Student of Witchcraft

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 672, 25 May 1929, Page 18

Student of Witchcraft

Peer’s Intrepid Daughter Explores Wild West Africa

“I travel alone because I prefer it,* she told a “Daily Mail" reporter, and continued: “I am convinced tha ! : it is much safer for a white woman to travel alone in a primitive country. Primitive people regard a woman visitor as a sign of peace. On the other hand, a white man is likely to fill them with . apprehension and distrust." Travelling long distances in Portuguese and French Guinea, Lady Dorothy visited many tribes. She said: “I never had cause to feel fear. The natives were sometimes afraid of I me. The Seloups, for instance, were i extremely timid people, and the old women are much braver than the men. : “As I sat outside my hut the old I crones would edge nearer and nearer . until they reached me and then they would stroke my hand with one finger, i The final test of my friendliness came j w r hen they dumped a baby in my lap. Religious Secrets “My chief object in making the esi pedition was to study witchcraft. I ; found information difficult to get, for the pagan primitives are very jealous ! of their religious secrets. ! “Xhe witch doctors are expert heri balists and they also have a remarkable knowledge of auto-suggestion. ! “I saw one man who was dying i because a witch doctor had told him Ihe would die. He was given a week | to live, and, sure enough, he lasted only that time."

v Guinea . HADY DOROTHY MILLS, daughter of the Earl of Orford* (who now’ resides at Manurewa, Auckland >, arrived in London recently after spending four months travelling alone in the wilds of West Africa. Lady Dorothy had already trekked to Timbuktu alone and had journeyed up the Niger River and round Liberia.