The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-24
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Va anchored In Risumu Bay and drew
~ 10 thu dock at Port Florencs nest morn
Ing, writes Caroline Kirkland, describing
In the Chicago Tribune n visit 10 the source 81
tho Nile. AZ the train did not leave ihero
III half rAst IL I had plenty 81 time TO Walt
the kavironda Market, ono " the oxtraor-
binary sights Of Fast Africa. AZ ! have
related In a previous letter, the khvirondas
are the tribe living on the northeast shores
Of Lake Victoria. q tall. fine looking. we'll
developed race which Ia chiefly distinguished
from the other Fast African tribes to DO seen
along the Uganda Railway by the fact that
tho men and women wear absolutely no
clothes. not even the customary loln cloth
In spite OF which they arc said to be the most
moral Of the peoples Of that region.
They wear innumerable ornaments, row.
ever, Of beads, heavy copper wire, leather
and elephant hair. which they twist into
shiny black bracelets and anklets. They
also tattoo and scahfy themselves, both
faces and bodies, to a greater degree than
their neighbors, while their kinky, woolly
locks are done in all sorts OF fantastic styles,
one gay and industrious buck having appar-
emily strung every hair OF his head full OF
glittering black beads, so that no hair was
visible, only this rafting, shining, gorgon-
like couture.
The market was a large, open square, with
a rooted over space in the middle, and q
hanking on four sides Of booths, where the
traders, Indian, Coan@se and African, car
ried on their business. Under the central
shelter little piles Of seeds, millet, rice, corn
and many with which | was not familiar
were ranged, also strange fruits and what
looked like mud pies, and l never could
find any one who knew what they were.
Crowding every available place we're ever
changing groups OF these extraordinary
savages.
Seated on the ground, perhaps around q
little fire, would be a circle OF women, srnok-
ing queer pipes or cigarettes OF native
tobacco or chewing nuts, while wandering
about were bands OF young warriors, armed
with strange shields and spears, or bows
and arrows. Some were smeared with oil
and plastered over with red mud. On the
diaphragm Of one stalwart woman was a
curious design, pricked out with some poison,
which turned the flesh at each prick into a
lump. Il may be that the engraver OF this
human document had in mind a copy Of
some cryptic inscription he might have seen
on a railway platform, The fine carriage
of all these African savages was noticeable,
due probably to the custom of carrying
loads on their heads.
There were hundreds OF these Kavirondas
wandering peaceably about, bartering for
what they wanted, using the strings OF shells
in lieu Of money. They regarded us with
a shy, aloof interest, but after a while were
inclined to too close an inspection for COM
fort, and we left the enclosure, carrying
with us strange mental pictures OF human
life in its most primitive, elemental FERNS;
dark, sometimes glossy, skins; tall, we'll
formed bodies; fine, white teeth; soft, mu-
steal voices; beads Of many colors, shining
copper wire ornaments, strange scarihca-
ton and tattooing devices.
That afternoon in the train. looking down
a steep slope, l saw a family Of hyenas, high
backed, hairy, hideous, tearing at come car
rion probably left by a wandering lion. The
next morning woke up at dawn, 80 as not
NUNS show which the Uganda Railway
gives you.
1t is like a reversal Of the usual circus
procession. We were in the cages moving
used to watch in their cages were now out
living their lives and gazing at us US
we passed. There was hardly a moment Of
the day when there was not in sight some
strange creature, either herds OF zebras
or gnus or gazelles Of many kinds, or else
some ostriches seesawing away or a soil
tary secretary bird with its fantastic crest
or a baldheaded vulture flying heavily
from one low tree TO another.
In the afternoon I was playing a game
curious to be noted. Our table was a box
built for a monkey, but at that moment
held only two giant sleeping tortoises.
while the monkey sat on the professors
in a golden haze when suddenly we saw
five or six CRATES siding of through some
scrub thorns. Their gait was as awkward
as it Is in the circus line of march, while
a - l--. 1900 -, l.. ~
way as ever. Hardly had we got over this
e xoitement and settled down to our game
gain-I had Just mad il mo trumps"-
when we saw to the right Of the track a
huge lioness bounding along not seventy
feet away, keeping up easily with the train,
was proceeding leisurely.
AS she seemed 80 Interested In US the
rain drew up for q standstill, and, seeing
Ibis, the oness crouched down In a little
Of grass in plain sight.
The men in the train rushed to get out
heir guns. The excitement was Intense
With every one except the lioness. So
lgitated at the unexpected sight were the
hunters that they could not find their am
nunition.
We had all got out on the steps Of the
rain and every eye was fixed on the dark
'orm crouohed sixty feet away. No one
vas frightened-though had the beast
chosen she might have leaped on the crowd
runs were ready. Much haste makes
title speed, and before the ammunition
urned up in a few minutes-it seemed
nuch longer to the breathless onlookers- G
he turned and, bounding across the track I
,ehind the train, disappeared In the bush. t
disappointed, we piled into the {
rain again and continued our journey.
A little while later at dusk a big lion, e
her mate, was seen on the other I
ide Of the track just before we pulled into
he next station. This station, curiously
nough, was named Simba, which il the
ative word for lion. On the station plat
orm lay the skin of a lion shot a day or 80
So plentiful are the creatures d
n that neighborhood that after niRhtfall
hose on one side Of the track in the station v
ever dare to cross to the few little shanties
lie on the other side, twenty PAGES
way. What became Of our bridge game
don't know; but it is not often that a
no trump hand is interrupted by a lion