The Sunday Oregonian., June 07, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 56

8
THEY
BY FRANK O. CARPENTER.
WAY out here In the heart of Bast
Africa, 100 miles below the equator,
" on the biggest island In Victoria
N'yanza, I And an American acting as
boas. He is the only white, man on the
Island, and he has surrounding him some
thing like 25,000 natives. He came out
to Africa expecting to make a fortune In
gold mining and ivory, but the mines did
riot pay and the elephants were scarce,
and so he settled down out here in the
wilds. His business is that of a wood
cutter, and he has a concession to furnish
fuel for the lake steamers. Ukewere is
densely wooded, and this man has a big
Kang of blacks cutting down trees and
carrying the wood to the shore. His home
Is a double hut away off by itself, and not
far from the little wooden pier at which
our steamer is lying. It is made of cane
find thatch and has only two rooms, with
B passageway through the center. There
are several other huts at the back which
ere occupied by his servants. 'The vil
lages in which his men live are not far
away. This man's name is Henrjr Seifert.
He is about 30 years of age and is well
drresed and good looking. He is very In
telligent, but he seems to like his life ou
here among the savage people. He tells
me he is paid so much for every hundred
cubic feet of wood furnished, and" that his
job Is a profitable one. Ho says that he
has had but little trouble with the natives,
and as 1 went about with him over the
island I could see that they bowed down
to him everywhere.
Tlie Island of tJkewere.
The island of Ukewere is the largest in
Lake Victoria. The lake id spotted with
Islands. They run around the shores, and
'there are several large archipelagoes. One
of theso is the Buvuma Islands, which
fringe Napoleon Gulf, out of which flows
;the great River Nile. Another is the
:Sesse group at the northwest, lying south
of Entebbe and running south and almost
to German East Africa, and a third is this
L'kerewe group away down at the south
east in flie German territory.
I came here from Mwanza. the chief
fortified station of the German govern
ment in this part of the world, and our
steamer coasted the Island for a long dis
tance before we landed. Ukerewe is more
tropical than any other part of the lake.
The ftiland is fringed with banana plan
tations and dense forests cover its hills.
There are many villages along the shores,
and I am told that the population all told
DRESS IN
8 f 4 . -w 'r " " ATOM f3f$& 'jl' $ ffi'f-' U
; v;v ''rirjl I KWsf :ifcM'r?;' L?-'av . .-JL:.
it - " - . ' :-" iiJ I I - -. . . ;-.7-';-5'wi2'.i;. -,1 , :-"! I if-'-I''. a
Facts and Figures About National Conventions
poised, he has seen not only the titled
but the poor and the lowly in the ut
most ends of the earth rise and un
cover before him. This convention is
master of a supreme opportunity; can
name the next President of the United
States and make sure of his election and
peaceful inauguration. It can speed the
Nation in a career of grandeur eclipsing
all past achievements. We have only
to listen above the din and look beyond
the dust of an hour to behold the Re
publican party advancing to victory with
its greatest marshal at its head."
James A. Garfield, In the convention of
1S80 at Chicago, in nominating John Sher
man, used this language, after eloquent
ly reciting the achievements of the Re
publican party; "I am about to present
a name for your consideration the name
of a man who was the comrade and as
sociate and friend of nearly all those
noble dead whose faces look down upon
us from these wlls tonight; a man who
began his career of public servlce 25
years ago: whose first duty was cour
ageously done in the days of peril on
the plains of Kansas, when the first red
drops of that bloody shower began to
fall, which finally swelled Into the deluge
of war. He has trodden the perilous
heights of public duty, and against all
the shafts of malice has borne his breast
unharmed. He has. stood in the blaze
of that fierce light that beats against
tho throne, but its fiercest ray has found
no flaw in his armor, no stain on his
6hield. I do not present him as a better
Republican or a better man than thou
sands of others we honor, but I present
him for your' deliberate consideration. I
nominate John Sherman, of Ohio."
