DUNSTAN PROSBYTERY. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS CORNER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 30 March 1904, Page 77

DUNSTAN PROSBYTERY.

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS CORNER.

(Conducted by " Magistee,"' to whom all commuaiications must be addres cd.)

THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE.

To give anything like an adequate idea <>f what Sir Harry Johnston's two largo volumes contain would require 10 or a dozen columns, but we cannot afford that "-space. A few extract? — sometimes condensed, however — will give a fair idea of th& value of this most important province. Being in the tropics, the protectorate, though on account of its height enjoying a fairly temperate climate, is subject to tropical thunderstorms, and the- following v.'ill give you an idea of a tropitai downpour : —

" A Uganda Hurricane. — At places like Entebbe there must be nearly 200 storms in a year. They generally como on about 3 o'clock in the morning. The day or the night has beon extremely hot, and there has been an utter abeence of movement of the air. Over the sea horizon of the lake purplo clouds begin to form, which, as they riss and cover the heavens, turn to au awful, monotonous dun-grey, Ixeoining whitish over the storm centre, with ono or two little patches of blackish cloud floating over this dirty white focus. The whole sky is almost covered before the storm bursts. As a first warning ( : f ifc be daylight) the glassy surface of tlio lake near it 3 liorison becomes mled with, blnck lines, which are the advancing billows of the* wind-lashed water. Then in the distancearises the sound of a rushing wind, which comes nearer and nearer, until trees a hundred yards distant are sc-en to be swaying and cracking, while there is still a deadly calm where ycu are standing. Then the blast strikes you, being preceded possibly by a cloud of blinding dust or a squall of leaves. Doors slam in the hour's, unfastened windows are wrenched off their tinges, and {ho papers and light articles in the rooms are whirled hithec and thither, while- in rhs garden or forest hard T>y branch-cs crack a:id locsely-roo-red trees fail to the earth with a frightening c.csh. If you are in a tent and natching the storm, in all probability the first impact of tlio wind has levelled your canvas to the ground, and all ycur treasured belongings on your camp-table- ai-id ycur bed are expa-ed to tlio rain which is now appropching. This is nothing lets than a cubic mile of grey water which is being' driven, towards you at 15 miles an hour. In this moving shower bath you remain for 30 minutes or more-; then if you have survived this there may be a lull. Tiien another cubic mile of wrier will bo driven tip and over you. At last the storm settles down into a fine, steady downpour, and the worst is over. But the lightning ! If it bo night-time, when the storm com-Ci: up you will jsea when the purple clouds first form, over the lake horizon that they are lit up every minute cr so by silent flashes, revealing with temporary vividness the shapes of the cumulus clouds. Then for a time the coruscations ceaso, until th© heavens are one pall of dun-grey cloud. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the hurricane wind comes the first £?.sh of pink lightning, followed immediately by an explosion of thunder which seems to be the- crack of doom. If ycur own dwellings and porters escape (ps of course they do in the groat percentage of cases, or life in these regions would be impossible), you will almost certainly eec a tree struck, or somebody's ridgc-pclo go down. Tall trees, however, are the most frequ&ut victims, and readily se.rve as lightning conductors, ecr&ening the human beings by receiving the worst of the electric- fluid. Thsse terrible flaming swords of fire r&vcal to you the grey wall of water by which you are surrounded. Gradually they become less vehement, and are accompanied after much greater intervals cf time by rumbles of thunder more bearable than ihe artillery crashes which first accompanied the forked lightning: It occurs sometimes, however, that when ycu think the storm is over and done with, and are about to return to yoiir bed. thankful to hays escaped on this occasion - with your life, a freeh storm, oomos up, or rather the old one returns in its circular course, and there is a renewal of your agonies of apprehension."

In two cr three places Sir Harry makes extended reference to ants. One I condense for you. It ;s; s *not generally known that auts form si delectable dish, but they do, it seems "With it I have put a piece on flies, also eaten as a tasty dish: —

" Ants. — Ants are, of course, found id. legions, except on the cold plateaux. There is the tiny kind which gets into one's sugar and biscuits ; there is a flerca blaok ant in th-e forests and a red-tiee one both of which bite with great ferocity and attack one unprovoked. And there is one ant living in twos and threes, which is worse than all of the other ants put together, for it produces the most appalling stench, especially after rain lias fallen. If, 'by Occident, you tread on one of those ants, and crush it, the smell ■which results is so skunk-like that you are obliged to ovoid the locality where the deed lias taken place for some hours unless you •want to bo fairly sickened. T!-e smell resembles that of fou! drains or of a decaying- corpse.

