The Portland daily press., 1899-09-29

course. pooh-poohed the idea, nut never.
theless IL made me more determined than
ever to go there. My Abyssinians did NOT
even demur when l told them Of my re-
solve, but the fact really was that they
did not think should be permitted to
enter the deyil-iDfested zone. On reach.
ing the mysterious place / found it to be
one OF great beauty. 1t was fertile
| country, with luxuriant,vegetabls growth,
intersectsd with streams. Il was, more
over, very billy and well timbered. The
Inhabitants found TO be most friendly,
although they. told me they had never
seen white man before. So far all had
gone we'll. and / was more certain than
ever that the evil reputation Of the place
was only based on peIstitious nonsense.
do not say that subsequent experience
has left any very clear idea In my mind.
and Can In no way explain the maxwell.
Gus phenomena which / witnes 3ed. /
only state the facts.
1.-The first sign of anything wrong was
whsn one of my Somali escort rushed into
camp shouting 'Walamo,' sWalamo.' He
was frightfuliy excited, he shook violent
~ and kicked like mailman, and In the
interval between his shrieks he told me
| that he was possessed by devil. The
whole OF that night he was neither more
nor less than a maniac, but the next day
be was perfectly we'll, l had been previ-
ously told that once man had bscome
'Walamo' or devil rossesfe he was al.
ways liable co second attack. and as a
simple measure Of precautIon the man 9
| rifle was taken from him. While on the
| march he had another access of this curl
Gus madness In the courss of which he
drew knife and rushing about threat
ened TO kill every body. IL took tsey err !
men to hold him down. It Is supposed to
| be especially dangerous to eat food In che
| presence of the 'Walamo' people,, and on
one occasion one of my Sudanese saw a
Waiamo gazing intently upon him while
| he was having his meal. Nothing I'M
| toward occurred at the time, but two day 6
| later this man became q raving lunatic.
"Ihe latest victim, who was my bend
man, had always reen peaceable, order ~
fellow, but he professed to know before
the outbreak that he had become pos
sesEed. Certain 1t is that. he. like the
/ Somali, kicked and yelled and exhibited
similar symptoms to the OF her unfortu-
nnte. Without intermission hs shouted
| 'Walamo' at the top of his voice, and IN
| his madness Injured three men. Event-
ually he had to be tied up, but the mex
day he was perfectly we'll.
Thinking could perhaps do some.
thing to explain these extraordinary &C.
currepces l resolved to eat soiemnly n
meal In the presence of the Walamo my
self. When all was prepared Ihad some
thing like a hundred of these people
watching me. In due time the meal was
over, ana thought no more about It,
Here should state that had not had
days illness during the journey and
was in the best of health at the time.
The next day, however, felt thoroughly
Ill. Needless to say ] did not let any OF
| my people know that any thing was wrong
nor can l attempt to explain the cause.
l WIS quite unable TO lind Gauss for this
| mysterious business. merely confined
my self to bare statement of the facts
It was an anxious time for me, as uid
not know whether at any moment the
whole camp might not become wal
amo.'