THE FORBIDDEN PIT

] MYSTERIOUS FIND IN" AFRICA. "EXTINCT-" ANIMALS. A mysterious limcston c 'pit, nearly a hundred yards in diamejtcr, around which <M'i!tre many legends, including the belief tiiat it -contains liviiif? "prehistoric" crea t-uives, has been found in ■the 1 'unexploredj region in Northern Rhodesia, some fifty uniles . west of Broken Hill at Kapopo. The pit is filled wnth water to'within forty feet of the top, and all attempts to find a bottont with a. sounding lino have failed. The sides of the pit are sheer,' so tha : t it as impossible for any animal to get out of the pit or ■ for other animals to get at any that may live in it. From the" ihformation received the pit is very close to a similar pit in which Sir Lawrence Wallace, who was Chief Surveyor for Northern Rhodesia for many years, with a friend, shot and killed an unknown Creature which he describes as having'h "thin, snakelike 1 hfead and heck above water, find. a body resembliiig th-rit of a large duck below water.*' The animal sank immediately, and, as the sides of the. pit were' sheer, it was impossible .to, 1 recover the body. | As in the case of the newly-discovered | pit, no 'bottom .could; be" found even, at

a depth of 200 ft. ' LAST BEFTTGrE. Professor'G. Elliott Smith, Professor of Anatomy at London University, told" a. representative of the"; "Morning Post" that lie considered it . highly provable that animals still liye in this district which- at present are. thought to bo extinct. _ . _ ;• 1! - "It is highly probable," said Professor Elliot .Smith, "that'there are animals still alive in the wild country ' north' of Brokqn. Hill Vhicfi. are only known to us in a fossilised sjat-e. This country in North' East Rhodesia is bound to produce a.'great'many things of. extraordinary interest in the future. It. may •be the last refuge of : the animals,' thought' by tis to be extinct. "No patt of Africa is. more likely to produce surprises thaii th'e region |in the neighbourhood'.of the boundary betwe'en the Congri' State apd , No.rthr. erh Rliodesia. A ''couple of years- ago the late .Dr. Charles Andrews, of tlie I Natural History Museum, showed some fossils from Ea!st Africa, nt a' meeting of the" Zoological Society, and saicl that stories told by natives seemed to. suggest the possibility that ' tives ;of some of these 'prehistoric' mamma Is were (of recently hsfd been) still living. Then a quarter; of a century Sir Henry Johnston reported the discovery in Qkapi of the modern j representative, of .fossil animals mil- j lions of. years old found at Pikermi in . ( "It is possible 'tlfat 'the pit may have ibeen formed tout of'the limestone in thei Same way' as the subterranean caves at Broken Hill!" ... j

' ' THE DISCO VERY. . | The' rtewa of. the. discovery of the I pit wafe: ponta.ined.•: in.;a.-letter, from a formel' colleague, who is' now station- j ed ,ne f ar Broken ,-H-ill to ' Mr. --.Frank I .Worthington, whi!> was-' for'many years ' Secretary for jSTniif'e Affairs in North- I ern Rhodesia, awl*'-haV'a widfe"know- j ledge of the natives and theiV' Stiver- l stitions. " : • , j His colleague sta,tes in his letter j that lie was led to make the expedi-[ tion because Commissioners in. North- ! ern Rhodesia' have always been struck I by the fact that t-lie'flatiyes' have live'd I in terror• giteat pit,'.which they I claimed- was to : 'be' foUnd/iji i; this dis- j, trict.: • The " said someyears ago the members of a whole J community . tied ■tOgefchc'r ! and committed suicide over the >'sidt3 of the pit and that it had been haunted. ' This rlegend 'is fully " described in Mr. Edwin Smith 's j book. "The Tla-spenking 'Peoples." Mr. Worthipgton's colleague, therefore, deci-dod inVe'st'i'gate tlie rumour J of the ejfistttnie. for.'.ljimself, I andj- accompanied irV k few loyaj,. .natives j —for thomajority'slljim the neighbour- | hood of tlie pi'j:' with, hprj'or—r?ic ipenetfated iMo" tlie region- round Iva- ! popo, which has been little 'explored by ! white men, and discoverr-d the "For- ! bidden.Pit;," ;■ r ri''' ; ■Commenting on the discQVpry, Mr. Worthingt&ii told tie : '" V 'Mofning Post" that the belief prevalent among the natives tl;at a'nimals exist in that, re- ' gion whic ; h,.J from,, tlvejr. can only ibe » er.eat.u^es; wMch' &te gen- .'

orally beliovpil to bo " prehistoric." Processor Elliot Smith also suggested that those nritive superstitions generally have :i good deal of foundation of

tniUi. IU YSTEULOI'S CREATURE. Mr. Wortlmigton attaches nil the more importance to the discovery as Liuveiiika, late paramount chief of the Viarotsc tril»e, told him ho\\ r lie had seen a great beast, not far from this region. Levvenika was well known to T\lr. Woiihington and would not willingly mislead him. Moreover, he has nn intimate knowledge of all the animals to 'he found in that part of the country. The creature that Lewenika saw was some considerable distance from the neighbourhood of the Forbidden Pit itself, but his description is interesting. He saw a great creature in a mom which he took to be a dead lrippopotaanus fmm its bloated appearance. On approaching- it. it.swirled round in the w<ter and disappeared, but he. found its spoor. These Lewenika described as like the two ruts left by wagon wheels, showing that it trailed its feet. Further investigation of tlie Forbid- • den Pit and its mysterious contents (becomes a fascinating and intiriguing possibility. 1 It seems even possible that the word "prehistoric" as applied to certain animals may have to be erased ; from our modern dictionaries. • 1