The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-15
SHE" IN REAL life.
THE WONDERFUL POWERS OF AN
AFRICAN WITCH.
Strange and Marvellous Feats Per-
formed by Magicians Before a
Traveller.

formed by Magieians Before
Traveller.
From Borderland.
The writer OF the following extraord-
mary fragment OF autobiography Is one
Of the most remarkable persons ever
met. FOR more than year I was under
the impression he was the veritable Jack
the-Ripper; an impression which 1 believe
was shared by the police. who at least
once had him under arrest. although. as
he completely satisfied them. they liber-
ated him without bringing him into court.
The magician who prefers 10 be known
by his hermetic name OF Tautriadelta, and
who objects even to be called a magician,
viii undoubtedly be regarded by most peo-
pie as Baron Maunchausen redivlvus. He
has certainly travelled in many lands. and
seen very strange scenes. Tautriadelta
was pupil of Lord Lytton. the novelist
lie talks Of exchanging bodies with his
occult friends as the rest OF US would talk
about borrowing an overcoat. He de-
scribes African rainmakcrs. and the mar
Vicious feats of the Obeeyahs as facts. lie
says Rider Haggard's "She" is well with
in the truth, and tells of exhibitions Of
magic beside which the basket and mango
tricks of India are tame
Two rainmakers In the village of an
African king i'm what Is now German ter
Iltory. the Hinterland of the Cameroons
Iautrladelta describes at length. This
was thirty years ago. There was a great
drought, and all living things were dying
for rain.
out of sky Of brass these two men
one an old man, a stunted but sturdy
fellow, with bowlegs the other about Sd
2 magnificent specimen of humanity six
teet i'm hight, straight as a dart, and with
the torso of a Greek wrestler, but a most
INFAMOUS iace'-at blazing MONDAY drew
torrents Of rain.
Three thousand warriors surrounded
them, and failure meant death. Two min
utes after they finished their nominations
while the old man was still writing in an
ephepuc mt on ground, the clouds sud
denly gathered and the thunderstorm
After It was over" says the writer. 81
visited the rainmakers who were fortu-
nately allotted the next hut to mine. 1
FOUND that they both spoke Soosoo and a
lttle Arabic (Which last they picked up
from the Arab slave dealers OF the inte-
rlor), so we got on finely.
by certain means, known to all occu-
lists, at once acquired their confidence
ana they agreed to show me what they
IN the center of the hut, and we seated
ourselves around IL, at the three angles Of
an imaginary trlnagle.
This continued for a few minutes
when, all rising to our feet, but keeplng
the same relative positions, the Old man
began making a series of motions, like
instantly the fire seemed alive with
snakes, which crawled out of the fire in
scores, and in which l recognized the most
deadly serpent on the face OF the earth
the African uc-pOlonga. These brutes
raced madly round and round the fire,
some endeavoring to stand on felr tails,
Kissing loudly all the time until it abso-
.utely produced the effect Of the spectator
OF weird dance Of serpents. On the ut
terance Of one Arabic monosyllabic word
the polongas hurled themselves into the
IRE and disappeared.
The young man, who had hitherto
aSeh NO Vida sc apS part 9en nS oened MS
out. He seized hold of 1t by the neck
and pulled out Of his throat a tic-polonga
between two and three feet long and
threw it also in the fire. / said: do 1t
times.
1T must be remembered that both men
were entirely naked at this time, except
ing for their feather head dresses, so no
clever, jugglery or slight of hand was
The next thing was that the old man
lay down on the floor and told US to take
him by the head and heels and raise him
up. This we did to the hight OF about
three feet from the floor, he having made
himself perfectly rigid. We held him
there for a moment, and then he softly
hoated' out of our hands and sailed right
around the hut. i following him closely.
He then approached the wall, feet first,
and fairly tiOated through II into the out
side darkness l Immediately felt of the
spot where he had gone through, expect
ing to find hole, but no, all was as solid
as stout beams Of timber and a foot OF
sun-baked clay could make 1t. / rushed
outside to look for him, and even ran
around the hut, but what with the dark
night apd the neavy rain, l could see
nothing of him. So ] returned, wet to the
skim The other man sat by the fire alone,
singing.
floating in again and sat down at hts
point of the triangle. But 1 noticed that
the feathers in his head-dress were drip
nj uyat
glsCened with rain.
The last incident was TO be an evocation.
Other substances and odoriferous gums
being thrown into the fire, we stood in sol
emn silence, although l could see by the
continuous rapid movements Of the old
mans lips that he was silently repeating
the necessary formula. After a long time
that seemed an hour, the figure of a VEN
cradle old man slowly arose in the CEN
ter Of the fire in 'puribus naturalibus. He
was evidently an Englishman (having, 1
noticed a long purple cicatrlX on his
back, but l could not get a single word
out of him, although / tried several times
The old rainmaker shook like a leaf and
was evidently almost frightened out of
his wits. He could only gasp and stare at
the Englishman. At last he managed to
humble out the two words necessary to
dismiss him, and as I looked he was gone
Neither of the rainmakers seemed to
know who he was, and kept up such ra-
pid gable to each other for along time
after he had gone that could not proper
ly follow them; but a few words gathered
here and there showed me that they were
thoroughly terrified. The Englishman was
not at all what they had expected to see.
What they looked for was a black.
Il could get neither sense nor reason
out of them any more that night, 80 left
them and went to my own hut for a good
sleep When l visited them the next even
ing, just after sunset, they were quite will
ling to resume the seance. This time we
formed an isosceles triangle, instead of an
equilateral, l occupying the apex. They
were very particular on both occasions In
getting the exact distances they required.
Il sat, therefore, at the apex, and they
stood at the two other angles Then the
old man began reciting in a loud voice
the other occasionally joining In at reg
ular rhythmic intervals. Presently, as /
looked l saw the old man gradually
growing taller and taller, until he was lev
ell with the six-foot Sooso. Then they both
began to slowly shoot upwards till their
nine feet. Sun keeping on the recitation.