Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/506

 472 Some iVohs on East African Folkloi^e.

Bwana Kitini, took place at Pate in the time of the third Nabhan Sultan, Bwana Fumomadi.

The little town of Shela is within half an hour's walk of Lamu, but quite distinct from it ; indeed, between the two, the sand-hills of Hedabu cover the ruins of another town, which was frequently at war with Lamu, or at least with the earlier settlement of Wiyuni, which I believe was on the site of the hill now crowned by the buildings of the German Mission. There are even now various distinctions of custom — for instance, the Shela women never use the curious form of veil called sJiira'a, which seems to be peculiar to Lamu, and possibly — though of this I am not certain — there are differences of speech. At least I have heard Shela women use archaic forms (such as the old perfect tdele for avielala) which I do not remember hearing in Lamu itself. For some reason or other the Lamu people have taken their neighbours of Shela as representing the extreme of absurdity at which ignorance combined with limited intellect can arrive — in short, it is the Gotham or Abdera of these parts. One favourite tale is of a Shela man who went hunting and, having caught a Kuhgu (bush- buck) in one of his traps, did not want to stop and slaughter it secunduin artoii, but tied his turban round its body, stuck his knife into the improvised sash and let the beast go, saying, " Bwaktingu (Mr. Bush-buck) just go and ask the mistress to be good enough to kill you and put aside the liver and kidneys to cook for my supper." When he arrived home in the evening, tired and hungry, his wife set before him porridge only' — no savoury meat such as his soul loved to accompany it. " Where's that liver and those kidneys?" "What liver and kidneys.'" ''Why, I sent that buck, and I told him to tell you, etc., etc."

Another gentleman of Shela, finding that his stock of gunpowder had got wet, dried it over the fire in a pipkin, whereby his beard was burnt off; and a third, directing a labourer to fill a large earthen jar (Jcasiki) with water, and