ROYAL SUICIDE CUSTOM.

Shannon News, 9 October 1923, Page 1

ROYAL SUICIDE CUSTOM.

TRAGIC STOICISM. . AFRICAN TRIBAL HABITS. Writing in the “Sunday Chronicle* of Central African tribes, Nicholas West says: Amazing to relate, these tribes live principally \on milk. The tribesmen thrive on it, and aro a fine, tall, upstanding race. They have certain customs with regard to the deaths of kings which require courage, even stoicism, ‘on the part of these individuals. A king must never grow old. He'ls-expected' to put an end to himself before his powers, either men tal or physical, begin to deterfiorate. Nor has a single instance occurred in the - history, of the race of a king’s refusing io‘perform this duty. As soon as he feels convinced his powers are diminishing he da.lls gether his sons and from :i among them nominates his successor. He also confers on matters of State ( the chieftains to whom he had given office when he came to the throne.. His affairs thus arranged, he- seqdjS ,for his mcdicino man, and ‘explains his wishes. The royal poison is always kept in the shell of a crocodile’s egg. The contents have: only to be mixed with a little water to be ready for ÜBe, and the king drinks, falling dead in a few moments. , A FATAL INTERVIEW. * A ‘stately way of dying, Greek in its simplicity. Even the death of Socrates was not more impressive. Nor was, the king's own death the' only!' one on which be had to decide. When he to the throne, is mother became/ a person of importance, and was given a kraal near his, estates, and cattle. She saw n good deal of her son, and when she fell ill; and the illness seemed incurable, the •king \Vont to his mother, and, taking v the ‘'royjll poison from the medicine man, to her. She accepted his decision, took the cup from her son’s hand, drank, and died. It would need a fiercer stocism for. a. man to kill his mother than for him to poison himself. Not that as a people the tribe take death too seriously. When King Ntara died his sister gathered twenty of his wives and told them to go into a certain hut. She then broke the drum and spear ot her brother, and, join--ihg the women in tlio hut, told them to hang themelvos, after which! she did the same. No one objected, as it, was looked upon as this right thing to do—certainly it was one -way ;of getting rid of superfluous women. CURIOUS FREEDOM. The women of the tribes have, after marriage, a curious sort of freedom. Boys and girls run about in pleasant nakedness, but when the little girls are about eight years old, they are taken indoors and set to learn cooking, churning, and other household matters. As fat women are admired, mothers are careful to give their young daughters large quantities of milk. They also endourage them to sit about and talk and idle. Girls thus wax beautiful —or. at least beautifully stout—and are soon sought in marriage. The grown woman folds herself in voluminous garments of bark-cloth or cowskin, and covers for her face when in the presence of any man except her husband, father, and brothers, This is strange, as, although girls are kept very much secluded, an unusual laxity is permitted to married women. Not only may they satisfy any passing desire, but they are expected to live with any of their husband’s friends who may be visiting the kraal. A? a consequence it Is • impossible to say iwho Is the father of the children, but the husband claims them. NOVEL REASON FOR DIVORCE. The ancient Hebrews, objected to a whistling woman, but with the Banyankole it is the crowing woman of whom they disapprove, and if one is heard itnltating a cock’s clarion cry, she is a.t once divorced? In spite of a few cruel customs, the world in which the cow-people live appears to be a pleasant and peaceable one. Their lives are simple, their laws few, their taxes nil. They are, however, unprogressive. .That spirit in man which is eternally pressing forward towards fresh developments does not trouble them.