For centuries the peak of Mount Kenya has held a magical and religious significance for the Bantu and Nilohamitic peoples around its base. The Kikuyu live around the Eastern and Southern bound- aries and the closely related Uembu and Umeru on the S.E. and N.E. respectively. Early in this century the Masai lived to the N.W. and North, but after continual warfare between them and their neighbours, the European administrators of that time moved them to a special reserve to the South, which accounts at the present day for the retention in the Masai language of many words that refer to Mount...