MY CHRISTMAS AMONG SAVAGES

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1929, Page 8

MY CHRISTMAS AMONG SAVAGES

By itUSiTA FORBES, tile Explorer iiilU Ao.eUaL. Christinas east 01 Suez is apt to be ~S Iwpjj-cul > y ils an nlLlueUl elite e, "Alice ilirougn tlie ■i.oiming-'.Ha&s. ’ reiiiouiuei" a ...•i.quoi/ m 'teiaia u'liei „no (.me.a 1,5 a ere ie.ipieouO.ie vi.ui Cuoratioiis because a .personage nappeuou iu ..e puoa.ng inroi.gu. '1 lie whole ol uie rtiigusli colony ill its very nost rroeits, \.as poepog m... uiirigimig game wineii consists 01 pa.,nig rooiiu i.uuer uie lame a senes c. queer oujeeis, sue.i as a peeied iiu.ru--001 Kd egg', a lur tox gio.e lined win. sana or soimnmng uanip, anu leauiei.v ami guessing wiun. Liiey are by iee.m t .

bile ill. \\ lien the laughter was verging 01. hysteria—owing to tbe sensations proanted by elutcliing st.niebiiing warm and wholly which squelciicu —a magniiueut servitor in seanet and goto announced that tiie religions magnate convspondiiig to our Archbishop, liau sent Ins Excellency a present. •| be Personage uenianuod its immediate production and the horrified protests of tiie domestic were lost in tbe nahel of anticipation. Jt was produceu and- it consisted oi nali a dozen liudy mountain 1 a ms who charged into the room witli the object of getting as inueii lu.ll as possible out of their Christinas party. Qurs simply disappeared lie-lore tin onslaught. Much later the more timid were collected from the fiat, mud r»oi where they had been in clo-e communion with the chimney pots. In the East every great festival is connected not only with feasting hut with sacrifice. ] spent one Christmas in the tents of an Arab tribe who were sufficiently heretical to recognise their guest’s I'igr.t to his own particular brand of religion Consequently, they helped mo to <elofirnte the worship of an unknown diety hv driving three 'bullocks up to the door of my tent and there cutting tin tendons of their knees so that the wretched animals sank into a respectfully kneeling position and would him slowly bled to death had I not insisted on tlieir immediate destruction. _ Shattered by this incident, whichJ had occurred while I was trying M was in a glassful of muddy water., jjp fumed with sprigs of mint, 1 JF. hardlv face the subsequent fea.-t, •Fuc,: consisted of two sheep roasted whole and stuffed with a flock of little biw: The Sheikh, surprised at my lack oappetite, informed me that lie could devour a weli-grorll lamb at a sitting and, in order to encourage me tore the tail off the carcase and pressed olio end into my mouth. It was a solid blob of fat at least 18 inches long. 111 Albania one can appoint someone to eat for one, mid in Abyssma, wlu-rc T spent a hectic Christmas among the Copts, I was obliged to detail someone with a stronger head than mine to respond in kind to the innumerable I toasts. . 1 fiat was perhaps my oddest Christmas dinner, for most of it was raw! In the morning there had been a pro cession during which the tablets <>i Moses, supposed to have been stolen with the Ark of the Covenant from the Holy of Holies in the temple of Jerusalem three thousand years ago by I Menelik, first Jewish Emperor of Ethiopia, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, were carried in procession round the village of mud and wattle lints which was once the splendid capital of the Shebans. The priests walked under fringed velvet umbrellas, anemone-purple ant poppy-red, and realistic banneis depict'd the tortures of ancient martyrs hut all the saints were black and only the devil was white. The Christmsa feast iVgtm at midday. when tin' whole population of the ! town gathered in the market square each group with a. monstrous jar of tedj, the potent- native beer, in tiie centre of it. From the palace of the local chieit.ain came a procession bearing tlm skinned carcases of oxen slung by the hoofs from poles decorated with strip' of? embroidered velevt. The slaves bore meat to each guest in turn, ‘.'ha. with his own knife, sliced of! the portion lie wanted, and proceeded to cat it with guttural sounds indicative of appreciation. ‘‘Raw nil eat makes warriors—only women eat cooked flesh,” it vis the slogan of peasant Abyssinia, but on that occasion the teclj proved too strong even for the warriors. At first the square resembled a lit h* of narreissi, for every man wore a spotless white robe. By the time the carcases were stripped to the bone it looked more like- a battlefield, Im every chammu —six yards of while woollen .stull - worn as a shawl anil pet iticonsb combined—was splashed with crimson. When the Aladdin jars were emptied it -might have /been a crop mown lor harvest, lor every man was. prostrate and apparently remained so lor twenty four hours. Unfortunately my .guide was among the revellers, and .1 had to buy him a pair of brand-new charms to put in lib shoes “to keep his feet *m the right path” before file would i-onU’inphitc continuing the journey. In the imregenera-te days of Papua before Australia tool' n—lit inly-—oi hand. 1 went to a. Christmas leasi no.ll the Stanley range. j The missionary, who li.nl iniemle.l to supervise the gambols of his flock was down with fever, hut lie had taker, the precaution of doling out sufliden, red flannel to every, savage to provide a decent covering. ‘"Kiits, you know,” lie rambled alLr his ninth dose of quinine. “That s the

idea! You’ll think yourself in the Highlands. Hut the converts had no desire to emulate the i( litis. It was torrn.ly •ot and every man wore the skins ilnn Heaven had given him, richly tatooed, of course, and adorned with dogs tccili and a neat waist-belt or st-’ing. The red flannel had come in vciy usful. It made tritely magnificient turbans out of which leaked strands of fiercely bushy hair by whoso volume manhood is measitercd in New (Jninca the whole surmounted by lobster claws and a couple of birds of paradise!