JEBBA ON THE NIGER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 18 July 1925, Page 3

JEBBA ON THE NIGER

HOTTEST PLACE IN THE WORLD There are several places which claim to be the hottest thin side of Hades, but, having sampled a good many ot them, I certainly award the pah" to Jebbti, through which the Prince ot Wales recently passed on his way np to Kano (writes Mrs Horace 'liemletl in the Daily Chronicle'. Kano itself is as hot as a brick kiln with the (ires on, and ha>, the same dusty, sulphurous smell of baked earth, but the air at that altitude is dry and exhilarating, and it the sun blazes like a furnace all da*, the nights are cool and delicious, dchba, lying in a steamy hollow on the hanks (it the Niger, seems to get no air whatever. Ml there is to breathe is a damp, asphyxiating miasma which conies oft the yellow turgid water, and tastes like hot, soggy cotton-wool. llis Royal Highness, -in his two-piece costume of khaki and shorts, was advised, for the most, immaculate of silk suits lias a piebald and lamentable appearance after a few minutes weal, patches of dark brown moisture causing its' owner to slink oft huii'iedl* lot vet another change if any ladies are present. But, on the. other bund, the less surface exposed to mosquitoes H |( ‘ better, for the place is lyrical with them. 1 remember very pleasantly a large meat safe in a corner of a verondah where, after sundown, our host used to sit anil i mop lus face in great content, the nightof the frenzied creatures trying to get at him. he said, made him happy. Crocodile hunting was at that time a favourite Sunday sport. 1 oil tied an, empty barrel to a dead chicken, throw it, in the river, and watched the crop., having swallowed the chicken, lowing it, tip and down, lashing and churning tiie water in a fury to get rid ot it. till lm was tired. Whereupon you shot him, and the natives searched his interior Inr the brass bangles ot tluir missing wives. (Standing boldly out of the liver is the great Ju-ju rock, where not so long ago youg men and maidens were snei ilift'll to the deity who dwells therein. Nowadays, under Bi'ititsJi rule, he may have only goats to appease him, and tiie natives attribute most of their misfortune to the fact that the mighty Juiu does not get enough to eat. But in spite of black magic, crocodiles and hot cotton-wool to breathe. Jebba is a. serene and lovely spot. When the setting sun is on the river and the craggy granite rocks are deep purple against a flaming orange sky. it is a sight of imposing beauty. So still, so darkly tragic, it seems to lie the living heart of Africa itself, silent and impenetrable. heavy with age-old secrets that no white man will ever know.