D v " THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: SEPTEMBER 13. 1903. 3 Queer Customs of Courtships and Marriges of Black Continent Tribes (Copyright, isr. by FYnk O. Carpenter.) Z"" "V HILL. Northwestern r$ 1 Rhodesla.-iSpeclsl Crrepond JQ) I '! Ot The e.)-Bfora I leave the heart of the Mack continent, to start aouth for the Whit m n ' a A , . t il .s land of gold and diamond, below tha Zlm besl. I went to write a letter about the ueer custom, of our African Mete re. They are an Importcnt half of thla dark-complexioned world and every nation and tr.ba haa lla own waya of treating thtm. I have already written of tha Mohammedan mad ns a Ion, the coaat of the Mediterranean; they to about clod all In white or block, ach having only a .Ingle eyehole In her garmenta to find her way along the strds. I have written of tha falr-sklnned Jewesses of Tunla. They dreaa In jackata and trous ers, and a pair of their embroidered breeches often conta aa much a. J00. I have told you how they are fattened for marriage by apodal feeding and how a popular belle often weigha 800 pounds. I have deacrlbed the women of Tripoli and Egypt, where the girls cover their face, with long veil, when they go out of doore, and also the dancing maiden, of the Sahara, called the Ouled Uaile, who have braxen, bare facea and paint their yellda black with kohl and ataln their finger naila and toe nail, red with henna. Farther down the continent I learned much about the women of tha British pos aeaslona, where John Bull la now regu- ' latlng the marriage., fixing the price of brldna. old and young, lean and fat, good looking and the reverse, at IS apleea, and aUll farther aouth about tha women now ruled by the Germans, who are allowed to marry aa they please, according to cus torn. I have also notes before me gath ered during my travel. In Portuguese Boat Africa, Mashonaland, MaUbelcland and here on the edge of the Congo Free State. Indeed, the matt-rial la auch that I hardly know where to begin, and I .hall dig Into my note., jumping from one place to an other, aa the aubject demand.. Adventure wlthlauknma Bride. I-et ma start with the description cf a wedding procession which I saw In Ger man East Africa, on the lower edge of Victoria Kyansa. The people there are known aa Basukuma. There are half a million of them and they are considered a atrong race. They are Bantu negroea, who Grant in cowsklna and cottona and who have cattle, aheep and goats. When a young man there want, a wife ha paya her father fifty aheep for her or agrees to work for the old man a number of year. All marriage arrangement, are made by go-betweens and the matchmaker bringa the bride to the groom. In the meanwhile the chief bridesmaid ha. arranged tha groom', hut for the occasion and a new bed 1. made,- constating of a framework of wood with a mattreea of oxsklna. The bridesmaid I. paid a aheep for thla woik. After thla ahe goea with the matchmaker, who might be called another bridesmaid, to the house of the bride and brings her home in great style. It waa sucli a procession that I stopped one morning on lta way to the groom. It consisted of a acore or more ot women dressed in garmenta of cowakln. and cot ton, yelling and alnglnng aa they danced along about a. queer-looking figure whloh laboriously moved In tha center. At flrat I could not make out what It waa. It looked Ilka a woman with a glgantlo hump, wrapped around with bright figured Indian cotton. Aa the party came closer this figure turned aidewlee. The hump then took the ahape of a human form and I could aee that the woman waa evidently carrying a aiater or brother under her calico gown. I handed my camera to . my aon Jack, who waa with me, and ac costed the lady. She laughed, and I at tempted to make out what kind of a creature aha carried. I could aee two little black "tootala wootsiea" sticking out at the front, and by tha outline of the stretched cotton could ee that it covered a luaty girl who waa holding on by her arms to the woman who carried her. Her hand, were clasped together over tha bridesmaid's breast and the brlde.mald waa alao sup porting bar by holding her ankle., whloh atuck out on each aide" the body. I put my hand on the woman'a back and tha bride squirmed, but when I attempted to touch her bare feet the bridesmaid ob jected. All thla took but a few momenta and as I atepped back tha procession went Omaha Man's Invention Designed to Prevent Street Railway Mishaps DARK, stormy night in June, after a audden rain had spoiled