In African Forest and Jungle

Rogala was right; a short time afterwards we heard the barking of Andekko. He was running after some animal and giving us warning. But the barking soon became fainter, then could not be heard at all.

I said to Rogala, "The animal has escaped from Andekko."

"It is perhaps so," he replied; "but the dog will not give up the chase so easily."

A little while after we heard Andekko again far away; then the barking gradually became louder. We got ready with our guns. I had my smooth-bore loaded with buckshot. Soon after a gazelle passed by us, closely pursued by Andekko. We fired and killed the beautiful creature. We had great trouble in preventing Andekko from tearing the animal in pieces until I cut off the foreleg and threw it to him, exclaiming: "Great indeed is the gift of Chief Rotembo to me. We shall not starve while Andekko is with us."

The following day we went again with Andekko into the forest. This time Shinshooko, Alapai, and Rogala were all with me. They had seen footmarks of a gorilla and of her baby. So we took a net with us to throw over the little one and capture him in case we succeeded in killing the mother.

After a tramp of three hours we heard the fierce barking of Andekko on the right of the path, not very far from us. There followed loud, short yells of an ngina. We immediately left the path and entered the forest, being guided by the barking of Andekko and the yells of the ngina. We soon found ourselves in the presence of a mamma ngina on a tree, with a tiny baby holding to her and uttering sounds of fright. Andekko was in a perfect rage; his hair stood up, bristling like the quills of a porcupine.

Rogala, Shinshooko, and Alapai were by my side. The ngina was looking fiercely at us. Her big black face, wrinkled all over, was savagely wicked. The little fellow was hiding his face against her breast. She uttered sharp, piercing yells of anger, then a shout of "Whoa, whoa." I aimed at her, and fired. She dropped, but held on for an instant to the branch upon which she was seated with a firm hand, while the little one clung fast to her shoulders. Then she let go and fell down some twenty feet to the ground with a great crash. She was dead, and before we had time to rescue the little ngina, Andekko had strangled him, to my infinite sorrow.

Rogala and Shinshooko said: "We must look out for her mate; the big 'man ngina' may come upon us in a moment. Perhaps he is already coming silently to her rescue."

We were glad we had Andekko with us, for we were sure to be warned by him of the approach of the big beast. We cut off the heads of the ngina and of the little one as trophies, and then retraced our steps towards Rogala's and Shinshooko's home.

On our way back we heard, several miles away, the mighty voice of the male ngina calling upon his mate to let her know where he was; but no answer came back to him, and I found myself wondering what his feelings would be when he came to where she had been killed. We would have gone after him, but it was too late in the day.

There was great excitement on our return. The following day Rogala warned me to take no other gun but "Bulldog" if I went into the forest, saying: "The 'man ngina' is probably around looking for the slayer of his wife." How I wished I could have been present when the big beast came before the dead body of his mate and saw her and her baby ngina headless! How he must have yelled and roared! How fiercely he would have come to the attack if some one had been near! How I wished I could face him with "Bulldog" in my hand! We expected to hear his roar that day, then go after him; but the forest was silent. He had gone wandering in search of another mate.

The next day we heard Andekko barking in the forest not very far off. He seemed to bark at the same spot all the time, and Rogala said: "Let us go where he is and find out what is the matter."

So we went towards the spot where he was barking, and at last came to it. No wonder he remained in the same place. He was barking at a porcupine, that had rolled himself into a ball and had all his quills standing erect.

Andekko was in a perfect rage, his hair was erect on his back, but I knew that it was impossible for him to bite the porcupine, and he feared his terrible quills. He would not leave the porcupine until we called him away, and the porcupine as long as Andekko was near him kept his quills erect.

Andekko disappeared again the following morning. In the evening he returned with a scar on his back and with a bloody muzzle. He had had an encounter with some wild animal. Evidently some sharp teeth had bitten him. But in the end he had had the best of the conflict, as his muzzle testified; it was clear he had fed on his victim.

Rogala put some balsam on his wounds. The dog was manifestly very tired, for in a short time he was stretched full length near the fire, and after a while he was dreaming. His legs moved as if he were running, and he barked softly. The following morning Andekko was nowhere to be seen. The punishment he had received the day before had not scared him in the least. He had gone hunting again.

