Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-12
IS MUNCHAUSEN
AGAIN RAMPANT ?
African Traveller Brings Back
Tale of Extraordinary Ath-
Ietic FeatS of Natives

NEW YORK, Dec. 11.-Reports that
would be set down at once as incredible
if not actually fictitious were they not
backed by such excellent authority,
come from the heart of eastern equa-
torial Africa. They record athletic
feats on the part of the natives which
make reading alongside OF which any
thing in Col. RooseVelt's accounts of
his African adventures must assured
ly appear very tame. incidentally they
will cause the much Vaunted prowess
of athletes ancient and modern, wheth-
er Hellenic, Celt, Teuton or Yank, to
sink into comparative insignificance.
1t is the tribe of the Watussi, dwell
ing within the confines of Ruanda, who
appear to be destined to go down into
history as the worlds record breakers
of all time. The seemingly impossible
height of feet 21a inches stands to the
credit of one dark-skinned athlete in
the high jump.
To the Duke Adolphus Frederick of
Meeklenburg, one of a small group of
princely explorers, the civilized world
is indebted for the information con-
corning a race possessed of such su-
perhuman and undreamed of powers.
Africa is forever beating records,
whether in the size of its diamonds
not basebalD or its cricket scores
The latest revelation of the mysteries
stagger humanity. In the recently
published account of his travels in
German East Africa the Duke Adolph-
us Frederick of Mecklenburg tells of a
tribe of athletic blacks who in their
daily exercises make the deeds of our
Olympian heroes ridiculous. If there
was one performance on the list of au-
thenticated feats which seemed insur-
passable 1t was the high jump of NJ
F. Sweeney of New York, carefully
measured at feet 55s inches. Duke
Adolphus Frederick has assisted at the
sports of the Watussi and has seen
them overlapping this height by a
couple of feet, more or less. His vol
ume shows the photograph of one
Watussi clearing by many inches a
tightly stretched cord, beneath which
couple of stalWart white travellers
stand with upturned gaze, like some
watcher of the starry skies when
new planet swims into his ken. The
jump was measured at 21a meters, no
accounts being taken of beggarly
inches, to say nothing of eighths.
TAKE-OFF HIGHER
1t is true that the African jumpers
'take-o Off from little round ant hill
of foot or so in height, but what of
that? Even the committee of the
Amateur Athletic association, one
would think, could hardly be so mean
as to bubble at such an informality
when there is another foot to spare in
a claim for the best on record.
And what after all are our modern
champions? Between the Homeric
heroes who tossed landmarks and mill
stones at each others heads, the long
jumper Phayllus, who cleared so feet
dn round figures), the weight-lifter
Milo and the modern black barbarian
If lNA .,s.
jumps are reckoned in meters, how
futile must seem our vast stadiums
and puny antics! Let us try to i'm
agine the effect of a wireless tele-
gram arriving at Stockholm in 1912 to
inform an enthusiastic Olympic crowd
that the (White) people jump record
has just been equaled at the PAN
American games by negro without
a pole
Further particulars are to be had
from the dukes book on his travels.
1t transpires that the performance oc-
currel in the course of a sporting pro-
gram which formed part of the festivi-
ties arranged in honor of the exploring
party. This part of the book reads
like a fairy tale;
"a line which could be raised or
lowered at will was stretched between
two slender trees standing on an in
cline. The athletes had to run up to
this and jump from a small termite
heap a foot in height. Despite these
unfavorable conditions exhibitions
were given which would place all Eu-
ropean efforts in the shade. The best
jumpers, slender but splendid figures,
with an almost Indian profile, attained
the incredible height of $50 meters Is
feet 21a inches), and young boys made
the relatively no less wonderful per-
Torrance of 1,50 a feet IL inches) to