tha Dleaaura ot a picnic at a well known Omaha park, a party ot tha ploknlckera waa returning home on a Cuming atreet car. Tha car waa disagreeably crowded, and tha people who hod to Btand up were forced to atand between tha aeata. In front of those Bitting ddwn, aa tha curtain, wera tightly drawn to keep cut the Intruding rain. Before tha car had turned eaat on Cuming from Fortieth atreet one little woman who aat in a front seat with her 10-year-old daughter began to ask If Twentieth street had been reached yel. She waa assured that lt would take aome time before tor street waa rea-h, but she worked herself into a state of nervoua ex citement by bobbing uv and down every hair, DloiK and snouting witaiy 10 me oea- gered conductor, making a manful attempt to collect tne rarea. He waa annoyeo wan her unnecessary anxiety, and everyone near her Joined In a chorua of proteata, telling her that aha would ba told when Twentieth atreet waa reached. At Thirty-third- it took little short, ot violence to keep her in her aeat. but when at last the conductor Bbouted "Twentieth," she aat aa if dased. A man told her that It waa her atreet. at whloh aha walked to tha footboard and pawed Into taa rata. By that uim tha ooa- A (Mb ' v t r. .. ,.ajr .:., A ZUUA BRIDE on. The second brlde.mald stood behind tha bride-carrier and held an unbrella over her. Aa the party neared the hut of the groom a acore of other women, tha rela tlvea of tho groom, rushed out and Mat tered rice over the bride and the escort ing party. I peeped into the hut Just be fore they arrived, and thu. got a look at the bridal chamber. It was a dark closet ehut in by bark-cloth, and the bed wai of cowakln. I waa told that the groom wa. not yet pre.ent and that he would come In and take possession after the brlde. mald. had arranged everything and fitted the hut for tha pair. Ha had already given alxty aheep to "hi. father-in-law and one aheep to the brlde'a aiater. What Wires Co.t. Sixty .heep seemed to me a big price for a wife, ard I asked the Germans whether many girls were not .old at reduced rate.. The reply waa in the affirmative, but It waa added that a good, luaty woman wa. worth aomething a. a worker arid that the women were the alaves of the family. They take care of the stock, cultivate the crops and also keep house. The men do little but loaf. Bealdea it coat, almo.t nothing to keep an extra wife there, aa the women are not allowed to eat chlckena or eggs, even tha necks and glzsard. being forbid den to them. Ira the Kavirondo country at the northeast of tha lake, I waa Informed that the usual price for a wife Is forty iron hoes, twenty goata and a cow, and that these articles can be paid on Install ments. In Uganda tha government price ia S per girl, but more I. usually given for the daughter of a chief. Among the Nandl trlbea the richest men have from ten to forty wives, and the price for a good maiden of 14 1. six cows. Girl, are often betrothed aa early aa 7, and they are married at 11. The cow. are often paid on Installments, and If no child Is born within a year after the marriage tha. hus ductor, not noticing her indecision, had pulled the rope and the car wa. starting, The woman left her little srirl. and while ten men yelled wildly to her not to try to get off, aha murmured resignedly that she "bad to get off at Twentieth atret," and atepped Into the dark. It was a most lll-consldert d thing to do. She waa thrown flat on her OPEN CAR WITH GUARD DOWN. OPEN CAR WITH GUARD RAISED. face- In tha allmy Cuming atreet half inch Uyer of mud, and alid like a coaster for twenty feet. When they picked her up. ,he blubbered through the mud, "I told the conductor I wanted off at Twentieth atreet." No one would ba bold enough to aay that tha woman waa Irrational or with out sense. She waa almply another vic tim of tha wild ds.'.re which g-t. Into ao many people to Jump from a car when It la on tha wing, ao to apeak, without properly gauging tha fall thereof. It 1. cf UBa to tell mankind that atreet cra reaent It when a paasenger turna hla or her back to get off. That haa been explained In fifteen languagea, but the women folks take it aa a Joke. In tha same way men laugh at warnings that they are assuming too great risks when they hop nimbly on and off swiftly mov- 4ng cara with a flourish which says vaiy plainly, "Rather graceful, don't you think?" And la tha meantime the atreet oars continue to kill people at tha rate 1 t - H :i J 4i' .As . . V , . r . v mmmmimm . j - i ; a ;..'