Student of Witchcraft

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6918, 25 May 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

Student of Witchcraft

Peer’s intrepid Daughter Explores Wild West Africa

“I travel alone because I prefer it,” she told a ‘‘Daily Mail” reporter, and continued: — "I am convinced that it is much safer for a white woman to travel alone in a primitive country. Primitive people regard a woman visitor as a sign of peace. On the other hand, a white man is likely to fill them with apprehension and distrust.” Travelling long distances in Portuguese and French Guinea, Lady Dorothy visited many tribes. She said: ‘‘l never had cause to feel fear. The natives were sometimes afraid of me. The Seloups, for instance, were extremely timid people, and the old women are much braver than the men. ‘‘As I sat outside my hut the old crones would edge nearer and nearer until they reached me and then they would stroke my hand with one finger. The final test of my friendliness came when they dumped a baby in my lap.

Religious Secrets

“My chief object in making the expedition was to study witchcraft. I found information difficult to get, for the pagan primitives are very jealous of their religious secrets. “The witch doctors are expert herbalists and they also have a remarkable knowledge of auto-suggestion. “1 saw one man who was dying because a witch doctor had told him lie would die. He was given a week to live, and, sure enough, he lasted only that time.”

HADY DOROTHY MILLS, daughter of the Earl of Orforcl (who now resides at Manurewa, Auckland), arrived in London recently after spending four months travelling alone in the wilds of West Africa. Lady Dorothy had already trekked to Timbuktu alone and had journeyed up tile Niger River and round Liberia.