FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34  
35   36   37   38   39   40   41   >>  
Conductor..........E. Mlynarski. Solo Violinist.....Duci Kerekjarto." You should see these natives when they get among the haggis. Hoots! * * * * * THE KAKEKIKOKUANS; OR, THE HEATHEN IN HIS BLINDNESS. THE country of Kakekikoku, as its name suggests, lies in the vicinity of Timbuctoo, the well-known African resort; and at the present time, when so much interest is centred upon that little-known land, it may be profitable to our readers, as well as to the writer, to give some information about it. A famous Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, who has travelled widely, not only in this country but in Belgium and the Channel Islands, has stated that Kakekikoku is richly endowed with the bewilderments, perils and mysteries of primitive and unexplored African territory. A warlike and exclusive folk, the Kakekikokuans extend a red-hot welcome to the foreigner who ventures within their borders. They are possessed of a fine physique and an intelligence of a subtler kind than many savage races can pretend to; yet while having all the qualities that should go to the building up of a strong nation, certain conditions of their life bar the way to such an achievement. In a word, the Kakekikokuans are in the clutches of the medicine-man. Each of these despots has his own little following, and wields a distinctive influence, it being a point of honour with him that his teaching should differ in some way (usually in but a trivial detail) from the teaching of any other of his kind. The solemnity of their discussions and the heat of their dissensions about the minutiae of their creeds would be laughable were it not so pathetic.. And not only do the medicine-men dispute among themselves, but their followers engage even more vehemently in bitter strife. For instance, there is a national belief that the juby-juby nut, which grows in the forests in profusion, possesses some supernatural virtue that will make a man who chews it impervious to the weapons of his enemies. That this virtue exists is generally accepted; but when it comes to a discussion of how, when and where to chew the nut, much wrangling goes on; and such men as survive in battle claim that their particular method is proved to be the correct one, while such as succumb are cited in proof of the error of their process of absorbing the juices of the juby-juby nut. The survivors include, of course, representatives of various
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34  
35   36   37   38   39   40   41   >>  



Top keywords:

African

 

Kakekikokuans

 
virtue
 

teaching

 

Kakekikoku

 

country

 

medicine

 

wields

 

distinctive

 

pathetic


clutches
 

engage

 

dispute

 

influence

 

despots

 

followers

 

laughable

 

detail

 

discussions

 

trivial


solemnity

 

dissensions

 

honour

 

creeds

 

differ

 

minutiae

 

forests

 

method

 

proved

 
correct

battle

 
survive
 

wrangling

 

succumb

 

include

 

survivors

 

representatives

 

juices

 

absorbing

 

process


discussion

 

belief

 

profusion

 

national

 

bitter

 

strife

 

instance

 
possesses
 

supernatural

 

exists