Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-06-17

medieval times, as 1t is today, for
weaving, embroidery and ornamental
leather work. One of the greatest of
African markets is held there. About
$4,000 people now live in the city, but
in the course of the year some 2,O00,-
100 pass through to visit the market
where salt, cattle, horses, cotton, cloth,
feathers and European goods change
hands. All of upland Nigeria is free
from the tsetse fly and, like huge Sec
lions of French Sudan, is an ideal re-
gion for stock raising.
Kaduna, in the upland country. on
the railway between Kano and the
Niger has been the capital of Nigeria
since 1916. Northern and Southern
Nigeria, until then separate were
merged, and the new administrative
center was selected for greater con-
venience. 1t was built out of land in
region chosen for its healthful sur
roundings, dry air, and good water
supply.
separate railway from the coast at
Port Harcourt near the eastern edge
OF the Niger delta, runs $50 miles in
land to one of Nigeria's greatest stores
of wealth, the coal mines of Udi. The
Udi coal, while not so good as the
best mined in the British Isles, is well
above the worlds average in quality
and adds greatly to Nigerias i'm
portance. During the World war these
Of Africa with fuel.
Nigeria is medley Of races and is
said to be richer in tribes than any
similar area Of the Dark Continent.
OFF the beaten track one encounters
strange peoples and stranger customs.
In the remote part of northwestern
Nigeria is tribe whose women wear
tails and are proud of them. They are
not of flesh and blood, but they are
made sufficiently realistic. They play
an important part in the social life
OF the people, for they are the outward
ana visible sign Of matronly dignity.
When woman of the Kagoro, Kali,
or of four other neighboring tribes
the Atlakka, Morva, Katab, or the
Jaba-becomes a bride, she puts off
forever the simple girdle of twisted
grass that, up that moment had been
her sole adornment, and assumes the
apron of leaves and the tremendously
significant tail, or kunnok, as it Is
called.
Customs of the Ekoi.
In southeastern Nigeria, in the
dense forests, dwell the Ekoi. They
are devoted parents, but it will take
years Of patient teaching before they
grasp the Importance of fresh air and
the simplest measures for the health
of their little ones.
They have curious beliefs as to the
advent and death Of their babes. One
charming superstition forbids all quar-
reling in house where there are littIs
children. The latter, so they say, love
sweet words, kind looks and gentle
voices, and if these are not to be
found in the family into which they
have reincarnated, they will close
their eyes and forsake the earth till
a chance offers to return again amid
less quarrelsOme surroundings.
AT the new year, and on all great
festivals, the chief societies" Of men
women, and children come up to thS
stations to give a series of dances.
These people have a marvellous sense
of rhythm, even the little children
Nothing could be more graceful thar
the waving arms and swaying limbs
Of the little brown forms as they bend
and move, always in perfect time to
their songs. Missionaries and officials
who have lived among the Ekoi assert
that they have never heard false note
nor found a dancer or accompanist one
fraction of a second out of time.
The Ekoi are a polygamous people.
but the chief wife, not the husband, is
the head Of the house. Each wife has
control over her children, who almost
invariably go with her if she leaves
her husband, and her rights as to
property are most strictly safeguarded
by native law.