CHAPTER VII

FIGHT BETWEEN MONKEY TRIBES, NKAGOS AND MONDIS – MY GUN PUTS BOTH SIDES TO FLIGHT – A VISIT FROM THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS – EVERYTHING FLIES BEFORE THEM – WE DRIVE THEM OFF WITH FIREBRANDS AND BOILING WATER

I loved to walk by myself in the great forest, taking my smooth-bore gun for birds, with which I always took a few bullets in case I should meet some large animals.

One day as I walked along looking at the butterflies that were very plentiful on both sides of the path, I thought I heard, at some distance, a noise among the trees ahead as if monkeys were feeding. Cautiously I went in the direction of the noise. I had to leave the path and go through the jungle. I had to walk slowly, with my body bent, in order to be hidden from the monkeys and not to frighten them.

When I got near the trees, I found that they were nkagos feeding and uttering grunts of satisfaction, so pleased were they. I could recognize the leader of the troop on the lookout. Suddenly he gave a peculiar cry or sound. The nkagos became very much excited. Their hair became erect on their backs; the sounds or words they uttered were quick and showed anger. They seemed as if getting ready for a fight.

What was the cause of this sudden change in their conduct? I asked myself. I was soon to know. I heard in the distance a noise as if a troop of monkeys were coming in our direction, the noise made by the bending of the branches as the monkeys leaped from one to another. It became louder and louder.

Soon this noise was responded to by the loud cries of the troop of nkagos near me. The monkeys that were approaching answered them, and I recognized their cries to be those of the mondis. They knew the tree and had come to feed upon its fruits. They were too late. The best had been eaten by the nkagos, who also knew the time when the fruits were to be ripe and had come ahead of the mondis.

The mondis were furious, and advanced boldly towards the tree, led by their old and trusted chiefs. The nkagos had made up their minds to fight and finish the repast they had begun. They had not yet filled their pouches. The mondis jumped on the tree, and a fight ensued among all the monkeys. There were terrible shrieks and some pretty hard bitings. The nkagos were getting the worst of the fight, when I raised my gun, aiming at a mondi that had just finished a fight with a nkago. Bang went my gun. There were general cries of fright among the mondis and the nkagos, and both sides fled with the greatest precipitation, each troop, however, going in a different direction.

In the meantime the mondi I had fired at had fallen to the ground with a great crash, dead. It was a very fine big one, covered with long black glossy hair as it was. I thought I would remain hidden and see if the monkeys would come back.

After about two hours I heard a noise through the branches. I looked up and saw a solitary mondi. He uttered a cry of distress, calling upon his mate that had been killed.

Spying her dead body lying on the ground, he came to her, and uttered low mutterings of distress as he saw that she was dead. I shouted, and he fled. I carried the dead mondi to our camp, and as it weighed I judged about forty pounds, I was glad when I arrived and laid it on the ground.

Several days after this, being in the forest but not far away from the camp, I saw a leopard running quickly in front of me with one of her cubs in her mouth. I wondered at this, for it was so unusual to see a leopard out of her lair in the daytime. She was evidently taking her cubs away for some reason. I had not walked a hundred feet further when I saw the leopard's mate running in front of me with a cub in his mouth also.

I wondered again why the leopards were moving away from their lair. I soon found out. Other animals, and even snakes, were all fleeing in the same direction as the leopards. This, and the flight of insects themselves, told me that an army of bashikouay ants was advancing, attacking every living thing before them. I ran towards the plantation as fast as I could.

Soon Andekko, who had gone into the forest by himself, made his appearance. He was perfectly wild. The poor dog was crying, moaning, and rolling himself on the ground to scratch his body, on which were numbers of the ants biting him. During the night we were awakened by the bites of the advance guard of the bashikouays. They were in our houses. There was a great commotion among the mice, rats, and cockroaches. They were surrounded by the bashikouays. Wherever they fled, there were the bashikouays to attack them. The scorpions, centipedes, and spiders could not help themselves, and were eaten up in a short time.

