would not look
at.
They are circumcized in the Mohammedan manner, and, in addition, they
are mutilated in a most extraordinary fashion by having their navels
cut out, leaving a deep hole. They are the only tribe mutilated in this
manner with the exception of the Marle, who inhabit the district north
of “Basso Ebor” (Lake Stephanie), and who are probably an offshoot of
the Rendili.
The Rendili women are singularly graceful and good looking, with
arch, gentle manners and soft expressive eyes. They wear a good many
ornaments, principally bead necklaces and armlets of coloured beadwork.
Their hair is allowed to grow in short curls. One or two I saw wore it
cut very close, with the exception of a ridge of hair on the top of
the head, extending from the centre of the forehead backwards over the
crown to the nape of the neck, which was left uncut. Whether they were
Turkana women who had intermarried with the Rendili or not, I am unable
to say, it being the custom of the Turkana women to dress their hair
in that manner; though, on the other hand, the fashion might have been
merely copied from them by the Rendili women.
The Rendili women also wear cloth. Their garments were of much less
generous proportions than those of their lords and masters; but they
wore more ornaments, the Venetian beads we carried being in great
demand for that purpose. They also wore armlets and leg ornaments
of brass and iron wire, the iron wire especially being much sought
after. They do not use skins for clothing, though they cure them and
use them for sleeping-mats, and also for trading with the Reshiat and
Wa’embe. The skins are cured by the women, who, after the skin is
sufficiently sun-dried, fasten it by the four corners to a convenient
bush, and scrape the hair from it with a broad chisel-shaped iron tool,
afterwards softening it by rubbing it between the hands.
El Hakim bought several cornelian beads from the women, evidently of
native manufacture. They were roughly hexahedral in shape, and were
cleanly pierced, with no little skill, to admit of their being strung
on a thread. We could not discover from whence they had obtained them.
It is possible that they may have filtered through from Zeila or
Berbera on the Somali coast, where they had been brought by Arab or
Hindoo traders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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