Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31

Hath thea bime Ipangu crhank
you for the greeting. WARRIOR"
That was all. The warrior rose and
departed. But that all was as though
the Observation-Disclosures of the nations
had spoken at Geneva. The chiefs
and the ipages. the witch.doctors, had
decided for some reason or other that
they would not open hostilities against
US. We were to be received--at all
events for the present. The rest
| would depend upon our conduct.
We knew how people feel when the
| governors reprieve arrives 1t was up
| to us, now. to return the chiefs stick
in person and to make the ceremonial
visit.
| We took the stick and went up the
path. About fifty yards UP. 1t de-
| bouched into a great clearing. at the
far end Of which. fronting the river,
stood the, chief or council moloca. a
long barrack of split palm-trunks and
! high palm-thatch roof with full
eighty-foot front.
Not a sign Of life. Yes, just one.
| The only things that moved were the
| white eyeballs of two naked warriors
who stood stiffly behind their spears,
| one on each side Of the single door
way.
There was nothing very inviting
about all these indications of an
| armed neutrality; and I. for one, would
rather have turned tail and run from
that inhospitable door. But without
a word, we walked past the guards.
through the door.
Within was the immediate gloom
of a lofty windowless structure.
Away at the rear, a good hundred feet
off. was a square of light. a back door.
which served to render more obscure
objects in the foreground; and they
were ominous enough in all conscience.
To the left. just inside the door.
were low stools. hewn out of single
piece Of wood. These were the guest
stools. We sat ourselves down upon
them and planted the chiefs stick
before us.
Menacing silence still. In the semi.
darkness facing us was a circle of
naked warriors, perhaps so OF them,
hemming us in from wall to wall,
ons. like the guards out in front. and
monstrous with the dim high lights
glinting from their muscles.
Still no word. There Is something
creepily ominous about a prolonged
silence when many people are pres.
ent; sense Of something portentous
impending.
81
n q last came a sound from the far
rear. Soft padding footsteps. The
men in the center of the semi-circle
made space, and two women came
through. one carrying a basket tray
Of great slabs of coarse bread made
of mandioca meal, and the other q
shallow pot containing a sauce made
of red-hot chill peppers and spinach.
like leaf called manisawa.
Without word or sign the women
set down the viands in the center of
the space within the half-circle of
warriors and withdrew. The men
who had opened up closed together
again and the silence was as before.
Without a word we three well
instructed white men rose from our
stools. squatted before the offering,
and-listen to this extraordinary coin.
cidence of convention--we broke bread
and dipped it into the chilli stew lit
might almost have been wine) and we
ate thereof.
We were almost strangled by the
excoriating mess. nearly coughed
my head from my shoulders. But not
till each one Of us had broken bread
and eaten at least one mouthful in
that house and then returned to our
Then, like a crash Of drums: Hath
thea pure, Kariwa." doomed from so
Threats at once.
choked desperately over my Hath
thea bime" return.
The warriors all squatted down, and
then for the next half hour I was kept
busy answering a string Of questions
that were fired at me from all quar-.
ters, in a manner so ludicrous that IL
I hadn't been afraid, should have
giggled out loud.
''Who are you? What is your name?
Where do you come from? Where are
you going? What is your business?"
The questions were strictly formal.
But every man In the circle had the
right to ask as many of them as he
wished, for his own satisfaction, no
matter whether that question had
been asked and answered or no. 1t
was as though each individual felt 1t
to be his privilege to inject himself
into the conversation.
And to each one I had to answer
what it might be and to add. THEA
bimige," equivalent to, "And thank
you kindly for asking" Whereupon
the man would acknowledge my reply
and my thanks by repeating, "Bimige"
thanks for telling mel"
In this extraordinary manner an
hour was spent replying to half a
dozen simple questions. Then the
chief, who squatted in the center Of
the semicircle, made a sign into the