PRINCE AS RAINMAKER

Hokitika Guardian, 15 January 1929, Page 8

PRINCE AS RAINMAKER

CHIEFS LEOPARD SKIN COAT

AV'IT'H TAIL. From Sir Percival Phillips.) DO IX>A FA, (Tanganyika Territory) November 29. The fame of a new rainmaker is being broadcast throughout Tanganyika to-day and his name is the Prince of Wales. Fifty principal chiefs who met him formally here this morning are returning to their homes tremendously impressed by unexpected showers that ushered in the day after a week’s drought. Even more gratified are the local Wagogo tribesmen, whose fields had been baked hard by the relentless sun. The fact that the rainfall was very slight does not detract in the least ■from the importance of the feat- they attribute to the Prince. They are convinced that he brought the showers as the gift which they would most appreciate and in this spirit they are acknowledging it. THE BLACK BTTIX. The. Prime met the chiefs on the outskirts of Dodoma. He stood in a little pavilion decked with palms with the Governor. Sir Donald Cameron, and local officials and other Europeans. Before him sat the chiefs in a wide semi-circle, some of them in chairs of state brought from their remote capitals others content with canvas stools. Behind the pavilion their green tents lay in a great crescent. Aho'-e each tent fluttered the flag of the chief, bearing bis heraldic device, ■and this array of bright banners—emblazoned with su r ‘h brave dcsingns as the Black B'dl of Sekumn and the Bed 7,obr.a of Tahoro— <rn the camn the aonearancp of a gathering of mediaeval knights.' A COURT COSTUME. The chiefs were particularly gratified when the Prince said lie hoped they would have abundant rain during the coming months. Then the chiefs came forward in « long line and made their obeisance one •by one led by Gabriel of Mwanza Chief .of the Wakarcwes. This solemn autocrat deserved the sensation he created bv reason of the skilful blending of European and African modes in his .ceremonial dress. Over khaki slacks and tunic he wore •a long leopard skin in the form of a coat with the tail dangiling gracefully between his legs. On his head was a shako of colobus (monkey) hair fasten ed under the cliir. by plaits of coloured beads. One interesting chief was Sapi. of the Wahehes in Southern Tanganyika. The skull of his father. Mkawaw, figured in the Treaty of Versailles. He rebelled against the German authority many years ago, became an outlaw and finally committed suicide in dramatic circumstances in 1898. The Germans took his bones and skull to ‘Berlin to be placed in a museum. The first request made by his son after the war was the return of his father’s skull. TH E CIIIEFTAJ NESSES -

Two chieftai nesses passed before tlio iPrince with their male advisers—Ktrain of Kigoma, a little woman in a red cloth headdress and sober grey robe, and Nti from the same district, who wore a costume of gayer appear,anee. They are the sole survivimr members of tiie ancient royal family of the Walipa tribe. Sir Donald Cameron asked the Prince to accept an uncut, diamond from the new fields at Shin.vanga (near Lake Victoria), which lie said, had been selected by a South African expert as tlm best stone yet found in a field that may yet become 'famous Sir Donald described the stone as “ a little hit of the core of the country in a crystallised form/’