The Washington herald., 1909-08-01

been a thousand massed around I'm the dark, and
the medicine men, in their idol hut, squatted
about i'm a half circle painted and decorated with
hideous paint. snakeskins and other grewsome
things, made me feel creepy.
They're artists in their line and no mistake.
They held a high ceremonial of big jinks before
we could get down to business, beat on their tom
toms. danced some vOodoo dances that would make
your hair lift and made sacrifices to their wooden
idols. they sacrificed a monkey and toad and
some other little unfortunate animals to get the
gods in the right frame of mind and suppose,
to impress me with due respect Iheh we OpehSu
negotiations.
say | guess 1 made the speech Of my life
out there in that jungle village; telling those
bloody rascals what jolly lot OF good Fellows
we white men are and how we wanted TO meet
them two-thirds of the way and all that didn't
overlook anything either. not even that there were
a hundred nggers with spears ready to make
a pin cushion out of me If said the wrong thing,
or, for that matter, didn't just hold my mouth
exactly right
clack for EN- and when l got through and opened
up the bundle for the distribution of neckues. old
cartridge belts and collar buttons. had the
excitement of a presidential nominating conven
ton | made a hit with em, however did it;
they took me right to their bosoms and the head
chief is at this minute, sporting pair of my old
gauntIets and wearing of Willie's soied col
lars
"They offered me a dozen wives and a perma-
nent lob i'm the snake shop, after I'd done a few
card tricks for EN- and then we had a feast
which lasted thirty hours. don't feel Ike Ia
ever want to eat again However, the Bolulu peo
throwing or bridge burning in this neck of the
woods And he was right, too.
..NvIE went ahead and finished the Ufondi trestle
w without further trouble; saw some Of the
black warriors occasionally, though, and week
before our work was completed Wash made an
other visit to their village in behalf of diplomacy
He planning little celebration TO further
cement and bind the ties Of friendship between
the Bolulu and ourselves and he went over to eX-
tend invitation TO the whole kit and boiling
al Them q relations
fnal blowout.
They accepted the bid literally to the last
small individual who never in his life wore as
much as a twine string in the way of clothes and
promised to come. We made extensive prepara-
tions shipped in bulocks to be barbecued
whole and fish and game in enormous quantities.
and then we had barrel Of gaudy gewgaws for
presents, and lastly the surprise and the real sen
sation OF the occasion was a triumph of Washs
ingenuity At each of the four corners of the
Ufondi trestle. he had the plngs carved 70 repre-
sent the grotesque idols OF the Bolulu people.
Masterpieces OF native art they were; made be-
hind canvas screens and strictly secret; being
part Of the bridge and mmovable had no
fear Of their being carried away, and we expect
ed the moral effect TO be tremendous
AT last the work finished. The night Ot
the feast arrived and with great ceremony and
cordiality the revery began. II is astonishing 70
IL for the first time, and realize the quantity
of food it takes to fill up of those little black
Tascals. We finally got them goTged, however.
and then, in blaze of rockets and fireworks we
had obtained for the occasion and which came
very near stampedng the guests for the thickets.
Wash escorted the medicine men TO the bridge
and unveiled the idols. What did they do?
"The whole tribe fell down, burrowed their
noses I'm the ravine bed and worshpped; the
nval lasted for three days and nights; there
Boulu folk dance that eclipsed anything the
babOOns Of the jungle had ever before Witnessed.
much less white men, 1t orgy of enthusi-
asm that well worth the money it cost They
appreciated the high honor we had conferred on
them and their religion and while the Established
Church in the Uganda country may have felt
some annoyance at proetarian methods of
reaching the hearts of the tribe we felt that we'd
at least built permanent bridge at Ufondi
far as the Bolulu were concerned and that was