WOLF HUNTING.
CHAPTER XXX.
HUNTING IN THE WOODS—THE MBOYO WOLF—WE CATCH ANOTHER YOUNG GORILLA—HE STARVES TO DEATH.
Everything went on smoothly among the good Commi. When I absented myself they took great care of my property. They seemed proud of their honesty; and though it was a wild country, and they were a wild people, I felt very safe among them.
Now and then I left Washington to go and live entirely in the woods, and hunt, sometimes for gorillas, at other times for wild boars or buffaloes, or something else.
I was also very fond of hunting the mboyo, a very shy animal of the wolf kind, with long yellowish hair and straight ears. They are very cunning; and now and then you can see them in the grass engaged in hunting for themselves. I have often watched these animals surrounding and chasing game. They run very well together in a drove; and as their policy is to run round and round, they soon bewilder, tire out, and capture any animal of moderate endurance. As they run round, gradually their circle grows smaller and smaller; and of course the smaller it becomes the more bewildered becomes their prey.
Often I have seen them prying about alone in search of prey. How roguish they look! and I could only shoot them at very long distances. I never was able to get near one of them.
At times I went into the country where gorillas were plentiful, and had a good deal of fun and plenty of excitement. This country was not far from the village of a chief called Makaga Oune-jiou. This chief was affected with leprosy. He had already lost all the fingers of his left hand and two fingers of his right hand, besides the big toe of his left foot. But Makaga was very kind to me, and was much beloved by his people. His village was small, but was a very dear little village to him. It was surrounded by fields of sugar-cane, plantain trees, and little fields of ground-nuts; and now and then the gorillas came and helped themselves to the good things these people had planted. This made them very wroth, and they were always glad to have me come and spend a few days among them.