KILLING THE SNAKE.
[CHAP. VII.]
CHAPTER VII.
OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS CONTINUED—A REBELLION IN CAMP—NOTHING TO EAT—I SHOOT A FISH AND MISS AN ELEPHANT—I KILL A BIG SNAKE, AND THE OTHERS EAT HIM—MY FIRST SIGHT OF GORILLAS.
Before we renewed our journey the natives had done all they could to gather provisions; but the result was poor enough. By going to distant villages they had succeeded in getting a few bunches of plantain.
Mcomo, Mbéné's brother, backed out. He said he was not going into the cannibal country to be eaten up. But I must tell you that Mbéné had some friends among the cannibals. And he sent with me two of his sons called Miengai and Makinda, together with twelve good hunters, and six women who were the wives of some of the men. The women carried the provisions, etc.
I took seventy pounds of shot and bullets, nineteen pounds of powder, ten pounds of arsenic for preserving the birds and animals I should kill, for I knew I should probably succeed in getting some new specimens.