- EARNS HER SALT. band may atop payment. It 1. among theee Nandl, aa with the Ma.ial, who are found around the alopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and alao on the highland, of British East Africa, that the unmarried girl, dwell with the young unmarried men in tha bachelor quarters and until they are old enough to get married. A Maaal man ia not sup posed to marry until he la 30. Among the Buvumaa the price of a wife Is two cowa and five goats. Of these the father of the bride keeps one of the cows and a goat, the other four goat, being given to the relatives. Tax on Wives. Down In Rhodesia the usual price for a atrong, good-looking girl la four cows, and if .he Is the daughter of a chief she may bring a. much aa five or six. The govern ment taxea every native $6 a year for hi. hut and family, and this Include, a tax for one wife. If he ha. mora than one he la charged 10 shilling, for eaoh extra wife. The Kaffir girl, are married at aa early a. 13, and a girl la often ' engaged at 4 or 6 yeara of age. Such engagementa are made by the parents, and several cattle form a part of the dowry. It la a custom among tha Kaffirs not to allow a younger brother to marry until each of hia older brothera haa at least one wife, and the father often helps pay for the brides. About Lake Shire girl, are often be trothed in their Infancy and they are some time, actually engaged before they are born. In auch cane, the prospective groom or hi. parent, are expected to clothe the girl until .he 1. old enough to be married, but as the only clothing In her early life 1. a waist cloth, and often not more than a string, the expense is not heavy. The people there have from one to twenty wives, according to their wealth, and In times pant the chiefs had harems of aa many as 100 women each. As a rule the number of wives i. decreasing all over South Africa, and with (he demand for foreign of about 1,000 in the United Statee every month and devote about 7 per cent of their earnings to paying damage sulta In court. A street car is a vary dangerous and a very everyday affair and the combina tion of everyday association with danger la sure to muke people lose sight alto- gether of the danger. Once in awhile wa see ao accident and that makes us all careful for a day or two, but it ia too much toouLle to think about for long. What la to be done? The public Insists upon getting maimed and slaughtered, and if anything la ever done to decrease the number of street car accident. It must be by the atreet car companies. Blgns with instructions as to the proper way to get off have helrcd aome, mirror, which give the motorman a chance to look down the footboard and see that the have occurred lt the cars had been equlp young womau who swings gracefully ped with a safety device. arouna in a circle aa she get. off I. af. uFn ,ne grouna, out none or these things hav r'ly aolved the problem. But relief ia at hand. Martin. Meyer of Omaha, whose friends bava doubtless never before accused him of being an In- ventlve genius, ha. evolved a device which "ill absolutely prevent accldenta due to getting on or off tha car while it la 'a motion, and, of course, when a car la ulet you can clamber off as you pleas, ; , . ' -- : - - ' ' " . k '- ;,. r j -1., ..... ..I'?.--" . , .. ; I'- KAFFIR MAIDEN'S COIFFURBX good., which ia gradually growing, making tha .uppo.t of women more expensive, there la likely to be still further decrease. Bridal Coaiasaea. The question of dress is not a serlouu one In most parta of central Africa. It I. different north of the Sahara, where a pair of bridal trousers may, aa I have stated, cost $200 and upward, and where breeches of cloth of . gold are not uncom mon. The lightest wedding costume I have seen In my travels Is that, which the women wear at the end of the Uganda railroad. The men go absolutely naked and the married women have on nothing but a aort of fly brush tail about twelve then long, which they fasten to a string around the waist. The tall thus hang, down behind on a line with the vertebrae and flaps up and down a. one walks. It 1. indelicate for any man to touch thi. candal badge of matrimony, and even the husband la warned to let It alone. In thla aame country the women wear no clothe, whatever until married, when they adopt the tail. A little change 1. now beginning along the line of the rail road, but a few miles back nudity pre vails. Notwithstanding this the Kavi rondo are . aald to be of a much higher grade of morality than their nelghbora, who are