“When we entered the forest, there was a big snake that used to live in a river right next
to our camp. The snake would provide us with very valuable information because it
would tell us when home guards or Europeans were on their way to attack and kill us.

The seer in our camp would communicate with this snake and then relay the message
to us. He would tell us, for example,

“You have been told that there will be no battle
today. Go bathe and rest in your tents because God has said there is no battle today.”

Indeed, that day would pass without any battle. Early the following morning, the snake
would call out to the seer… I have never seen such a big snake. It was huge! Its eyes
alone were the size of… [He points to a water basin in the room whose diameter is
about 50cm (20inch)]. I have never seen such an animal… It was a huge animal!

At the centre of the river, where the snake lived, there was a big rock. The snake would
push its head and neck above the water and rest them upright on the rock. It would
then cry out “titititititititi” [hissing sound], beckoning the seer to it.

The seer would go
out to meet with the snake and receive the message for the day. On one such day, the
seer came back and told us that,

“You have been told to go and attack a place called
Kabati. None of you is going to get hurt or killed in this attack. Furthermore, you are
going to recover some guns. Therefore, prepare your weapons and get ready for
battle.”

On hearing this, we started preparing our weapons for battle. We had a special
bomb called kivonoko which we usually carried with us on such attacks…

At about
4pm in the afternoon, we set off for Kabati. You should not think it was near. We had
to walk round the mountain for hours in order to get to Kabati. We arrived there late in
the night and found that everyone including the home guards was asleep. Our plan was
to attack the home guards’ post and recover all the guns we could find. Our leader,
General Kahiu-Itina, was the one who had been appointed by the seer to detonate the
bomb.

Carrying the bomb, he quietly crept through a hole we had made in the fence
surrounding the home guards’ post… We made our bomb by putting flour [probably
explosives] and many glass bottles together in a sack… General Kahiu-Itina stealthily
carried the bomb to the entrance of one of the huts, detonated it, and quickly ran back to where we all were.

As the bomb exploded, the breaking glass bottles sounded as if
the entire post was under heavy gunfire. All the guards woke up screaming in great
panic that their post was under siege. Fearing for their lives, they all ran away and left
all their guns behind! [Breaks into a hearty laugh]… General Kahiu-Itina then ordered
us to enter the camp and take all the guns we could find. We recovered eight guns that
night… That is how we used to get guns… by simply using our brains….

Believe me;
the snake I have told you about was huge! Its eyes were this size… [He picks up the
water basin he had pointed at earlier]. Huge and bulging eyes that could rotate from
side to side… But despite this intimidating appearance, the snake was harmless and
had no problem with anyone. Sometimes we took offerings to it in order to catch a
glimpse of it. We would carry millet, sorghum, cow peas, black-eyed peas, and ghee to drop inside the river… We would then move away and observe from a distance as the snake appeared. However, it is only the seer who could communicate with the snake.

He is the only one who could hear what it was saying as he had received such abilities
from God… I tell you, that animal had huge eyes! You didn’t want to be near it if it
was staring at you… Because we only got to see its head and neck, we never knew with certainty what kind of animal it was. No one knew what the rest of its body, underneath the water, looked like…

A seer is someone who is highly-blessed of God.
Seers are the ones who saved our lives during the struggle. They could perceive
everyone’s needs… [However] there were also times when the messages received by
the seer warned us of fatal encounters. He once said to us,

“Be careful as you cross Kayahwe River because a number of you will drown or get shot there.”And sure enough, five people died that day. It didn’t matter how careful we were, the foretold deaths always had to occur… That animal was huge! If it wasn’t so far, I would have taken you there myself. I would just have told you the kind of offerings we needed to
carry in order to go and see that mysterious animal.
It’s at place called Karaba near
where Mugo wa Kibiro was left after he died… You would be able to see the animal
for yourself.”

~Naratives Of Rituals and Resistance In KLFA(Mau Mau)-Excerpt