The age-herald., 1900-08-05
TORTURE FOR CHARITY
South Africans Slash and Stab Tn m-
 selves for Bens fl. of Wounded

From the London News South African Letter.
 This week the Malays have shown their loyalty in their own peculiar way by get ting up a strange sort of entertainment in aid of the fund for the sick and wounded. '.The Khalifa,' as the performance IS called consists of exercises and feats with l swords and other sharp instruments, to the | accompaniment of tambourine playing and various incantations The individuals who l perform the tricks make vigorous pre- | tense of inf1cting upon themselves all sorts | of iniuries Apparently, they run the most imminent risk, but for some reason or other the weapons, effective as they uh- doubtedly are, seem powerless to penetrate their bodies and limbs. It appears that ae-
 cidents do occur sometimes, for during
 representation of a similar character ih Cape Town recently man severed an ar
 tery and bled to death. An old member or inc Cape police, with whom I was convers- ing on the subject, told me that he once witnessed A private exhibition of the Kind somewhere out here at which, through similar piece of misfortune, one or the actors disemboweled himself All ! the same, when l told him that
 the Cape Town papers had been decrying the show and expressing the
 hope that nothing of the kind would be
 permitted to take place there again. ne
 said: What rot!' It was not the first time,
 I believe, that '"The Khalifa" had been
 staged in Kimberley, but 1t was, at all
 events, comparatively novel to the public,
 and was a matter of special interest to our
 military visitors, Sir Charles Parsons and
 other officers being patrons of the show.
 I quote some further details from the de-
 scription given in the local journal:
 "When the curtain rose 1t revealed miniature representation of Malay tenn ple. around which were seated twenty per formers with the tambourines on which to beat out the weird accompaniments. The first item was by the Khalifa himself, lsh- mae Kalem, and consisted in sword exer- else of very novel and rather startling kind With a heavy, keen-edged sword,
 which was afterward handed round among
 the spectators the Khalifa seemed to make
 every effort to mutiate himself, in vain.
 He tried chopping off his arms, but to no
 purpose; he hacked at himself in various
 ways, and, finally, exasperated with ill- success tried to cut his throat, but it was no use it would not cut, and so, wearied | out he had to give up. Next there was the l item called the Tampboo, by Bardin Mora | and Fatah Doley. Armed with great steel skewers, with iron heads, Mera and Doley cut and dug in a very energetic manner,
 but their skins appeared in toughness and
 power of resistance to put the rhinoceros
 to shame. Skewers were no more effective
 than the sword and let the chant go never
 so fast. and the tambourines beat never so loud, the impervious bodies resisted every
 self-inflicted attempt. After this Mamie
 Kamed and Obdulah Jardin gave an exhi-
 bition with long pointed knives which they
 tried to drive through their heads and pare
 their arms with. In the Tampboo by Tas-
 linn, Ishmael Mamie and Majabo Selo, the
 risk of injury appeared imminent, the four
 performers dancing round and flourishing
 the dangerous weapons with vigor and
 seeming recklessness. Strangest of all was
 the performance of Manic and Taslim, who had long steel pins struck right through their faces, ears and nostrils, without
 drawing any blood. Part II was a repeti-
 ton of the same items in different com binatons. Finally the whole troupe sang
 in the Arabic God Save the Queen," and the performance concluded"