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Show THE FIRST WHITE WOMAN. Mrs. Ker's Travels in the Heart of Africa. THE QUEER CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. Curiosity of the Savages at the Sight of au American. It I,. I -.-r "-.i-.n ::, I., I no-e n.ii ust- lo it. Li Hi" ceM.-!' uf allr.uA, -li t- UitU dr..d- of p.-.j-i.-. U, it .:irr.-uu.l.-:l by a - , Of f.u-i. and .ill -.taring bard t )..ii dill'-rent i:xpri-ti'jiii tl wuinli-r, cur1n-it , and aniu-n-rin-rit. Hut. then 1 was the Nii whit- woman t li.it tin- iJuallas of t lit l.'arn t-noui. river, West Afri-a. had ever een, and so if. wiw no w-.nder licit they were us tonLh'-l at my apri.-ar.Uicf- in their village. Kverybudy li-fiofT iln-ir dilb rent occupu turns and follmv-d u wii.-n-vx-r w went, alujiiliiij; -iti'l laiiliin, Jiti-1 nil btruKlin Vu in-ur inf. (.ro.-i of thm run on in front, uiiil tli'rii, turiiinj; round U stuit for a f.'w would ru.-tb uu fty'" t1 k-p up wilb u,. Hut my (-iniuirnfiMiii:iit at lc-i otc tlje caul of flinrli c-xfiU'riif at booii wort; off. for I, in my turn, h;ul inucb to wi: and wouiti-r at in ii Wn-t Africdti vill.'iK". 'I'lu.1 p'pli? wor- aliont ilw name height ae Knroji'-nns, tlieir sLiu very dark and rtotnetiun's nearly lilarL. N'-itli'-r men Uor wunin wort any-tinn any-tinn hut a waistclolli, wliirli in iLe aisti of chit-fi wjo, of ii ricli lORierial and brilu color. Mimt uf the p-upie wi-r un.toed.es puciidl v tne jouny ri tIm, wtionu clucks, uowHaml fi-n-hfad-t wore btrouyly niurkixl, and I liouiihl. v.-ry beautiful. Tin; mo-vt fivhiiiotiald of I best- kth wore tlii-ir liair (wtiic li win irrisji and woolly;tul into the MutpH ol' firch-s tulnii natini: ai the lop of tin- In-.id, and lietwf;ti :u-li two of tiir rows were hriylit :olored hr-aiU mid lini-s urimmi-nts. MuK bra pin wi-lx sun:k into tin: wool ju.-,t behind the ears. They also wort; very long uud large hrusu earrings, ami quantities of colort-U l-euda ; round the neck aud wrists. TIIK PI-.OPLK. Tin; streets weie straight, and spotlessly 1 clean, and the little bamboo houses with palm thatched roofs on either side the road ivhi'c very neat anil pretty; aud here and iln-re w.-ic lovely palm tn-es anil huge colton.vijodt. j "Tin- lamiln-s cook anil eat under these j tree-,," said Mr. A , who acted aa our. guide, "for you see the houses have neither windows nor fireplaces. J nut peep in here, I ami - tin will see t lie only furnituru Is the . bamboo bed and these few stools and calabashes." cala-bashes." .1 ust t hen a slim, good looking girl broke through t he. crowd, and rushing up to ' Mr. A , seized bold of his arm and he- , gaii talking very fust and earnest ly, as if 1 begging some favor. Her great black eyes ' louked so sat) and wistful that my heart, ! went out lo her. and I felt so glad to see . Mr. A Miiile as if willing to do what . she asked. She just gave him one look of t bank-1 and t lien was gutie. "Who is (.hat gil l; and do tell me what ; she is wanting you to dor'" I asked. "'.She says her mother is very ill, and she wants me to make her well. Von know 1 ' hu c studied medicine for some tiiiMi, a:d the people here think I cure by magic. The Diialliia have a horribly cruel custom with j their nil k. If tlie pal tent does not get well 1 iu a week fir t svo he or she is taken out into j t lie bush about four or live miles from the town, placed upou a rude bamboo hetl-. hetl-. stead, and left utterly alone, a woman j ; coming once a day to give the patient, food j and water and to light a lire. The poor ; weeteb of course soon dies of fright tit j , being left to the mercy of the wild lieasts, j ' whose growls and yells alone break the : monotony of the long dreary night. llll-: SiC'.i ANIi TIIL DEAD. "But t he llapt tst. missionaries have nearly near-ly got the people to do nvtiV with this wicked custom, and the more horrible one of heating to death the unfortunate person who is said by the u'gambi man (fortune teller) lo havu bewitched the sick person. When we Kurojieans are kind and unset-(is unset-(is li it is wonderful how much intliie.iico we get over these people. But the DHallas have s.'me seijiiuieuL iu them, for they bury thedead under the bouse which they occupied when alive, and they would thiuk it most cruel and mi feeling to cast the deceased de-ceased out of their homes.1' A large, fat, important looking man, with a sti'ipc-tl waist cloth, now civuie up to us and asked us if we. slvould like U) aee a danco. lit- possessed four European chairs (for bo was a great chief) aud we sat down under tlio shade of a beautiful eottonwood and tho duuee begau. A ring was formed of boys of all sizes, , who, with their elbows drawn closu to their j sides, walked slowly round, twitching every muscle of the body, while tUw women and girls, forming an outer ring, stood around clapping their hands to a sort of measure. This dance was curious, but neither beautiful nor inspiriting. A PttlMtTlVE TELEPHONE. We were next shown a big wooden drum, which Mr. A called the Dualla tele.- phonc, and he explained to us how by different dif-ferent ways of beating it a conversation could Ix: carried on by natives two uiile,t apart. .lust h we wete about to go (for the sun was setting, aud we had to get down totlu; river where our loat was watting for us) Mr. A motioned to me to look at two girls standing close by, one of whoui was doing something to the other's eye with what looked like a sort of bodkin. "he is taking out an eyelash, laughed he. "Have you not noticed that none ol tho Dual las have eye la -dies' They think they destroy the -sight, so they pluck out the hairs :is soeii as they grow." Crowds of people followed us to th.-river, th.-river, nud 1 found it very mortifying to my dignity to be snatched up niul carriil to the boat lik- a baby. Two other boatmen boat-men took Mr. Kvv ami Mr. A ou their backs ami carried i hem also ou bnaitJ, for, to say nothing of the crocodiles, a chill in west Africa means fever, and t ? bad ban too much of that. The natives, however, ca mo wading on: by doz'.-ns, su-uglinK Bo ifet the last shake of my baud, with the flattering compll meat, "Now that we have seen the white woman w e can die contented." Mrs. David Ker in Harper's Bazar. |