The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1911. TRAVELLERS’ TALES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 70, 6 November 1911, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1911. TRAVELLERS’ TALES.

Dr. Brunton, an English sportsman of .mine note, recently came hack from North-east Rhodesia with some strange tales of the natives among whom he lived while there. According to accounts which a contemporary publishes the natives are the Wawernba tribe. Their origin is not known, hut it is .bought that they come of Egyptian stock. They differ widely from the negroid type, many of the women being quite pretty, with small, straight aoscs and small lips and ears, while

the men possess the physique of the negro with a much higher degree of intelligence. Strange to say, these natives, though they are continually a prey of maneating lions, object to the animals being shot. They hold to a superstition that the spirits of their dead chiefs inhabit the bodies of these maneatsrs. Judging from the account of the rule of the late chief, Mivamha, one docs not wonder at the origin of the belief. This chief put down crime and petty offences by such punishments as roasting to death and mutilation. Flirting was an. offence so serious as to bo punished by cutting off the noses or ears of the offending parties. For speaking against a chief the punishment was mutilation of the tongue and ears. For stealing, one hand was chopped off at the first offence and the other at the second offence. Now they are under British rule these practices .re not permitted. Polygamy flourishes but it is not encouraged. A man can buy a wife for 2s Gd, but each wife must have a hut, and there is a huttax of ,‘is a year, so that many cannot afford the luxury of more than one hut. r l hough there is much devil worship the natives believe in but one God They have their traditions and preserve them by oral records. They told Dr. Brunton that their ancestors came from the North, and were brought across Lake Tanganyika, led by two white men, who afterwards disappeared in their canoe. The folk-lore is full of quaint animal stories, the hero of which is always a rabbit, who is credited with marvellous wisdom and sagacity. OUR ARMS. A writer in the Christchurch “Press’’ referring to New Zealand’s coat of arms, says:—lt is right, of course, if we are to have armorial bearings, with representations of llnmney sheep, rnd .Maori warriors with “taialia,” that these objects should he represented with some fidelity. Wo can imagine, however, the perplexity of the Heralds’ College at being thus rudely shaken out of its antiquarian dreams about griffins, martlets, and domidarts, and oilier heraldic emblems, and imperiously summoned by a brand-new Dominion, in the South seas to produce Maori chief's and “taiaba” and Romney sheep. No doubt the Dominion will have to nay something handsome in the shape of fees, and we trust that the Heralds’ College will find in tliese a sufficient solalium for its troubles. But why is the Romney sheep selected as the typical breed of

sheep to ho given the pl;icc of honour, presumably for all lime', i:i the Dominion’s c oat of arms? it looks like* another injustice to the South Island. Romney sheep are a good deal used in the North Island, where the climate seems to suit them. i!nl Canterbury is supposed not to he unconnected with the sheep industry, and a flock of Romneys here is quite a rarity. "What is the matter, as our American friends say, witii the merino? That is regarded all cvei the world as a characteristic col.ml.il bread. It is true that, owing to the land legislation of the Government, the merino is, to all appearance, gradually becoming extinct, but the Heralds’ College has a marked preference for extinct animals. We wonder if the Agricultural Department was consulted on this momentous question. 0:' was it decided by Mr Buddo, u hoseposition as Minister for Internal Affairs no doubt involves him in the decision of nice points of archaeology and th.c tine arts.