The Coolidge examiner., 1935-03-08

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. u. C.-W$U Service.
N TEXT August the nations cap
IN ital will be host TO 5000
Boy Scouts at national
jamboree Boys chosen for achieve
ment in scout work will be the dele
gates Of thousands OF troops. large
and small. throughout the country.
The Idea Of training boys so they
Z will make useful men Is. Of course,
as old as mankind. You see Il even
among sayages. They fall short Of
what We teach Boy Scouts about
T thrift. kind acts, and telling the
truth. But, like Us. they do teach
/ their boys 10 swim. jump. make
/ traps. build fires. use the bow and
arrow. track Wild animals. and TO
endure hard knocks without whlm.
pering.
Take the Zulu and Swat tribes In
Africa. They never heard OF Boy
Scouts; yet their sons. before they
are taken into the tribe as warriors.
/ get a training In woodcraft and sell
I reliance which IS superb.
Stripped naked. his body painted
white by men Of the tribe, the Zuln
boy at fifteen Is given n shield and
/ spear and sent into the jungle. lie
| Is warned that he will be killed II
he allows himself 10 be caught by
any human. II takes about a month
for the paint 10 wear or During
that time the boy has to kin his
own meat with his one spear. skin
an animal 10 make his body cover
| Ing. and also learn what kind of
Wild plants, berries and leaves are
good as food. Failure may mean
/ death az the hands Of enemies, wild
beasts, or by starvation But II he
succeeds. as he Is supposed to by
this severe Initiation. he returns to
the village when the paint Is worn
of. and with great rejoicing Is re
celved into the tribe as warrior.
Zulus on Parade.
"Zulus on the march form always
fine sight" writes Lord Baden.
/ Powell, "and | shall never forget the
first time l saw Zulu army on the
move. AS a matter Of fact. I heard
II before I saw It, For the moment
I thought that church organ was
playing. when the wonderful sound
Of their singing came 20 my ears
from a uelghborlng valley.
Then three or four long lines of
brown warriors appeared moving in
single hle behind their chiefs, all with
the black and white plumes tossing,
I kits swaylng. assegais. or spears,
flashing In the sun. and their great
piebald ox-hIde shields swinging in
/ time together.
The Ingonyama chorus played on
the organ would give you good
idea OF their music as 1t swelled out
/ from four thousand lusty throats.
/ At q given moment every man would
bang his shield with his knobkerry
/ (club), and II gave out a noise Ike
a thunderclap.
at times they would all prance
/ Ike horses, or give a big bounce In
the air exactly together. II was a
wonderful sight. and their drill was
perfect.
Behind the army came a second
army OF boys carrying on their
heads the rolledup grass sleeping
mats. wooden pillows. and water
gourds OF the men.
"They were Boy Scouts of their
nation"
Our early-day western scouts, of
course. learned much from the In
dians. By observation and expert
ence, they came 10 understand In
dian smoke signals. picture writing,
what certain sticks meant laid in
patterns on the ground. and the sign
language.
Then there was tracking, the art
of following a man or animal. not
only by footprints, but by such faint
signs as a turned-up pebble, bent
weeds, or a broken twig by the way
side. A lot of that we got first
hand from the Indians, and every
good cowboy still employs 1t in
finding stray cattle and horses.
But looking back into the annals
of youth movements, we see that
long "hikes' are nothing new. There
was the Children's Crusade. when
in 1912 some 10000 youngsters start
ed from Europe for the Holy Land.
1t was Stephen. a shepherd boy
Of France, who launched this his
toric youth movement. A German
lad named Nicholas, from near
Cologne, also raised an army. The
Germans 20,0U strong, crossed the
Alps into Italy. Many perished. Sur
vivors. reaching Brindisi, were for
the most part seized and sold as
slaves. Their French comrades, 3d.
600 of them, were led by Stephen TO
Marseilles. Here some were strand
ed. Many accepted the offer of mer-
chant traders to transport them TO
Palestine For years their fate was