The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

Once the big ngina thought he scented something hostile, and looked toward his mate, for often the nginas have a silent way of communicating with each other. Then they stood still for a while. After they had made sure there was no cause for alarm, they continued on their way, but became more and more wary. They heard a noise and stopped; but it was only a troop of monkeys journeying through the forest.

Finally they came to the destroyed plantain field, and passed through it to go to the forest beyond. They were more timid than ever, on account of the lack of shelter from the trees. On their way they saw two of the sheds that had been built by the human beings. They looked at them, and noticed a heap of ashes, the remains of a fire, and three burning embers in the midst of the ashes. They thought they were tondos, the red fruit that grows near the ground, for which the nginas have a great fondness, thinking they are a delicious fruit. The embers looked like them, and yet again did not look exactly like them.

So they seated themselves on their haunches by the pile of ashes, and kept wondering if these red dying embers were tondos. The big ngina at last stretched out his long arms and took one of the embers in his hands. He dropped it instantly, and uttered a terrific yell of rage, and, with glaring eyes, looked at the embers and jumped around. His mate asked, “Dear, what is the matter? Why do you yell in such a manner?” The big ngina replied, “That red thing is not a tondo. I took hold of it, and it felt as if I had a handful of bees or wasps.” Then he fearlessly raised his arm and gave a great blow with his open hand to the pile of ashes, and sent them and the embers flying about.

Farther on they discovered a cluster of plantain-trees bearing big bunches of juicy fruit. They were filled with delight at the sight. Soon they were busy pulling the trees down, by grasping the base of the stem with their two hand-like feet, and then, with their powerful arms and hands, pulling the trunk to the ground. They even bit the trunks of the plantain-trees, for these are juicy.

They ate silently, fearing that, if they made any noise, other nginas would hear them and come to the feast. Even the njokoos, if they heard the nginas, would come, and the nginas would have to run, for there were no trees for them to climb, and the njokoos would charge upon them.

“I hope no njokoos remember this place,” said the big ngina; “for if they do not come, we shall have food for several days.”

The nginas are very wasteful. After they get hold of a bunch of plantains, and if there are many, they take a few bites, then go to another tree and pull it down. They ate until they could eat no more, when they retired into the dark recess of the forest. There they lay on their backs, the baby ngina resting on the breast of his mother.

They remained in the neighborhood of the plantain-trees several days, and would come at dawn to eat, then retire to the forest, and come again before sunset, after which they would go into the forest to sleep. The time came when they had eaten all the bunches of plantains, and they then left the place for good. They laughed and said: “If njokoos and other nginas come here, they will be late and will have no words of love or affection for us,” and they laughed still more.

They had hardly entered the forest when they heard the voices of human beings. These were the five hunters. They came to get plantains to eat, as well as to seek the nginas and njokoos of whom they were in pursuit. Great was their anger when they saw that the nginas had eaten everything. They swore again that they would kill the nginas.

When the nginas heard their voices, the big one said to his mate, “Let us move away. We hate the presence of human beings.” And they went far away and wandered in the thickest part of the forest, and did not come into that neighborhood any more. They agreed to go back to the big koola-tree, for they hoped to find many nuts on the ground, and they were happy as they thought of the good meal in prospect. One day’s journey was to bring them to the place. That night they slept in their usual way. In the morning they departed, expecting to reach the koola-tree toward noon.