“WE WERE BLIND”

Evening Star, Issue 21811, 29 August 1934, Page 1

“WE WERE BLIND”

AFRICAN CHIEFS IK EKGLAHD AGHAST AT THE SIGHTS. A liner from Africa recently landed at Plymouth three native chiefs from Nigeria who had never before left their country, and had come to be presented to the King and to see England. They were Hassan, the Sultan of Sokpto, •Usulnanu Madaki' of Kano, and Abdullahi Bayaro’ Emir of Kano. The chiefs were accompanied by their Prime Ministers, secretaries; and bodyguards, armed with swords. The .party was iii charge of Captain H. D. Tupjper Carey. When I. boarded the liner several of the party were crouching bewildered on the deck (says a London' correspondent). They held their passports high in one hand, and in the other grasped a staff encased in leather. The staff is ■ a badge of office from the British Government. Trouble stares in the face anyone who tries to wrest it from them., WASHING WITH SAND. A number of cheap tin kettles stood about the deck.' The ' kettles contain special water with which the members of the party wash their hands and faces before unrolling their prayer mats and making obeisances five times a day. They wash with water only in warm weather; in cold they use , sand, of which they have brought a good quantity in anticipation of our “ warm ” climate.: They are Mohammedans, and the three chiefs are' rich and distinguished men in their own country.' The Sultan is the spiritual'leader of Western Sudan. His 25,000 square miles of territory in Nigeria is divided into forty-seven districts, some, as big as Yorkshire.' A, million and a-half natives obey him. The British Government supervises and advises.the native administration: “We were blind men before' coming-on this English voyage. Our eyes are. open,” said ■ the Sultan gravely. ■

The members, of the party have been aghast at maiiy of the' things they have seen. Puzzled, too. How did the ship find its way amid the vast sea, “ when there were no roads to lead the way ”? The size and magnificence of their cabins impressed them. “ Better than the rooms ,of our two-storied piud houses,” they said. These 6ft men with their handsome faces and - small black beards fiercely curled forward to a' point; were trembling with excitement as they watched the preparations for landing. , When they reached the boat train they were worried -hy the'thought that the train would be going faster thah ; their own twenty-miles-per-hour branch line of the Sudan railway.

' Here is. the sorb of question they were asking each other as they sat waiting for the train to .start: “Shall we see a train' passings against ours at great speed? We must prepare ourselves.”

While they are in England the visitors will, see military.; manoeuvres,. the Royal Air Force pageant, and a naval display; ;