more or less clad. A little south of that region I came upon a tribe where the ladles wear about the waist fiber frlngea of the. length of my hand or longer, and on the opposite side of Lake Victoria I saw hundreds of girls clad all In grasa. I aay "all," but thla means only a skirt which reaches from the waist to the knees. Tha young girls wear nothing. The Uganda women wear bark-doth and cover the whole person. They have great blankets which they wrap around them, blinding them In at the breast and waist. Indeed, they are so well covered that they could go through an American Thla device I. called the "Meyer Safety Guard" and It haa been patented In the United States and foreign countries. A company known aa tne Meyer b&ieiy Guard company haa been organised and they will be manufactured In Omaha. The man who Jumpa from the car from force ot habit will be out ot danger when aome hand atronger than himself takes him firmly In lta grasp and hold, him on the car. Thla la Just what the Meyer In vention will do. A strong rail Is suspended from metal standards ao that It hangs at about tha level of the pastenger's elbow and holda him close to the car If he stand, on the footboard. It is Impossible to stand on tha footboard outside of thla guard and It la Impossible to get off when It 1. down. The conductor i. the arbiter of the proper time for leaving tha car and when ha I. ready to let the pa.senger get off the foot board or from the .tap in a winter car, he move, the proper lever at little effort and the guard 1. raised. It la so slightly built that It requlrea rui great expenditure of muscle for the conductor or the motor man, who also has control of It, to raise and lower the guard at every street corner on a trip. In the summer the guard, will be used a. an excellent advertising medium. Card, such aa are displayed on the walls of eara at present can be placed along the outer and Inner surface of tha board and when raised or lowered these will be before the eye of the people on the streets and In the cars. If It wera not tha custom for a man to leap from a car at the flr.t opportunity aa lt hla feet ached for the touch of soll.l pavement and If fewer people .lipped up and had their head, aching from the touch of .olid pavement, both the long suffering public and tha atreet railway corporation, would ba much better off. In tha city of New York lt haa been the usual average for the atreet car. to kill about two persons a day. Many of these ara tha Innocent victim, of colli. ion. and auch accident., but on the other hand much ot the trouble rould have been avoided by greater carefulness, on the part of the victim, and would certainly not Mr. Meyer Invite, the Investigation and trial of his scheme and la beginning to consider himself a benefactor of humanity and if the atreet ear companies are able throuah hla Invention to lessen the number of street car tragediea he will be Just that a benefactor to humanity. Women will cease to climb from the cara with their eyea toward the smokers' benches and men will not want to wait till the car stop. In tha mlll.ulum-but act before. Ia the city without being arrested by the police, this would not be possible for a Kavlnrondo woman. Down here near Broken Hill the women wear a cloth which reaches from the waist to the knees, and also a kind of cotton dickey over the breast and black. They are plump, luaty-looklng maidens, and can use the native hoe and mattock far better than the men. Indeed the men do almost no work In the cornfields, that work being left to their wives. Old Beauty Spots. Our American belles adore dimples, and It la said that their dimple, are some times artificially made. They adorn their white face, with black patchea of court plaster, and also comb their hair In out landish shapes. I have seen an American beauty with a diamond set in one of her front teeth, and we all know of . women who paint, powder and enamel. The same effort to beautify one'a self goes on throughout Africa, save that the stand ards of beauty are different. Among the Banyoro, who live north of Uganda, the women knock out the six front teeth ot the lower jaw and the young men do the aame. The Jaluo women have a similar custom. On the south side of Victoria Nyanxa there are tribes where the women file their teeth sharp like a saw, and the Buvumaa knock out two or the Incisors, the price for each such operation being four cowry shells or a fraction of a cent. Most of the African women Bear their bodies to beautify them. I have