LAKE OF THE DEAD.

Evening Star, Issue 14932, 19 July 1912, Page 5

LAKE OF THE DEAD.

GREAT PYTHON'S LAIR. DISCOVERIES IN UNKNOWN NIGERIA. One of the most interesting discoveries made by Mr P. Amaury Talbot, a district commissioner in Southern Nigeria, and his wife during their explorations in unknown Africa was the Lake of , the Dead, in the Oban country. "The name of this lake," said Mr Talbot, interviewed by Reuter'a representative, "occurs in many of the tribal songs, but for a long time I could not discover the meaning of the word,_ and all inquiries failed to elicit information, and when I believed I was in the neighborhood of this haunted spot, and altered my course, my carriers begged to be allowed not to proceed, and were left behind. After a struggle through dense bush wo could see the edge of a sheet of water, along the banks of which were the holes of crocodiles, whose tracks covered the 6hoTe. "The scene waft a weird one; tho surface was absolutely still, and round about were 10ft high bushes with what were apparently great tufts of creamy flowers. These, however, proved to be nests of tree frogs. The place is a sanctuary for all wild things, for no hunter would dare to penetrate the bush to this dreaded spot. "As we stood at the edge, gazing out over the water, its quiet was suddenly broken by a broad ripple, and little fish were seen to spring agitatedly above the surface. A great python was crossing, and this, we learned, shared with the crocodiles the guardianship of the sacred lake. "Nothing, we were informed, must be allowed to" trouble the water or even to touch its outer edge, or famine pestilence would ensue. Here, according to popular belief, come by night the ghosts of long dead Ekoi. to "drift in sad companies, hopeless and wailing, over the surface of the water. Even in the bright sunlight the place has an uncanny look." —Lake of Immenso Depth.— In the German Cameroon territory, where they were most hospitably received, the German Commissioner, Dr Mansfield, escorted Mr and Mrs Talbot to another sacred lake which he had discovered. " The centre of this lake," said Mr Talbot, " is of immense depth, and, strangely enough, even on the hottest day its temperature at the bottom is far higher than that on the surface. " As in the Lake of the Dead in Southern Nigeria, a great snake dwells beneath the waters, and this, at least, is fact, not legend alone, for the German Commissioner informed us that a skin was found not 100 yards from the huts ho had built on the shore. It had only just been cast, and measured 18ft. " Wild ducks cling in coveys to the branches of dead trees which raise their bare limbs above the surface, while hawks and eagles circle continually in the clear air above." Describing a visit to a district where all the houses were built of ebony, Mr Talbot said : " The side of our tent almost touched a little ebony hut built over a large and gruesome-looking pot, the. sides of which were ornamented with iron hooks. Before this, about breast high, and the length of a man, was a kind of altar, made of stout ebony blocks. " In front of our tent door was a tall carved pillar, ornamented with strings of human skulls. The people all had the filed teeth and thin, shrunken appearance which are always associated with cannibal rites. All our carriers said that not only was the pot in the hVle hut meant for tho sacrifice of human victims, but the two hideous mud figures of a god and goddess in another shed on the further side of the carved pillar had had their heads worn away by the constant libations of human blood poured over them." —Home of Witchcraft.— Describing some of his experiences in the Southern Nigerian bush—the home of witchcraft---Mr Talbot said : " The bush, with its soft green twilight, dark shadows, and quivering lights, is peopled by many terrors, but among these ' Ojje,' or witchcraft, reigns supreme. The bird which flies in at your open door in the sunlight, the bat which circles round you at night, tho tmall biifh bea.*fs which cross your path while hunting, all may be familiars of witch or wizard, or even the latter themselves, disguised to do you hurt. " Should the suspicion of witchcraft fall upon anyone, only trial by ordeal can free him. The most usual one is that of eating esere, a poisonous bean, which almost invariably kills the suspected person. The ordeals of boiling oil poured upon the palms of the hands and of peppercorns inserted in the eyes are far less dreaded, not only because their results are practically never fatal, but because the physical anguish entailed is acknowledged to be less intense than that caused by esere. " Sometimes the terror of witchcraft will scatter a whole town. This happened atOberekkai (Obetekkai —Crab Mud), once a large and prosperous place, which stands on a tributary of the Kwa River. To-day it is deserted and dreaded, and, with rapidly advancing bush growth, is but a shrunken survival of former prosperity." Mr Talbot and his wife have returned home from nearly two years' travelling in parts of Nigeria, large portions of which have never before been visited by a Government official, and certainly never by a white woman. For the first time a survey, anthropological, botanical, and in parts geographical and zoological, has been completed almost uninterruptedly from the Gulf of Guinea right through to Central Africa.