In African Forest and Jungle

CHAPTER XXIII

WITCHCRAFT PROCEEDINGS OF THE BAKALAIS – TWO OF THE CLASS "BEWITCHED" – A NEGRO ALBINO – THE IDOL MAKAMBO – HER DREAD APPEARANCE – RETURN TO CAMP – MONKEYS OVERRUN THE CAMP – I DRIVE THEM OFF – ESCAPE OF NDOVA – HIS UNEXPECTED RETURN

The Bakalais, like all the people of the great forest, were very superstitious, and believed in witchcraft. I found that the people had moved only a few months before, and that they had abandoned their former village on this account. Two men had been "bewitched," and had died within a day of each other, and this was the cause of the people moving away. When I arrived, they were holding a great council to find out who the sorcerers and witches were, and whether they lived in their village or in some others.

At sunset the children ceased to play, and the village became quiet. There arose in the air one of those mournful, heart-piercing chants, – a long, sustained wail of anguish and sorrow. Tears rolled down the cheeks of the women. "We shall never see Anguilsi any more, we shall never see Obindji any more," they sang over and over. These were the names of the two men who had died. They sang for about half an hour. After a while I saw the people leading about through the dim light what I thought to be a naked white man. I could not believe my eyes, but as he came near me I kept cool and did not show my astonishment. When he came in front of me I recognized the man to be a negro albino, for his features, though his skin was white, were those of a negro. His hair was woolly, his eyes pinkish.

Later in the evening, an idol, called Makambo, was brought out into the street, to remain there all night. It represented a woman, and was of the size of life. She had cloven feet; her eyes and tongue were of copper; she wore bracelets around her arms and rings of copper around her ankles. She had around her neck a necklace of leopard's claws, and as a pendant wore the canine of a leopard also. The skin of a snake was wound around her legs.

That night nobody came out in the street, and nobody talked in the village, for fear of displeasing Makambo. The people expected her to talk to them that night and to give some advice. The medicine man or the chief of the village interprets to the people what the idol says.

Makambo was very much venerated, and during the night food was put before her. In the morning the people said that Makambo had nodded her head and smiled, showing that she was pleased with the offering of game she had received. But we did not wait to learn the result of the witchcraft proceedings, and leaving the Bakalai we found our way back to our camp.

"I am going into the forest," I said to Rogala, Shinshooko, and Alapai one morning soon after our return, "to look for new species of birds. Perhaps I shall find some that I have never seen before. I do not intend to go far away."

My hunters replied: "We three are going to look at all the traps we have made to see if they are in order and if game has been trapped. We are going to take Andekko and leave Ndova in the camp."

So we all ascended the ladder and wished each other good luck. Nothing strange happened to me. I shot no birds, for I had killed before this specimens of all the species I saw that day, and had stuffed them.

As I approached the camp on my way back, I heard a great uproar among what I thought was a large troop of monkeys, to judge by the noise. They were jabbering away at a great rate, and seemed to be in a great state of excitement. But to my astonishment I discovered that they were in our camp. What were they doing there? They were evidently after Ndova. They had come to pay him a visit. He had manifestly called them. I walked carefully, and after ascending the ladder I raised my head above the fence.

The most extraordinary sight was before me. The monkeys had taken possession of our camp. They were everywhere, and wandering around in every direction. They all belonged to the ndova species. I counted seventeen of them. They had clearly arrived just a little before me. A number surrounded Ndova's cage. Some were on the sides, some on the top. They were talking to Ndova, who answered them. They were trying to break the cage. The most eager amongst them was the leader of the troop, a very big fellow.

It was a sight indeed! I was very glad we had made Ndova's house so strong. The leader wanted badly to reach Ndova. He would bite the creepers that tied the poles together, then stop and talk to Ndova, then go to work again.

