New Britain herald., 1920-02-02
THEY WEAR BATTLES
 ON THEIR ANKLES
And Dance to Music of the
 MaTimba

SltN for learning strange sounding
 NHmes of new lands and peoples is
 far from over. The spotlight which
 has brought tn view such little-knov,n
 peoples HS the Czecils. the Greats, and
 the Ckrainians in Europe. now will
 be turned, in part on Africa
 Through the redistribution of col
 "n:"' ''H~Session$. and the removal ot
 the blight of German Golninltion
 Africa D:ds fair 10 be the boom con- ! tlnc1t' Of thc twentieth century. Con : side" Mozambique, which is d Portu-
 gucsc colony to the south of what was
 German East Africa, now released
 from the imperial designs of German
 African expansion. and therefore ex-
 tr"mClE apt to play d more conspic-
 uou% part in African development c.
 ". Barrett describes Moza nj bique as
 follows:
 "A country as big as the Atlantic
 States from Florida to New York,
 with the capital near the southern
 boundary, and a half-dozen smaller
 towns scattered along the coast; more
 than 3.oU0,0o0 inhabitants, of which
 only about one per cent. are white;
 one of the oldest of all European pos sessions and one of the richest in agricultUral l possibilities. but one of the least known countries in the world. S''ch is ATozambipue ! \ EirdscNc View of Mozambique.
 There are four or five good ports and as nl&l bad ones: five towns and small, but up-tO-date capital city, and q generous number Of military posts and Outposts, d few of which are in the real raw interior; millions of acres have the finest alluvial soil fairly aching 10 show i1e farmer what big crops may be grown: waterways like the Zamhesi, the Ljmpopo. and plenty of smaller oncs allow cheap handling of products. The country has no dnsCrtS. no salt sinks. no large sW2mna. no mountainous wastes no impcnetrab1a iun-Ies. Out of some 1 twenty, only Onn or two tribes object l seriously to paying taxes to tho gov 1 "rnr1cIt. now that they realize that 1 thc tax collector is a vital organ of i! tha white tribe, which objects to any !, one tribe axtcrmnating another in ] the good old way. Wicked as d bush l policemen tries to b. he must needs ! fall far short of the unrestraincd ; chiefs 'induna'
 ''The early history of this strange 1 section of East Africa should not be, even if it could be. written. We know 1 the old-timc black was as bad as a barbarian can bo, and the endless tale of persistent widespread. and contin- uous butchcry would not be good to read.
 The zulus have had for centuries q superstitious fear of salt water. and { so, when Chaka, Dingaan. and their brother tiends had devastated practi- cally all the country between Zulu land and Tnhatn bane. wiping out kraals and even whole tribes by scores, they came to a long chain of lakes (the lower Inharrime) parallel l with the coast, and there they stop 1 ped, thus saving one tribe of true. kailIs who had fled over the dunes and low. bushy hills ! between the rosary of brackish la 5oons and the Indian Ocean. This tribe the .M'chopis, is the purest if not the only unnliNed. kafir tribe now l m existence.
 They Have XNloplicnc OrcheStras.
 'At Qucsco We had the good for tune to witness Il batuquc, or ball, 1 lasting nearly three days. at which about 5000 fine specimens, mostly adults. were present. To describe the weird minor music Of the marimbas or huge XElophones. the blood freez- nc death chants, tho thrilling war songs, the expression dances of both women and men. and rites and divi- 1tt llpn ceremonies N men the Wltcn ioct0rs were iduced to show us would l requirH much space.
 ''T'he young girls dance of the M'- 'hOpi tribe requires several years l practice before the difficult poses and l can be succcsstully per Ormed. Ankle rattle are worn by the girls. These hollow spheres are made 1 )f palm-leaf or grass, if not young sourd fruits, and are partially filled . with large seeds, pebbles. etc. The 1 1oise of these ankle ratt1es is sup oosed to assist ir keeping time in the lance. This is probably q Zulu GUS pm, and even today in civilized Dur 1 ]an the ritllsba boys frequently wear inilar ornaments.
 Near Mopca. three days up the We passed through two 1 mall native kraals in which the lions | lad eaten eighteen people in three 1 / months previous. Ii is quite impossi- lie to hunt these man-eaters on ac- oUnt of the tall, rank grass (four to { tx feet high). and, since they soon l earn that two or three cuffs will t make a big hole in the side of the I rdinary hut, the poor native must t cost high or die