A thief is punished by a heavy fine of cattle or weapons, which have to be paid over to the man from whom goods have been stolen. Sometimes a thief is severely beaten; this is usually done when he has been previously detected in crime, while if a third theft is committed by the same person his hands are burned with a hot stick. A murderer has to pay all his flocks and herds to the relatives of his victim; this is known as paying “blood-money,” a practice which was common in our own country in Saxon times. Some laws are very amusing: for instance, if two men fight, the injured person may claim eight cows for loss of a limb, one cow for a tooth, two cows for the loss of two or three teeth; so quarrelling may prove a very expensive pastime. What then is the end of this life of fighting and cattle rearing? In the case of a chief, respectful burial and a belief that the soul of a great man will visit the relatives in the form of a snake. But for a poor man there is no funeral; the body is carried to the bush, where it is soon devoured by hyenas. CHAPTER IV THE AKIKUYU PEOPLE Living quite near to the Masai, but differing from them in very many ways, are the Akikuyu, whose territory near Mount Kenia could be reached by a long train journey from Mombasa toward Nairobi, followed by several hundred miles of travelling on foot. For centuries the Masai and Akikuyu have been bitter enemies, and in the old days the former used to punish their neighbours for selling captives to Arab slave traders. The Masai are a pastoral people depending entirely on their herds, which must have abundant pasture; while, on the other hand, the Akikuyu are tillers of the soil. In order to make a tract of land clear for sowing, they are in the habit of burning large tracts of forest, a practice which annoys the Masai, because herds of cattle shelter under the trees, where they find fresh grass, when all the country exposed to the sun is parched and withered. In warfare these two tribes, the Masai and Akikuyu, employ many different methods, for whereas the former are always bold and open in attack, the latter are cowardly and treacherous, always preferring to lie in wait for small bands of enemies, who may be taken at a disadvantage. When reporting on the Akikuyu tribes, Mr. Hinde, the British Commissioner, says: “They plant gardens with bananas and Indian corn, and live almost entirely on vegetable food, their flocks being inconsiderable. Honey forms a staple element of their diet. This they collect by hanging oblong honey boxes, made of the hollow trunk of a juniper, in the trees, and smoking the bees out. “They till and cultivate the ground, but, as it is not manured, the soil is quickly exhausted, and the burning down of large tracts of forest is resorted to as a means of procuring fresh land. [Illustration: A KIKUYU MAN.]