“HE WHO WALKS LIKE A DUCK’’

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 79, 28 December 1926, Page 3

“HE WHO WALKS LIKE A DUCK’’

Among the natives of Northern Nigeria there exists a gift for Jrenchant verbal caricature which, on first acquaintance, comes as a surprise (says Geoffrey Barkas in the Daily Mail ). It is, however, a quality engendered by necessity, for, since the average Stive camrnt pronounce memory »e”K — « pered becomes “Ruan safi water,” and a noticeably tall man be comes “Dogo,” or “lofty. Recentlv I happened to be respon sible for the production of a film play among the pagan tubes of Northern Nigeria, and I was able to follow witn interest the process by which o native servants renamed the members ° f At hC first there was the probationary period during which we were simp'y classified according to our serva nt names I was “Baturin Owdu, or “Owdu’s white man,” an adoption which I bore with humility. t During this period the observan bovs pigeon-holed all of us and equip ped us with unmistakable nickname , apt if not always flattering. The camera man of the part) was known to the natives as M a 'f°’ literally “the owner of the> stooj Thev were quite .right Vears peering through cameras had undoubL ediv given him a tendency to round which meant "lhe under the trees. Ihis PXnlanauntil we stumbled upon the exp’ana tion. In his anxiety to preserve ~ film make-up from the ravages o tropic sun, he seized every OPP 0 ™ 1 } ity of retiring into the shade unt.l called for his next scene. My own names were threefo d At the start a naturally jaunty gait ea’“ed for me the name of " Mal >;? ng { vh ° n ■•the owner of the swagger. J hen production labours c . o,n earnest they rechnsteneJ me Aiki.” or “king of the work MJ trouble.” . . n i W avs politic 'to r "press at for’ enlightenment Tf the bovs are reluctant to impart t . his bovs, pursued his to elicit the information that thr out a vast district he *as knmvn “He who walks like a duck.