e and
indefinite. They seem to propitiate nature, however, when they wish
rain, for they offer up to the rain-spirit votive offerings of bananas,
grain, and beer, which they place beneath the trees. This seems to be
their only religious rite according to Gregory, who, in all probability
is in error. For, in the next sentence, he informs us that these
negroes practice circumcision. He thinks that they perform this
operation for sanitary reasons, "as the natives have continually to ford
streams and wade through swamps abounding in the larvae of _Bilharzia
haematuria_, the rite no doubt lessens the danger of incurring
haematuria."[14] This is bestowing upon ignorant and savage negroes a
psychical acuteness which far transcends that of the laity of civilized
races! What do the Wa-kamba know of sanitation, haematuria, and the larva
of Bilharzia![E] Circumcision among these people always occurs at
puberty, and is, unquestionably, a phallic rite. Parenthetically, it may
be stated here that a few of the primitive peoples still in existence
appear to have grasped the idea of the life-giving principle, and to
have established worship of the _functio generationis_ without having
experienced certain preliminary psychical stages necessary for its
evolution from nature-worship. I believe, however, that this is apparent
and not real; nature-worship, very probably, at one time existed among
all these people.

[14] Gregory: _The Great Rift Valley_, p. 351.

[E] Inasmuch as the haematuria occasioned by the larvae of Bilharzia
has its origin in the parenchyma of the kidney, and, since we have
no reason for believing that this race has any idea of histology or
pathology, it is manifest folly to ascribe circumcision as a
prophylactic measure against this parasite. Bilharzia is now
considered a true parasite by Wolfe.

The Kikuyu have a very elaborate system of theogony, in which all of the
phenomena of nature with which they are acquainted are deified. A goat
is invariably sacrificed to the sun when they set out on a journey, and
its blood is carried along and sprinkled on the paths and bridges in
order to appease the spirits of the forest and the river.

Stuhlmann places this tribe among the Bantu; from the evidence of other
observers, however, they seem to be Nilotic Hamites, and belong properly
to the Masai.[15] This would account for the similarity of method in
circumcision, which, among both Kikuy