Unfortunately I could not see what Ndova was doing inside; was he also trying to break his cage and go to the monkeys? I watched silently; but I began to fear that the cage would gradually be broken by the big monkey. So I gave a heavy cough. At this all the monkeys looked around. The big male, their leader, gave a peculiar cry of alarm. In an instant they were all over the fence and among the trees. Soon after I heard them utter loud calls, which Ndova answered. Then all became silent, and after a while I heard the branch of a tree near the palisade bend under the weight of a monkey that had come back. I looked up and saw a very big monkey. He was the leader, and easily recognized by his large size, for he was much bigger than all the others. He began to talk to our monkey, who answered him; then he jumped down upon another branch, and I saw him scale the palisade and get on the top of Ndova's house, and just as he was beginning to try to break into it, I gave a great shout, and the big fellow, in three bounds, fled outside the camp. A short time afterwards he came back again, this time very slyly, and I saw him only when he came over the palisade. I fired a gun. He uttered a shrill cry of fright, fled once more, and never came back.

When my hunters returned, I told them what had happened. After I had finished, Rogala said: "The leader of the troop wanted Ndova to go away with him."

The following day I took Ndova with me into the forest and loosed him. He followed me closely, but I was suddenly startled by his calling monkeys. He was answered at once by the big voice of one of his species. Then I saw Ndova go from tree to tree in the direction of the troop of the ndovas as fast as he could. I shouted, "Ndova, Ndova," but he did not heed my voice and disappeared amongst the trees. I went after him, and after a while I heard a strange racket among the monkeys. They were evidently welcoming Ndova, and were expressing their feelings by different sounds or words of their own.

I gave up Ndova, and was returning to the camp with a sad heart, when all at once I heard a rustling of branches over my head and then a chuckle. It was Ndova. I called him, and soon after he was on my shoulders grinning. I said: "Ndova, you won't catch me again letting you entirely free in the forest. After this you will be tied to a cord when you go out with me." But I had no cord with me then, so I had to leave him to himself. He did not run away, however, and we reached the camp together.

When the men returned in the evening I told them how afraid I had been that we had lost Ndova.

"Yes," they said; "hereafter he must be tied and always led by a rope."

CHAPTER XXIV

WE COME TO THE END OF OUR PROVISIONS – ANTELOPE SKIN BOILED FURNISHES US A REPAST – NDOVA DECOYS MONKEYS AND WE SOON GET FOOD ENOUGH – ALAPAI FINDS FRUITS AND NUTS ALSO

One day when Andekko had been hunting by himself, he returned with such a forlorn appearance that we knew he had found nothing. He had been absent about three hours.

"Poor Andekko!" I said to Rogala; "look at his ribs, and how they stick out, and the numerous scars left from the wounds he has received fighting wild animals are more conspicuous than ever."

He was indeed a sight. The dear old fellow seemed to know that I was talking of him, as he had heard his name, and was looking at me and wagging his tail all the time I was speaking. I fancied he was saying to me: "Let us leave this place. It is no good. There is no game here. Can't you see how thin I am?"

Looking at Ndova, I said to Rogala: "Ndova is much better off than Andekko. He is not so thin. Would you take a knife and kill our friend Ndova, who has been so often the cause of our getting food, thus preventing us from starving?"

Then I recounted one by one all the different times Ndova and Andekko had saved us from hunger or starvation and said: "Rogala, Ndova and Andekko have been faithful to us. We shall be faithful to them, and if we get food we will divide it amongst all of us."

All the time I was thinking what to do to relieve our hunger. We were in desperate straits. Suddenly I said: "Rogala, I have found food."

At my words Rogala brightened up. "Where is the food?" he inquired.

"There," I said, pointing to my bed. He glanced there, but there was no food to be seen, and he looked disappointed.

"Yes, Rogala," I persisted, "there is food on my bed."

Two antelope skins which we had stretched and dried lay on my bed. I had intended to make shoes, leggings, and trousers with them. But, pointing to the two skins, I said: "We will boil these skins and eat them. That will keep us all from starving until we find game."

Rogala's eyes were now full of life and hope. I wondered why I had not thought of this before. So we made preparations at once for a meal. We cut off a part of one of the antelope skins, and poured hot water upon the hair and scraped and washed it afterwards. Then we cut the skin into very small pieces, and boiled these until they became quite soft, after which, as a relish, we added some salt and some red pepper – I could hardly eat anything without pepper. When ready, we poured the contents into a wooden dish. This done, we sat around it, Andekko standing by us and waiting with eager eyes for his share of the boiled skin. We thought the food was not bad, for we were famished.

