1. M'Inoti, "Asili ya Wameru na tabia zao," Private Papers.

2. See Fadiman, Oral History , for detail on precolonial Meru warfare; idem, The Moment of Conquest ; idem, Mountain Warriors .

3. See Lambert, "Social and Political Institutions," 278-79, 307-9, Lambert Papers, for territorial distribution of gichiaro (kinship and military alliances).

4. Ibid. Lambert suggests the pre-Cuka were split into a main body (pre-Cuka: Chabugi) and one tiny fragment (Miutini) by the advance of the Mwimbi up the mountain.

3. See Lambert, "Social and Political Institutions," 278-79, 307-9, Lambert Papers, for territorial distribution of gichiaro (kinship and military alliances).

4. Ibid. Lambert suggests the pre-Cuka were split into a main body (pre-Cuka: Chabugi) and one tiny fragment (Miutini) by the advance of the Mwimbi up the mountain.

5. M'Muraa wa Kairanyi (Northeast Imenti), MOS 13; Rwito wa Ruganda (Mwimbi), MOS 30; personal observation, discussions with elders from Cuka, Muthambi, and Imenti. The Cuka, however, did hide cattle in pits to protect them from raiders.

6. M'Inoti (see note 1 above) and M'Anampiu, "Prophetic Families in Imenti," handwritten manuscript, Meru language, dealing with clan histories of North Imenti, Private Papers.

7. Throughout East Africa, Caucasians are perceived as "red" rather than white. Small children still greet Caucasians as "red men" until told by adults to call them "white.'' See Huxley, Red Strangers , a fictional account of the conquest of the Gikuyu by "red strangers,'' that is, the British.

8. M'Inoti, "Asili ya Wameru," chap. 4, Private Papers.

9. "Traditions and Customs of Mwimbi," undated, Saint Paul's Theological Seminary, Historical Archives (Anderson's Archives). Data on M'Agocorua corroborated by oral informants within both Mwimbi and Muthambi.

10. Information regarding the supernatural Kiamas of crop protection, food acquisition, child extortion, and supernatural dance has been supplied by former members of each group. See MOS 29, 35-36, 38, 58-59, and 61-67 as examples.

11. Mwaa: to be foolish, stupid, ignorant (Mu-Waa or Mwaa: jester, man of the fools); see Giorgis, A Tentative Kimeru Dictionary .

12. Sources for "deviant" Kiamas: Kairu Baimwera (Mwimbi), MOS 58; Karaya wa Njara (Muthambi), MOS 61; Kainyu Murungi (Igoji), MOS 63; Mwakireu Gikabu (Igoji), MOS 64; M'Muga M'Murithi (Miutini), MOS 74; Karema M'Ringeera (Northeast Imenti), MOS 88; and several others. Data corroborated by informants in Tigania-Igembe, with local variations. All informants were once either directly or indirectly connected with the societies.