Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-28

where.
my surprise. found the neatest,. cleanest
and most artistic house that | had ever
seen in Central Africa. 1t had a floor of
bamboo splits and "a table of bamboo very
neatly made, with dressed bark top, and
over this was spread a native grass cloth
of rare and tasteful pattern. At one end
of the room was ANlvan of bamboo neatly
covered with a leopard skin, and at one
end of this was a. pillow made of a BUSH
cat skin, sewed UP with rawhde thongs
and stuffed with human hair At the ends
of the pillow were long tassels of dyed
grass .r.,.-. q
learned that the young man who was
SO busy in entertaining me had founded the
town, as they called it, and that he was to
become a great king in time, and this was
the germ from which his royal domain was
to grow. He vas not more than twenty
five years old, and had four fine, strong
wives at this time. He kindly offered TO
escort me on my way to the great lake. and
1 accepted.
Arrival Mt the Lake. -.a.l.-
From this village to the lake was not far
and we arrived soon after = o'clock in the
afternoon. On my arrival / was kindly re-
ceived by Ogala. the chief man of the town,
and nephew Of M'bana, the greatest of
the three kings of Esyira, and he told me
that l was the first white man who had
ever seen the lake. 1 arranged to pass the
night in his town, and then | began my in
quest over this sea of wonders and found
as l had expected, that here was to be
seen at times very rare mirage. The old
est man of the town told the story while
the others sat by and prompted or amend
ed his tale from time to time, until / had
very complete account of this great
IN buiri" ,,..r
The sum Of the story is that about the
end of the wet season, ard sometimes about
the beginning of il, there can be seen upon
the lake strange canoe. 1t is white, and
has one end cut off. 1t always has a white
man in it, but it is propelled by four six
black men, who wear white caps, and all
of them wear clothing like white man.
They use oars longer than man, and al
ways go backward. They catch the
''n'kavi or paddle with both hands right at
the end, and they do not sing or talk. The
white man wears a helmet very much the
same as the one that l had on at the time
only it is white. Sometimes he wears white
coat and black trousers, sometimes black
coat and white trousers and sometimes IT
is all white. At times there are two white
men in the canoe, and there have been three
seen in it,
The Vision Described.
The vision is never seen except when the
bosom of the lake is smooth and placid
but, strange to say, the oars used by thu
II en- IN the boat d. not break the surface
of the lake. and yet. just beneath it. the
waters boil and foam from the force OF
those long paddles, and while the canoe
rolls and losses about. 1t never once disturbs
the quiet surface the lake, nor leaves, a
trace behind it. And the most singular
thing of all H. that this boat never starts
from the beach, nor does it ever land on the
opposite shore. 1t is always seen far out
from the bank, and IL slowly melts away
III the blue waters of the lake. From this
fact, it is believed that these strange people
live in the depths of the water. on the
stern of this phantom canoe is always car
ried an 'n'tyandi," which is their word for
cloth, and this is fastened to long stick
and is black and white and black.
Inasmuch they call all dark colors
black. the description answers for the
French fiaG-red, white and blue. The
mystery of the long oars is easily under
stood by any Ufle who has ever scen a
ships boat, gig or yawl: but these
primitive people had no idea of an oar-lock.
The native uses a short paddle, caught at
the top by one hand. near the middle with
the other. and sits with his face t. the bow
and they seemed much in doubt when i
tried to explain the ''n'kavi otangani." or
white mans paddle. and could not quite
understand how il was done. The boat does
not always travel over the same course. nor
in the same direction, end one time there
was seen q native canoe with three strange
men in it. and they appeared to be trying to
get away from the white canoe, as If from
fear.
Strange Optical Phenomenon.
This strange image, drawn so wildly upon
the blue field of that remote and weird
lake. away in the heart of that great for
est is a problem in optics which the doc
tors of that science do not quite explain,
and it is no wonder that such phenomena
appeal to the fears and arouse all the super
stiton in the mind of the poor savage in the
wilds of an African forest The scene is
evidently of the French officers and the
employees OF the government, and must be
reflected from the coast, the nearest point
of which is quite hundred miles away.
There is no French post nearer than the
coast and the nearest one in the Agowe
xiv he. u,
no trader near the place. and. besides. the
traders do not use the kind of boat seen IN
the mirage, nor do they as a rule, carry a
nag or wear a helmet.
Like a Cannon Discharge.
He said that one calm day, as the last
rays of the setting sun were leaving the
tree tops on the hills. he saw a flash of
fire under the surface Of the lake. He
drew On the ground crude outline Of the
shape of it and it was quite like the flash
of cannon, and he said it started from
the smaller end ami frally became smoke,
and this was seen five or six times at in
tervals of minute or so at a time. Finally
the lake spoke out so loud that ii sounded
like thunder, and 1t did this as many times
as the fire flashed in the water and then
one time more and hushed. This did not
occur at the same time that the boat was
seen nor does it occur so frequently, but
it has done so for many years.
The account Is a perfect picture of the
flash and sound of a cannon, and when this
occurs the people leave their town and
take refuge in the BUSH and they say when
they pass a certain point not far away from
the town they cannot hear it talk any
more. 1t cannot be lightning and thunder
| because this always comes in the dry sea-
son, when there is neither, and besides
that the natives are quite familiarwith those
phenomena, and when they call this strange
thing mali m'buir,'' which is 1.-THE
fetish gum" while they call thunder mali
iowa. or "sky gun" When they learned
| that white men had plenty of big guns like
that they SAIL 1.-The white man is a big,
big man; he makes a gun that talks thun-
DER
Afraid of the Lake.
No native would dare put canoe IN The
| lake, or get into one on any terms but just
prior to my visit trader of the N'Kaumi
| tribe put one in it, and whenever he ven
| lures out into the lake few yards, the
people of the town watch him in silence
and expect to see him engulfed in the fetish
| water or swallowed up by some great mon
ster in the lake. The trader himself is a
| bit timid about crossing the path of the
mirage, and always keeps along the shores.
tasted the water, smelt it, boiled 1t, evap-
| Grated it, and nfade all the tests i could,
| but could not detect the presence Of any
mineral. 81
As far as 1 could find, there is no tribu-
4 ~