After the meal I said: "Men, these two antelope skins will furnish us food for three or four days, and that will give us time to find game and nuts." We felt much stronger after our meal.

The following day Shinshooko and Alapai went to look after the traps to see if any animals had been caught. Rogala and I went into the forest with Ndova and Andekko.

After a long walk Ndova uttered the sounds made by his species – the white-nosed monkeys or ndovas. They answered his call; we could hear them coming towards us. Rogala immediately tied Ndova with a rope and held him fast. Then we hid under a short tree with thick foliage. Soon the monkeys were above our heads talking to Ndova, who answered them. We stood still, then moved carefully out of our hiding-place, having in the meantime made Ndova fast to a branch of the tree. We took aim, fired, and two big monkeys fell dead almost upon our heads.

Rogala gave a grim look of satisfaction. Then looking at the two monkeys, I said to Rogala: "Look at what Ndova has done for us. Without him we should be without food and starving."

We could not wait until we returned to the camp. We lighted a big fire, cut one of the monkeys in two, and roasted it. So we had a good meal, and gave a lot to Andekko.

There was great rejoicing that evening in the camp round the roast half of one of the monkeys. Alapai, who had discovered a cluster of trees with nuts, brought a number of tondas, berries and fruits; so Ndova had also a feast.

CHAPTER XXV

I FIND STRANGE FOOTPRINTS ON THE BANKS OF A RIVULET – ROGALA AND I SET OFF IN PURSUIT – WE FIND A MAN UNDER A KOOLA TREE – SURPRISE AND CAPTURE HIM – TERROR OF OUR CAPTIVE – WE TAKE HIM TO CAMP AND DISCOVER HE IS A CANNIBAL

One day I had not walked two hours when I was startled by the discovery of two human footprints on the banks of a little rivulet. They looked so fresh that I thought the man had been there but a short time before me. I looked around, but saw no one, and heard nothing. I held one of my revolvers ready to fire at sight.

I hurried back to the camp and told Rogala of my discovery. He listened attentively, and then said with much earnestness: "I wonder if the Bakalais of the village we left have sent a spy to see where we live and learn what we are doing."

"No fear of that, Rogala," I said; "no Bakalai would dare to follow the Oguizi. The man is either an elephant hunter or a runaway slave, or a man who has fled from his tribe or village on being accused of witchcraft."

Rogala got up and went for his gun; then he said: "Oguizi, let us go in search of that man. We must capture him, for who knows but he may have discovered our camp?"

Taking "Bulldog" with me, we started, Rogala whispering to me, as we went along, the well-known caution: "Let us not make more noise than a leopard in search of prey, or a fish swimming."

We came to the little stream where I had seen the footprints. Rogala said to me, after he had looked at them: "This man has taken this rivulet as a path, and followed the water."

With these words he did the same thing. I followed, and we waded down with the current. We had not walked more than one hour when Rogala gave a low click and pointed with his finger to a particular spot near a big tree. Looking in that direction, I saw a man under a koola tree picking up some of the nuts that had fallen on the ground, breaking them with a stone, and eating them voraciously. He had evidently been starving.

We hid behind a tree, and watched silently the movements of the stranger. We did not dare to whisper for fear of being heard.

Rogala, who was about two yards from me, came to my side, and made a sign to move away further. He was very much excited. His forehead was covered with perspiration. When we were at a safe distance, he whispered: "This man is not a Bakalai; he is from a far country. I think he has run away from his people. Let us surprise him, and if he runs away from us I will shoot at him and kill him."

I saw by the looks of Rogala that he was in earnest.

"No, Rogala," I replied, "we must not kill him if he runs away, but try to capture him. Then we shall find out where he comes from, and how far off his country is. As soon as we come near him we will shout to him to stand still. I will fire 'Bulldog,' and if he has never heard a gun fired in his life he will be so scared that he will not move. If he runs away, we will run after him. We are good runners, we can go quickly through the jungle. Now let us crawl towards him; you keep on his right, I on his left."

We walked so carefully that not one of our steps could be heard. Rogala once moved towards me just to whisper: "Oguizi, he must not escape from us."

We saw that the man had a bag of poisoned arrows hanging by his side, and on the ground lay his bow.

