LAKE OF THE DEAD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIII, Issue XVIII, 3 August 1912, Page 9

LAKE OF THE DEAD.

iYKi-iiD bi'OT IN THE WILDS Oh

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ilr; i\ Ainaury Talbotj a District | Commissioner lor Southern Nigeria, aiK.'i>iupaniocl by his wtie, has just returned home from nearly two years' travelling in parts ol: Nigeria, large jjortions of which have never before j been visited by a Government official, and certainly never by a white woman. h"ov the iirst time a survey, anthropological, botanical, and in parts geographical and zoological, have been completed almost uninterruptedly I from the Gulf of Guinea right through j to Central Africa. Describing to Reuters representative some of his experiences in the Southern JNiigeria bush —the home of witchcraft —Mr Talbot said: '"The j bush with its soft green twilight, dark shadows, and quivering lights, is peopled by many terrors, but among these 'Ojje,' or witchcraft, reigns ' supreme. The bird which iiies in at j your open door in the sunlight, the j bat which circles round you at night, j the small bush-beasts which cross your i path while hunting, all may be familiars of witch or wizard, or even i tin; latter themselves, disguised to do you hurt. Sometimes the terror of i witchcraft will scatter a whole town, j TRIAL BY ORDEAL. "Should the suspicion of witchcraft fall upon anyone, only trial by ordeal can free him. The most usual one is that of eating esere, a poisonous bean, which almost invariably kills the suspected person. The ordeals of boiling oil poured upon the palms of the hands, and of peppercorns inserted in the eyes, are far less dreaded, not only because their results are practically never fatal, but because the physical anguish entailed is acknowledged to be less intense than that caused by esere." One of the most interesting discoveries was that of the Lake of the Dead, in the Oban country. "The name of this lake," said Mr Talbot, "occurs in many of the tribal songs, but for a long time I could not discover the meaning of the word, and all inquiries failed to elicit information, and when I believed I was in the neighborhood of this haunted spot and altered my course my carriers begged to be allowed not to proceed, and were left behind. After a struggle through ' dense bush we could see the edge of a sheet of water, along the banks of which were the holes of crocodiles, whose tracks covered the shore. SANCTUARY FOR WILD THINGS. "The scene was a weird one; the surface was absolutely still, and round about were ten feet high bushes with what were apparently great tufts of creamy flowers. These, however, proved to be nests of tree frogs. The place is a sanctuary for all wild things, for no hunter would dare to penetrate the bush to this dreaded spot.- As we stood at the edge, gazing out over the water, its quiet was suddenly broken by a broad ripple, and little fish were seeii to spring agitatedly above the surface. A great python was crossing, and this, we, learned, shared with the crocodiles the guardianship of the sacred lake.

'•^v<-'J\h;g, 'wo ?r-cro ■ vaFc?i-.'i>e.-l, must be allowed to trouble the water or even to touch its outer edge, or famine and pestilence would ensue. Here, according to the popular belief, come by night the ghosts of long dead Ekoi, to drift in sad companies, hopeless and wailing, over the surface of the water. Even in the bright sunlight the place has an uncanny look, and one can easily imagine that at midnight, when the white mists shimmer ghost-like in the light of the moon, people with the terror and mystery of the 'bush' in their blood would rather sit chatting round the fire or dance by torchlight in the open space»s of the towns, than seek out this uncanny spot, on the chance of holding communion with the spirits of their long dead kin."