Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-11-13

b.a. AL Wy. sAE|.r. Z..h.." "Ha.#- 'H.@f -t 1874
the Morse code; but this is an unsat-
isfactory method, which is seldom
available. The real "telegraphy"
takes place at night, and the medium
is the drum.
All through the hours If darkness
Africa reyerberates with the deep beat
[of the drum. The drum talks to the
next village as plainly as the mouth
can utter. words, telling of village al
fairs, of the designs of enemies, of a
mullah trampling on the British flag,
The news is passed to the next village
in a moment, and replies are sent.
The drum is the newspaper oil
darkest" Africa, circulating home
and foreign intelligence, crop reports.
accounts Of accidents, political dis
cussions, dramas of domestic life-in
fact, all the news that the Express
brings to the breakfast table. Every
item of Importance is related in beats
Of the drum, from the east coast to
the west, passing across the continent
with a speed that suggests the mira
culous to the simple white man.
The late Lieutenant Boyd Alexan.
der described this system of tele-
eraphy in his record of his journey
"From the Niger to the Nile"
The dawn was nov breaking, and
away on the horizon the world seem
ed waking to an alarm of drums. AS
we went on the drumming grew loud
er, and presently II could distin-
guish the separate taps that fell vita
a rhythm resembling words. 1t was
the Tubus signaling to the b%eleaguer-
ed town. l heard afterwards that the
drumming had been kept up all
through the night, and that the bur
aen of it's message was: where are
your big friends? We are coming to
eat you up!"
All through the continent the nativ-
.es have a very perfect system Of sig
with drums, by which means
they rap out messages from village to
village, and it is quite wonderful how
swiftly and how far they are able to
spread news. The drumming is al
ways done at night when sound ira
walls further and as one lies awake on
a still, clear night the a is often
gently assailed by the low, musical
roll from a drum in the village near,
and holds the interval vita pleasant
expectancy until the answering echo
comes, mufflei by distance, from a
village sometimes, two files away. !.
Elaborate Code.
Dudley Kidd gives an amusing in
stance in "The Essential Kaffir." He
states:
The natives on the Zambest have
a regular code of signals which they
can beat out on drums, using instru.
ments of different sizes, and various
modes of beating the instruments. l
think that l could tell wit hcertainty
when natives were playing their mid.
day meal at a distant kraal, by the
rumble of a distant drum, for tle
notes and rhythm are very signifi.
cant, and quite as distinctive as the
bugle call to dinner used by military
men.
/ know a nan who wished to make
a surprise visit to his w~ood-cutting
station on the banks of the Shire riv.
er, and he kept his purpose quite
secret till late at night. Then he
awoke his crew and made them start
off in silence through the bus1. But
he noticed that as he left every ma
tive village the drums we're set work
ing in a very peculiar fashion, and
their rhythm was repeated without
any exception right through the whole
journey, village after village turning
out in the dark to see him pass.
When he reached his destination
and made his surprise visit to his ma
tive W~ood-cutters in the dawn, he
found them strangely busy and hard
at work, and soon found out that they
knew of his approach hours in ad-
vance, and SO we're not to be caught
mapping.
This is how the mullah obtains his
news of the movements of British
troops against aim; how he learns he
position and strength of a camel com
pany; how he knows when it is best
to keep out of the way and when
to attack.
-N& Ea 20 ..-