“Bulldog” was well known among my native hunters, who looked at it with wonder and superstitious awe. They were always glad when ‘Bulldog’ was going with us. They used to say, ‘Bulldog’ never misses, and always brings death in its path. The elephants, hippopotami, and all the wild beasts fall dead when hit by the bullets of ‘Bulldog.’ They knew “Bulldog” among all my other rifles, and there was always great rejoicing among my men when, before our departure, I said to one of them, “Go and fetch ‘Bulldog,’ and carry it until we reach the hunting-ground,” or when I carried it myself. “Bulldog” was so heavy that by the end of the day my shoulders, especially my left one, felt very sore. In the course of time my left shoulder became quite black from the effects of carrying “Bulldog,” and other guns. A gun that is quite light to carry the first hour becomes heavy enough by the end of the day.
The eve of my departure I called Ogandaga, the head wife of King Mombo, and pointing out a box to her, I said: “Here is a box which is very precious, and I want you to take care of it. No man or woman must open it—neither King Mombo, nor yourself—for misfortune will befall whoever opens it. This precious box was of tin, waterproof, and contained the scientific instruments and books necessary to find my latitude and longitude, also the days of the week, of the month, the exact time in Greenwich or Washington, and wherever I was. In that box were also four watches, which had been made especially for use in astronomical observations. Ogandaga said that she would take great care of the precious box, and then, pointing out to her all the boxes containing my goods, I said: “These are also under your care.” I gave her a beautiful necklace of large beads, for which she thanked me, and went away, and soon after returned with a slave to take the precious box to her house.”
“Then he handed me ‘Omemba’”
Then I called King Mombo, and said to him: “All my things that you see here I leave in care of Ogandaga.” “They are safe,” he replied.
That evening the king walked from one end of the village to the other, and shouted, so that everybody could hear: “The Oguizi will soon leave us for a while. I and Ogandaga will take care of his things during his absence. Let no one ever dare to touch them, and if any one tries to take any of them, he will have his head cut off.”
The people answered: “He is our Oguizi. His things are safe, and would be even if we were not threatened with having our heads cut off.”
Towards four o’clock in the morning, by moonlight, and when every one was asleep, I carried my outfit to a small canoe made of the trunk of a tree, and departed, paddling along the shore of the river. Just at daylight I heard the grunt of the hippopotami. These animals are called river horses, because their heads in a certain profile look very much like that of a horse.
At the sight of my canoe they gave a peculiar grunt and disappeared under the water and reappeared somewhere else, and did this several times. At times they rose so near me that I was afraid they would rise right under my canoe and overturn it. Then they might come and attack me in the water, which certainly would have been the end of me. Further on I met several other herds, but kept quite out of their way.
Leaving the hippopotami behind me I continued my way, when suddenly I thought I heard the sound of paddles and of human voices. I pulled my canoe as fast as I could among the thick reeds which lined the banks of the river, and was soon out of sight. I was hardly there when I thought of crocodiles. It was just the spot for them, for the river was here sluggish and with muddy banks. I felt very uncomfortable, for my canoe was not so very much above water and I might be attacked by a crocodile, hiding among the reeds. They are very voracious when hungry.