It was getting late, and time for them to disperse, and as they rose to do so they gave a last suspicious glance at the Waterbury clock.
The mode of life I led on the plantation was the same every day. I got up before sunrise and bathed in a little stream of clear water running in the forest at a short distance from my little cabin. By that time Regundo’s wife had my breakfast ready. The meal varied according to the game on hand—but I always had plantain. Immediately after this early breakfast, generally about 6.30 A. M., I started for the forest.
Some days I went for birds, others for butterflies and other insects, and once in a while for big game. I generally returned towards noon, then had another meal—after which I went into the shade of trees and stuffed the birds I had killed. I often went again into the forest in the afternoon. I had a very busy life, and very little time to feel lonely. Every morning when I awoke I was filled with the hope of discovering some new animals or birds. When I had time to spare I studied the habits of the people, and their ways of thinking. Still, though I was much occupied, I often thought of my friends, and at times was homesick enough.
Part of my time was also spent in learning from different slaves the languages of their tribe, so that I might be able to speak to people during my wanderings. None, of course, had a written language. So I had to write the words, with my pencil, on paper. I made a sort of dictionary, writing the words as I understood the people to pronounce them. There were many dialects, belonging, no doubt, to a single language in former times. They had not many words, as their needs were few, but all these languages had grammatical forms, handed down from one generation to another.
CHAPTER XVI
THE ANIMALS OF THE FOREST—FIVE KINDS OF APES—THE NGINA OR GORILLA—HIS GREAT STRENGTH AND FIERCENESS—HOW HE ATTACKS MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS—OSHORIA’S ACCOUNT OF HIM.
The slaves assembled the next evening. I said to them: “Yesterday I heard about the people living in the big forest. Now tell me of the strange beasts that roam amongst the trees.”
Regundo replied: “Oguizi, there are many strange creatures living in the forest. Some of them resemble people. We call them men and women of the woods, for they have no tails and have faces like human beings. There are five kinds of them, nginas [gorillas], nshiego-mbouvés, nshiego-kengos, nshiegos, and kooloo-kambas. The ngina is the blackest of all. Some of the nshiegos have faces almost of the same color as yours, Oguizi.
“The one amongst these we dread more than all the others is the ngina, for he is very fierce and has the strength of many men. So we call him the ‘giant of the forest.’ There is the skull of a ‘man’ ngina on the top of my house. Look at it. I killed the creature several years ago, when I was younger. By its side is the skull of his mate.”
I looked up and in the moonlight I saw a strange-looking head with a crest on the top and powerful teeth. Its jaws had apparently more power than those of a lion.