seen girls with Persian shawl pattern, on their breasts and abdomena, and other, with great welts on their forearms and cheeks, marking the tribe to which they belong. In the Sudan there are score, of auch tribal marks, and each tribe haa Its own way of scarring. Mutilation of the ears ia com mon throughout Central Africa. Tha Swa hllls enlarge the hole. In the lobe, until they become mere. .trap, whloh will Inclo.e CLOSED CAR WITH Z" 11 CLOSED CAR, WITH GUARD RAISED. meantime aomething 1. necessary to aava back platform, at the level of a paa.enger a othera of judgment and th.y are unani thelr Uvea agalnat their will, and Mr. albow when atandlng on the atep and the moua In tha opinion that auch a proteectlon Meyer1. Invention seem, likely to do It. two aectlona, for front and rear entrance will eliminate accldenta and tha Meyer Tha safety guard will work equally well on aummer and winter cara. On tha eloaed carg lt wm vxtend aoroaa both front and When the Woods Burn (Continued from Page One.) body als. did likewise. I felt as . . , , . though I was burning up. My mouth got dry and I could feel my tongue swelling, My eyeball, .eemed .rlng out ot my head, and for a moment, a. I felt the flames above and aeemlngly all around ma, I think I lost consciousness. I don't know how long I had myself completely sub- merged under water. I suppose It waa only a few seconds, but it deemed an age. When I raised my bead the flames were roaring on at the aouth shore ot the lake, having WP' completely acrcas tha ahallow body t,r to tha other aide. AU around the hvka the wooda were on fire, and a wall of tlame, aeemlngly fifteen or twenty feet high, completely hemmed u. In. It waa wf ul, aws-lbsplring sight, which I hope ,v - J ... ... -... t 4. . v. .. .- .-.j . . A BASUKUMA BRIDE ON a glaaa tumbler. These aame girls have hole, all around the rim. of their ears, whloh they fill with rolls of paper. The Masai women load down their ears with jewelry, fastening great welghta to tha holes In the lobes ao that they are grad ually pulled down until they flop against the shoulders. In German East Africa there are people who wear great rings and plugs In their lower Hp and In the upper Hp aa well. Such ornament, elongate the upper Hp so that It extend, several Inchea out over the mouth. Queer Waya of Hair Dressing-. Until I came to Africa I thought tha American girl could put up her hair In mora outlandish way. than any other maiden on earth. She haa many competitors and aome superiors among the ebony belles ot the Black continent. It Is true that these African maidens in most case, have to conquer the kink or corkscrew curl wjilch covers their patea, but neverthelea. they have many creation, which surpass tha wonders of the marcel wave, of our mighty pompadours and the other oddities formed with the aid of the rat, the curling iron or curl paper. The Sudinese braid their hair In long, even curls, so that It hanga out like the snakea of the Medusa. Tha Zulus put It up in mighty towers, which often extend a full foot above the crown of the head, and down In Natal a bride groom goea out to court hjs sweetheart with a pair of real cowhorns tied upright upon his head, so that they look as If they grew there. ' Along the eastern coast of Africa there are many natives who braid the hair in little windrows over the scalp, and farther back there are many trlbea In which the women shave the head close. Thl. Is so with the Baganda and the Masai. Many of the native women of Omdurman, In the Sudan, shave not only the head, but every part of the body, and It Is a common cus GUARD DOWN. will be operated by tha aame lever. This lever will extend along tha inside or tne oar Just aa tha bell rope doe. ao that tha to never witness again. While I was watch- Ing tha work of the flames all around a red glare ahot higher and brighter than tha aurroundlng flame, and dimly through lh imaki B nii flvlnsr r.a rU T could see trr ;ra1n ... ... 