The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

Soon after, a large number of officers or overseers arrived at all the breaks. They cried, “Let us defend our homes,” their big nippers opening and closing all the time. They were ready to bite and to fight any intruder, not a nchellelay, that wanted to get inside of their dwelling, and at the least sign of danger they opened their nippers still wider, ready to bite.

Great, indeed, had been the havoc made by these njokoos. Dead and wounded were lying everywhere among the ruins. Among them were young nchellelays of a milky white color, and others quite tiny, having just come out of the eggs. Eggs, whole or smashed, were seen in every direction. It was a terrible sight to contemplate for the nchellelays. Everything was topsy-turvy.

Still the nchellelays recovered quickly from the sudden confusion into which they had been thrown, for they had cool heads. The work of rescue began first. Luckily it was a cloudy day and the dry season, when the sun is not powerful.

Orders were given, and the nchellelays went out to begin the work of rescue. They were seen everywhere among the débris, looking round for the dead and wounded. When they saw one, they immediately went toward him. If so dangerously wounded that they thought there was no hope for him, he was left on the ground to die. When they saw that there was hope of saving the life of one, they took the poor wounded one gently between their pincers and carried him tenderly inside, those who guarded the entrance making room for the rescuer to pass. The wounded that could, hopped or crept around, and were helped and led in.

The young were also carried in with the utmost tenderness and affection, for they were babies and helpless. Then, and last, the eggs that had not been injured were also carried in.

In the great catastrophe that had taken place, the big nchellelays and the pigmy ones were mingled together in the ruins. The pigmies had also many dead and wounded. Their presence was the first intimation that the big nchellelays had of them. Their rage knew no bounds at the sight. Officers and workers attacked the intruders with great fury. These, however, fought with the utmost bravery, for it was a fight for life with them, and many of the big ones bit the dust in the conflicts that took place.

The mode of warfare among the nchellelays is to disembowel one another by piercing their soft stomachs with their nippers. The belly is the vulnerable part of their body, and once pierced they are crippled, and die soon afterwards.

Now the ruins were turned into a great battlefield. It was soon a scene of carnage. While many of the big nchellelays were transporting the wounded, the young, and the eggs inside the ruins of their buildings, many were busy seeking the pigmy nchellelays, the intruders within their house, to fight and kill them. Dead and wounded from the numerous combats lay everywhere. There were many thrilling fights and death-struggles. The attacks on both sides were fierce, and no one asked quarter. Combatants were seen fighting one another over the whole battlefield. Sometimes the fight occurred in a very rugged place where the ruins of the buildings lay around on the top of one another. One nchellelay was seen ascending the steep incline ready to charge the enemy at the top, who was waiting for his onslaught. In another place, one was descending with great fury to attack his enemy, who was coming up.

Elsewhere, one could see a worker or an officer of the larger kind attack his diminutive enemy, and succeed, after some sparring, in disembowelling him, when suddenly an officer of the pigmy kind, seeing one of his comrades in the fight, or in his death-throes, would attack the victorious one before he had time to turn round and get ready for the fight, and succeed in disembowelling him with his pincers, although the antagonist was at least two or three times his size.