Economy of Wadawida

Agriculture

The Wataita have responded very readily to the im­ pact with Western civilisation; but this response has not always been to the good of the tribe as a whole. For instance, they used to have a well-mixed diet, in which maize took only a small part. It included edible arum, sugarcane, two kinds of bananas, cassava root, sweet potatoes, cow-peas, three kinds of white bean, Indian corn and millet. This was supplemented by meat periodically, obtained by hunting. Not only did they take part in the chase, using poisoned arrows, but they also dug pits to trap elephant, buffalo, and other large animals. The plains surrounding the hills were divided up, and each clan knew its own hunting boundaries. If these bound aries were passed, a man took his life into his hands. It is sad to see how ignorant the present generation is of wild animals and their habits—a direct result of the tribe being forbidden to hunt any longer. This measure has also had an adverse effect upon their diet, as the country is not suited for grazing many head of cattle. The Mtaita nowadays only eats meat about once a month, and even for this small consumption cattle have to be imported from Tanganyika. There used to be two kinds of banana specially cultivated, mdodo, a sweet banana, which is drought-resisting, and kinguluwe, or ladies' fingers. irrigation channels were used at Sagalla in very early days already, but these had not fostered a closer drawing together of the tribe under a system of chiefs, as had been the case in Chagga country.

As cash crops were introduced and encouraged by the Government, the tribe soon learned to adapt itself to the new currency, and in their endeavour to obtain more money they put all their energies into the production of these cash crops, maize and beans, and had not time remaining in which to grow the other crops; conse quently they have grown richer at the expense of under-nourishing their bodies. This is a tragic state of affairs when it represents a retrograde step on their former diet, and in view of the fact that the country is far more suited to growing millet than maize. In fact, the people must give up the idea of being a maize-growing tribe if they wish to prevent periodical food shortages. This characteristic of thinking more of their pockets than of their stomachs continues. In recent years, a very flourishing vegetable business has grown up, and Taita has become one of the chief suppliers to Mombasa and to shipping. The country is well-suited to vegetable-growing, but as yet far too few are used for home consumption by the people them- selves.

Very great advances have been made in recent years in anti-erosion methods, contour-planting, stop washes, and step terraces. But in view of the excessive steepness of most of the cultivated ground much remains to be done, and to be done quickly, if the hills are not to be deprived of their fertility.

The implements used for digging were the vibolo and makumbi. Vibolo were pointed sticks, which were primarily used for breaking up fresh ground, whilst mak­umbi were a kind of wooden hoe. If a woman wanted help with her garden she would brew beer for the men-folk of the village, who would then work for her. There was no hard public opinion against men helping with the fields when the work was heavier than usual.

There was a greater economy in those days in the matter of herding. The cattle and goats of a clan would be herded together, each man taking his turn for four days; but now each little village does its own herding unaided, and this means that often the cattle are looked after by children of 5-8 years old, or else the women have to take their turn, in addition to their many other duties. One of the reasons for this is that in the old days the villages were large, as a protection against inter-clan raids, whilst now the homesteads are scattered all over the hill-sides, so that the cattle are not kept in a communal kraal. If there is to be much advance in social betterment there must be a return to the old custom of living in large villages, so that an economy in labour in such things can be affected.

As in many other areas, the forests have been reduced. The hills are almost denuded of trees, and women often have to go two hours walk for firewood. Apparently the hills have not been thickly wooded for some long time, for in 1883 the country was 'but slightly wooded, but on the hill-tops clumps of high trees are religiously con-served'. 1 These clumps were presumably the sacred groves already referred to, or else were trees that grew round the skull caves to keep them bidden from view. Many slopes are good only for tree-planting, but un- fortunately the tribe has not yet learned to be tree-minded. If they can be given some bold, imaginative, and firm leading by the Government not only to counter soil erosion, but to re-afforest, and to conserve their water, the area offers great possibilities for the future. Coffee, pyrethrum, vegetables,' fruit trees, are a few of the things that would grow well, though as yet little has been done except with vegetables. There is an L.N.C. Coffee Estate, but no co-operative society of coffee growers has yet been begun. 2

It will have been seen from what has been written earlier, that in the old days there was little real cohesion among the tribe as a whole. They are fast becoming a conscious entity, and perhaps the coming of Christianity to the country has been the greatest single factor in bringing this about. It has been considerably aided in recent years by the Vegetable Societies, and it is clear that there is a great future for Co-operative Societies in the district