Daniel Doherty, in the convention of
J880. at Cincinnati, in speaking of Win
field Scott Hancock, said: "I propose to
present to the thoughtful consideration of
the convention the name of one, who on
the field of battle- was styled 'The Su
perb,' yet won still nobler renown as a
military Governor whose first act when
In command of Louisiana and Texas was
to salute the Constitution by proclaiming
is about 25,000. The people are blacks,
who go almost naked. They wear nothing
but goatskins or bits of bark cloth, which
are tied over their shoulders and around
the waist. Some have a heart-shaped
apron of goatskin In front and behind,
and others wear aprons of whole "6kins
which fall to the knees. The men some
times pull such aprons around behind
them when they sit so that they serve as
cushion.
Mr. Seifert calls these natives the Wake
rewe. As we went about together among
them we were everywhere well treated.
The people seemed quiet and allowed me
to go into their huts end make photo
graphs. They have pronounced negro fea
tures, with thick Hps and fiat noses. Their
hair is woolly where it is left to grow,
but in most cases a part of the head is
shaved close. Some of the men cut off
all the wool excepting a lock on the
crown, which they tie up In banana fibers
so that It Btands like a horn, straight up
on the head. Others shave the head in
spots. Only a few of the people have
Jewelry. They are too poor to buy the
costly brass and Iron wire which are so
much worn on the mainland. I saw one
woman who had on an ivory bracelet, and
a man who wore an anklet composed of
a section of ivory tusk hollowed out.
Others had bits of bone and glass beads
tied to their hair. Nearly all were smeared
over with grease, and such as had hair
had so covered it with oil that the smell
was pronounced.
Wakcrcwe Villages.
The villages are composed of rude
huts made of cane and poles and cov
ered with grass. They have doors at
the front bo low that one has to stoop
to go In. Over some of the doors are
Iron bellR, which are bung there so that
if an evil spirit comes in it will bump
its head against the bell and warn the
owners and perhaps be' scared away.
The people are superstitious. They be
lieve in devils of all kinds and witch
doctors. They have little Idols before
which they pray and a part of their
religion. is a worship of snakes. There
are many poisonous reptiles here, bis
the natives will not kill them nor drive
them out of their huts; and they are
said to consider death by the bite of a
snake a sure passport to heaven.
Ukerewe Island has dense' forests,
which are Just filled with monkeys.
They chattered at us out of the
branches as we walked through the
woods, scampering' away as we pointed
our guns at them. There are also
Wmany hippopotami here. They live all
Continued From Page 2.
that the military rule, shall ever bo sub
servient to the civil power. The plight
ed word of a soldier was proved by the
acts of a statesman. With him as our
chieftain the bloody banner of the Repub
licans will fall from their paleied grasp.
The people hang breathless on your delib
eration. Take heed! Make na misstep!
I nominate one who can carry, every
Southern State, who can carry Pennsyl
vania, Indiana, Connecticut, New Jersey
and New York the soldier statesman,
with a record as stainless as his sword,
Winfleld Scott Hancock, of Pennsylvania.
If elected he will take hie seat."
The speech of William Jennings Bryan
on behalf of free silver coinage at the
Chicago Convention of 1S96 was the mak
ing of the Nebraskan. He has been in the
public eye. ever since. His words In behalf
of the masses set the convention wild, al
though David B. Hill and Senator Tillman
had addressed the convention before the
then Boy Orator of the Platte. Speaking
of the Republicans he concluded. "We
care not upon what lines the battle is
fought. It they say bimettalism Is good,
but we cannot have It till some nation
helps us, we reply that, instead of having
a gold standard because England has, we
shall restore bimettalism and then let
England have bimettalism because the
United States has. If they dare to come
out In the open and defend the gold stand
ard as a good thing, we shall fight them
to the uttermost, having behind us the
producing masses of this Nation and the
world. Having behind us the commercial
Interests, and the laboring Interests, and
all the toiling masses, we shall answer
their demand for a gold standard by say
ing to them, 'You shall not press down
upon the brow of labor this crown of
thorns. You shell not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold." "
Population and Voting: Strength.
The population of the United States, ac
cording to the census of 1900, was 76,303,
387. The ratio of Increase during the
decade 1S90-1900 was 21 per cent, or 13,233,
631. An estimate made by state authori
THE SUNDAY
GOATSKINS , AND
along; the shores and go from there
back into the country. They are some
times trapped In pitfalls and then har
pooned by the natives." Mr. Seifert tells
me that there is a herd of eleven ele
phants in this part of the island, but
that the German government has made
it a penalty to shoot them and they are
not molested.
