The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-21
A FIELD FOR EXPLORERS. STAYLEF,S DEATH CALLS AT-
 TEyTIOY ANEW
To What His Successors are Doing on
 the Dark Continent.

So much of the continent of Africa has been explored since Sir Henry M. Stanley. who died a few days ago. made his famous journey across it that one is led to think little remains to be discovered, but that all of the conti- nent has not been visited, and all the curious things which abound in it's heart have not been found have been emphasized anew by Major Powell Cotton's experiences in a recent jour ney through a hitherto unexplored DOT ton. Major Powell-Cotton, who is an officer in the British army, tells of in- teresting peoples and their customs which he encountered, with unpleasant experiences in some instances, in an article published in "The Illustrated London news" entitled "Alone in Un-- known Africa
 Previous to this trip he had conduc- ted an expedition through Abyssinia. In January, 1902, he left Dover, arriv- ing at Mombara, on the east coast of British East Africa, on February 10. Twelve days later, with caravan of seventy-seven Swahills, descendants of the slaves brought down to the coast by the old-time slave traders, twenty Iof whom were armed. he started for 'the interior. In the course of a month he reached the Kikuyu country. where he spent some days trading beads and cotton cloth for flour. He found the ISikuu villages unique in one respect. They were nearly always hidden by dense vegetation, so that the passer-by would never suspect the existence of any habitation. Entrance was gained by narrow path which led up to the only opening in the stockade. This was so low that it could be passed only by crawling on the hands and knees. Inside, smalled wattle fences marked off the compound of each family, with I in which there were usually two or three huts, one for each wife. The number of huts in the chiefs com pound indicated the wealth of the chief, for each wife represented pay ment of several cowN. We paid he says, ian early morning visit to one of the villages. When we entered the village the people were busy shilling peas. Tn one hut I noticed no sign of iALC. QOOI Ndy Nd0 DdlilNdQCQ WILL boughs, and there was an absence of all cooking pots. I asked the head man whether the hut had been desert ed owing to disease, and he pepled
 that the woman who had lived there had died and the hut would not be used again"
 The people seemed to enjoy dancing, for the men exhibited many different dances The heads of the performers
 were daubed over in curious patterns with white clay. They were further decorated with fantastic coverings of ostrich feathers.
 l While hunting elephants Major Pow ell-Cotton found that his Swahills were l utterly devoid of the sense of locality. When in doubt as to the direction in which his camp lay his men insisted that it lay in an opposite direction, so that he was obliged to depend entirely on his compass and his own ingenuity in reaching it.
 Near Lake Baringo he came upon a pack Of wild dogs. Although, he said, lin some parts of Africa these pests-for they drive away all game
 are fairly common, they are so wary that they are seldom shot; and still more rarely do their skins and skulls reach England. Once, on my wound- ing one of these dogs, the whole pack went for me. The grass was long and it was by no means easy to pick them off. However, the death of one or two of their number-due to the accurate c1,aof;rsoe ,f ,,,xv NTo ,,,Iinhar-oa mo
 time to beat retreat"
 A peculiarity of the Suks, who were met at the edge of the Baringo plain, was the manner in which they did up their hair. They worked it up into a kind of bag shaped matted chignon stiffened with clay. This reached nearly to the waist. The Suks wear a curious cape made of monkey skin rubbed soft This cape is not worn for the sake of it's warmth or for protec- ton from the sun, but to protect the hair when it rains. They put the cape over their heads, and so prevent the clay from being washed out. When the Suks were met they advanced with
 branches in their hands "as emblems of friendship" The branches suggest | ed to Major Powell-Cotton an African Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane. In this instance the augury was a hap py one. They conducted him to the I government station at Baringo, where he saw many tribesmen. Among them was one, Wanderobe, hunter who was the possessor of a most accom- plished donkey. This animal was
 trained to act as a decoy With an an- telope's horns strapped to it's head, its
 body covered with a skin or painted to resemble the animal it's master intend-
 ed to stalk that day, it was the means
 of deluding many an unwary creature into falling a victim to the poisoned ar
 rows of the hunter crouching behind
 him.
 | In September he reached Mumias,
 where he spent a fortnight packing his
 collection of slSinsc and making prepa- rations for the journey through the un- explored country he was about to en- ter. So far he had had little trouble from the thieving rropensities of the
 natives, usually a source of irritation, but here two of his men broke open an