" Midges, Sanciflies, Etc. — From the waters of Lake' Victoria, as from thoss of Nyassa, rise up clouds of kungk flies, which are also a minute species of gnat. The kungo fly iias a soft little body, scarcely as large as that of a flea, with gauzy wings. During the rainy season (generally) this gnat, which lias b&cn hatched in the broad waters of th© lak-e, rises from the waters in clouds of millions, cnG might almost say in billions. 3M ; nut© as th© creature is, it leaves the \vaters of the lake in such numbers that its masses are mistaken, when seen at a distrrce, for veritable cloudlets. "When tlie ivfnd drives these creatures upon you, they will drift in through your house or tent until thay cover floor, furniture, dinner, and clocumenls w'th a thin layer of pale yellowinsect atoms, not unlike the aphis in appearance. The natives of Uganda, as of Nyassaland, collect these flies by means of mat screens, brush them up, mash them up into cakes, fry them, und. oat them with gusto.

It is perhaps scarcely necessary to add that the names" of all prrts of the Uganda Protectorate eat the* fiymg termites (' white. ants ') with enjoyment." Ihe rhinoceios, the writer doe-s not think much of: he's a blundering, savage, brainless kind of brute possessed of htth beauty or use. This is what he lias to say m on© place of this ponderous., unlovely, ai.d unlovable animal: —

"The Rhinoceros.— l am afraid that blundering creature the rhinoceros can be turned to no useful purpose in the. future of Africa, but he is so grotesque a surwval from the- groat mammalian, epoch that ho should be steadily preserved from extinction. The rhinocero3, however, is a handful, to use a colloquialibm. All slong the route of the Uganda railway game is being carefully protected, with the agreeable rcsalt that antelopes, zebras, and ostriches graze closely to the railway line, as fearless of man as if they were in an English park. Much the senna condition may be observed in all parts of the Protectorate oft the beaten track, where British sportsmen have not had the opportunity to harry and destroy. But in. all these countries tho rhinccaros is not tamed by this tolerance, but is apt to becomej a dangorous nuisance by charging at aij and everything at a moment's noticewhen it is playful or out of temper. Thijs amongst the. Masai it is much dreaded. Ho Masai do not cat — and therefor© do not kill — game. They fear no wi'd beast but the. rhinoceros, because all other creatures, v they sro lef'o alone, seem to experience, as a rule-, no desire to attack human beings. Tho rhinoceros, however, makes absolutely unprovoked attacks, and occasionally gores a man bc-foiO ho can. get out of the road. Fortunately these huge beasts aio very stupid and very blind. They probably can see little or nothing with any clearness that is 10 yards away from them. They are> guided entirely by their sense of smell, which, however, is -extraordinarily keen."

But Sir Harry Johnsto l thinks that it may be possible — he appeals to speak half in jest and half in earnest — that as domestic servants are getting seaieo it may be pojsiblo to tame* baboons to do some of the least attractive work about a house. I imaginea baboon in the kitchen peeling potatoes and washing the dishes ! Glance at the following : —

"Baboons possess a quite half-human intelligence, and though sometimes inconvenient in their audacious mi e chief, they arc most imcrec-ting pets to keep and study •; and it is only by thus having them to live with one for years that one rcal'scd how much their average and untrained intelligence' is above that of the ordinary beast, and how distinct an approach tlv> baboon makes toward? man. Personally, I believe that the baboon con-cs very nccr being an actual stage in nipn's accent, the modern Afrieon baboon haung no doubt diverged a little from the ancestral types whence maa ascended; but, wilh the sole exception of their exaggerated muzzle, thc-y undoubtedly approximate to that type, — the. grand parent 1 -, so to speak, of man, the stage immediately prece'iif.:* the anthropoid ppe and succeeding the long-tailed monkey. Tlio ancient Egyptians, if thoir sculptures and paia tings are- to be tiken as accurate, not only tamed the baboon of Nubi"., bat trained it to bo a useful aiiimal in gainering fruits and performing other useful services, it is a pity that this art should have been lost. I know from persoral experience that it is extremely easy to tsmo baboons, but very difficult to train tl.em to ready obedi&nee, and anything like work is abhorrent to their nature, jf only we could learn ths secret of the ancient Egyptians in this respect, we might solvo the domestic problem eventually, when all •men kind becomes too proud to perform menial taskf>. We might, in preference to cutoniata, recruit our servants from amongst man's nearest relatives, the n&gWted simians, the Bandar L~>g of Radyaid Kipling's ' Jungle Stories.' "