During our stay here the steamer has
taken on a dozen cords or sc of Uke
rewe wood. This was brought on beard
by a gang of black natives who car
ried it on their heads from the place
where they were chopping the trees.
The distance is, I judge, at least a mile
from the landing. Both men and
women are engaged In the work, and
their wages were about 4 Isr 5 cents a
day. They are all under this Amer
ican, who is just one foreigner among
25,000 blacks, and notwithstanding- this,
bosses them all.
I wish I could show you some of
these islands about which I have been
traveling for the last few months.
Kavirondo Gulf is separated from the
lake by a fringe of islands, and it was
at these we stopped on our way out
from Port Florence. In going to Rlpon
Falls and the source of the Nile we
passed through the Buvuma Islands,
and we spent some time in the Sesse
Archipelago as we sailed southward
irito, German East Africa. The largest
group of islands in Lake Victoria is the
Scsse, which belong to Great Britain,
and next to them are the Buvuma
Islands, also British, which lie at the
north of the lake, making a series of
big stepping stones almost across Na
poleon Gulf.
The Buvuma Islands are beautiful.
At a distance they might be taken for
some of the Thousand Island of the St
Lawrence. Some of them are covered
with grass, and others are high and
well woodpd. Buvuma Island, which is
the chief of the group, is shaped like
an octopus. It has a center about 2000
feet high, and from this great green
tentacles branch out into the sea. It
is not unlike the Island of Celebes In
ties for January, 1908, places the popula
tion at a little over 88,900,000. On a like
basis, the population In November of the
present year will be approximately 90,
350,000. The total males of voting age,
according to the last decennial census was
21,329.819. Of these 19.036,143 were whites
and 2,293,676 were negroes, Indians, Chi
nese and mixed races. The combined Republican-Democratic
vote cast in 1900 was
13.566,056, the combined vote cast in 1904
was 12,701,467, showing that the two great
parties cast more votes in the McKinley
Bryan campaign than In the Roosevelt
Parker campaign. In comparison with
the voting strength of the population,
there is almost exactly two-thirds of the
vote cast at Presidential elections. Using
the ratio of increase of the 1S90-1900 decade
as the factor, the voting strength of the
country in November. 1908, will be close
on to 24,976,000. If the vote cast should be
two-thirds of this it would reach over
16.000.000. But history shows that it varies
without rhyme or reason, as the figures
of 1900 and 1904 demonstrate.
It Is probable, on a mere guess, that
with the usual Interest In the next elec
tion, the vote will easily pass the lo.flOO.
000 mark. A curious fact Is to be found
In the Irregularity of the popularity of
voting, as it might bei termed. To every
vote cast in Portland,' Me., for instance,
there are 6.30 Inhabitants, while in Port
land. Or., It Is one to every 7.11 inhabit
ants. In Salt Lake, where the women
vote as their husbands do, and where
sometimes the one husband commands the
votes of five wives, there are 2.73 inhabit
ants to each vote cast. In the Eastern
cities the proportion runs fromJ4.22 at
Cincinnati to 4.58 at Chicago, and from
5.24 at Minneapolis to 6.70 at Boston. In
the South, of course, the ratio Is very low,
8.57 at Richmond, 12.64 at New Orleans,
and 17.61 at Atlanta.
Miscellaneous Data.
The percentage of the popular vote from
1876 to 1904 received b leading nominees
stands respectively thus: Hayes, 47.95;
Tilden, 60.91. Garfield. 48.26; Hancock,
48.26. Cleveland, 48.82; Blaine, 48.19. Har- j
OREGONIAN, PORTLAND,
USE COWBELLS TO KEEP OFF THE DEVIIy
shape. This island is fertile, and it
has a large population. Its people
live in thatched huts, each of which
ends In a steeple bound around with
grass. The shores are covered with
banana plantations, and the houses
shine like silver out of the green. The
Buvuma natives are much like the
Basogas, who live on the mainland
about the source of the Nile, not far
away. They dress in bark" cloth, and
the women often wear only fringes of
banana leaves, which are tied to a
cord about the waist. The men buy
their wives with cattle, and every man
has as many wives as he can afford.
