Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1900-01-04
THE WONDERFUL VALAMO.
STRANGE STORY or A RAGE or
AFRICAN GIANTS.
They Possess the Power Of Creating In
sanity In Those Upon Whom They
Gaze Remarkable Experiences
Of British Traveller
Three Hypotheses.

OF a British Traveller
Three Hypotheses.
The latest story from Africa Is a
very odd story indeed, so odd as to be
worth a moments serious discussion.
1t is told by Captain Wellby, who had
been exploring the unknown country
between Lake Rudolf and the Nile Val
ley, and who, besides being one Of the
pluckiest Of men, seems to be a com
petent observer with some scientific
knowledge and habit of mental exac-
titude. There appears to be no reason
whatever for doubling his good faith.
He says he found two races of naked
| giants living near Lake Rudolf.
The natives about Lake Rudolf be-
lief that the people of Walamo are pos
sessed of the devil, and Captain Well
by Is obviously not quite sure that they
are not. Their land Is singularly and
exceptionally beautiful, grand tropi-
cal park, in fact, we'll watered and
well timbered, "a fortnight's journey
south of Ads Abeba,' and the peo-
pie are quite friendly to white men,.
! They are accused, however, of pos
sessing a gift, nothing less than the
! power of creating, by suggestion only,
insanity in those upon whom they
gaze. Captain Wellby, of course, dis
believed this story, but he was soon
undeceived. II only state the facts.
The first sign of anything wrong was
when one of my Somali escort rushed
into camp shouting 'Walamo! Wala-
nor lie was frightfully excited, he
shook violently and kicked like mad
man, and I'm the intervals between his
shrieks he told me that he was pos
sessed by devil. The whole of that
night he was neither more nor less
than maniac, but the next day he
was perfectly well. had been pre-
viously told that once a man had be-
come Walamo' or devil possessed he
was always liable to a second attack,
and as a simple measure of precautiOn
the mans rife was taken away from
him. While on the march he had an
other access Of this curious madness,
in the course of which he drew n knife
and rushing about, threatened to kill
everybody. 1t took several men to
hold him down." 1t is supposed to be
specially dangerous TO eat food in the
presence of the Walamo people, and on
one occasion n Soudanese in the eX-
petition who did so became raving
lunatic, while OH another headman.
a peaceable, orderly man, declared that
he had become possessed, rayed and
kicked, and ut last injured three men.
In all cases the fit seems to last for
two or three days, but is liable to re-
cur.
Pondering all these facts, Capt. Well
by, like an Englishman with steady
nerves and the fine spirit of curiosity
which keeps us laundering about in all
UNEMPLOYED regions, resolved on SUI
preme experiment. He solemnly ate
his dinner in the presence of a hundred
Walamo. Nothing happened at the
moment, but two days after, the OK
plorer. one of those men who are never
i'll, was so thoroughly ilP'-he does not
say insane-that he had some difficulty
in hiding the fact from his own peo-
pie.
Now, how was that done? To say ii
did not occur seems to us a mere re-
lection for no reason of trustworthy
evidence. There are, we think, just
three hypothesis which are worth dis
cussiOn. One Is that the Walamo, in
the interest of their special reputation,
bribed or frightened Captain Wellby's
men into acting the symptoms which
he describes. That is possible, and is
doubtless the explanation of many ap-
parent wonders of the kind, but in
this instance il would seem to be bar
red by Captain Wellby's own expert
ence. He had nothing to gain by a
trick, and his nerves were clearly not
of the kind which are upset by rumors
of magical powers possessed by black
persons without clothes. Another n.y.
pothesis, much more likely, is that the
Walamo are possessed of poisonous
drug, akin to that used by many tribes
for poisoning arrows, which skaters
the nerves of those who have swallow
ed it. That such drugs existed was a
universal belief among the ancients.
and there is no prima facie reason
WHY IHty nOt, aS SuD-
stances now used in medicine, Clover
tone and depress the spirits of those
who swallow them to n degree which
initiates many of the symptoms oflpro-
nounced melancholia The constitu
ton of these natives is not identical
with ours, or they would not eat clay,
and their superior liability to the ac-
ton of the drug as compared with |
Captain Wellby is not q matter for sur
prise. The white man may not be |
stronger than the black, but he has n |
far better nervous system. But how,
I'm that case, was the drug administer
ed? We should say in water some |
hours after food had been eaten In |
Walamo presence, or through the |
agency of some unnoticed prick in
sleep with a poisoned thorn. A med
icine man" with a reputation to keep |
up in his tribe and for his tribe would |
be quite capable of an adroit trick of
that kind, especially IL he performed |
1t, as on the hypothesis seems probable,
with hereditary ingenuity.
The third conceivable explanation is
that the men of Walamo have by some |
accident learned that IL they seriously |
set themselves in combination to will |
ing that effect they can hypnOtize a !