FAMOUS AFRICAN KING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16205, 15 April 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

FAMOUS AFRICAN KING.

A MONSTER OF PRUIiUY,

ROMANCE OP LEWANIKA.

A recent message from Livingstone (Rlis. desia) announced the death of Lewanika, King of Barotseland. The land over which Lewanika .was rider extended on either bank of the Upper Zambesi in the western area of North Rhodesia. Jt is » land at least as large as modern Germany, and was once the home of unmitigated barbarism. Lewanika's predecessor, Sepopo, was a noted monster of cruelty, whom his subjects at last rebelled against and extinguished. His nephew and Lewa. j nika fought fiercely for the vacant throne, and the late king emerged the victor. Those events occurred about forty-six years ago. Knowing no better, Lewanika parried on the old traditions of barbarism. He burned witches almost daily, and indulged in the customary cruelties which provoked after fifteen year* the customary revolution. Lewanika was lucky enough to escape with his life and his only son, a boy of 14. His wives and other children were massacred, and his treasures footed- One, Akufuna, usurped the royal armchair and footstool of leopard skins in the capital of Lealuyi.

Lewanika and a few followers bad taken refuge on an island in the Linyauti river. There in the year 1885 the exile planned and plotted revenge. Rallying adherents, he made a surpriso attack on his rival, and the fighting that followed was famous even in the bloodstained annals of the Barotse. All day the tide of battle ebbed this way and that, and towards evening, when the issue hung in doubt, Lewanika sent messengers to th« Mambari, the black traders from the Portuguese coast, promising them much ivory if they would come speedily to his aid. The Mambari agreed to the bargain, and their arrival turned the battle in Lewanika's favour. He was one of the few chiefs who survived it. But from that day forward he reigned paramount in Baroteeland.

A Convert to QiviJHat'.jr,

In the school of adversity Lewanika had learned wisdom. After making a great pilgrimage to the tomb of his ancestors he introduced a regime of clemency audi as his subjects had never before known. It was the gulden age of Barotseland. The pioneers of the British South Africa: Company opened relations with Lewanika and encouraged his new virtues. Lewanika learned much from them, and became at last a model ruler. He set up a law court in which he tried criminals. He freed thousands of slaves. And with an amazing discrimination, while welcoming the best features of whit* civilisation, he drew the Jine at alcohol and guns. His tolerance in matters of religion was also beyond praise. Himself remaining a pagan, he welcomed the Christian missionaries and guaranteed their personal safety. M- Coillard, a distinguished French missionary, has testified to the amiability of his reception by the' great chief. Instead of burning witches, Lewanika now punished severely all who molested these unfortunate creatures. Much credit must be given to the French Protestant missionaries, the heirs of Livingstone, for the influence which they exercised on Lewanika. He retained firmly his old belief in the divine right of kings, but how intelligent was bis absolutism was shown, by his reception of Mr. Rhodes' proposals for a treaty between him and the British South Africa Company. It was Lewanika who, with great difficulty, and wjtb M. Cojliard* valuable help, persuaded the other chiefs to consent to make agreement with the representatives «f the Great White Queen. The treaty was signed on June 27, 1890, since when Barotseland has enjoyed protection and general administration under the British flag. The climax to the career of this reformed and estimable monarch came with his visit to England as a guest at the coronation of King Edward in 1902. For him this experience was as strange 'as a visit to another planet might be to more sophisticated souls. He had never before left Barotseland and had never seen the sea. But he comported himself in Loudon with extraordinary dignity and made the best of impressions. The King received him at Buckingham Palace, where lewanika did obeisance in his own style, and made offering of ivory and a rug of precious skins. He was frequently a guest at banquets, and his adaptability to wholly new conditions was another evidence of his remarkable character. His welcome back to his own country was very picturesque and suggestive. All the tribes gathered together in the Barotse valley, as anxious to see him as though lie were a man risen from the dead. Lewanika'a eon, Letia, who shared/ his father's adventures of old, is the heir to the throne.