When a man dies his wives become the
property of his sons. The only excep
tion is -the real mother, who is never
given to her own son, but often to an
uncle or the father's brother.
The women are little more than the
servants of their husbands, as Is the
case all around this great lake. The
men are considered superior beings. A
girl may not sit on a chair or a stool,
and if there is anything of that kind,
in a hut it is monopolized by the male"
members of the family, the girls using
the ground.
The Sesse Islands are off the shore
of Uganda, the largest (of them being
only three miles from the mainland.
They are governed by the King of
Uganda, and have a representation in
the lukiko, or council of chiefs, at
Mengo. The principal chief gets $1000
a year from the British government.
These islands are the largest and
best In all Lake Victoria. There are
62 of them, of which 42 are inhabited.
In the past they have had a large pop
ulation, but within two or three years
the Bleeping sickness has broken out
there and thousands have died. There
Is a large hospital on the island, and
this, for the greater part of last year,
was under the control of Dr. Koch,
the famous German diphtheria specialist,-
who came out here to study the
sleeping sickness. ,
At present the Sesse group has some
good-sized settlements. The natives
are farmers, and they raise bananas.
rison, ' 47.78: Cleveland, 48.51. Cleveland.
45.72; Harrison. 42.58. McKlnley. 51.02;
Bryan, 46.71. McKlnley, 51.67: Bryan, 46.51.
Roosevelt, 56.42; Parker. 37.60.
The percentage of the. electoral vote
from 1876 to 1904 received by the leading
nominees respectively stands thus: Hayes,
50.14; Tilden, 49.86. Garfield, 58; Hancock,
42. Cleveland, 54.62; Blaine, 45.S8. Harri
son,' 58.11; Cleveland. 41.89. Cleveland,
62.38; Harrison. 32.65. McKinley. 60.62; Bry
an. 39.38. McKinley, 66.32; Bryan, 34. 6S.
Roosevelt. 70.58; Parker, 29.42.
The Temperance or Prohibition vote
from 1876 to 1904 stands thus: 1S76, 9522;
18S0, 10.305: 1884. 115.S09; 1888. 250,538; 18.12,
279,191; 1896, 131,312; 1900, 207.368; 1904, 258,
847. The vote of the two factions of the
Socialists stands thus: 1S92, Socialistic
Labor. 21.191; 1896. Socialistic Labor. 36.373;
1900, Social Democrat, 94,552; Socialistic
Labor, 33,450; 1901, Social Democrat, 402,
169; Socialistic Labor, 33.612.
The states credited as the birthplace
of Presidents are as follows: Virginia, 7;
New York, 4: Ohio, S; North Carolina, 3;
Massachusetts. 1; Kentucky, 1; New Hamp
shire, 1; New Jersey, 1; Pennsylvania. 1;
Vermont, 1. Residence when elected: New
York, 6; Virginia, 6; Ohio. 4: Tennessee,
3; Massachusetts, 2: District of Columbia,
1; Illinois, 1; Indiana. 1; Louisiana, 1;
New Hampshire, 1; Pennsylvania. 1.
Union labor In the American Federation
of Labor, claims to have 27 states organ
ized, with 570 city central unions, 669 local
unions. 926 organizers. 2.000.000 members
and 245 weekly or monthly publications.
The Republican National Committee
Alabama, Charles H. Scott; Arkansas,'
Powell Clayton; California, George A.
Knight; Colorado, A. M. Stevenson; Con
necticut, Charles F. Brooker; Delaware,
John Edward Addicks; Florida, -J. N.
Coombs; Georgia, Judson W. Lyons; Ida
ho, W. B. Hey burn: Illinois, Frank O.
Lowden; Indiana, Harry S. New: Iowa,
Ernest E. Hart; Kansas, David W. Mul
vane; Kentucky, John W. Yerkes; Louis
iana. Pearl Wight: Maine, John F. Hill;
Maryland, Stevenson A. Williams; Massa
chusette, W. Murray Crane; Michigan,
John W. Blodgett; Minnesota, Frank B.
Kellogg: Mississippi, L. B. Moseley; Mis
souri, Thomas J. Atkins; Montana. John
D. Waite; Nebraska, Charles H. Morrill;
Nevada, Patrick L. Flanigan; New
Hampshire, Frank S. Streeter; New Jer- '
JUNE 7, 1908.
corn, potatoes and tobacco. Coffee
grows wild, and it is said to be good.
