EQUATORIAL AFRICA

Hokitika Guardian, 24 July 1929, Page 2

EQUATORIAL AFRICA

(By T. A. GLOVER The Explorer.) BERBERATI, aioyan logon, EQUATORIAL AFRICA, June 4. We are now in a land of comparative plenty after tlie sand-laden suffocating winds of the desert, the intensley cold nights, the cry of heavily laden camels, short or scanty rations. Bananas are twelve for a penny chickens four for a shilling. Guavas mangoes, and limes are to be had for the picking. But the people are cannibals, and for weeks we have been delayed through a revolt of one of the largest tribes. Unwary natives travelling over the roads have been murdered and eaten the country has been in a state of unrest. Their craving for meat now being satisfied things are becoming more normal, • After man,, they tell us, monkey is the best meat, but really even monkey is but a poor substitute for a liuniart fillet, nicely grilled and passed steaming hot. For thirty days we have been slowly making our way up the Logone River Nothing to dislurb the tranquillity of the scene except the chanting of our eight paddlers chanting to the dip of their intermittent strokes.« • Their songs are crude, unprintable many of them, hut the’ one .that causes most laughter and is most favoured is one that roughly translated goes : “This white man is rich .beyond turmoil and strife; he must be important too, for lie’s got a white wife.” Night finds us camping on tlie first available sand-bar, watching a golden £un' sink over the cobalt blue waters of the Logone! Snipe in their thousands come down to their feeding-grounds, flying away screaming when we approach them. As we drift along every island is white with pelicans, which watch the strange thing that passes with serious expressions, or take to the water like maiden ladies afraid of the wet. Black and white fish eagles, blue • kingfishers, sit 1 rooding on their high perches, watching their ; chance to sweep down' on their prey. Twice we ■ have seen eagles make their catch with a precision that is amazing. Hippo raise their dirty pink heads out of the water, puffing and blowing crocodiles slide their hideous bodies off the sand-bars as we draw near, following us with their beadv eyes. : From the trees’ lining the banks, dog-faced baboons bark and jeer at ns, sometimes a crocodile swims too close and we pot him, much to the pleasure of the hoys, who gorge themselves full of the raw meat. Sing-sing waterbuck stand and stare at us in amazement, Tlie bush is alive with' birds and beasts ■ that dash through the bush at our approach. Taboos are much in evidence among the river .-pagans. Before a man can be initiated into various myste'rious tribal laws he must cany out certain penances. ,J] One of the most curious we saw was iamong the Yeno tribe, who are fisherman. A-man . who wishes to become acquainted with the art of sorcery must for .twelve months cover himself with red clay,; and above all avoid the polluting gaze of woman. Should he fail in this a cleansing process must take place that is too revolting to mention. £•s.:* As ive came down the Logone we saw one of these strange creatures fishing Being a woman and naturally curious I leaned out of the canoe to obtain a really good look. Immediately our paddlers yelled to him I was a woman, and in a flash he was under the water hidden from my view. Although I looked hack from time to time, I never saw him rise.; what a shock the poor man must have had. These people also file their teeth into points. We watched a medicine man carry out these rites, and a visit to the dentist is heaven in comparison. Having obtained a stone, a heavy stick, and a piece of iron, his sole equiment he called five husky natives to hold his small, sjirieking victim, a hoy of perhaps nine years of age. Prising open tlie boy’s mouth with the piece of wood he took the small piece of iron and, placing it on -the tooth, hit it with the stone until the piece was chipped off. Tlie cries of his victim were effectively lessened by the chanting o fthe medicine man and his assistants.