King Mombo

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

I seated myself on the trunk of a tree that had fallen across the path and waited for Oshoria and the other men. I had hardly seated myself when the bloody head of a monkey with its eyes plucked out fell within a yard in front of me, and I knew that a guanionien, the largest eagle of the forest, was devouring his prey, perched on a giant tree, though the foliage was so thick that I could not see the bird, called by the natives the leopard of the air. Then I tried to call to mind how it had happened that I had lost Oshoria, and I remembered that we had not before seen the fallen tree upon which I was seated. This made me believe that I was further on. I waited but Oshoria did not come. Then I thought that perhaps he was waiting for me still further ahead, and decided to go on myself. I broke a few branches on each side of the path and made marks on the bark of the trees with my hunting knife. I put a big handful of leaves on the tree upon which I had been seated, and I laid parallel with the path three sticks, with sharp points at one end, indicating the direction I was to take. Thus Oshoria would be sure to know where I had gone when he passed the place.

I walked slowly. Time passed; but no Oshoria came, and night was near. To add to my difficulties, I came to a place where the path forked into three distinct branches. I determined to go no further that day, but to camp for the night at the junction of these paths.

I shouted with all my might after Oshoria and the rest of my hunters, but only the echo of my voice came back. I fired a gun, but the same silence continued.

Fortunately I had some koola nuts with me, but before eating them, as it was getting late, I collected a lot of dead branches, of which the forest is full, and made four separate piles of wood for fires,—when lo! I remembered that Oshoria had my steel and flint. I had lent them to him to light his pipe before we started in the morning, and he had forgotten to return them to me; and I had left my matches at Regundo’s.

I took two pieces of very dry wood, a large and a small one, and after rubbing them rapidly and vigorously together I succeeded in getting a little fire, to which I added some dried fungus, and soon my four fires were in full blaze. I slept surrounded by them. During the night a dead branch fell with a great crash and awoke me. I put more wood on the fires to keep away the wild beasts, and went to sleep again.

When I awoke in the morning I thought of Oshoria and of my hunters and said to myself: “Surely we shall find one another to-day.”

Taking from my bag twenty koola nuts, I ate them for breakfast; I counted the others, and found that I had enough for a day and a half, that is, for three meals.

When I was ready to start, I chose the centre path out of the three branching ones, cut tree-limbs on each side, then again sharpened three sticks at one end and laid them parallel with the path, the sharp end designed to show the direction I had taken. I shouted now and then with the whole strength of my lungs, “Oshoria, Oshoria,” but the forest remained silent. Then I gave the peculiar native cry of “Whoo, whoo, whoo—a,” which reaches very far, but no answer came back. I fired “Bulldog,” but only its echo returned to me.

I kept on walking slowly, and towards noon I took a meal of koola nuts, but ate only ten of them. While I was eating, “Bulldog” lay at my side. I looked at the dear old rifle, and said to it: “‘Bulldog,’ you are the only friend I have now: I think a great deal of you, and I love you. Do not fail me in time of danger or hunger.”

Then, taking the precious rifle on my shoulders, I continued my way. After a while, I heard a rustling in the jungle, and looking in that direction, a strange sight met my eyes. I saw a bald-headed ape, the nshiego mbouvé, with a baby. The mother had a very black face, while the face of the baby was so white that the little fellow looked quite human. The mother was seated on the ground eating some fruit and giving some to the little nshiego mbouvé, that was looking in her face, seated between her legs. I hid behind a tree and watched the two.