The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-03
GLEANrNGs FROM AFRICA.
A Few Notes by Recent Travellers
Humorous and Otherwise.


Humorous and Otherwise.
New York sun: In a Mohammedan
town. near the west coast of Africa
it was recently desired to enumerate
the inhabitants for the purpose of i'm
posing a head tax The natives were
very much opposed to being counted,
but the enumeration was easily made
by the ruse of bringing brass band
from a neighboring post All the men,
women and children locked to hear
the music, and while they were giving
rapt attention the counting went on.
Somebody has probably been libeling
Liberia; at any rate. a traveller who
wastes no compliments on that repub-
lie, recites what purports to be an Incl
dent in one of the courts of Justice
there. He says the judge has just
given a decision against a litigant,
when that worthy suddenly remarked,
as he pulled a revolver:
I guess and calculate, Mr.. Judge,
that unless YOU change your mind L
will send one of these bullets through
YOU" whereuDon the decision was
promptly reversed.
One of the latest achievements in
school compositions is that of little
English boy, who, writing about Africa,
described it as "a great country, full
of sand and elephants, a large part of
which was uninhabited until that
wicked man Stanley filled it with towns
and villages
Mr. c. H. Robinson says that English
shillings are current along the lower
Niger, but manv of the natives will
not accent a coin that ante-dates' the
present reign. A shilling stamped with
the profile of George ". was recently
returned with the remary, Queen Vic
toria, he be king now"
The same writer says that some ma
tive students at the lower Niger mis-
sion stations are studying the English
language with ludicrous results. They
use the dictionary with much discrimi-
nation. One of them, apOlogiZing to
q white man for not coming to see him,
wrote: HAD not distance preponder-
ated l should have Appropriated TO
see you" Mr.. Robinson thinks this
was beaten by a native of India, who
began letter with the words. Hon
ored Enormity."
In the new book. "Hausaland." the
fact is mentioned that eggs are scarcely
ever eaten b> the natives OF west At
rica and when a traveller expresses a
desire cor them the natives at once
disturb the various setting hens in
order TO sell their half-hatched prog
eny to the white man. AS soon as the
traveller acquires wisdom he tests all
eggs before investing. If. when he
holds them up to the sun, they appear
light-colored ard nearly transparent
they are usually good. He will buy
them also if they sink in water, but not
if they float.
Mr.. Robinson recently met a Kru ma
tive north of the Benue river, but could
not understand a word of the language
he was speaking. The white man
asked him i he could talk Arabic or
Hausa. and found that he had no
knowledge of either Then the young
man was turned over to DIR. Tonkin TO
see what he could make out of him,
and it was finally elected that the
language he was speaking was En-
Slish.
A recent explorer says that one of
his greatest annoyances in Africa was
the task Of waking his Arab servant,
who slept sounder than any person he
ever heard of before. The boy had
some stories to tell concerning his abil-
ity in this line. one of which was that
while he was travelling with an Arab
in north Africa he slept one night with
a donkey tethered to his leg to prevent
it running away. When he woke in the
morning he found that the donkey had
wandered of = mile or so. dragging
him along with it. The explorer says
he believes the story is true
Sometimes messengers are dispatched
across the Sahara desert for no other
a-o q rich Arab died in Kano. one of
the largest towns in the Soudan, just
a little south of the desert. 1t was
thought desirable TO communicate the
news TO his friends in Tripoli as soon
as possible, and so a Tuareg was Sc
lected as messenger. and he agreed
to deliver the letter within IS days.
He started on a running camel, which
made an average of IS miles a day
The letter was safely delivered, and so
was = letter TO England, which was
given to the messenger at the same
time.
A recent traveller up the Niger river,
west Africa, saws that so absolute is
the prohibition that the Royal Niger
company has placed upon the importa-
ton of firearms and spirits above the
actual delta of the Niger that he does
not remember seeing a single bottle of
liquor or more thain half a dozen rifles
in 2 journey Of more than 1000 miles
through the Huasa states. east of the
Niger and south of the Sahara desert.
The scheme Of NJ. De LesseDs and
Commander Roudaire, about 16 years
ago. TO cut a canal from the Mediter-
ranean at the southwest corner of
Tunis. to admit a vast BODY of water
into the desert. came to nothing save
for one good result. In the desert the
underground waters were tapped by
an artesian well. the water from which
still rises % feet into the air, and is
used to irrigate about 500 acres of land
on which date palms. Domegranates.
tomatoes, onions and cucumbers are
now thriving. where nothing could be
induced to grow before the water
sources We're tapped.