The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-26
in THE WILDS OF AFRICA.
An Interesting Letter from an Indian
apolis Doctor Among Black SavagcS.
An Island That Is Supposed By the Africans To
BE the End of the World-A Visit
TO Queen Sandymanda.

A private letter from Dr. Ralph St ]. Perry,
descriptive of trip into interior Africa, from
his station at Cape Mount. says:
son Friday, Sept TO- | received request to
visit Jarbacca and attend to some sick folks. as
] had promised Sandymanda. the Queen OF the
town, to visit her town whenever she sent for
me, il possible. / sent word to Jayow, the
captain Of my canoe crew, to have the canoe
ready at o'clock the next morning. My steel
trunk was hauled ous, relieved of it's contents
and packed with bromides, CELEBRATES. unguents,
nitrates. su,phates and varions other 'ates' and
.das; also, with my full surgical outfit, as nine
tenths of the work on these trips is surgical
these steel trunks are tho boss for rough usage
IS they will stand all sorts of abuse,
pre- light aud water proof frequently, In getting
into my canoe. have jumped from the bank
right on top of the trunk, and it does not show
even dent.
Early the next morning the canoe was loaded
with trunks. rico for the days meals, guns, ETC.
At o'clock we padded off to the music of a
native song. sung by the paddlers extoiing the
beauties and virtues of the women of the various
tribes surrounding US. lgenerally let my boys
sing and shout all they wish. as notice the
louder they sing and the more they shout the
better they paddle. As soon, however. as we
get around bend in the lake called Gomez
Point. the boys drop down to steady stroke,
which they keep up for hours at time. stop
ping now and then. one at q time, to rest The
paddles used by the natives are heart-shaped,
water Off thus in great measure preventing
She paddles from throwing water into the
4anoes; the stroke used Is either q steady, rapid
full dip. the paddle being sunk in the water TO
she handle. or else 1t s alternate full dip and
surface dip. the latter sinking the paddle only
one-third the way Ia and that obhquely. We
made straight line to Faa, where palaver
was talked with Rev FL. Mckinney in the en-
deavor to get him to accompany US. Mr.. Mex.
Is D Baptist missionary but good hunter. so
we overlook his Baptist persuasion and take him
10 as one Of the gang" Our efforts to persuade
him were unsuccessful, 80 we moved on past King
island and Dead King island to the Murphy
Eiver, which we entered. King Is lands the larg
eat in the lake. being about two by two miles 1t
has no human inhabitants but lie full Of
deer. bush COWS ducks, geese eagles and various
other animals that can fly or swim to II. 1t is
great hunting ground for the natives, many
deer being killed there. l have shot ducks,
geese and cranes there. but have never stopped
long enough to scare up deer. want to go
up and spend day there sometime deer
hunt Dead King Island is the smallest in the
lake, being about twenty feet In circumference
and is inhabited by one lone palm tree and
SONS grass. 1t is noticed only because of ito
prominence In several native traditions. 1t is
stated that this island Ia the end of the world,
aud that any person put on it cannot find his
way out, but falls into deep and painless for
est from which they can only be recovered by
che payment ct heavy tribute to the water gods
by their relatives 1t derives Its name from the
fact that whenever country king dies the
island moves about over the lake and con-
tinues to do so until the mortal remains
are PLACED In condition of r. /. p. Sew
sral OF my canoemen swear they have
seen it move about Recently we had thick,
misty rain, which caused objects at a distance to
appear much larger than they really were The
natives. upon looking ont upon the lake, were
much surprised to see huge black object with
an upright projection upon It. They at once
took 1t for the floating island and went to pray
ing for the dead king. The whole of Bendoo,
Pardong and Falia were torn up until Rev. Nc
Kinney took several boys in a canoe and padded
out and toed in huge log. with q large branch
sticking up on It. This shook their faith in the
Island considerably and put an end to the mourn
Ing and praying.
''Near the middle of the left side of the lake
two rivers pour In through single mouth. Both
present broad, deep channel, and banks
khickly wooded with palm and bamboo trees.
Here the gay and festive monkey corkscrews
his tail and barks at you; where the parrot,
eagle, toucan, hornbill and kingfsher send forth
their screeches to warn their fellow feathered
denizens OF the approach Of the enemy: where
the sacred alligator bellows, and the deer and
leopard run away at yonr approach ard where
your canoemeD are happy. because they can
awaken the sylvan echoes with the melodious
harmony of their Ethiopian minstrelsy.
AT the mouth of the Murphy, one of the riv-
ers wa saw aA alligator a-sunnin' hissef.' and
upon my proposal to cross over and shoot it,
there was general stampede threatened as
these brutes are sacred in the eyes of the
tives- AS 1t was now nearly noon and we were
only two-thirds of our distance from Cape
&ount, the question was not pressed, ! being
anxious to get to Jarbacca. Five or six miles up
the Murphy we entered creek, which is typi-
cal African stream described by Stanly
In speaking of the Congo. Our canoe had
difficulty In squeezing through its mouth. so
narrow was II. This narrowness continued to
the place where its two main tributaries are re-
csived, or rather one tributary and branch,
averaging about FIVE feet in width and three in
depth. Al the junction of the three branches
We squeeze through the mouth of the middle
pne barrels wide enough for the canoe to enter.
It being forced along by using the paddles as
poles aud pushing along between banks The
water here runs deep and swift--a perfect tor
rent--but after a half mile so the stream
spreads ont from thirty TO sixty feet wide and
i've to twenty feet deep. In here we were out of
Sight and hearing of oil evidence Of civilization,
and the animals were much wilder than down
the river Parrots and horn bills were killed for
soup for dinner. A drove of monkeys were
stirred up. but were too far away for US to get
successful shot At them. One OF our mission
boys who accompanied us. succeeded in shoot
ing and wouuding red monkey, but Mr.. Mon
Key succeeded in escaping When one of q troop
OF monkeys - shot and wounded the others grab
him s@d Garry him into the brush, TO die or re.
ccref as the monkey god sees cit,
,s2"The parrots hereahous are the srav parrots
the same species imported into the United
States for talking purposes. They make much
better soup than takers. and are not to be
sneeSed at when fried in palm kernel oil The
toucan is good for nothing but noise When
flying he looks rather out of balance, but he
gems to get there just tho same.' etc The
hof6hll Is another bird apparently out of gee
but his bill is not solid like the toucan's being
hollow and very thin. thus acting as a sounding
box for his cries. and simplifying their sound
very much. The natives say the box on the
birds bill is its grandmother's grave Their
legends tell that the hornbill was exile with
his family, and that when his grandmother died
he had no ground to bury her in so he buried
the gentle dame in his bill. His cry is not un-
like that of the campaign tir horn.
about p NJ we beached our canoe in front
of Jsrbacca, and were met by the head men of
the town and some Whoora chiefs who had come
down from their country 900 miles further in
land on visit. After seeing that my trunks
Tere cared for, we were taken into the inner
most chambers and presented to H. r. II. San