MYSTERIOUS "LAKE OF LIFE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15269, 5 April 1913, Page 5 (Supplement)

MYSTERIOUS "LAKE OF LIFE."

"• ~ ' HIDDEN , IN, KtGEBIA. ■ -'•'.-• '-'.'-■ '.-:/:.,■': '"* ',■;.' ..■■■'■.''.. ' ■'.... ■:'-■'■:;'-"■■' '■-.'',■■.-; : WIERD - DISCOVERIES ■ MY BRITISH ; . **\ OFJTCIAL. ■*. ■, " r ." Fnost'.Southern.-. Nigeri&' news been■■ ror I ceived of the discovery just I i-'made: byrldr;. P'. : : j ebmmisaioher, of wha.ti known as. the j I Lake of Life," on which, accord-1 i ing to popular behef, the existence of -a i hundred thousand people depends, ■ j vvTien, some months' ago, Mr, Talbot re- j turned extensive! travels in unknown 'parts; of' Migeriai;;he,an« ; j noimoed, as one of. the most interesting discoveries, the finding of the "Lake of the Dead ,, in the Oban-country, This he' visited after great difficulty, and in apite | of the fact that porters and carriers: re» i fused to proceed to the dreaded fipot.. The scene about the lake, he aaid, was full of myßtery 'and dread. Thersurfttce of the; water was absolutely still, and round.about were 10ft,high bushes bearing what looked like great tufts of creamy flowers. These,; howevor, proved to be nests of tree frogs. The place was -a sanctuary for all wild things, for no hunter would dare to pone« trate the bush to this fearsome place. As Mr. Talbot stood a$ tlie gazing over the water,! its;; quiet was suddenly '■•broken, by a TjroacJ ripple, and little fish were seen to spring agitatedly above the surface. A great python was crossing, and this,; it was learned, shared with the crocodiles the guardianship J of tho Sacred Lake.; Nothing was allowed to trouble the' water or even to touch its outer edge for fear;©f famine and pestilence ensuing Hither, the natives believed, came py night the ghosts of long-dead Ekoi, to drift in sad companies, hopeless and - wailing, over the surface

"V Jealously-kept Socrefc. , On Mr. Talbot's return to Nigeria he found that the news'; of' the discovery or the "Lake of the Dead "had brought to light the fact that another sheet of, water to which* mysterious powers were ascribed existed in the neighbourhood of Ikit-Ono, the chief town of the IbibiOs; and one afternoon Mr. Talbot and Mr. Eakin, accompanied by Mrs. Talbot and her sister, set out to endeavour to locate it. Hitherto ' the knowledge of the lake had been kept "a jealously-guarded secret from all Europeans, and not even the natives," With the one exception of the high priests," had been allowed to approach the sacred water —the dwelling place of the greatest'deity of the race. Acccbs to the lake was through a sacred grove so cunningly contrived that a stranger might'pass within a few yards yet never find the holy pool. Mr. Talbot and his party, guided to the Spot, found that the water was full of great fish on the welfare of wluch depended the life of the Ibibio race. The iish were so tame that they fed from the hand of the roighing high priest, the Only human, being allowed to look upon the water. ; "Thunder God's" Guard. , Formerly many victims were annually secrificed here, though at the; present day human life was not permitted to be taken. Countless legends had grown up round the spot. It, was' said to he placed by its first guardian, the Thunder God, under the care of a python and a leopard, who ceaselessly kept watch and ward and destroyed.anyone . rash enough to seek to penetrate its mysteries.-. It is specially sacred, as the dwelling-place of: the most powerful deity —the Great Mother—lsu-Ma (the Face of Love), whose symbol is a,holly;rock facing the entrance. .-. ;,. Near bv the travellers foand a second pool ancillary to the lake itself., In the centre, of this is a palm tree, near which, in the water, are stationed a iman; a girl arid a boy, who bear the name of the goddess, as they were granted to- the parents in direct answer, to prayer.