AYe have heard of crocodiles' tears. What are they liko? How did the terii originate? Here is what Sir Harry has to oay of this repulsive terror-striking animal, and how fai^cy accounts for the tears which travellers' talee — a long time ago, bsfo-ro travellers wers quite as truthful as they are now — state the crocodile shed tears over th& victims it devours: —

" Crocodiles. — Among reptiles, tb.2 common African crocodile is naturally the most prominent. These creatures as they lay on the rocks and sand appear to b& of c-normous size and length, but actual measurements are apt to show thit these

estimates by the eye are untrustworthy. The biggest crocodile we ever shot scarcely exceeded 12ft in length, though it looked a, monster, and I bslieve that 15ft is the greatest recorded length of any measured croeodilo that has baen killed in the Uganda. Protectorate. Their attacks on the people, as on tho beasts that come to the water's edge, are as Ferious as in any other part of Africa. The carrying away of a man or woman was at or.c time a daily occurrence at Entebbe. Of late attempts have been made to put in practice the excellent idea of giving rewards for the eggs, which are then carefully destroyed. . . . We all know thit the attacks of man have completely driven the crocodile away from the Nile below Kartum, though afc one time, within the historic period, this creature was found down to the shores of the Mediterranean, and in the lakes that now form part of the Suez Canal. The crocodile? of the Victoria Nyanza, end, indeed, of any other African lake or river, are fond of crawling out of the water during the daytime to bisk in ths> sun and digest their food in this pleasant warmth They like to hoist their head and fore limbs above the rest of the bod;/. The crocodile has probably no more humour in him than a sea-anemone, and j-et to our eyes Nature has mingled with his ferocious aspect a hypocritical leer which suorsests false =e.ntiment and ' crocodile tears.' The peculiar scoop of the under jaw at it' junction with "the upper jaw, the grinning teeth, and th.& placidly closed eyelids suggest the fojlith smile which might pass over Iho i\\cp of a sleeping drunkard, as though this cvaoture in its reptilian slumber was dreaming of some unusually toothsome human whose tender body it has recently chamrjecl vith su=to. I have sometimes seen through a fieldgbss the most ridiculous and incongruous spectacle of sleeping crocodiles, each wearing this ineffable and foolish leer, being solr-mnly gazed at by storks, cranes, herons. and other water-birds perched above them on one leg, and apparently contemplating the monsters more' in sorrow than in anger."

The Imperial Bbass Spray Pump: With Stream and Fine Spray Nozzle. — Made "cj American noted manufacturers. Aie obtainable from Nnrao and Blair, Dunedin. Frn.-J-giowers and Crcliardiste akfluld jise iheza.

At a meeting of the Prosbytcry of Duncan, hold at Alexandra on the 16th inst., the following- motion on the union of churches was unan. mousy odoptec' : — "That this pre&bytery, having c'.uiy considered the Assembly's remit regarding the union of our church with the Methodiat and Congregational Churches, while sympathising veiy heartily with the movement, does not think the time has yet arrived for an incorporating union, but is strongly of on -lion that it would bo a substantial gain to Christianity in our country if tli& Assembly's- committee could join with committees of the other churches in devising on arrangement similar to that which texists among; the frcs churches in England, whereby 'overlapping' would b& prevented." Iho resignations of the Rev. Messrs Gellie and Telford fiom their charges wero ac copied, and the Assembly voted these gentlemen the "talus of minister emeritus. A commission of presbytery was appointed to investigate, and, if suitable, sanction, the severance of Racs Juncllon from. Teviot parish, the former place to be taken over by the Clutha Presbytery. The Rev. A. M. Dalrj-mple, M.A., oi Clutha, was nominated for the- position of Moderator of Synod for the year 1905-&; the Rev. ,T. Mackie was pr-roinlecl Moderator of C'romv.'ell pro ten:, and authorised to declare the pulpit vacant as from March 31; and Mr Mackie wos rppo.'nted presbytery clerk pro tern. A call ir-om Wa'irio, Southland, to the Rev. T. Tair, of Cromwell, was placed in his hands and accepted.

Nearly 50 of the desortcd children uuder the control of the Stepney Board of Guardians aio to be ssnfc to Canada.

The Taicri Advocate states that the Waipori Falls Electric Pov.-er Company has received advice from Sydney that tha Australian syndicate formed for the purpose, of manufacturing carbid-o at Honloy or Milburn, having now got the necessary capital, ha r j asked the company to quote the- lov, cst; price for 2000 horse-pouer at Milburn or Henley.

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