CALLING THEIR OWN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 11

CALLING THEIR OWN.

The Irishman who "kept the pig in the parlour" was no fonder of the "giii.tl<?maii ihot paid the rlnt" than the Nigerian Fuiaui people are of their cattle. The cmthor vi "Affairs of West Africa" says that, their negro neighbours declare that the Fulani utile to their beasts, aud understand them. While a French force was operating iv the western Sotidau some cattle we-.re mm-ciundee-red from tbe m_lves ami were penned up. One of them was a liiue black bull taken from some K_ani berdssmeu. In the liiiddie of the night there was a terrible commotion in the pen, and the officer in charge eo__nuded a native soldier to tell him what was wrong. ■•The cuttle arc mad."' .-eid the native, "for the Fulani are calling them." From a neighbouring hill came tire sound of a plaiutiTe ch-aut. At the same moment a violent, disturbance took place among the cattic. The officer durrled towards the pen. followed by the soldiers. The chant meanwhile continued in a cadence of inexpressible melancholy. The commotion in the pen increased, and before tiae Frenchmen could reach it. cue of tbe iaeasts was seen to clear the enclosure at a bound and crash through the bush in thi? direction whence the sound came, bellowing loudly as he galloped away. It was the black bull. He had broken tbe haltc-r which bound _—, and leaped a palisade five feet high. WitSu the disappearance of the bull the chant .ceased, and the next morning the Fulani herdsmen w«£9 awlwre to he found.