In African Forest and Jungle

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

Accordingly we made camp here and passed the night. The following afternoon we entered a narrow river and left the large Ogobai. We had not been two hours on our way up the river when Ndova began to utter loud and peculiar sounds.

"Ndova is calling the monkeys to come to him," said Rogala. "If they come we shall have monkey meat for our evening meal."

As he spoke, he grinned with delight; but there were no monkeys within the sound of Ndova's voice.

After a while, however, the call of Ndova was answered by a troop of monkeys, and they seemed to have quite a conversation together, though the voices of the monkeys did not seem to come nearer.

"The monkeys are trying to make Ndova come to them," Rogala said.

Then came a pause, and the forest became still again. But soon Rogala's quick ears heard the noise made by the shaking of the branches of trees. The monkeys were travelling towards us, leaping from branch to branch, bending them by their weight as they alighted upon them.

Ndova was making an awful noise and was very excited. The monkeys answered him, and he kept on calling them. We were paddling silently along the banks of the river, and as soon as we saw the monkeys on a tree above our canoe we stopped. They were many in number, and looked at Ndova without uttering a sound, they seemed so astonished. We raised our guns and aimed at the two biggest white-nosed ones and fired. One fell into our canoe, the other dropped dead by the shore. The rest scuttled away in a trice.

"Good for you, Ndova," I said to him.

Ndova was in a great state of excitement. Rogala, holding his cord, took him towards the two dead monkeys. When he came near them he uttered other sounds, quite unlike those he had made when he called the monkeys to us. What he meant neither Rogala nor I could tell. But I said to myself: "Rotembo is right. Ndova will be the cause of our having food and we shall feed often on monkey meat. We shall not starve as long as Ndova is with us. Great, indeed, is the gift of Chief Rotembo!"

A few miles further on we landed. In a short time we were seated by a bright fire, and when it had been reduced to a great mass of charcoal we roasted one of the monkeys and with our roasted plantains made a delicious meal. Andekko fed on some of the bones, and Ndova on a ripe plantain.