Meanwhile all the inhabitants of the plantation were up and out of their houses, the babies in the arms of their mothers. Numerous fires were lighted everywhere. Boiling water and hot ashes were thrown upon the ants and we put brands across their paths.

It took us the rest of the night to drive them away and disorganize them. We had killed hundreds of thousands of them. The men could not find words bad enough for the bashikouays. "Oh," said Shinshooko, "these horrid bashikouays will drive all the game away, and it will be a long time before it will return."

CHAPTER VIII

ROGALA'S WIFE'S PARROT – I USE IT AS A DECOY – PARROTS PROVE TOUGH EATING – THE NGOZOS GROW WARY – SHINSHOOKO DISCOVERS ELEPHANTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD – WE GO AFTER THEM AND KILL TWO.

Rogala's wife had a beautiful gray parrot with a bright red tail. The parrot could talk well and say many things. Every morning he would perch on a tree and call upon the flocks of parrots that were flying in every direction in search of food. Once in a while a flock of these parrots, attracted by his cries or rather speech to them, would come and alight close by, and they would hold a conversation together for quite a while. Poor Ngozo – such was his name – seemed then to regret much that his wings were clipped, for he wanted to go and fly with his wild comrades. One day I said to myself: "Andekko drives game to me; Ndova brings monkeys and finds fruits. Suppose I use Ngozo as a decoy. Old parrots are about as tough birds as one can taste, but young ones taste like pigeons."

So one morning I lay under a tree waiting for parrots to come. A few flocks passed over us, uttering peculiar sounds. What these meant I could not tell, but they were afraid to alight. Evidently they did not like the look of the house.

At some distance from Rogala's house near a grove of plantain trees was a tree bearing a red fruit which I knew parrots liked very much. I told Rogala to carry his wife's parrot under that tree and I would lie in wait there. So Ngozo was taken there by his master, and he began to talk.

Soon I heard above our heads a flock of parrots. They came down upon our tree and began to talk to our parrot and feed. When I saw three or four in such a position as to enable me to kill them all, I fired, and they fell, and the others, shrieking with all their might, flew away in affright.

I went after the parrots, which had deep yellow rings round their eyes. I saw that they were very old, but nevertheless I was glad, for I would have some meat to eat. I broiled one on charcoal. When he was cooked, he was so tough that I thought he must be over one hundred years old. It seemed as if I were biting an old piece of India rubber or a piece of leather.

In the evening, thinking that the others were as tough as their companions, I boiled them, and I thought that I was going to have a good parrot soup. The soup was not bad, but the parrots were so tough that I gave up trying to eat them.

The following morning we again put the parrot under the tree, and a flock alighted in the same way, and I succeeded in killing two of them.

In the afternoon another flock alighted also, and I killed two more. But after this no parrots came near us, though a number of flocks flew over our tree and Ngozo called to them.

All the flocks of parrots meet every evening, and the flocks that had been fired at had warned their fellow ngozos of their danger and to take good care not to alight on that tree.

After this the flocks of parrots, as they passed above or near us, took care to fly high, uttering shrill cries of anger.

One day while I was stuffing some birds I had killed in the morning, and Rogala was looking at the work I was doing with great astonishment, Shinshooko made his appearance. He was out of breath, for he had been running fast. As he saw us, he shouted: "Jockoo! Jockoo! Elephants! Elephants!"

"Where are they?" Rogala and I inquired at the same time.

"Not far from here," he said, speaking with difficulty, for he was much out of breath.

We took our guns, I taking "Bulldog" with me. We had hardly walked an hour in the path, when we came upon numerous elephant tracks.

"They have gone towards the river," whispered Shinshooko, as he looked in the direction in which their footprints pointed.

When we came to the river, we saw the canoe with several paddles. It did not take us long to embark, and we paddled so noiselessly down the stream that our paddles could not be heard as they struck the water. Before coming to a bend which commanded the view of the river for a long distance, we landed to search further down. Shinshooko went to the extreme end of the point, where a better view could be obtained. In a short time he returned. I could see by his face that he had good news to tell us. He had seen the elephants.

