CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL AFRICAN TRIBES 



3G5 



home from one of my rambles, I reached 

 a village situated near the river. 



I could not understand why the natives 

 received me with such unusual manifes- 

 tations of joy until I learned that eight 

 man-eating lions had taken up their resi- 

 dence near the settlement, and that sev- 

 eral persons had been killed. The prowl- 

 ers became so impudent that they would 

 come at night to the village, leap over the 

 fires which were kept up all around it, 

 and, jumping on the thatched roof of a 

 hut, would break it by their weight and 

 carry off the unfortunate occupant. Now 

 the natives expected me to shoot all eight 

 of their enemies. 



the traveler's dog gives a danger 

 signal 



I had just prepared for dinner and 

 my boy was approaching with my soup 

 tureen, a highly-treasured piece of crock- 

 ery, when there resounded the well- 

 known "Whuuuua" of the king of ani- 

 mals. Smash went the tureen, and the 

 boy disappeared into the hut, from which 

 neither threats nor cajolery could bring 

 him, so I had to serve my own dinner. 



After lighting fires around the camp 

 and arranging with the natives to pursue 

 the enemy the next morning, I went to 

 bed. I slept soundly until I was awak- 

 ened by Sanga, my little dog, who, shiver- 

 ing and trembling, was trying to crawl 

 underneath my blanket, giving painful 

 little whines. 



I got up cautiously and opened the door 

 of the hut. When my eyes became ac- 

 customed to the light of the full moon, I 

 saw just beyond the fire a grayish mass, 

 and finally I distinguished the glittering 

 eye of a beast of prey. 



With as little noise as possible, I re- 

 turned to the hut and fastened a piece of 

 paper to the front of my barrel to enable 

 me to aim in the semi-darkness ; then, 

 kneeling and resting my rifle on the door- 

 step, which was about a foot high, I took 

 careful aim and fired. 



The shot aroused the whole camp and 

 general confusion followed. My eye still 

 on the spot where I had seen the animal, 

 I waited ; nothing moved. Then I went 

 nearer ; the little dog, howling with fear, 

 walked in front of me. She was afraid, 

 but she knew her duty, did Sanga, and 



THE SCARS ON THE FACE OF THE CHIEE OE 



THE BAPOTOS MAKE HIM THE 



ADONIS OE HIS TRIBE 



To make these scars on the brow, nose,_ and 

 cheeks is child's play compared to the painful 

 operation of making those on the lips. Neither 

 boy nor girl, however, would like to be with- 

 out them. 



never flinched. Nearer and nearer we 

 came to the spot where I had seen the 

 beast, and there we found a fine lion 

 stone dead. 



MOST DANGEROUS 

 IN A ERICA 



fighting the 

 animal' 



But there is a greater menace in Africa 

 than the lion, the hyena, or the leopard. 

 The mosquito is the most dangerous "an- 

 imal" in Africa. You can defend your- 

 self against the king of beasts ; snakes flee 

 before the approach of man : crocodiles 

 are quite inoffensive on land ; but the 



