'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎274] (451/524)

274 VISIT TO THE WANIKA COUNTRY.
the few dollars which constitute the dowry. This, however, is given
to the bride’s family, and she has no share therein. In case of divorce,
which is frequent, this dowry is reclaimed, but it is not paid till the girl
has found another husband. The children belong not to the parents but
to the mother’s eldest brother, who not unfrequently sell them into
slavery in times of scarcity.
Famine is of frequent occurrence, as the Wanika are extremely impro
vident, and almost too indolent to cultivate the small quantity of cassaha
and Indian corn necessary for their subsistence. Palm-wine is their
great luxury, and so long as they can sit lazily in the shade sucking this
through a reed, they ask for no higher enjoyment.
They recognise, though they hardly worship, a god. He is regarded
as a being to be feared and propitiated ; but the most potent agents are
the comas or shades of their ancestors, who are appealed to on failure of
rain or in cases of sickness, when offerings of palm-wine and corn are
placed on their graves. They believe that the mists which gather on the
mountain-tops are the fires of the comas, who constantly hover round
their former habitations. This clearly proves that they understand the
immortality of the soul, though they have no idea of a future state of
rewards and punishments.
The right of circumcision is universally practised, and each important
event in their lives, such as the planting of seed or reaping the harvest,
is marked by its distinctive ceremony. No Wanika may engage in any
handicraft, and they are entirely dependent on Mombassa for the sim
plest implements of husbandry, pottery, cutlery, &c.
The males are divided into three orders :—
l<s£.— Wfia, or elders.
Znd—Kambi, or intermediate order ; and
3rd. — Wyairi, or youth.
Admission is obtained into the superior grades by constant payments
or offerings of palm-wine and the performance of certain ceremonies.
Tnose appointed for the admission of youth into the superior order
Kamhi only occur about once in a generation, namely when all the
pieviously appointed Kambi have been absorbed into the rank of elder ;
thus, one frquently observes middle-aged men classed as youth.
On a fixea day the youth are all assembled in a certain place, whence
trie clay witn which the bodies are to be smeared is to be taken, a