Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-06-05
congo ALLAH.

~ Oio Hhah toiu me the STORY dS ue
and | sat by the edge Of the water
watching the sun sink on the hot prai-
RE
was travelling in command of a
small body of mounted cavalry across
the plains of northern Nigeria, from
Lokoja to Lake Clad.
The country was scorched and black.
The grass between the withered trees
was dry as finder and only served to
reflect the intense heat. Now and again
we crossed the paths of vast bush fires.
Water holes We're few and far apart.
OF the streams and tributaries of the
great lake none seemed to flow on our
side. The land cried out for Che life
giving tornadoes and torrentiaI rains of
the spring.
Birds and beasts there were none.
Even the insects had disappeared Ex-
cept for small party of wandering
Mohammedan traders, with mouths and
noses well muffled from the hot dust, we
had met with no living creatures
throughout that day.
From these men we learned that not
far away water was to be found in
abundance, but knowing the unreliable
ity of such information it was with
establishment as well as relief that we
came late that afternoon on large and
clear running stream.
At the smell of the water the faded
horses raised feeble trot down to the
ford where native women were filling
their jars.
The banks of the stream We're green
with bushes and trees, under whose
shade men lounged watching their cat
tie pasture. A small mud walled town
stood near by, and the surrounding gar
dens and farms, green and well tended,
proved water to be abundant.
/ sat outside the camp watching the
line of pieketed horses and the men who,
rested and refreshed, prepared their
evening meal Right beneath the red
sun a cloud of dust marked the ap-
proach of belated caravan. From the
roof OF a tiny mosque there came the
last call of the summons to prayer.
A long procession of turbanned fig
ures emerged from the main gate of
the town, and marched to the waters
edge, where they halted. They formed
into a line facing the water The work
ers in the fields and by the stream
ceased their toll and stood silent as the
worshipers, bowling down, repeated what
was evidently formula whose purport
could not catch. Then rising they
shouted thrice in unison, "Adiulai! Adj
julai Ho! Adiulai!" after which they
disappeared.
Later that night | received visit
from an old man, a sub-ehief of the
town, who had found a relation among
the soldiers, and came to pay me his re-
spects. | was on the point of dismiss
ing him when the little ceremony | had
witnessed required to me and | asked
him its meaning.
We called upon Adjulai," he said, "a
name much in honor in this country.
Once a year do all men come to the
banks of this river, which is called Con
go Allah in your tongue the gift of
Allah to thank him for bringing our
fathers into the true faith, and for MAX
ing the dry land garden. Does my
father wish to hear the story y
/ nodded, and the old man proceeded
Long ago, then, before the DAYS of
the Mohammedans, when the people here
still worshiped the fetishes, one Adiu-
laj, wandering missionary, came down
a far journey from the north, and sat
down at this town of Ingrummai
He remained here teaching the peo-
pie the faith of the prophet and curing
sickness with drugs and simples He
was welcomed for his piety and good
ness, nor did the fetish harm, him, for
though he was of another faith he did
not trouble the people but lived in peace
among them, staying quietly in his house
and stirring up no strife.
Now in those days, this river, the
Congo Allah, which my lord sees before
him, did not exist. All the land was
dry from here up to Lake Chad, even as
the desert through which my lord has
passed. All the water the people got
was from water holes which the rain
storms filled, and if they were emptied
before the next rains came the people
suffered and made sacrifices to their
false fet;shes.
1T rs said, for this was very long ago
when the good man had sat down long
time teaching the faith, that for all that
time the water holes were never dry nor
was there famine. The farms were all.
ways green, the tlocks and herds fat and
increasing, and the happiness of the
people was very great. Yet did Adiulai
demand nothing of their prosperity.
Bowing down on his mat he thanked
Allah for his goodness to himself and
his friends, among whom he lived, and
prayed him to bless them and make
them look to him.
On the evening of certain iav after
eating, the elders of the village came TO
him as he sat outside his house. They
told him how, since his coming. such
prosperity as they had not known had
come TO them. They pointed out that
he had asked nothing in return, but had
lived in peace as man poor amongst !
pressed them, and therefore they said. |
We have decided to give up the old |
gods and follow the great Allah to |
whom you pray, and who can give such |
great good to his worshipers.'
Now II so happened that no sooner
mad Adlulai broken their idols to pow
der and received them into the true /
faith, that the great drought came. The