Africa
From LOKUS SOLUS by Raymond Roussel:
…We meanwhile walked on a steeply rising avenue. Halfway up the path, in a deep stone niche, we saw a strange old statue depicting a naked child. A small withered ancient plant rose in the center of the right hand where it had once taken root.
This is the "Federal" with the Semen contra that Ibn Batuta saw in central Timbuktu.
I had been close friends with the famous explorer Echenoz, who in his early youth had led an African expedition as far as Timbuktu.
When Ibn Batuta came alone to Ti'em>mbuktu, a silent dismay hung over the land. At that time a woman ruled there who, barely twenty years old, had to govern the fragmented and hostile country.
Her attacks had dire consequences for the natives, given the absolute power that the queen had at her disposal, since at those moments she issued senseless orders and multiplied the number of death sentences for no reason.
A kind of fetish stood in the market place of Timbuktu, to which popular belief ascribed great power.
Since the ruler's momentary insanity was constantly increasing, it was decided to ask the earthen statue to banish the plague quickly.
That same evening, a terrible hurricane swept across the country without damaging the federal government.
One was about to despair of the Federal when one morning the fetish showed the budding germ of a small plant inside his right hand.
Rapidly grown by the alternation of rain and scorching sun, the plant produced tiny pale yellow flowers which, carefully collected and once dried, were given to the Empress.
She recovered from it, and the country grew rich through its agriculture.
Echenoz had an exact replica made by the Federal, which he bequeathed to me after his death in memory of the interest he had shown in the ancient fetish.