FIGHT BETWEEN MONKEY TRIBES, NKAGOS AND MONDIS--MY GUN PUTS BOTH SIDES
TO FLIGHT--A VISIT FROM THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS--EVERYTHING FLIES BEFORE
THEM--WE DRIVE THEM OFF WITH FIREBRANDS AND BOILING WATER
I LOVED to walk by myself in the great forest, taking my smooth-bore
gun for birds, with which I always took a few bullets in case I should
meet some large animals.
One day as I walked along looking at the butterflies that were very
plentiful on both sides of the path, I thought I heard, at some
distance, a noise among the trees ahead as if monkeys were feeding.
Cautiously I went in the direction of the noise. I had to leave the
path and go through the jungle. I had to walk slowly, with my body
bent, in order to be hidden from the monkeys and not to frighten them.
When I got near the trees, I found that they were nkagos feeding
and uttering grunts of satisfaction, so pleased were they. I could
recognize the leader of the troop on the lookout. Suddenly he gave a
peculiar cry or sound. The nkagos became very much excited. Their hair
became erect on their backs; the sounds or words they uttered were
quick and showed anger. They seemed as if getting ready for a fight.
What was the cause of this sudden change in their conduct? I asked
myself. I was soon to know. I heard in the distance a noise as if a
troop of monkeys were coming in our direction, the noise made by the
bending of the branches as the monkeys leaped from one to another. It
became louder and louder.
Soon this noise was responded to by the loud cries of the troop of
nkagos near me. The monkeys that were approaching answered them, and I
recognized their cries to be those of the mondis. They knew the tree
and had come to feed upon its fruits. They were too late. The best had
been eaten by the nkagos, who also knew the time when the fruits were
to be ripe and had come ahead of the mondis.
The mondis were furious, and advanced boldly towards the tree, led by
their old and trusted chiefs. The nkagos had made up their minds to
fight and finish the repast they had begun. They had not yet filled
their pouches. The mondis jumped on the tree, and a fight ensued among
all the monkeys. There were terrible shrieks and some pretty hard
bitings. The nkagos were getting the worst of the fight, when I raised
my gun, aiming at a mondi that had just finished a fight with a nkago.
Bang went my gun. There were general cries of fright among the mondis
and the nkagos, and both sides fled with the greatest precipitation,
each troop, however, going in a different direction.
In the meantime the mondi I had fired at had fallen to the ground with
a great crash, dead. It was a very fine big one, covered with long
black glossy hair as it was. I thought I would remain hidden and see if
the monkeys would come back.
After about two hours I heard a noise through the branches. I looked up
and saw a solitary mondi. He uttered a cry of distress, calling upon
his mate that had been killed.
Spying her dead body lying on the ground, he came to her, and uttered
low mutterings of distress as he saw that she was dead. I shouted, and
he fled. I carried the dead mondi to our camp, and as it weighed I
judged about forty pounds, I was glad when I arrived and laid it on the
ground.
Several days after this, being in the forest but not far away from the
camp, I saw a leopard running quickly in front of me with one of her
cubs in her mouth. I wondered at this, for it was so unusual to see a
leopard out of her lair in the daytime. She was evidently taking her
cubs away for some reason. I had not walked a hundred feet further
when I saw the leopard's mate running in front of me with a cub in his
mouth also.
I wondered again why the leopards were moving away from their lair. I
soon found out. Other animals, and even snakes, were all fleeing in
the same direction as the leopards. This, and the flight of insects
themselves, told me that an army of bashikouay ants was advancing,
attacking every living thing before them. I ran towards the plantation
as fast as I could.
Soon Andekko, who had gone into the forest by himself, made his
appearance. He was perfectly wild. The poor dog was crying, moaning,
and rolling himself on the ground to scratch his body, on which were
numbers of the ants biting him. During the night we were awakened
by the bites of the advance guard of the bashikouays. They were in
our houses. There was a great commotion among the mice, rats, and
cockroaches. They were surrounded by the bashikouays. Wherever they
fled, there were the bashikouays to attack them. The scorpions,
centipedes, and spiders could not help themselves, and were eaten up in
a short time.
Meanwhile all the inhabitants of the plantation were up and out of
their houses, the babies in the arms of their mothers. Numerous
fires were lighted everywhere. Boiling water and hot ashes were thrown
upon the ants and we put brands across their paths.
[Illustration: "_Boiling water and hot ashes were thrown upon the ants
and we put brands across their path_."]
It took us the rest of the night to drive them away and disorganize
them. We had killed hundreds of thousands of them. The men could not
find words bad enough for the bashikouays. "Oh," said Shinshooko,
"these horrid bashikouays will drive all the game away, and it will be
a long time before it will return."