Nearer and nearer we came to the stranger, who was busy breaking the koola nuts, when suddenly he turned round and looked in our direction. Fortunately we crouched in time by a fallen tree. Had he heard us? We peeped above the tree. No, for he again began to crack koola nuts, and was putting the kernels in a little bag. We were within ten yards of him.

Suddenly, without a word of warning, Rogala jumped up, crossed the stream, and uttered a terrific war-cry, running towards the man. When I saw this, I fired "Bulldog" and ran also towards him. The poor fellow seemed to be spellbound and unable to get up. As we came up to him, he took hold of Rogala's feet, which meant that he put himself under his protection, and looked at me with great terror. He trembled all over, and could not utter a word.

I looked at him and smiled, but this did not seem to reassure him. Rogala spoke to him in several languages that he had learned from other slaves, but our prisoner shook his head to show that he did not understand. Then I spoke to him in several of the languages I had learned, but he understood me no better. Thereupon we made signs to try to find out from where he came. At this he looked up, trying to see from the light where the sun was. Then he pointed in the direction of the east.

"He must be from a far-off country," I said to Rogala, "for he seems not to understand any of the languages we have spoken to him."

Our captive was tall, and emaciated from hunger. His teeth were filed sharp to a point, and gave him a very savage appearance. Every part of his body except his legs was tattooed all over. On his stomach was the representation of a crocodile, showing that he must have lived on the shore of a lake or of a river. Upon his cheeks were spots of the size of large peas. His forehead was also tattooed.

"We must be very watchful," said Rogala; "perhaps the man understands some of the languages we spoke to him, after all."

Then he broke the man's bow, and buried his bag of poisoned arrows in the ground, for fear that man or beast would be hurt by them.

Our prisoner was very much frightened when he saw this, and looked at me with imploring eyes. He had divined instinctively that I was the master; his looks seemed to say: "Do not kill me!"

After a pause I said: "Rogala, if our prisoner tries to run away, let us spare his life and not shoot him; every man tries to run away from the people he fears in search of liberty. You would do likewise if Rotembo were not a good master."

Rogala looked at me in blank astonishment, and then said: "Oguizi, I will not try to kill him if he runs away; but," he added, "he must not run away."

We let our prisoner crack more koola nuts, and waited until his appetite was satisfied; then we started for our camp, our captive walking between Rogala, who led, and myself in the rear. Rogala had taken the precaution to tie his hands behind his back before starting. We walked silently, not one of us uttering a word until we came to our palisade. Our captive then showed signs of great fear.

I told Rogala to go over first and tie Andekko, for I was sure the dog would try to bite him. When we were all inside, we gave our prisoner a good warm meal of plantains – a few of which still remained – and a piece of monkey. Rogala washed his body with warm water and then rubbed it with oil, for his skin was dried and parched; he seemed very grateful. Soon he fell asleep on the bare ground.

Looking at him as he slept, I said to Rogala: "The poor fellow may have been days and weeks in the forest subsisting on nuts, berries, and fruit when he could find them, avoiding all the time the paths for fear of coming in contact with people. For you know," I continued, "that as soon as a man is out of his country, and comes out of his circle of friends belonging to another tribe, he is sure to be captured and made a slave."

"That is true," replied Rogala. "To-morrow morning we will try to learn something about him."

Andekko did not take kindly to our new-comer, and growled at him all the time. We agreed to watch in turn over the captive during the night, as his bonds were not very strong. We lighted several fires round him, and tied Andekko for fear that he might bite him.

When I awoke in the morning, I saw that he was still asleep, Andekko watching him and growling at him now and then. I looked for Rogala, but he was not there. I wondered where he had gone. Soon after I heard an axe. Rogala was cutting down a tree. After a while all became silent, and Rogala appeared before me and told me that he had cut two logs. After he had brought these inside, Rogala went to work on a "nchogo," and I guessed at once that it was to keep our prisoner captive and prevent him from running away. The nchogo is composed of two logs with holes, – the larger one to imprison the feet, the smaller for the hands.

