AFRICAN WOMAN RULER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22349, 21 February 1936, Page 4

AFRICAN WOMAN RULER

STONES WITH A HISTORY In 1 a district lying to the south of Lake Tanganyika, far off the beaten track, there is a woman chief who is a sultan under British rule. She has ft curious traditional family history, states a South African writer. Some 200 years ago the chief of the Lufipa tribe knew of an ancient prophecy; that a "white woman would arrive in his territory, seat herself on his Royal chair and that the supremacy would pass from him to her. Unda arrived accompanied by two daughters; she carried a huge stone strapped to her back in the way native mothers carry their babies. There is doubt about ker origin, though she was pale in colour, probably of Hamiatic stock. During the absence of the chief she obtained entry by a ruse and managed to sit in his chair, so he abdicated, and her descendants, male and female, have ruled the country since then. The present chieftainess Nti (a name suggesting Egyptian derivation) governs 4000 square miles with a population of over 40,000. She is intelligent, and shrewd and asserts her authority, but it is whispered that after her the Government will not appoint another woman.* , Some years ago a stranger arrived in her village with Communist ideas. She ordered him to be strapped to a pole and had him carried by boys to the district officer with a message that he might deal with him, but that she had no use for such disturbers of the peace. The sacred stone brought by Unda is still where she placed it, on the top of the Milangi Mountain, and the descendants of the abdicated chief are its guardians. The relic, is venerated and it is said to be most unlucky to tamper with it. An officinl climbed the hill and tried to identify it, but his guide gave no help, and there were many boulders in the place. Coming down he sprained his ankle, and it was immediately pointed out to him that the curse still held good! And here is a strange link joining the worship of a primitive African tribe and the veneration of the greatest Empire the world has ever known Ages ago a sacred stone stood on Tara Hill, where the high kings of Eire were crowned; later, tradition tells us, this stone was taken to Scone, and the lone, line of Scotland's kings were consecrated and crowned on it. Now it lies under the coronation throne in Westminster Abbey, and the late King George was crowned on it.