'hImM Th. hM.t - from th, burning cara became so Intense that once mora wa were compelled to aeek relief under the water, raising our head, at brief Intervals to get a breath of air, ao Impregnated with amoke and fire that lt wa. Ilka poison to breathe it and at- ford us but little relief." "How the women and children stood it I am at a lose to atate. but there wera enough men to cara tor them, and as aoma poor creature became overcome and swooned ahe waa aupported and cared for until tha awful period of beat nad passed, gtill It waa too hot tor us to leave tha water, and for four houra wa waited in tho awamp, with water to our waist., for tha shore ot tha lake to oool suftlciunUy to y-'y liny, my, i y ,is-u.r- ,mrsW m m V ; - 1 HER WAT TO THE GROOM. tom among trlbea for both men and woman to have themaelve. ahaved from head to foot before marriage. Among some peo ple tha hair la pulled out. Thla ia also the custom among our Moroa of tha Philippine, and certain trlbea of tha Amaaon. The Batoro, a tribe which inhabits tha country between Lakes Albert and Albert Edward, shave and oil their brldea before the wedding. The girl'e head la scraped off by tha village barber, and her own sister uses tha raaor over tha reat ot tha body. After thla ahe la smeared from crown to toenail with butter and castor oil, tha stuff being well rubbed Into tha akin. Tha Sessa Islanders pull out their eye lashes, and bablea have their heada ahaved shortly after birth. The old Zulu men and women pull out the gray hairs aa they begin to appear, thinking that gray halra make old age. The younger women there rub red clay and oil In their hair, and they often plait It Into Btrlng-like strands. When they trim their hair In Pondoland the hair dresser puts a strap around the forehead, and cuta the hair level with this by meana of a knife, stopping at the atrap, which protects the akin. After they ara married they often train their hair Into a cone-shaped mass, stiffening It with red clay and oil for the purpose. In all African countries tha native men are almost as particular aa the women aa to the dressing of their hair. In Zululand the married men wear rings around their heads, twining tho hair over them and then smearing It with charcoal and oil so It oan be polished. It la a great Insult to at tempt to pull off a man'a ring. In many places tho men ahava their heads, and up here In Rhode.ia there la one trlba whloh puts the hair up ao that a great apear shoot, out right above tha crown. This spear ot hair 1. sometimes ao long that the man cannot stand upright in his hut without disarranging It. FRANK G. CARPENTER. conductor may manage hla aafety guard from anywhere ha may happen to be. Mr. Meyer ia certain that the device can be handled ao quickly and conveniently that traffic will not ba In tha lea.t Interfered with nor will achedulea be retarded. Tha adjustment '. ao light that tha weight ot the rail la scarcely felt when It Is raised or lowered and the lever controls It quickly ao that the passenger, may ba permitted to get on and off almost aa quickly aa now and the only additional delay will be caused by keeping everyone on the car until It atopa, which Is a concession of time for the sake ot aafety. Mr. Meyer la convinced that his device will not only save the people what atreet car accidents cost them annually In suffer ing, but will alao pour still greater stream. Ot shekel, into the ooffer. of the corpora tion.. Dividend, will ba Increa.ed bacau.a damage suits, one of tha greatest drain, on the companies' revenues, will ba almost en tirely eliminated. The expense of adding tha aafety guard to the equipment of tha car will not be great and It will ba mora than compensated for by tha revenue from additional and desirable advertising apace. When tha new invention la placed on tha ear. tha atreet railway, will cease to .pill carele.a people into tha atreet and "fall off a atreet car" ltema will be no longer Been In the newspapers. Mr. Meyer haa ahown hla contrivance to Omaha men In terested In the street car company and to safety Guard company axpecta to have the cara ot thla and other citlea aoon equipped with Martin Meyer's Invention, give us a footing. "When that time arrived tha mala portion of tha party compared notes. Wa found that Mr. Holt of Duluth, Mr. Andtrson cf ui-unAtu . s . i - . - ""7'"" "V" w unuiia i pei out tor relief. In my grip wera a couple of Ares, ahlrt. and a night robe, bealdea aoma other article, of wearing apparel. Wa tors tha ahlrts into strips and wound cloth after cloth about our feet until they were pretty well protected from tha heat under loot .nd tha burning cinders, etc Than wa wrapped our coats about our heads, after saturating tha garmenta thoroughly la th water, and with a godspeed from tha onea left behind wa plunged into tha amoka on tha way to Hinckley. It waa an awful Jour- ney through tha still burning woods. Wo atumkled and struggled on against fearful odda, now running through a wall of flam and barely escaping being oruaued beneath a failing tolegraph pole or giant tamarao.1 I i s s