BANTU BELIEFS AND MAGIC WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE KIKUYU AND KAMBA TRIBES OF KENYA COLONY; TOGETHER WITH SOME REFLECTIONS ON EAST AFRICA AFTER THE WAR BY C. W. HOBLEY, C.M.G. M. R. Anthrop. Inst., C.M.Z.S., Assoc. M. Inst. C.E. (Late Senior Provincial Commissioner, Kenya Colony) WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR JAMES G. FRAZER, F.R.S., &c. LONDON H. F. & G. WITHERBY 326 HIGH HOLBORN, W.C. 1922 PREFACE It is often said that the longer one knows the native the less one knows, and the less one understands him. This expression is doubtless comforting to persons who have not the patience to systematically study him and his views on life, but it could with convenience be replaced by a saying to the effect that the more one knows of the native the more one realises how much remains to be learnt. The spirit of this is in accordance with the true attitude to all other branches of knowledge, for the more one learns, the more the map unfolds, and one gradually realises the vastness of the country to be explored. During long years of service in East Africa my work has brought me into close contact with the native tribes from Lake Victoria to the coast, and I early realised that their administration could not be intelligently conducted without close inquiry into their social organisation and religious beliefs, and in this connection I would here like to express my indebtedness to the kind advice and stimulating assistance which I have received from Sir W. Ridgeway, Sir J. G. Frazer, Professor Haddon and others. I particularly wish to thank Sir J. G. Frazer for his kindness in consenting to write an introduction to this work. My first researches in this field were conducted among the tribes of Kavirondo, and when some years later I left the Nyanza province for Ukamba I became interested in the people with whom this work mainly deals. In 1910 I published a small work styled “The Ethnology of the A-Kamba and Other East African Tribes” which was mainly intended as an aide memoire for colleagues working among the people referred to; the study was continued and certain matters were dealt with in papers communicated to the Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Association. Further research has, however, brought to light a great deal of additional material and has enabled me to piece together the work, and I venture to believe that the light which it attempts to throw upon the inner life of these important tribes may stimulate further inquiry, and help both official and colonist in his relations with them.