We followed the left bank of the river, and came to a place where we saw a herd of elephants standing close together. Foremost was a large bull elephant, their leader. I counted twenty-seven elephants. Their big ears were moving continually, and their trunks were swinging up and down. They were trumpeting and squealing. Some were very large. The bull seemed to be about ten and a half feet in height, some of the cows nine and a half feet.

Suddenly the bull made for the river. The others followed, and soon they had a grand time together in the water.

After watching them awhile, Rogala and Shinshooko whispered: "Oguizi, we must follow the river through the woods and get opposite the elephants." We walked through the jungle most carefully in order not to attract their attention. Fortunately they were having such a noisy time that they could not hear us. Nor could they scent us, as the wind was in our favor. When we surmised from the noise they made in the water that we were opposite them, we made for the banks of the river. Finally we got a glimpse of the elephants and crept to the water edge. The bank of the river here was high and abrupt, so the elephants could not charge us. I was very glad of this, for I never felt comfortable when the huge beast was bearing down upon me. It had been agreed beforehand that each one of us should pick out an elephant and that we should fire at the same time.

The elephants, unaware of our presence, were swimming without any suspicion of danger. All at once the huge bull turned and swam towards us. There was no way to kill him but by a forehead shot, that is, shooting him between the eyes. The steel-pointed bullets of "Bulldog" could do the work well. A number of cow elephants turned also towards us. I pointed out to Rogala and Shinshooko two of them that could be shot near the temple or behind the ears, and made them a sign that I was going to take a shot at the bull.

We raised our guns. I looked at Rogala and Shinshooko. They were looking at me also. We took careful aim and I gave three clicks; the third one was the signal to fire. Bang, bang, bang, went our guns at the same time. I thought the guns of my men had burst, so loud was the detonation. I saw only a dense smoke, which hid them for a while from me.

Looking at the water, I saw the bull elephant raise and lower his trunk twice; then he swam towards our bank, which was so steep that he could not land. He was evidently badly wounded. Suddenly the water around him became a mass of foam. He was in his last struggle. The current took him down stream. The two cow elephants were badly wounded and seemed dazed, but they succeeded in reaching the shore.

In the meantime, at the noise of the guns, the herd took to the shore and fled through the forest, tearing down and trampling everything in the jungle that obstructed their flight.

We went for our canoe, and after descending the river we saw the big bull elephant stranded. What a huge beast he was! He had two enormous tusks, but, as was always the case, they were not of the same length and weight.

We left the bull, and went into the forest in search of the two cow elephants, for Rogala and Shinshooko were sure that they had wounded them and that they had probably died in the forest not far from the place where they were shot.

We had landed where we had seen them leave the river, and saw some blood on the ground. Following their tracks, we came to a dead cow elephant.

"Let us go after the other one," said the two men.

In the meantime they had reloaded their guns. We followed the track the other cow elephant had left behind. After a short time we came up with her, seated apparently on her knees. As soon as she saw us she got up to charge, but she had not gone five steps when she fell dead.

Then we went back to the plantation, and the following day all, including the women, returned with axes and baskets to get the tusks, and as much of the meat as we could.

The huge tusks of the bull were imbedded in his head over thirty-one inches, so there were only about four feet of the tusk outside. He was ten feet in height, and had fine big ears. The hair on his tail was long and coarse. One of his tusks weighed sixty-nine pounds, the other sixty-two. The tusks of the cow elephants were smaller, the biggest not weighing more than twenty-nine pounds.

Rogala, Shinshooko, and Alapai danced round the elephants and cut their tails off, to add to the number they had. Then we made for the plantation with all the meat our canoes could carry. A big platform was built to smoke the meat. We fed on elephant meat for a time, but it was far from being as good as monkey flesh.

CHAPTER IX

WE BUILD A FORTIFIED CAMP IN THE DEPTHS OF THE FOREST – STRUCTURE OF THE CAMP – LAYING IN STORES OF PROVISIONS – KOOLA NUTS – SOURCE OF MY INFLUENCE OVER THE NATIVES

One evening as Rogala, Shinshooko, Alapai, and I were seated around a blazing fire, we talked about gorillas, elephants, and other big game, and determined to go and build an "olako" camp in the deep and gloomy recesses of the forest, taking with us Andekko and Ndova.

