| Show lOW THE MONSTER MONARCH I THE BEST KING IN N AFRICA ji alp Ok a B Began egan Ho His 15 R Reign 0 i in in Africa as a Blank Blade Herod Who Threw ChilK Children Children Chil- Chil K Iii dren to the Crocodiles Crocodiles- E. E Ended as a Constructive P- P and and nd Beneficent Barbarian t Ruler of the Upper Zam- Zam si I 5 LL in some inland post feel teel the agery the utter savagery ad closed und and him him all all the mysterious ous life of wilderness that stirs in the forest the jungles in th the hearts of wild wUll rf n Conrad I Irit f the e heart of the sombre African rit angle there died only the other day one of the greatest and last the kings of the unknown though world world world-a. a ruler of ot one those spaces bright to young fancy Si von Sion i on the map black in truth a 0 part Mm I rJ r. Conrads Conrad's heart of darkness I Ie e OS e dead King Icing was called id d' d chief of ot the and he be heas was as of ot the lives and destinies of at ne millions of ot black men dwelling the forbidding valley of ot the upper Excepting Abyssinia his hla was wasA A t greatest native empire in the barrio baric bario bar- bar rio ic continent and the man himself haps the last of ot those picturesque 3 d' d 1 terrible monarchs whose doings i 1 took on a shadow m contrast with the encroaching ht of ot the world outside ewanika dead at 56 saw his coun- coun from the wildest murkiest agery to a place literally within the thew thew w w. sun of civilization Beginning life Uto butcher and wholesale assin as- as sin he closed It a constructive and old barbarian in love with brilliant and mysterious great lands ross rose the seas which seem to have ded ideals with the dead In tn his lifetime he abolished sav g brutal sacrifices and the of ot some ome forms of Idolatry he helit lit and maintained schools wrote a aed ed body law admitted the white man ideas and even established feUs' feUs teLle fe- fe Je Us' suffrage of ot a kind from which across th the big tides may maysh ay aysh sh eh to adapt something i To the the many many of ot u us who AfriC Africa as a phrase se with a annotation an n of of- cannibalism half halt cond coned con- con ed d by later denials and who know Ither how dark it was nor yet ho how w ht it grows the story of ot a tat 1st be of Interest He was born in inJO JO in troublous times far from capital city of ot the or more l Of name he was wa s boa bosi and he was the twenty-second twenty ler ter of ot his line fine which had been es- es In the the seventeenth century ry d had reigned with Innumerable in In- In fatalities and restorations n ie dynasty dynasty to st tD to record an n Interesting g between the traditions ns of van varl- ri- ri sTand unrelated peoples was peoples was found found- IbY a a. demi demigod od chief who was born immaculately of a woman named Buja Buya When was born bom his uncle Lc- Lc L popo opo sat on the tin throne one as chief of the tribes in a most truly manner manner manner man man- ner It must be said sald One of his chief chiet diversions was to chase down some of the he Innumerable children of subject tribes and boat I them to a low island in the near Lial r. r where he fed them to the crocodiles croco Wes for his own and his tribes tribe's amusement Th bloody was deposed and assassinated after eleven y years ears of this kind lind of circus i 11 and succeeded by another uncle of Lo- Lo LoI I bosi boss who was himself expelled d after brief rule to make way for Lobe si who I ascended the throne in 1877 at the tender tender tender ten ten- i der age of 17 ii In the early part of his reign exhibited all the interest in savagery that had graced his uncle so fatally The patient tood stood for this kind of rule until 1884 when brought himself to fall by torturing and mur murdering murdering murdering mur- mur dering his own brother brothel He fled into exile but returned with an an n army th the following year an and 1 put the new ruler to rout He his throne after after after aft aft- er changing his soiled name nama to Le- Le On his entry re-entry into the victorious victorious vic vic- found among his people people peo peo- pIe a strange creature a white man with quiet conciliatory wa ways s who had come to take nothing and was decidedly decided decided- ly anxious to make friends long lone repulsed this temerarious visitor but eventually yielded received him and permitted his overtures This marl map was Francois the famous missionary When he went to his first meal with the king king- that worthy squatted on the ground Incomplete in incomplete incomplete complete nudity and devoured a a. duck with his hands and teeth Toward this the th end of ot his life the king h had d learned even eYen an excellent taste In in European foods wines table fittings by unshakable patience got himself admitted to the confidence and trust of the king who in time treated him with high honor and consulted him about the government of ot his tribe What he cried out one day daj in the face of recurring recurring- trouble shall I do with mj my m people Comard's s reply is preserved in hi his diary left left on his death at J Len anika's s court in court in 1904 Take the the secret spear from under your yoU cloak and arid and throw it awa away aware re re renounce vengeance once for all attach I your our people to yourself by b- b making their welfare your our first object put a 10 stop to theft give gle them Justice quiet I sleep and good food to eat eat It was the beginning of dawn in Ba- Ba went vent to work layIng layIng