New-York tribune., 1912-03-31
SACRIFICED FOR KINGS
Human Victims Accompany
M0narChS to the Grave.

The book Of his twenty-three years eX-
periencc in Central Africa which d. Craw-
ford, the Scotch missionary. is now writ
ing promises to ne rs enhancing As any
ever penned ny traveller I'm the Dark Conti-
neut Mr.. Crawford has been 50 long ac-
customed to using the Rantu language that
fl has become almost more natural TO him
than his mother tongue. He has a great
admiration for the Laban people, among
whom he has spent so many years.
The streams Of blood that flow At
kings death i'm the far interior of Africa
sets" h. told one Of our representatives.
1t is quite. certain that, apart from spe-
cialtics I'm the article OF death. every
African chienet demands his legal right TO
drag down with him to the neither world
at least one or two splendid specimens of
the human kind Mpaki is the dread tech
uca term for this institution. These are
mostly women folk. and the demand is that
the living sae,itice must have no hIcmish.
40 wonder when an African hears that
line of the Bible The rich man died and
was buried, he shudders.. Instnctively he
thinks Of a sacrifice with its streams Of
blood In these ceremonial murders We
have authentic history Two Of the pref
! tiest wives are gloriously dressed and
anonted with oil to accompany the corpse
10 the West Coast of Africd'-that is. the
spirit world, Kumbonshi-and they never
come back again.
They always say that these g" TO their
own death with alacrty. and when ! pro-
tested they reminded me of a case known
to mo BY a personal link. That was the
Bogo senior incident down In the Scra
Plain. At the Mpad ceremony and against
all entreaty to the contrary. tho inlirm old
wife OF his youth insisted upon accompany
| ing her own consort into the tomb OF suf-
| location She brushed aside the younger
! folk ana ordered the catching and cooking
of the best barnyard fowl for her own last
supper. She assisted Al her own last death
toilet. her own cleansing and amounting
unto her own burial. Who should 90 with
my lord but me" she said in response to
| the walling OF the mourning women. And
then when the first souCh of the night
wind passed over the great fen bog, this
old living sacrifice hobblcd along, with her
! pourd tobacco pipe in its little basket, TO
attend her own funeral. There was not
| even a wall from her.
rs THIS kind of thing really authentic?
! The answer is the genuine proof l stumbled
! over in the grass Down in that very Sera
| plain ! put up for the night in a random
/ hamlet on the edge of a bulrush bog At
sunset ! had Il crowd of little children
| round me, one Of them being more strik-
! irgly dressed than the others. | naturally
/ presumed she was the local maSuate :
/ daughter Then | quiZzcd her about her
I mic. beads calico and fantastic hair Golf
/ furo, but it soon began 10 dawn on IN"
/ that this was embarrassing TO her. Then
a dozen little chatlercrs told me tine tale
graphically: that she was no chiefs daugh-
/ ter and that she had only been paid 50
much husn money for her mothers death
i'm blue beads and fancy calico. Her mother
mad gone on the long. lone Journey with
the chief and the orphan child had received
solatium and damages for her mothers
sacrihcial death. She herself would grow
up only To- be one day fuel for the same
fire
"Onc of the curses of the natives said
Mr Crawford. lis smoking unmp. II is
worse than opium / knew case where a
native lied his wife UP m a parce and sold
her for smoke OF hemp ! was told Of
~" sensations of hemp smokers ly chief
who had conquered the habit II causes a
peculiar gazelke enamel to come into the
eyes. and has the effect of making man
quite friendly one moment ana the next he
! would ike TO stab YOU. London Standard.