Cairo to Kisumu : $b Egypt—The Sudan—Kenya ColonyCarpenter, Frank G. (Frank George)
History
Cairo to Kisumu : $b Egypt—The Sudan—Kenya Colony
Carpenter, Frank G. (Frank George)
Egypt -- Description and travel; Kenya -- Description and travel; Sudan -- Description and travel
But let us go out into the country and look at some of the Kavirondo
villages. I have visited many and have had no trouble whatever in going
into the houses. There are numerous little settlements scattered over
the plains between here and the hills, with footpaths running from
village to village. Most of them are small, a dozen huts or so forming a
good-sized settlement.
The roof usually projects beyond the walls of the hut, covering a sort of
veranda, a part of which is inclosed. There are poles outside supporting
the roof of the veranda.
The huts are usually built around an open space and are joined by
fences of rough limbs and roots, so that each collection of huts forms
a stockade in which the animals belonging to the village can be kept at
night. Sometimes a village may be made of a number of such circles, each
collection of huts belonging to one family. One of the shacks is for the
polygamous husband and one for each of his wives.
Let us go inside one of the houses. We stoop low as we enter. The floor
is of mud, with a few skins scattered over it. The skins are the sleeping
places. Notice that little pen at the back, littered with dirt. That is
where the goats sleep. The chickens are put in that tall basket over
there in the corner and are covered up until morning. Except for a few
pots, there is practically no furniture. The cooking is done in clay
vessels over that fire in the centre of the hut, and the food is served
in small baskets, the men eating first and the women taking what is left.
Outside each house, under the veranda, is the mill of the family, which
consists of a great stone with a hole chipped out of the centre. The
women grind Indian corn or sorghum seed in such mills, pounding or
rubbing the grain with a second stone just a little smaller than the
hole. In the grinding, bits of the stone come off and are mixed with the
meal, often causing chronic indigestion.
Some of the older Kavirondo villages are nothing but cemeteries. The
people are superstitious and want to be buried in the places in which
they have lived. When a chief dies, his body is interred in the centre of
his hut. He is placed in the grave in a sitting posture, just deep enough
to allow his head and neck to be above ground. The head is then covered
with an earthen pot, which is left there until the ants get in and clean
off the skull. After this the skull is buried close to the hut or within
it and the skeleton is taken out and reburied on some hilltop or other
sacred place.
Ordinary people are buried in their own huts lying on their right sides
with their legs doubled up under their chins. The hut is then left and
forms a monument to the dear departed. Where there have been epidemic
diseases one may sometimes find a whole village of such houses occupied
only by the dead. The huts are left until they fall to pieces.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account