324 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



The power of the Ju-ju in Nigeria is illustrated 

 in this account of Mr. J. D. Falconer's experience 

 of it i : ' The Kudu Valley, which is largely unin- 

 habited, forms a sort of game reserve between the 

 provinces of Bauchi and Muri ; and as we went along 

 the hunter entertained me with tales of his prowess 

 in hunting the bush-cow and the wart-hog and the 

 other denizens of the forest. Elephant and giraffe are 

 both fairly common, and we found the tracks of the 

 latter frequently crossing our path. Neither, however, 

 is hunted by the natives ; for the story goes that once 

 a man trapped and shot a giraffe, and soon after his 

 body swelled up and his skin cracked and split and 

 he died in the greatest agony. Hence the natives 

 believe that these larger animals have been endowed 

 by Allah with the magani, or marvellous power of 

 killing their destroyers, and so great is the power 

 of this superstition that it is sufficient to prevent even 

 their bravest men from attempting the capture of these 

 lords of the forest. 



I had heard at Bashar that galena had at one time 

 been mined in the bush somewhere near the spot which 

 I had now reached. The story, indeed, was that in 

 the palmy days of Bauchi, Yakubu, the great king*, 

 had founded a mining settlement called Kerrem near 

 the place where the galena was dug. During his life- 

 time extensive operations had been carried on, but after 

 his death the pagans of the hills closed the road, sacked 

 the town, and filled in the pits ; and although they 

 were afterwards severely defeated, the mines were 

 never reopened, for Yakubu alone knew the ju-ju rite 

 which had to be performed before the galena could 

 1 See Bibliography, 54. 





