The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

He answered: “I am old and shall soon die. I wander alone in the forest, for I cannot follow the other nkengos. They walk too fast for me. I have hardly any teeth, and now I can only feed on leaves. I have not the strength to go after fruits, for I cannot climb trees as I used to do. All I am able to do is to hoist myself on some tree to sleep. I cannot make bowers any more. A leopard will probably eat me one of these days, for I am unable to defend myself. My mate is dead.”

Then they said: “Dear old nkengo, we are sorry for you. We pity you. We wish we could be with you, but life is a struggle. We have often to go far away during the day to get our living, and if we were to stay with you we should starve, for we hate leaves, and they are not sufficient to satisfy our hunger. Good-by. Good-by.”

And the poor old nkengo was left to himself to finish his life in the best way he could.

Two or three days after they had met the old nkengo, the big one said to his mate, as they returned to their bowers in the evening: “When we built our bower here some days ago, our place at first was surrounded by fruits, nuts, and berries. The trees were full of them. We had but a little way to go to find our food, but as usual every day we had to go a little farther, as we had eaten everything around here. It takes so much to feed us daily. Now we have to go so far that it almost takes the whole day to go to and from our shelter before it gets dark. We must find another country where food is plentiful; for two or three days past we have not eaten enough to satisfy our appetites.

“Let us journey to-morrow morning to that part of the forest where we know that at this moon of the rainy season we shall find plenty to eat. We shall be there in two days if we travel fast, and hope to arrive before the monkeys and the ngoas and men of the woods make their appearance, and eat everything, and leave nothing for us.” His mate agreed with him, and they ascended their trees and lay down in their bowers.

Before daybreak the guinea fowls and the partridges by their cackling announced that daylight was soon coming. By this time all the nocturnal animals had retired to their hiding-places, some in their burrows, others in the holes of trees or in other dark places.

The nkengo said to his mate, “The partridges and the guinea fowls have told all those who get their living in daylight that the dawn is coming, and that the sun will soon rise. As soon as we can see, we will begin our journey.” A little while after, they started and found the food very scanty as they went along, as they were travelling over the ground they had been over before.

By the afternoon they had come to a new land where berries, nuts, and fruits began to be plentiful, and they were very glad. But they were very suspicious also, for since one of them had seen the pale-faced human being with long black hair they were more shy than they ever had been before, and they were in constant dread of meeting him with his stick, which sent forth claps of thunder.

Their wild and eager eyes glanced in every direction, trying to pierce through the forest, and they listened to every noise they heard, fearing that it was he that was coming. The sense of hearing of the men of the woods is so keen that they can hear the slightest noise a long way off. During the day they had been alarmed several times.

Toward evening the nkengo said: “To-night we will sleep upon the branches of trees, and early to-morrow we will go farther and see if food is still plentiful; and if it is, we will find two trees upon which to build our bowers. I am glad that we have found no traces of nginas, nshiegos, mbouvés, and kooloo-kambas, so we are the first on the ground,” and he grinned when he said this, for he thought of the grand time and fine feasting they were to have.