Mkolo

Lee Haring’s account begins with a Mayotte in which people live on the island without knowing about foreigners. One day, a village chief named Mkolo learns in a dream that outsiders will soon arrive. At dawn he brings the people together, tells them what he saw, and proposes that they move the island so the newcomers cannot reach it. He sends young messengers to alert the villages and ask for help. The other chiefs are told to come with their boats and strong ropes.

On the appointed day the men follow Mkolo towards the sea. They stop beside a point of land, bore a hole into it, pass the ropes through, and fasten them to the boats. At the signal, everyone rows. The effort fails: Mayotte does not move. Tired, the men return to their village. Haring’s account says the place has been called Bwé Foro, Pierced Rock, since that day. Mkolo gives the story its dream and plan, but the attempt belongs to the assembled people as well; the passage is presented as a narrated place legend, not a historical record.