layIng lay- lay Ing down new rules without disturbing the theold old feudal system stem In the old system system tem there were viere three kinds of chiefs Beginning at the bott bottom m each class owed fealty to some chief in the next higher rank ranle those of this rank again bowed to the thc chief of their particular tribe These tribal l lords lards in turn were to the head chief of the dm domn dominant nant nt tribe the conquering All All' others in the considerable kingdon king king- do don dom Yere were sla slaves slaves es of these chiefs The he slaves slaves' again were wore divided into three ranks and each upper tipper r rank lc of slaves es might own slav slaves s of ot the next i lower rank until the nadir of feudal caste was reached S Such ch a system of slavery su superimposed su- su d on slaver slavery was made possible possible possible ble b by the wild nat nature of the country the simple needs of the people their ability to support themselves on wild game gamEl with very ery little agricultural aid the the absence in fact tact of economic considerations con This interesting system preva prevailed led until until until un un- til 1906 In 1902 attired in good European clothes and invariably equipped with a silk hat attended the coronation of ot King Edward Edward I land lana having before that time become a voluntary British protectorate King Edward received him with great interest interest interest inter inter- est and British society took him up and lionized him went home with his head unturned but with several new notions piled Into It He lIe worked on 01 the problem problem problem lem for four years before he he dared anything anything any any- t thing ing so revolutionary as freeing the slaves Then even two years after 1 had died and his guiding guiding hand had been removed abolished human serfdom In his country Civilization Civilization Civilization Civili Civili- had taken hold with him a rare thing In a a. s savage vage prince I have said tha that dealt w with ith the suffragist It is quite true In Ba- Ba rots eland the final authority is shared b bj by a a. woman the eldest sister of the king icing She is known as the l and maintains a separate capital at Once a j year ear and on all matters dealing w with ith the government of all aU aUthe the federated federated ed tribes tubes she is consulted ons by her hex brother broth broth- brother broth broth- er and the male mate lad leaders rs of th the peoples and she attends these councils scrupulously scrupulously scrupulously and always has most to say The l at the an annual conference acts as a sort of censor or critic of the men and the king kins She first confers with I Iother the women of the paramount tribe and other leading women Then she appears appears appears ap ap- ap- ap pears before the council with the women women wo wo- women wo- wo men in her tram train and begins to lay layabout layabout layabout about her An Anything thing the king and his chiefs may have have- have done done the preceding preceding- year or any alY plan purposed she Is permitted permitted permitted per per- to criticise to l her er hearts heart's content son con on- on tent and to the huge huge- delight of th the women was as as able as her brother and decidedly eloquent lq elo- elo eloquent quent Her lIer assaults on the faults and foibles of the men men were prolonged and ami ardent She knew how bow to lay about with scathing words which had her male auditors squirming and protestIng protest- protest Ing the while the women enjoyed their discomfiture to its limits This l Joses Doses her authority with the death of her royal brother and her place will be betaken betaken betaken taken by her hei eldest daughter just as the throne itself passes on to Letia the eldest son Thus the right of primogeniture primogeniture primogeniture primo primo- geniture applies among the royalty to women as well as to men These laws these Institutions do not more than hint the work this murderous murder murder- ous black savage accomplished once he saw daylight He lIe established courts and Judgments A man accused or of I I Ii crime must be tried by a number of his peers men of his own kind and i prominence The right of sentence anI and pardon is reserved to the king He stands always ways behind his courts with no right to find guilty but privileged to be severe or lenient Letia Lelia the new new king of the is Protestant Christian converted in his by and antI educated in English and Fren French h. h His father be before before before be- be fore him did not go so far he discarded discard discard- ed much of the old beliefs as he did the old od customs but without taking up upa a new faith The old faith was one of those thos strange mixtures encountered among primitive tribes especially those tha that have in bygone days been through th their lr wanderings wandering The people support support support sup sup- port a kind of sun worship mixed up with ancestor worship and idolatry The sun is the chief god but there are many evil spirits who must be appeased under the rule of the old i i le- le e- e The graves of ot ancestors are i revered re- re evered e- e vered especially if th they y hide chief All the two twenty kings of ot nika's line aro are laid out in a a arow row at the last greening mound his own own Probably ably the of tomorrow will not bow down and beat its brow against his god-enshrouding god turf Likely Likely Likely Like Like- ly enough it jt will not too long remember the king who let in the daylight |
