The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-09-05

SOUTHERN NIGERIA
WORLDS DARK SPOT

From the London Telegraph.

From the London Telegraph.
P. Amaury Talbot. a district commits
sioner for Southern Nigeria, accom-
panied by his wife, has just returned
from nearly two years travelling in
parts of Nigeria, large portions of which
nave never before been visited by a
government official. and certainly new
er by a white woman. For the first
time a survey, anthropological. botan-
ical, and in parts geographical and ZOO
logical. has been completed almost I'M
i~nterruptedly from the Gulf Of Guinea
right through to Central Africa.
Describing some of his experiences in
the Southern Nigerian bush-the home
of witchcraft-Mr. Talbot said:
The bust with its soft green twt-
light, dark shadows, and %quivering
lights, is peopled by my t~errors, but
among these Ole or %witchcraft. reigns
supreme. The bird which flies in at
your open door in the sunlight, the bat
which circles round you at night, the
small b~ushbeasts which cross your path
while hunting, all ma be familiars OF
witch or wizard or even the latter
Sometimes the terror of witchcraft will
scatter a whole town. .
Should the suspicion Of witchcraft
fail upon anyone, only trial by ordeal
can free him. The most usual one Is
that of eating esere, a poisonous bean,
SiiA4oo II k4apA NILS ltS Su9-
pected person. The ordeals of boiling
Oil poured upon the palms Of the hands,
and of peppercorns inserted in the eyes,
are far less dreaded, not only because
their results are practically never fatal.
but because the physical anguish en-
tailed is acknowledged to be less in
tense han that caused by esere."
One of the most interesting discover
les was that of the Lake of the Dead,
in the Oban n
THE name of this lake" said Mr..
Talbot. occurs in many of the tribal
songs. but for a long time I could not
discover the meaning of the word, and
all inquiries failed to elicit information,
and when l believed l was in the neigh
borhood of this haunted spot and alter
ed my course my carriers begged to be
allowe not to proceed, and were left
behind. After a struggle through dense
bush we could see the edge of a sheet
of water, along the banks of which were
the holes of crocodiles, whose tracks
covered the shore.
The scene was a weird one: the sur
face was absolutely still, and round
what were apparently great tufts of
creamy flowers. Those, however, PROV
ed to be nests of tree frogs. The place
is a sanctuary for all wild things. for
no hunter would dare to penetrate the
bush to this dreaded spot. AS we stood
a. siC Cu6S, So~uS Cul over Tie water,
its quiet was suddenly broken by a
broad ripple, n little fish were seen
to spring agitatedly above the surface.
A great python was crossing, and this,
we learned, shared with the %crocodiles
the guardianship Of the sacred lake.
Nothing, we were informed, must
be allowed to trouble the water or even
to touch it's outer edge. or a famine
n pestilence would ensue. Here, ac-
cording to popular belief. come by night
the ghosts of long lead Ekio, to drift
in sad companies, hopeless and wailing
over the surface of the water. Even
in the bright sunlight the place has an
uncanny look. and one can easily i'm
agine that at midnight, when the white
mists simmer ghostlike in the light
Of the moon, people with the terror and
mystery of the bush in their blood
would rather sit chatting round the fire
or dance by torchlight in the open
spaces of the towns. than seek out his
uncanny spot, on the chance of hold-
ing communion with the spirits of their
long dead KIN"