The Sesse Islanders are much like
the Baganda. Both sexes dress in
bark cloth, and the women wrap bark
blankets around their bodies under the
arms, leaving the shoulders and upper
breast bare. Only the babies are al
lowed to go naked. These people are
good fishermen, and they have well
made canoes. They manufacture them
from trees of soft wood, cutting the
logs into boards and then tying the
boards together with leather thongs
ami caulking them. Some such boats
wilf hold 100 men. In olden times, it
is said that certain kings of the Sesse
group had as many as 400 canoes.
Speaking of the missionaries, the
Sesse Islanders are to a large extent
now Christians. In the past their
country was a seat of heathenism, and
the home of the famed goddess, Muk
asa, who ruled all Victoria Nyanza.
This goddess had a temple on the isl
and of Bubembe. Her priests were
supposed to own the island, and the
descendant of one of them named
Gugu is now its proprietor. Gugu has
3d0U acres of land, and is rich in ba
nanas. The kings of Uganda formery sent
sacrifices to Mukasa. They contributed
flocks of sheep and goats, and that In
such numbers that when the royal sac
rifices were made the blood wan in
streams from the gates of the temple
down into the lake. Mutesa, the grand
father of the present king of Uganda,
once sent 100 slaves. 100 women, 100
cows and' 100 goats at one time to this
goddess.
They Eat Dead Men.
It ' is on the Sse Islands that the
Secret Society of the Bachichi; who have
the custom of eating dead human beings.
Is believed to have Its head, and at pres
ent all who die there are watched by
their relatives for eight days to prevent
their being so consumed. A similar cus
tom exiBts in Uganda, and also along the
upper shores of Lake Tankanyika. I met
a German trader during my stay at
Mwanza who had just returned after a
long march from Tanganyika. During
sey. Franklin Murphy; New York, Wil
liam Ward; North Carolina. B. C Dun
can: North Dakota. Alexander McKenzie;
Ohio. Myron T. Herrick: Oregon. Charles
H. Carey: Pennsylvania. Boles Penrose;
Rhode Island, Charles R. Brayton: South
Carolina. John G. Capers: South Dakota,
J. M. Greene; Tennessee, Walter P.
Brownlow; Texas, Cecil A. Lyon; Utah,
C. H I-oose; Vermont, James W. Brock;
Virginia, Alvah H. Martin: Washington,
Levi P. Ankeny; West Virginia, N. B.
Scott: Wisconsin, J. W. Babcock; Wyom
ing, George E. Prexton: Alaska, John
G. Held: Arizonia, W. S. Sturges; New
Mexico, Solomon Luna; Oklahoma, C. M.
Cade; Indian Territory, P. L. Soper; Dis
trict of Columbia. Robert Reyburn; Ha
waii. A. G. M. Robertson: Porto Rico. R.
H. Todd; Philippine Islands. Henry B.
McCoy.
The Democratic Xational Committee
Alabama, Henry D. Clayton; Arkansas,
William H. Martin; California, M. F. Tar
pey; Colorado, John I. Mullens; Connecti
cut; Homer S. Cummings; Delaware,
Richard R. Kenney: Florida. Jefferson B.
Browne; Georgia, Clarke Howell i Idaho,
Simon P. Donnelly; Illinois, Roger C. Sul
livan; Indiana, Thomas Taggart; Iowa,
Martin J. Wade; Kansas. John H; At
wood; Kentucky, Urey Woodson; Louis
iana, N. C. Blanchard; Maine, George E.
Hughes: Maryland, A. Gaston; Michigan;
D. J. Campau; Minnesota. T. J. Hudson;
.Mississippi. C. H. Williams; Missouri,
W. A. Rothwell; Montana. C. W. Hoff
man; Nebraska, J. C. Dahlman; Nevada,
J. H. Dennis; New Hampshire, True L.
Norris; New Jersey. W. B. Gurley: New
York, Norman E. Mack; North Dakota,
H. D. Albert; Ohio, Tom Johnson; Penn
sylvania, J. M. Guffey; Rhode Island,
George W. Green; South Dakota, Ei S.