The poor fellow was very much frightened when he saw the nchogo. He knew that it was for him. When I saw this, I said to Rogala: "This man belongs to a tribe living in the great forest, for he knows what a nchogo is. In a barren or prairie country they have no trees to make nchogos of. But we must treat our prisoner gently, give him plenty of food to show him that we care for him and that we are his friends. Then in a few days, after he has got accustomed to us, we will free him from the nchogo."

That day we gave him three meals, and ate by his side, and he saw that we had the same food.

When evening came, I said: "Rogala, you will go to sleep while I watch."

Soon both Rogala and our prisoner were asleep. Towards two o'clock I awoke Rogala for the watch and went to sleep myself.

In the morning I said: "Rogala, let us think over and see if you and I have spoken to our prisoner all the languages and dialects we know."

So we began to think, and finally Rogala said: "I did not speak to him in the Osheba language."

"Why," said I, "do you think he is a cannibal?"

"Perhaps he is," he replied.

Rogala spoke to him then in Osheba, and had uttered but a few words when the man's face brightened up, for he found that we should be able to understand him. He was a cannibal. There was no doubt about it.

Several days passed by. We got along very well with our captive, although he was kept in stocks. He seemed contented with his lot. He found that we treated him otherwise like one of ourselves. He ate with us, and consequently had the same food. When food was very scarce, we divided it equally among us, but of course when we had only nuts or berries he had only these to eat, and if we were hungry he had to go hungry also.

Several times I proposed to Rogala to take him out of the nchogo, but Rogala was always unwilling. Thinking that he was wiser than I in this matter, as he knew the native character better than I did, I let him have his own way.

We had given the name of Akenda-Mbani ("never go twice to the same place") to our prisoner, for we knew that he would never go back to his own country.

One afternoon Shinshooko and Alapai made their appearance, bringing with them four elephants' tusks. They had found two elephants in the pits they had dug in the forest for the purpose of entrapping the huge beasts.

They were very much astonished when they saw Akenda-Mbani and we told them how we had captured him.

CHAPTER XXVI

NDOVA FALLS SICK – STUNG BY A SCORPION OR BITTEN BY A CENTIPEDE – REFUSES TO EAT – GROWS WEAKER IN SPITE OF ALL OUR CARE AND NURSING – ONE MORNING I FIND HIM DEAD – WE MAKE A COFFIN FOR HIM AND BURY HIM IN THE FOREST

The following morning, to my astonishment and no small consternation, Ndova was ill, and refused to eat the berries and nuts given to him, of which ordinarily he was very fond. He looked at them, but would not even take them in his hands. His body was hot, and it was evident that he had a high fever. His heart beat very fast. It was very strange, I thought; he had been so well the evening before.

I said to Rogala: "I wonder if Ndova could have been stung by a scorpion or a centipede during the night, or perhaps a small poisonous snake entered his house and bit him when he tried to play with it."

"No," said Rogala, "monkeys are like people; they are afraid of snakes and do not play with them."

I took Ndova on my knees and examined his body, on which I discovered a red spot, showing that he had been stung either by a scorpion or a centipede.

"Look!" I said to Rogala, pointing out the place to him. "Ndova has been stung by a scorpion or a centipede."

"It is so," replied Rogala.

There are two or three species of centipedes and scorpions; the very poisonous ones are dark red, almost black. Rogala looked carefully at the red spot, and then said in a thoughtful and sad voice: "I am afraid it is all over with Ndova, for we black men die of the sting of this bad kind of scorpion and centipede, or else, if we escape, we are very ill. Their stings are often as dangerous as the bites of poisonous snakes."

I immediately gave a little dose of medicine to Ndova, but it did not seem to do him any good. That night we all went to sleep feeling very sad.

At break of day I went to Ndova to see how he was. I said, "Good-morning, Ndova," but he remained quiet in his little house. He did not come out, as he had always done before, and jump on my shoulder, and give a chuckle, which probably meant in the monkey language of the ndova tribe, "I am glad to see you." Instead of the chuckle I heard an indistinct sound, and he looked at me in a forlorn way as if to say, "I am very ill."

I felt his body. It was hotter than the day before, and his pulse beat so quickly that I felt he could not live much longer.

I shouted to Rogala: "Ndova is very, very ill; come and look at him;" and he came.