In African Forest and Jungle

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

Then Rotembo said: "Oguizi, Andekko is the second gift I promised you."

The next day Rogala came again, but this time with a monkey called Ndova. He was a fine creature, with a nice coat of hair and a white nose. The chief, pointing to the monkey, said: "His name is Ndova, and he has the intelligence of a man. He goes with Rogala into the forest. We have given him the name of Ndova because the species of monkeys to which he belongs is so called. You will not often be hungry in the forest when Ndova is with you, for he will call upon other ndovas to come to him while he stands close to you and Rogala, and when these come you will shoot them. You will have plenty of monkey meat to eat. When monkeys are fat," he added, "they taste fine, especially if they are broiled on a bright charcoal fire. While living on my plantations, I often take Ndova with me. He can only call on his fellow ndovas, for the other species do not understand his talk.

"There will be days," added Rotembo, "when you will find no monkeys or other game and hunger will come upon you. Then Ndova must follow you. There are many kinds of fruits, berries, and nuts in the forest; these look very tempting, but several of them are very poisonous, and people die if they eat them. So when you see any fruit, berries, or nuts you do not know, do not eat them until you give them to Ndova first. If he eats them, these are also good for you."

"Monkeys never make a mistake; they have a gift which no man possesses. By the sense of smell they can tell if a berry, nut, or fruit is poisonous. They always smell a thing they do not know before eating it, and when it is poisonous they throw it away. If it is not poisonous, they give it a bite. In that case what is good for the monkey is good for the man. But I must tell you that often the nuts, berries, or fruits a monkey likes men do not like, for monkeys and men have not always the same taste."

After hearing the words of Rotembo I looked with renewed curiosity at Ndova. He was almost as large as Andekko. His nose was white, which contrasted strongly with the color of his dark hair tipped with whitish gray. He had long canine teeth. I was glad to hear he was gentle, for I should not have liked to be bitten by him.

"Oguizi, I give you Ndova," Rotembo said. "He is the third gift I promised you. I think you will get on well in the forest with Rogala, Andekko, and Ndova. There are two other of my slaves who are also great hunters. Their names are Shinshooko and Alapai. These three men live close together in the forest and spend their lives in hunting; they have their families with them.

"I got Ndova in the following manner," he continued. "I and my slave Rogala were hunting together near the plantation where you are going. We were lying in wait for boars, when finally we heard their grunts. We heard at the same time the chatter of monkeys above our heads. The boars came in sight and we fired. Then, to our astonishment, a little monkey fell from the tree above our heads. The firing of our guns had frightened his mother, who dropped him. He did not have the strength to hold on to the branches. I seized the little fellow and put him into my bag. The mother followed all the way back to the plantation, uttering cries of distress and anger. Sometimes she would come down to the ground, look at us, and go up into the trees again. She did not dare to approach too near us. After coming to the house we fed the little monkey with the milk of a goat and called him Ndova. His mother at the same time remained on a commanding tree close by, calling the little fellow. Soon she was joined by her mate, who added his calls to hers. They slept on a tree near the plantation that night, and we kept the baby in the house. At daylight the two big monkeys were still on the same tree, and uttered cries of anguish and distress, calling for the little fellow, but did not dare to come down.

"Three days passed and we thought little Ndova's mother had got tired and gone away for good into the forest, leaving her offspring to his fate, for we no longer heard her cries.

"We made a little bed of leaves and used to leave Ndova upon it in the sun. We had gone into our huts one afternoon. After a while I came out of the house and just in time. For Ndova's mother had apparently been watching from a tree and seeing nobody had come down and had taken hold of Ndova and was carrying him away into the forest as fast as she could. I shouted with all my might, and Ndova lost his hold and dropped to the ground.

"We went into the forest and made a trap to catch the mother, and brought the little monkey and put him in the trap. We were then sure that she would come and see him and try to get him away. When everything was ready, we hid and waited. After a time we saw a monkey quietly coming down a tree. It was the mother; we recognized her by her white nose. She uttered a sound of joy as she approached Ndova. Then she got into the cage, and the trap-door closed behind her.