"GOING FANTI."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 166, 4 July 1908, Page 4

"GOING FANTI."

RENEGADE WHITE MEN WHO LIVE WITH COLOURED HACES.

When a European abandons the life to which he has been brought up. ami throws in his lot with a coloured'race, he is said to "Go Fanti." Such lapses J rum civilisation are by no means uncommon in Africa, India, China, Japan, and, indeed, in almost every country iutu which the white, man has'forced his way with whisky and Bible. A curious case of cutting oneself off t J'i'om civilisation occurred in Persia some

years ago. A rich English traveller was .captured by hill robbers at the edge of ilic desert, about midway between' Isap.fiiau and Yedz. They held him to ransom, which was to be arranged by a friend of the Englishman, who was slaving at Teheran. IVfore the release could be ell'eeleil, the captured man fell deeply'in love with the youngest daughter of the chief of the marauders. Despite the entreaties of liis friend, lie put Ihe old Mfbehind him, married the girl, and Ik: came a full-Hedged Persian robber, tin his lather-in-law's death the ren-gade Englishman jilci-cedcd the former' i■, A war eoncpuml out relates howhi was once entertained by a friendly whose tent \\\v pitched a few Vks south of Gur.iru. During dinner, a typical Arab by means of tln'WKwords of \rabi • known to the man, and, when words failed, signs used. The inevitable produced, and the two men in contemplative sileiicc. end of half an hour or. so the I Uciiy astounded at hearing UMplcrlaincr say smoke!" VB Arab!" exclaimed the war* correspondent. \ The brown-faced, bcriiouse-elad man smiled grimly as 'he rummaged out an old well-coloured briar pipe anil, \ pi'-kef of choice mixture. *

"I was once an Englishman," .~tid he, as he passed the tobacco ovrrj "lull, now—> He ilnislii'd tin- sentence by a shrug of the shoulders. ■ k They talked of Ilvdo Park aiid»f Piccadilly; of Ilurlingham and of I--);~; of hunting, of shooting, iijij (,:' ii-hing. The guest felt the dolk'aiy of putting questions; the host volunteered 111> explanations, lie declared that lie would never return to the irritating, lightening bonds of civilisation. '• The desert holds in*," lie said simply, as the other swung himself on to his camel and departed,'marvelling at the vagaries of mankind. i A few years ago a captain in a wellknown regiment stationed in one of the north-west provinces of India beca'.i'e in fatuated willi a handsome hill-giirl. 'i'he mess soon lost its attraction for him. and the society of the uncivilised maiden became preferable to that of thV station ladies, willi their latest LnmloVi and Paris fashions, lie eventually married his du<d<v divinity, nud "went undeU'," He is still perfectly happy and contented, and, living a free-and-easy' Hi'e, lias no desire to return to the ti'ammt'ls of society. \

In .lapan there are many Europeans, who, fascinated by the charms of P,iv<East, have put the West for ever behind them. Within a few miles of Tokio there lives a man who was once a fiuuili ar figure in St. dailies' Street and Pall .Mall. In the autumn of 1902 he went out to Japan on a yachting cruise willi some friends. He became enamoured with ' a pcach-aiid-croam compjexioiiod native, wooed, and married hot, aitci -disappeared from the world that had known him. jk A wealthy Frenclin.TS, when on a visit to I lie. Far East, net a ebavmin;'daughler of Japan. He fell madly ill love with her, and asked her to become his wife. This she consented lo do on condition that he agreed to live in the land of the Mikado. It was a terrible wrench for him to leave his beloved Paris, but he fell that: it would have been a still greater sacrifice for him to give up the girl who Ijitd won his heart. lie now lives in a s.'cliidod and beautiful house near Kiofi, and Paris is al-. most a forgotten memory. There are several well-know u in-slau.-oo of Europeans turning Zulu, one of the most notable being that of John' Dunn, who was known as Celewnvo's While Man. Through his bravery Dunn soon won the heart of the Zulu Kiiie., and he eventually became a chief. A.famous London-journalist, who lias acted as war corrcspoud'.'nt in almost ever,- part of the globe, related the following story: Cetewayo. in the days before Ihc Zulu war. once asked Dunn suddenly what he would do if the Zulus fought against I lie white men. IJhiih at once replied that he would g'i to (he side of his own people, and Ceteweyu grimly told him th.ii. had he given any other answer be would have stabbed liim, for he would have known him to be a liar. When the war did break out. Dunn kepi ],;, y,„,-,| Alw.i;.-, a white man at heart, he look up arms on the side of his own people. You will lind Europeans wedded to Samnau women, with their deep languorous eyes; to women of the Celestial Empire, with almond eyes and crippled feel; to dusky, full-lipped Africans; to North American Indians, with long broad noses and hair as strong as horses'. AH these men have "lioiic Fanli."