On the second day after our arrival at Wando’s residence, attended by a considerable number of natives and a dozen soldiers, I made an excursion out for about two leagues northwards along the banks of the Dyagbe. Guereza-monkeys in merry groups were in the foliage above, but I was not fortunate enough to bring down more than a single specimen. According to the statements of my guides, who were hunters by profession, chimpanzees were numerous, but we certainly did not get a glimpse of one. Very weary with my exertions of tramping over the marshy ground I was rejoiced to bring back into camp an ample booty in the way of botanical rarities.
THE LEAF-EATER.
During our travels I had obtained from the Niam-niam who accompanied our caravan an epithet which I never lost in all the subsequent stages of our journey. In their own dialect these people called me “Mbarik-pa,” which would be equivalent to a name amongst us of “Leaf-eater.” It was a designation that reminded me very vividly of my professional brother David Douglas, who fell a martyr to his devotion to Nature, and who was known amongst the North-American Indians as “the Grass-man.”
My Niam-niam interpreter Gyabir, as I learnt some time afterwards, had given his friends some marvellous accounts of the way in which I was accustomed to eat whatever I found growing. He used to relate that I had a habit of dismissing my attendants and getting into a dense thicket where I imagined that I was unobserved, and that then I used with great haste to gather and devour enormous quantities of leaves, and he added that this was the way in which, one day after another, I groped after my ordinary food. Others contributed their observation that I invariably came forth from the woods with an exhilarated expression and quite a satiated look, whilst they were conscious of nothing else than the cravings of hunger. After all it was very natural; for the inspiration which is derived from contemplating Nature can elevate one far above his mortal and bodily wants.
The dominant idea which seemed to be impressed upon the natives by my botanical ardour concentrated itself upon their conviction as to the character of the country where the white man has his home. According to their belief the land wherein the white men spent their lives could show neither grass nor tree, and consisted of nothing better than sandy plain and stony flat. Those amongst them who had been carried away as slaves in the ivory expeditions and had returned again from Khartoom had brought strange accounts of the grim desolation and utter drought of the Moslem lands over which they had passed; and what, they asked, must be the condition of the still remoter countries of the Frank, of whom they only knew that he kept the Turk supplied with cotton-stuffs and guns?
CHAPTER XII.
Poultry-market. Votive pillars and hunting-trophies. Indirect evidence of cannibalism. The chimpanzee in Central Africa, Presents of chimpanzee skulls. New style of huts. The A-Banga. Cultivation of manioc in Central Africa. The Treculia. Cam-wood and muscat nuts. Conflict with natives. Shooting-match and sham fight. Magic lucifers. Mutual interchange of blood. Botanical excursion interrupted. Gyabir wounded. Modes of expressing pain. Female slaves captured. Giant lichens. Tree-termites. Monbuttoo frontier. Reception by Nembey. Northern limit of the oil-palm. Imaginary alarm. Unexpected arrival of Khartoomers. Visit of Bongwa and his wife. Cattle of the Maogoo. Cultivation of the sugar-cane. Interview with Izingerria. Arrival at the Welle. Condition of the Welle. Relations of the stream. Crossing the river. Monbuttoo canoes. New impressions of the heart of Africa. Arrival at Munza’s residence.
At sunrise, on the 6th of March, we took our departure from the abode of Wando. For our security on the way, the caravan was attended by a number of guides which the chieftain had placed at our disposal. Just before starting, the intelligence arrived of the death of Nduppo, the alienated and hostile brother of Wando. A party of armed men had been despatched by Wando, and after a short conflict they had killed the enemy. Nduppo’s wives and children had taken refuge in Mohammed’s Seriba, where they met with a hospitable reception and were provided with the residence and provisions that were necessary for their support.
According to a custom which is generally recognised in Central Africa, whenever a caravan mistakes its way and is obliged to retrace its steps and return to a road from which it has deviated, a bough is thrown across the wrong path and a furrow is scratched in the ground by means of the feet, so that no succeeding caravans may fall into the same error. This duty is entrusted to the people accompanying the standard-bearer in the rear.
The route of the first day led us along the right bank of the Dyagbe, past Wando’s tall conical huts, and through a gallery of picturesque wood scenery. Having forded the stream which, plentifully supplied with water, resolved itself into several channels, we rested on the farther side amidst the outlying homesteads of the district. The startled inmates made a momentary escape; but soon recovered from their alarm, and returning to their dwellings commenced a brisk business in selling poultry all along our line. The men alone, however, brought their fowls, tied up in bundles, to the market; the women kept themselves quite aloof. After a brook of smaller dimensions had been crossed and some more groups of huts had been left behind, the caravan arrived at a stream of considerable magnitude known as the Billwey, but which so much resembled the Dyagbe in the shady character of its banks that it might very easily be mistaken for it. Then ensued two of the “gallery” paths, the first being quite small, the other somewhat larger and known by the name of Mono. The district still seemed to be fairly populous, and from all sides we were met by people who came to us partly to offer their services as guides, and partly to learn what particulars they could about the intentions of the caravan. There was a coming and going which a European might compare to the bustle of a general holiday at home.