Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1923-11-01
BEASTS MENACE
| LIFE IN AFRICA
Former German Territory Over.
4 run With lons-Mission.
| aries Clash.

~ London.-An II not Joy in the life
ef British officials In Tanganyika ter
S1tory, formerly German East Africa.
xAOnA leopards and elephants menace
he population; missionary Jealousy
eewilders the pagan natives, and
Witchcraft. practiced by the Wild Wa
pare Of the Moshi district, causes many
helpless infants to be put to death
annually.
Aspects Of life in this new British
torrttory are described in the 1922
report Of the country. Big game
nultiplied rapidly in Tanganyika dur
1ny the war. Lions frequently satisfy
tAeir taste for human flesh at the ex-
bonse Of life. Their boldness Is in
credible, and whole villages have been
bDrrorized by their presence. In the
Arst half Of the year rewards were
paid for the destruction Of 300 Hons
and 800 leopards. In Tabora district
alone 81 people were killed by lions.
Natives Are Helpless.
Elephants do great damage to crops,
s6tn running whole plantation in a
single night, or, entering the villages,
tAsy strip the roofs Of grain stores
and scatter or consume the contents.
Ihe native too often assumes a fatal
1gttc attitude In the presence Of dis
aster, and becomes unwilling or un-
able to help himself.
In Tanganyika witchcraft has az
fatal effects on infants rs wild beasts
have on adult natives. To the infiu-
Snce OF the medicine men, says the
report, may be attributed the bar
barOus practice of infanticide which
prevails among the Wapare In the
NOshi district. Children born with
some abnOrmality. or the offspring Of
parents who have failed to undergo
Initiation into certain tribal cere-
monies. are done to death by DELHI
crate starvation and neglect or BY
exposure 10 lhe unhealthy Ss..Aate Of
the low country. Often parents would
not Of their own accord abandon such
children, and in many cases have pre-
1orred to give them away to strangers.
Rivalry Among Missionaries.
/ When the elders Of the tribe were
addressed IN this matter, there was
Q decided tendency to recognize its
evils and to adopt more enlightened
IDEAS but few were against the alb
clifton of the custom ON the ground
that the destruction Of the tribes Ger
tainly would follow. According to
these sages, life is altogether too pre-
cariOus, and the number Of acts or
omissions which they can cite as be-
ing fatal is amazing; even to plant
. tree was pronounced to be equiva-
lent to booming ones self to death.
Another difficulty confronting Brit.
ish administrators in the territory ID
that Of rivalry among missionaries. 1T
= greatly to be regretted that spirit
Of Jealous rivalry has manifested itself
In certain districts between Christian
missions Of different denominations
the report declares. 1T arises from g
very natural and sincere belief in the
superiority Of that branch Of the com
mon faith which it is their pride and
their duty to preach to the heather
but 1t has often resulted in an undig
nified competition to extend the scope
Of the mission beyond limits which 9
proper degree Of influence and contro
would demand, and in attempts t.
sst up schools in juxtaposition Of thos,
Of another denomination. This oper
display to the pagan Of religious DIFF
ferences cannot but react to the dam
age Of the Christian faith.
Natives BeWildered.
"Christian missionaries, by Offering
one doctrine here, another close by
and still another a few miles away
must achieve little more than the com
plete bewilderment Of the pagan ma
tive, and it would be well if Christian
societies would recognize that tn,
principle Of spheres Of influence Il
ultimately to the clear advantage O
Christianity as a whole, no less thai
to that of pagan populations.