The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-25

feet high and with curious head dresses,
some five or six of which are on at one
time. The arms, legs, heads and mouths
of the figures move and they are worked
from below by natives who are screened
by blankets like the operator of a Punch
and Judy show. All the time the per-
tormance is in progress two priests beat
the inclosing blankets with broomlike i'm
plements and three youths, i'm pic
turesque dress dance about in order to
divert the attention of the spectators
from what is going on behind the scenes
"one of the chief objects of this per-
formanee, I should explain. is to con-
vince the women OF the tribe that these
marionettes are actually supernatural be-
ings, and that is why seven whole years
are devoted to rehearsing for one of
these productions. And if, before the
coming of the white rule, at one of them,
one of the operators happened to drop
his marionette outside so that the women
conld see that it was really a doll in
stead of a god, he either was put to
death or, soon after, sold into slavery.
Another uneommonly queer perform
ance, and one that. now that | have
discovered 1t, | am highly suspicious
about" Talbot went on, rs what | may
call thes baby mystery 1t takes place
at Ndiya and consists in apparently
pounding a baby to pulp and bringing
it to life again. and II it N all the same
baby | have nothing to say, but IL, as
[ strongly suspect two babies are used
in the trick. then II is a thing that
must be put a stop TO, difficult. and
almost impossible as this always Is.
Whenever this trick is to be performed
a child is taken from some woman of the
tribe. who then is sent into the bush
away from the town, the sight of what
is to follow would surely be too much
Tor her The Ndiyas. | should EXPLAIN,
use a sort of mortar. made of the stump
of a tree, followed out, to beat up their
yams in, and when all Is ready for the
performance of the baby mystery which
is given before the whole village. the
infant which has been borrowed for the
occasion, is placed in this mortar and
then, to all appearance, literally pounded
to a pulp by couple of the priests,
who use pestles formed of thick clubs
for the purpose. Worse Is to come. how
ever. for when the baby is apparently
done for, three native dancers (men)
come forward. and the first of them par
takes, or appears to partake of little
of the baby The second has little
more, while the third eats what is left,
while the audience holds its breath with
horror.
"Then these three execute a weird
dance, at the end of which to the as
tonishment of all. the man who has ap-
parently eaten most of the baby, sud
denly produces the infant from under
the robe he Is wearing, the suppo-
sition being that the child has been re-
born from out of his thigh. This
last Is the only part OF the trick of
which any of our party had personal
knowledge. We had arrived in the vii
lage unexpectedly, and our coming put
a stop to anything of the kind. The
1t, l,axF haA fro nv
different witnesses. 1t Is always the
baby originally borrowed which is re-
born, and eventually returned to Its
mother, and, of course. 1t may be all
a trick Possibly the tree stump NOR
tar which is used may have a false
bottom, and the baby not be injured
at ALL but it is difficult to resist an
uneasy suspicion that a second baby,
obtained in some fashion. Is substi-
tuted for the first one and actually
beaten up, and then the first child
made to reappear. but as yet I have
no evidence to support this belief and
hope 1t may be all magic at which
these tribes all are amazingly apt
Throughout his new domain. the dis
trict commissioner apparently is loved
and hated with equal fervor. Those
who esteem him include many native
women whom he has saved from death
or torture at the hand of chiefs who
have better halves To spare. and who
are adopts at the refinements of tor.
ture. Sometimes they "impale' their
victims, frequently they leave them to
be devoured by ants, occasionally they
break both thighs of their own cEl-
dren In order to cause grief to the
mothers. and, in milder cases. fill their
wives eyes with pepper after beat
ing them nearly to death. Others who
have reason to be kindly disposed TO
Talbot are those he has saved from
being sacrificed to the various JULIUS,
or gods, and 1t is to the gratitude OF
these rescued wives and natives that
the commission. in turn. frequently has
owned his escape from death. TO many
of the native chieftains whose preroga-
tvs he has interfered with and certain
chief clerks whom he has brought to
book for wholesale grating the com.
missioner's name has the proverhial ef-
feet of a red rag on a bull, and they
have attempted to murder him over q
score of times that he knows of. The
details of one such attempt, when the
commissioner was to be butchered at
the conclusion of a certain trial which
he has holding were eabled to Europe
and printed in newspapers all over the
world and need not. therefore, be
touched on here. 1t may be remem-
bered that the verdict which, according
the signal for Talbot's destruction, was
not pronounced, owing to tho nonap-
pearance of witness. for whose testi-
mony the case was adjourned; and thu
plot thus fell through.
Twice elaborate plans have been made
to shoot Talbot from behind ambuscades,
once, according to sworn testimony. in
suits were offered him a t native gather
ing with the object of provoking him to
some act of retaliation which was TO be
the signal for his dispatch. The attempts
to poison him literally have been legion.
Not long before his departure for Europe
the commissioner was warned by a grate-
full native that one of his most trusted
servants who had been bribed to poison
him some months before had refused to
do this but had agreed to do so on his
last day at Eket, and the informer indi-
Gated where the poison was kept. 1t was,
he said in a. double calabash in the serv-
ants house. and there, in fact, a double
calabash was found 1t contained what
appeared to be a newly-born chicken, a
snakes head and what talbot declared
Cooked like brown meat extract" all in
a highly advanced stage of decomposi-
ton. "a few drops of It In my coffee
probably would have resulted in death
on the voyage home, or ! might he said
''have added another to the district COM
missioners in Africa, who have been
ruined In health for life by means of
poison Two neighboring commissioners
have recently suffered in this way. On
my servants wrist was found the scar Of
the blood Juju,' upon which the latter
was charged with having vowed to kill
his master. The contents of the calabash
are at present in the hands of the gov
ernment analyst One would not imagine
In moi md t0tp