WOMEN'S ROMANTIC JOURNEY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 318, 6 July 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMEN'S ROMANTIC JOURNEY

AMONG SAVAGES IX AFRICA. Four thousand live hundred miles by ship, ciinoe and on horseback through country never before penetrated by a white woman, was the record achieved by Miss Olive Maeleod (now .Mrs, C. L. Temple), who vividly describes her journey in a new book. ••Chiefs and Cities of Central Africa," just published. INVADED J3Y FIIOGS. It will be remembered that .Miss Maeleod, as she. then was, made the journey t<> pay a last tribute to the memory of Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, the explorer, to whom she was formerly engaged and who was murdered by natives in Central Africa. She embarked in August, MO accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Tal' bot, and during her journey discovered the falls of the Mao Kabi river, which the French authorities desired to name after her. t "Quantities of frogs entered my tent" she writes, at the outset of her journey, and from the shelter of a mosquito-net ■ it was quite funny to watch them jump. I hey set themselves an obstacle to surmount, some four to six inches high—often the back of the lamp; and "this '.they attempted again and again on the tiddlie-wink principle. SNAKES UNDER THE BED. "I should not have watched them so complacently had I realised they had come in pursuit of insects, with which my clothes were covered, and that in the morning, as I took them out, my hand would again and again touch the clammy, squelehy body of some bloated and well-fed frog. "Nor did I realise, either, that even as the frogs came in pursuit of flies, so would snakes come in pursuit of them; and it was an unpleasant shock to see them under my bed and slither away into the open." She had honors paid to her of which she was unaware—as when a chief or' lamindo in French Übangi shook hands. "It was a solemn event, for neither he nor his forebears had ever before shown public recognition of a woman. A hush of breathless excitement ensued, broken by the shrill, rattling sound of feminine applause. ... "We knew only that we had condescended to shake hands with a .black man, and were in complete ignorance that we had participated in a revolutionary act, which was to stir every man, woman and child throughout the Mundonng Kingdom." !

Many of the chiefs paraded their nu-' merous wives for her inspection. In one district a sultan "showed them off much as a man in England shows his hunters, nor did he refrain from making personal remarks. In the presence of one poor lady he said that, though she had once been his favorite, her health had not been good, and she was so no longer. "His many lesser wives he summoned out in batches of fourteen or sixteen, so that we might photograph them. The Talbots persuaded me to let down my hair for their benefit, as, of course, its length and fineness was very wonderful to them. THE SULTAN'S OFFER. "The Sultan was immensely struck by it. and once volunteered his wish to have an English wife, who should take precedence over all the rest. His remarks were reecived in scornful silence, bnt, undaunted, he asked whether Mr. Talbot could procure him-one. On being told that he wanted the impossible, he accepted the .rebuff and gallantly offered me an enormous and beautiful straw hat, evidently as a reward for having shown my hair. "Before leaving the subject of hair, it may be worth while mentioning that the electricity in the air was so strong that Mrs. Talbot ami I hardly dared brush our hair, so much did it crackle and flash. When we got into bed our blankets literally gave out a sheet of (lame; indeed, we had terrifying visions of being burnt alive should we fidget in bed in pur sleep." TO CAPTURE THE WOMEN. While journeying down the Logone river the party witnessed the war-dance of the Banana, but presently the Banana became "less intent upon their dance than they were upon us." Miss Macleod and the Talbots were some distance from their canoe, and one by one warlike natives began to slip between them and the river to cut off their retreat. Suddenly the interpreter "worked his way quietly to our side. 'They mean to keep the ladies,' he whispered." Mr. Talbot, keeping his face towards the crowd of warriors, had already directed the two ladies to get away quickly, and luckily a few moments' of indecision on the part of the natives enabled Mrs. Talbot and Miss Macleod to reach the canoe. Another moment and they were all safely in midstream, shouts of anger and disappointment following them. Many interesting tribal customs are described in the book. The endurance of the young bachelors of the cowFulani, for instance, is tested by comrades who, armed with long sticks, step forward and beat the young Stoics with a force abundantly attested by the weals that a cow-Fulani bears round 'his body to his dying day. TRIBAL MARRIAGE TESTS. "The man who has shown no sign of suffering has proved his manhood, and is now considered worthy of marriage. Girls stand round to watch, and to them belongs the right of ending the test; this they do by stepping forward with raised 'hands." At Lewe, again, the privilege of citizenship and marriage are not bestowed on a man until he has climbed down a precipitous cliff. The aspirants "drink Pito—the native spirit—together, before the dangerous attempt is made. The bachelors have an undesirable time altogether, and must long to have their manhood proved, for fliey live in piccans' (children's) houses, clustered together, apart from the other residents, and the entrance to these huts, on whieh tney are dependent both for light ».«d air, is no bigger than that of a dog's kennoil."