PIONEERING WITH PIGMIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 16 October 1907, Page 4

PIONEERING WITH PIGMIES.

j AN UNUSUAL HONEYMOON. j I ilajor Powdl-Cottou some mouths ago ! ( completed a remarkable journey in Cen- j tral Africa. A romantic interest is to j be found in the fact that Major Powell- | Cotton, who had intended on the cont-lu- , sion of his expedition to get married, I decided not to interrupt his journey, j and accordingly arranged for his iianceo to go out to Africa. The marriage took place on her arrival at Nairobi, British East Africa, in 11105, and afterwards Jlrs Major Powell-Cotton shared her husband's hardships and dangers, having, among other things, lived for many mouths among the pygmies in the heart of the Itmi Forest. .She was the first white woman ever seen by these people. .Major Powell-Cotton discovered that the tribe had a religion of is own. In some of the inmost recesses of the forest, he reports, imposing rites take place. On certain occasions an altar is erected and sacrifices are offered, the pygmies themselves sitting round iu a semi -circle, performing their devotions. When the camp is moved to a fresh site in the forest the little people offer a sacrifice to the god of their new home to intercede for aid on their hunting expeditions. Bananas, sweet potatoes, mealies, pieces of cooked meat, all steaming hot, are placed 011 the altar as the offering to the god, and the pygmies sit round, all—men, women and children —eating. During their honeymoon, Major and Mrs Powell-Cotton had opportunities of watching the weird dances indulged io by the pygmies. To the music of their own voices and a native tom-tom the grpups of dancers shuffle round in a rough circle. The men and women each keep to their own circle —m pygmyland the sexes never dance together. At evening time, when the shadows are lengthening, this barbaric dwarf dance is fantastic beyond description. Speaking of his hunting experiences, Major Powell-Cotton said: "Bands of elephant and buffalo roamed the twilight solitudes at will. In all my travels I never saw so many elephant and buffalo tracks together. Frequently, as we warily cut our way through "the tropical growth in single file, the huge beasts crashed through the undergrowth on either side of us, and the ' experience, especially at night, was necessary particularly trying to an English woman on her first visit to Africa." The explorer relates a curious story of how the natives in the neighborhood of Wadclai dispose of the old folk when they become a burden. As soon as the infirmities of age manifest themselves the old people arc given a soothing dra ft, and wraped in an antelope skin. Thus attired, they are carried some distance from the village, and are abandoned in the grass close to a native track. The first native coming by sees what he thinks is an antelope, and spears it, whereupon the victim's familv emerge from their hiding place, and express horror and surprise at the unfortunate incident.