An Explorer in Skirts
S° off Mary Kingsley went, to present to tropical Africa the curious spectacle of an upright English woman in the long skirts of the ‘nineties (though we kre told she wore underneath a pair of her brother’s trousers, but how hot!) and perched on her head — a cork
helmet? No! A shady straw hat? No! A large felt sombrero? No! — of all things, a little fur cap! As an excuse for going among the tribes she went as a trader, and _ she really did trade, And how comically
she relates her adventures! She never seemed specially concerned when her canoe overturned in some _ crocodileinfested river or swamp, though I marvel how she ever dragged herself out with skirts clinging round her. Yet she was glad of those skirts when she fell some fifteen feet into a grave-pit. "Had I adopted the advice of many people in England," she says, "and adopted masculine garments, I should have been spiked to the bone and done for. Whereas, save for a good many bruises, here was I with the fullness of my skirt tucked under me, sitting on nine bony spikes some twelve inches long, in gom- . parative comfort, howling lustily to be hauled out." One of her natives fell in a little later, and not having a skirt, got "a good deal frayed at the edges" as she expressed it-("Some Adventurous Women." Margaret Johnston, 2YA, April 11.)
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19420501.2.6.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 149, 1 May 1942, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
239An Explorer in Skirts New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 149, 1 May 1942, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in