The following day the women put a large quantity of cassava roots or manioc in the stream running near Rogala's house; these were to remain in the water three days, after which they were to be cut, pounded, cooked, and made into cakes.

I was short of soap; so my hunters collected a quantity of palm nuts, the kind from which palm oil is made. These nuts we boiled until the pulp became quite soft. Then the women pounded the nuts in wooden mortars, and the pulp furnished the oil. I then gathered all the ashes from the fires, boiled these for a long time, then leaving the ashes at the bottom of the vessel, took the water and boiled it with a certain amount of palm oil. By this process I made soft soap.

I had to wash my own clothes, for not only did the people not know how, but in one sense did not know what clean linen was. They could not tell whether my clothes were soiled or not. I did not wonder, seeing the way they made their toilet. After taking a bath, they rubbed their bodies with oil mixed with clay, or with oil mixed with the powder of odoriferous woods. This was what they called making themselves clean.

The wives of the men and the children were to go with us to help carry the food to our camp; and when the day of our departure arrived, three canoes were loaded with food, bunches of plantain, and our outfit.

We had four axes with us, queer-looking ones, several machetes, two sharpening stones, and ammunition; above all, my "precious box" with its invaluable instruments.

Our party divided and went in different canoes.

After ascending the river for a few hours, we stopped by a path which had led formerly to the village of Rotembo's slaves. There we camped, landing our outfit. A few miles further navigation stopped. We lighted many fires, and the men collected branches of trees for me to sleep upon.

Early the next morning we got ready to start. We followed in single file the footpath – which was almost obliterated, for it was seldom used now except for hunting – and passed through former plantations of plantain and cassava, now covered with a dense impenetrable jungle, far worse than any part of the forest.

The walking was very tedious, for since the path had been used but seldom, numerous trees or their branches had fallen across it. We halted a little after midday to rest and to eat near a lonely crystal-like little rivulet from which we could get delicious water to drink. Then we continued our way until almost sunset.

Rogala, who was leading, suddenly stopped, and I followed his example. The rest of the party, who were behind, gradually came up with us one by one. Then the men said: "Here, Oguizi, we are to build our camp," pointing to a little spring bubbling out of the ground.

I said to myself: "We need not bother about water if we are besieged in our camp, for the spring will be within our enclosure."

We slept under the trees, and the next morning we were all at work getting material for our camp. The men went to cut poles; the women carried them to the camping-ground, or went after leaves to be twisted into ropes.

The cutting of long poles was the most laborious work, for a great many were required. The axes had to be sharpened many times. But after much hard toil we succeeded in making a fortified encampment forty feet square, with the spring in one of the corners.

After that we built separate shelters for every one of those who were to remain behind, to sleep under; then a little house made entirely of sticks close together for Ndova, in which we were to shut him when we went into the forest without him, so that he might be protected from snakes, or birds of prey, such as eagles, or carnivorous animals. Then we made two ladders with lianas. They were almost as flexible as if they had been ropes made of hemp. One was to hang inside and the other outside. I made two shelters to keep our powder in, for I did not want to have the whole of it in one place in case of fire. We cut all kinds of briars, thorn-bushes, big aloes, and small branches of trees, and put them outside the fence for quite a distance, so that if any one came through them, no matter how careful he might be, we should hear them.

In the centre of our encampment was a tree from which we could look over the fence, and we left uncut two thick bushes in which we could hide.

I said to Rogala: "My 'precious box' must not remain on the ground, for the white ants (nchelaylays) are sure to eat the wood at the bottom and penetrate within. So we will hang it to a branch of a young tree, where it will be safe, for, as you know, the white ants never ascend a green tree-trunk."

There was a koola tree close to our encampment, and we collected the nuts that had fallen. These were to be kept in reserve, and were to be eaten only in case of starvation and not otherwise. For I did not know what might happen; fierce natives might find us out, and lie in wait for us and besiege us.