THE SECRET TRANSMISSION OF NEWS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE
"SpEcTAToa."]
Snz,—I was very much interested in the article in your issue of August 16th on the secret transmission of news, and think the writer of it may be interested in the following. The battle of Rosaires was fought on December 26th, 1898, on the Blue Nile. The troops engaged had to attack across the river, and first to drive the enemy off an island. At this time the late Major H— was marching up with details and reinforcements for the regiment engaged. On December 27th a native came to him and said that there had been a great battle. He was vague about his source of information. H— questioned him closely, and the man explained that the fight had been con- tested across the river, and mentioned the island, drawing in the sand to show from which side the Soudanese troops had attacked, &c. H— was so far interested as to make notes in his diary. Major H— joined his regi- ment about a week later, and found his informant had been substantially correct. Ever since he has maintained that it was absolutely impossible that the news could have been carried by any man or relay of messengers in the time that had elapsed before he got the news; and this was the opinion that he formed after getting to know the country and the distances. The above I give as an inexplicable fact. The following is my own experience. Curiously enough, in your same issue of August 16th a correspondent, "J.," writes on "Fortune-Tellers," and their objectionable and mischievous forms of money-getting. There is here in the Soudan one of the tribe locally known as
a man considered inspired, who has travelled from Lake Chad to Mecca, and latterly plied his trade here,—it Duly be said unprofitably, as he fell into prison. The villagers asked him to give judgment as to which of two men was a thief. He refused, but they insisted ; so he wrote out an extract from some boa of mystery, washed the slate Clean, and sopped up the ink and water with bread, divided the bread, and gave half to each to eat, saying the thief would declare himself. Next day one of the men died, and the Government stepped in with inquiries. The
Fiki" said he was sorry, but that it was not his fault, he had not poisoned the man, that his reputation had been at stake, and that he had had to do something, and forthwith offered to drink the rest of his inkpot A post-mortem examination on the corpse showed no trace of poison, but gave no clue to thS cause of death. On September 14th I had occasion to visit the " Fiki" as he wanted to be released on bail, and I promised to forward his application. I then laughingly said : "But of course you can say what H.E. the Governor's answer will be P" He at once squatted down, smoothed a patch in the sand, and with his fingers made about seven or eight lines of dots, each line containing about seven or eight dots. He then picked up his rosary (probably one of ninety- nine beads), counted a lot of the beads with marvellous rapidity, then folded the rosary into four, put it on the ground, covering it for a moment with his hand, then, I think, closed his eyes, licked his forefinger and thumb, and picked out a bead at random with them. He then counted carefully from this bead to the starting ring, re-counted some of the dots on the sand, and said that H.E. the Governor would grant his release on bail. To test him further I asked him : "Are my father, mother, brothers, and sisters well F" His first answer was : "Your father is alive." I then asked: "What is he doing F" He did not seem to think this a definite enough question, so I asked : "What is my father's trade P" He replied: "He is a merchant." I said : "No; he was a soldier." So he said : "He is travelling now with a large amount of baggage, and I thought he was a merchant." I next asked : "How is he travelling, by camel or by train ?" His answer was • "He is on a steamboat." I then asked if my brother was with him. He replied: "Your mother only accompanies your father." At the time I could not say if he was correct or not, but by letters since received I hear that my parents have left their house, and proposed leaving for South Africa from Southampton on September 9th, and as I am an only child, the " Fiki " may be reckoned fairly correct. I had once seen, but never spoken to, the man before. He has now been released, and bound over to keep the peace.—I am, Sir, Ste., H. H.
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