The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1894-03-21
soMs eAnpAFIo cusToMs.
Fighting With Deadly whip. -Palnfal Tat,
inuinn = x lnlIna VI ntrLaa.

Fighting With Deadly Whips -painfal Tat
tooing Kicking Matchea-
Among the iladendowas, a Sudanese
tribe whose name was painfully famil-
lar to us few years ago, young men
who aspire to renown challenge one
another TO dreadful contest After
ceremonious cartcl-which may he de.
clined without infamy, however, un-
less the youth refusing have fought
once already and triumphed public
notice is given. and at the time ap.
pointed all the population of the viii
lagc assemble The champions are
stripped to the waist, and they carry
a whip Of hippopotamus hide four feet
long. one inch square at the base, with
edges newly trimmed, as sharp almost
as "a knife At signal they exchange
blows methodically, and keep it up un-
til one owns defeat, or, very much
more frequently, stumbles and falls
exhausted but still defiant Blood
streams at the first cut, as though the
whip had been sword almost, but
they often hold out for half an huur
DR. Gunther says he has seen scars
reaching to the very bone. The prize
of these contests is title, "Akhuel-
Benat"-Protector of the Maiden
which the victor bears until de-
feated or married We can be-
lieve that the young men think it
worth fighting for, but IL would be in
tercsting to know what advantages the
title gives exactly, how the maideus re-
gard their protector, whether he holds
any official position toward them, and
so forth.
A custom like this has spread, of
course, among the neighboring tribes
under various forms That of the
Abyssinian braves is described by Mr.
Mansfield Perkyns The girls them
selves play an active part there. When
young people are gathered for amuse
ment, after a church festival for in
stance, one of them will begin peeling
a straw of green millet, which is full
of pith. Her lovers blood runs cold
probably, but he must smile or own
himself a craven. When she has cut
the pith into bits an inch long he
stretches ont his bare arm The exam
pie set, every girl who respects herself
and her lover follows il. The young
men form circle with their arms ex-
tended. Blithely then, with many a
jest doubtless, the maidens arrange
their bits of pith, upright, in some fan
ciful design, on the bare flesh, and set
them alight. They are nearly an inch
thick, and they burn very slowly, but
the hapless youth must stand and smile
as well as he can until the blood and
juices of the scared flesh extinguish
them. 1t is, in fact, peculiarly horri-
bic form of tattooing.
If semi-romantic brutalities of this
sort ever prevailed In Europe, we do
not recall any evidence. The imagina-
tion of our forefathers did not carry
them beyond downright fighting in one
shape or another to prove their regard
for the sex, barring individual exam
pies, of course. They have, indeed. a
curious practice in Sardinia-or had
when Mr.. Tyndale visited that island
fifty years ago-but it does not seem to
have been connected with courtship
This is the "1irai de pei" The com
batants take station opposite to one
another, with a second or backer on
either side They put an arm round
the neck of each of these or else clasp
their hands firmly, holding them up,
with elbows bent at th> level of the
~hin Sta-dias thus, Supported on
either side, they proceed TO kick at one
another, to twist one another's legs,
and TO practice any maneuver which
would possibly bring the antagonist to
ground if the seconds did not hold him
up. 1t appears to be peculiarly stupid
kind of game, but when two lusty
peasants kick at one another with all
their strength, though they be pro-
tected by a special garter called
burzghinus, 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.-London Standard.