Morning journal and courier., 1893-12-19
Some Barbaric Customs.

IF om the London Standard.l
 Among the Hadendowas, a SndAnsss tribe whose name was painfully familiar to us few years ago, young men who as- pire t. rsnown challenge one another to a dreadful contest. After eersmonious car tel-which may be declined without infa- my, however, unless the youth refusing have fought once already and triumphed- public notice is given, and at the time 3D. pointed all the population of the village assemblies. The champions are stripped to the waist, and they carry s whip of hip popotamus hide four feet long, one inch square at the base, with edges newly trimmed, as sharp almost ss a knife. At a signal they exchange blows methodicAl- ly and keep 1t up until one owns defeat, or, very much more frequently, stumblss and falls, exhausted but still defiant Blood streams at the hrst cut, ss though the whip had been a sword almost, but they often hold out for half sn hour. Dr. Gunther sAys he has seen scars reaching to the very bone. The prize of the con testa Is c title, "Akhl-el- l-BenAfn-Proteotor of the Maiden-which the victor bears until defeated or married. We can be- e-~fN A@c NALA AACA h hghtipg for; but 1t would be interesting to know what advantages the title gives ex- actly, how the msidens regard their pro- teotor, whether he holds any official posi- ton towards them, and 90 forth.
 A custom like this has spread, of course, among neighboring tribes under various forms That of the AbyssiniAn braves is described by MT. Mansfield Parkyns. The girls themselves play an active part there When young psople are gathered for amusement, after 8 church festival for In- stance, one of them will begin peeling a straw of green millet, which is full of pith. Her lover's blood runs cold proha. bly,, but he must smile or own himself 6 craven. When she has cut the pith into bits an inch long he stretches out his bare arm. The example set, every girl wno re- speets herself and has a lover follows 1t. The young men form a circle with their arm extended. Blithely then, with many a jest doubtless, ths mAidens arrange their bits of pith, upright. in some fanciful de- sign, on the bare fissh, and set them AlIght They are nearly an inch thieh, and they burn very slowly, but the hspless youth must stand and smile as we'll as he can till the blood and juices of the scared flesh extinguish them. It is, in fact, a Peou- Msrly horribly form of tatooing.
 If semi-romantic brutalit!es of this sort ever prevailed in Europe we do not recall any evidence. The imagination of our forefsthsrs did not carry them beyond downright fighting in one shape or snoih- CT to prove their regard for the sex, bar ring individual examples, of course They have, indeed, 6 curious practice in Ssrdinis-or had, when MT. Tyndale vis- ited that island fifty years sgo-but it dces not seem to have been connected with courtship. This is the "Tirsi de pei" The combAtsnts take station opposite to one another, with a second, or packer, on either side. They put an arm round the neck of each of these, or else clasp their hands firmly, holding them up, with el- bows bent, a. the level of the chin. Stand ing thus, supported on either side, they proceed to kick at one another, to twist one snother's legs, and to practice any msn puvre which would possibly bring the antagonist to ground If the seconds did not hold him up. It appears to be pecu- ltsrly stupid kind of game, but when two lusty peasants kick at one another with all their strength, though they be protected by @ specisl garter called buTzighinus, very ugly injuries must follow. The fight proceeds until one cannot come up to time, or until the umpires declare that he would have been kicked off his legs had he stood alone.