Johnson; Tennessee, R. E. L. Mount
castle; Texas, R. M. Johnson; Utah D. H.
Peery; Vermont, BR. Smalley; Virginia,
J. T. Ellison; Washington, John Y. Terry;
West Virginia, John T. McGraw; Wiscon
sin, T. E. Ryan; Wyoming, John E. Os
borne; Alaska, Lewis Williams; Arizonia,
Ben Crawford; District of Columbia,
James L. Norris; Hawaii, Palmer P.
Woods; New Mexico. H. B. Ferguson;
Porto Rico, D. M. Field.
R. A. Billups, Oklahoma; R. L. Wil
liams, Indian Territory, will probably be
allowed one-half vote each.
WE
this trip he went from-Ujijl. at the center
of the lake, along the eastern shore to
the top and spent some time with the
natives. He tells me that the people of
the different villages there are closely
rflatod, and that when a man dies his
family at once sends word to their rela
tives of the neighboring villages to come
and take possession of the body. They
do so and then prepare a feast of which
the dear departed is the piece de resist
ance. The body Is cut up and roasted
over the fire or boiled with bananas in
an earthen pot. No one of the village to
which thch man belonged Is allowed to
Join In the horrible feast, and the family
of the dead are not allowed to be pres
ent. Such bodies are taken away In the
daytime, soon after death, and the pro
cession carrying them is one of four men,
who use a sack for the purpose.
These people are called the Manyema
and until recently they have accompanied
the burial of their chiefs with human sac
rifices, ten living women being buried in
each grave. The legs of the women were
broken at the knees and their arms at
the elbows and they were then laid flat
in the grave with the "dead body of the
chief on top of them. After this ten
live men whose arms and legs were
broken in the same way were placed over
the top of the chief, and the grave was
then filled up. My authority for this last
statement is J. F. Cunningham, a 'Fellow
of the Royal Geographical Society of
London, who for some years was one of
the chief British employes In this part
of Africa.
My German friend told me that the offi
cials about Lake Tanganyika have been
trying to stop" the practice of eating the
dead, but that the natives are super
stitious In regard to it. and that it still
goes on.
The Island of the Dead.
It was shortly after leaving tho
Sesse Islands that our ship coasted the
shores of the Island of the Dead, which
lies almost opposite the German mili
tary station of Bukoba. It Is a little
rocky mans, covering but a few acres,
which rises out of the lake almost
straight upward for several hundred
feet. There is a bluff at one end, and
In thlB there are caves which the na
tives from the mainland use as their
burial vaults. They bring the bodies
over in canoes and lay them away in
the caves to rest.
Farther back in the country the Bazi
bas. as these people are called, have
public cemeteries in which they bury
their chiefs In an odd way. As to tho
ordinary people, when they pass away,
Picturesque 6
Continued
two later, following the death of his
predecessor. During the years that he
was making his National reputation as
editor-of the Courier-Journal he prac
tically lived in the office, and the first
few months that ho was on the paper
he really did live in the editorial rooms,
that he might be close to his work.
Watterson is one of the few members
of the "Old Guard" who is the sob of a
journalist distinguished in his day and
generation. Harvey M. Watterson. the
father, back in the forties and fifties,
was Tennessee's most famous journalist.
During the early fifties he edited a paper
in Washington at that time his son
Henry was a boy: but it was In this of
fice of his father that he first became
Interested in newspapers and was fired
with an ambition to become an editor
himself. - When his father quit running
the Washington Union the son was 15;
the next year tho latter began publish
ing and editing his first paper, the New
Era.
Other Men of Prominence.
On the other side of the Ohio, in Cin
cinnati, Is the old stamping ground of
another member of the "Old Guard" John
R. McLean, of the Enquirer, for years
a National political figure and the Demo
cratic "big man" In the Buckeye state.
His father, like Watterson's, was a
newspaper man. In Philadelphia there is
James fclverson, of the Inquirer, who,
when he landed from England In this
country In 1847, when he was 9 years old,
found employment as a telegraph messen
ger boy. William M. Laffan, who now
occupies the chair made famous by Chas.
