The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

Then came a shrill chorus, and all the ngozos shrieked again, “We hate the monkeys.” But soon the jabbering among the ngozos became less and less, for many were getting sleepy. Then quiet settled down on the army. All had fallen asleep, after, however, having first agreed where the flocks should go to the next morning.

Long before dawn, between three and four o’clock, all the ngozos were awake and talked to one another. When ready for their journey, each leader said to his flock, “Be ready, ngozos; we must hurry.” His flock would answer, “We are ready.” “Follow me, then,” would say the leader as he flew away, followed by all the numbers that belonged to him.

Flock after flock of ngozos left one after another, after saying, “Good-by,” “Good luck to you.” “Good luck to you,” was the answer, and in less than ten minutes they all had left. Some flocks flew toward the north, others to the east, west, south, to some particular part of the forest where they thought they would find plenty of food. They were all in a great hurry to reach the different places, so as to be there before the monkeys, the small flocks going where there were only a few fruit-bearing trees to be found, and the flock that had been so badly beaten by the monkeys going to the nearest food place.

The ngozos possess the wonderful gift of knowing their way through the air; the trees are their landmarks, as they fly above the forest and look down to discover any fruit-bearing trees.

A very old ngozo, about eighty years old, with powdered feathers and deep yellow eyes (which is a sign of old age), who was the last to go away, said to his flock: “I know of a place where at this time of the year there are trees that must be loaded with fruit [and he named the fruit]. I will lead you there.”

“Good for you, our chief!” cried all the ngozos. “You are a good chief. With you we shall find plenty of food.”

After a journey of about twenty miles, the old leader said to his flock, “Look yonder. Do you see the tree-tops red with fruit?” And they looked in that direction and saw trees red with fruit, and all uttered cries of joy, saying, “What a good-morning’s meal we are going to have!” They flew with still greater rapidity and soon alighted upon the trees. “We are here just in season,” they all exclaimed at the same time. Then they remained perfectly silent, so as not to attract other ngozos, and also so as not to let the monkeys know where they were. The fruits were very dainty. Soon every ngozo was enjoying his meal, holding the fruit in his claw (for they use their feet as we do our hands) and peeling it with his beak.

After having had a good meal, they flew away to another part of the forest, where their leader thought they would find a kind of nut they liked very much.

Halfway they settled upon a tree to feed, when suddenly a stranger alighted among them. They looked at the new-comer, and at once wanted to drive him away, for he did not belong to their flock. Great cries of rage were heard among them; but as they were preparing to fight the poor wanderer, the chief of the flock cried with a very piercing and commanding voice: “Do not drive him away. He is lost. For some reason or another he is solitary. Don’t you see that he belongs to our kin, and has a gray body and a red tail? Let us welcome him.” The ngozos did so at once in a chorus. But, to their utter astonishment, they found that the stranger could not understand what they said to him; and when he spoke to them they could not understand what he said, and they marvelled at that, and looked at their new friend with amazement and did not know what to make of him.