The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

He waited and waited, but nothing came that way. So he had to go without food that day, saying to himself, “The life of the ombamas is not always a pleasant one. How often I have to work hard for my living!” He left the place hungry and much disappointed, and remembered, although he had not been in that part of the forest for a long time, that there was a pond in the neighborhood.

After some wandering he came to this pond, which was a large pool of clear water fed by a spring. There he stopped and said, “Surely some of the animals of the forest will come here to drink.” And as he looked around, he saw footprints of kambis and ncheris and other creatures. He was delighted, and at the sight thought that he should soon get a good meal. He saw a tree by the water of the same color as his skin and coiled himself around it and waited. His head and neck were in constant motion, looking out for prey. “Surely some animal will come toward sunset,” he thought, “for that is the time when they come to drink.” He knew well the habits of the kambis and the ncheris and ngoas and other animals upon which he lived.

Soon an unsuspecting kambi made his appearance, nibbling at a few leaves as she came toward the pool to have a drink. The big ombama looked at her with glaring eyes, and when she came within a short distance of his tree, he made a tremendous spring, and in the twinkling of an eye his body was coiled round the poor creature and squeezed her so tightly that at last she died.

Then the ombama had very hard work, for the kambi was too big for him to swallow. So he used all his strength to make the body smaller and smaller by crushing it. It was a slow but sure process, and he succeeded. When he thought the kambi was ready for eating, he put the head in his mouth, after it had been properly crushed by his powerful coils, and then began another squeezing process, which made the rest of the animal small enough to be gradually swallowed. Before the kambi was digested, and while it was still whole in his body, it was nearly three times the length it had been when alive.

Soon after his meal, the big ombama fell asleep,—a lethargic, digestive sleep among the dead leaves on the ground. The ombamas and omembas always fall into such sleep when they have had a hearty meal and digest it. Lucky was the big ombama that no enemy passed by, nor a njokoo to trample upon him.

After digesting his meal, which took a number of days, he awoke, and, encountering the omembas he had met before, he asked for news. One who had been in the chicken-coop said: “I had a big rooster and all the eggs I found in one of the hens’ nests for my meal. After this, I went immediately away, for I hate an open place, and hid in the forest and went to sleep.” Another omemba said, “As I came into the village, I saw a small dog, and sprang upon him and coiled myself around him and ate him up.”

Then they parted, each going his own way.

The big ombama, after his sleep and recollection of the big meal of the kambi, felt very well and journeyed toward a river of clear water and there took a bath and enjoyed it. His skin was becoming dim in color and shabby, and he longed for another one. One day he felt his old skin getting loose, and said to himself, “It is time for me to have a brand-new coat. I am ashamed of this old one, it is so shabby and worn out.”

Then he pushed himself through with his head, and, lo! in a short time his old coat from head to tail was behind him. He had come out of his old clothes with a bright and shining outfit. As he moved away, he said, “Good-by, dear old coat, good-by, good-by.” Now he felt like himself again and said, “I am glad I have such a fine new coat and have left the old one. I am handsome now.”