A. Dana, since 1867. when he was only
19, has been an editor and publisher in
this country, he, too, having been born
abroad, in Dublin. Joseph Pulitzer, of
the New York World, is another foreign
born American editor. He came to this
country from Hungary in '64, and the
first thing he did was to Join a cavalry
regiment and stay with it until peace
was declared. Melville E. Stone, general
manager of the Associated Press, and as
thoy are wrapped in bark cloth and are
placed in deep graves, after which a
tree is planted over each to mark his
resting-place. The chiefs are burit'd,
sitting or standing, in holes It. the
ground. The body Is so plaod that
the head still remains above the sur
face, the man being buried up to the
neck, as it were. Sometimes an earth
enware pot is placed over the ho:ul to
protect it, but usually there Is no cover
ing of any kind. Sentries .ire set to
watch the grave night and day for a
period of two months. The brother of
the dead man comes to the rrave once
every day to see that the v i'.c.i . is
properly kept, and that the head does
not suffer from the attacks oi bir-Js.
wild beasts, or even of the domestic nn
imals belonging to the village. At the
end of the watching the head is buried
and a new chief Is elected.
The Graves of ihe Iluvunias.
I saw graves everywhere during my
travels in Uganda. The people buty
the dead in their gardens, and a com
mon place of burial Is at the corner or
in front of the hut. Sometimes a house
Is built for the .mourners, outside the
family of the deceased. The mourning
usually lasts a month and at the end
of that time all disperse and go to
their homes.
Graves of this kind are usually In
the banana bushes' and they are often
covered with dried grass or banana
fibers. The corpse" is washed with ba
nana pulp squeezed from the stem of
the plant and is wrapped up in bark
cloth.
The Buvuma Islanders bury their
dead In much the same way, and they
also erect shelters over them. These
are baby huts in which the spirits are
supposed to live: they are renewed
from time to time when in need of re
pairs. The graves are often marked
by planting trees over them.
The Basukumas among whom I
traveled-about the lower part of L:ik
Victoria, bury their dead in cattls
hides. The body is wrapped up in the
skin of an animal. Just killed, and the
grave is dug right in the center of the
cowyard. The poor rnen, who have no
cattle, and women and boys are often
buried In leaves In the same locality.
At the same time the meat of the
slaughtered beast is roasted and eaten
at the wake; and the funeral. If that
of a big man, ends In ail growing
drunk over banana beer which they
suck through straws from their gourd
steins.
Ukerewe Island, Lake Victoria"
'Old Guard"
From Page 3.
such on speaking terms with al! the big
men of America and most of the crowned
heads and other big wigs of the Old
World, ran a foundry and machine shop
until he was burned out in the Chicago
fire. Then he turned editor and soon
after founded a daily paper in Chicago,
the News, now directed by Victor Law
son, who. though younger than most of
the men in tue "Old Guard." belongs to
it by virtue of his thirty-two years' con
nection with that paper.
On the Pacific Coast there Is M. H.
de Young, in San Francisco, and Alden
J. Blethen in Seattle. Mr. de Young, as
an editor and Republican, has been much,
in the public eye since the eighties. Prob
ably no one ever bcame an editor under
more unusual circumstances than he.
With his brother he started to publish
a little theatrical paper, or programme
called the Dramatic Chronicle. Neither
brother had any thought of going into
the big newspaper field until the public,
by its demands for the Dramatic Chron
icle, practically forced the brothers to
turn their venture into a daily.
Mr. Blethen's career is an apt example
of what possession of the never-say-dle
spirit will dofor one. First a success
ful teacher, ien an equally successful
lawyer down In Maine, his native state,
he went to Kansas City because of ill
health, became manager of a paper there,
moved to Minneapolis, managed one of
that city's papers and edited another at
one and the same time, sold out his In
terests in both papers for $250,000, repur
chased the Tribune, suffered a loss of
J100.000 by fire the next year, rebuilt at
a cost of $100,000. and in the panic of
1893, which soon followed, was wiped out.
It was in Seattle, across the continent
from his birthplace, that Mr. Blethen
started anew. Against the advice of
friends he took hold of a bankrupt daily
in that town. Today the Seattle Times
is one" of the coast's leading papers, and
Mr. Blethen in the millionaire class. He
was 50 when he started life over again;
today he is 62.
(Copyright, ISxjS. by the Associated Liter
ary Press.)