ROGALA'S WIFE'S PARROT--I USE IT AS A DECOY--PARROTS PROVE TOUGH
EATING--THE NGOZOS GROW WARY--SHINSHOOKO DISCOVERS ELEPHANTS IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD--WE GO AFTER THEM AND KILL TWO.
ROGALA'S wife had a beautiful gray parrot with a bright red tail. The
parrot could talk well and say many things. Every morning he would
perch on a tree and call upon the flocks of parrots that were flying
in every direction in search of food. Once in a while a flock of these
parrots, attracted by his cries or rather speech to them, would come
and alight close by, and they would hold a conversation together for
quite a while. Poor Ngozo--such was his name--seemed then to regret
much that his wings were clipped, for he wanted to go and fly with his
wild comrades. One day I said to myself: "Andekko drives game to me;
Ndova brings monkeys and finds fruits. Suppose I use Ngozo as a decoy.
Old parrots are about as tough birds as one can taste, but young ones
taste like pigeons."
So one morning I lay under a tree waiting for parrots to come. A few
flocks passed over us, uttering peculiar sounds. What these meant I
could not tell, but they were afraid to alight. Evidently they did not
like the look of the house.
At some distance from Rogala's house near a grove of plantain trees
was a tree bearing a red fruit which I knew parrots liked very much. I
told Rogala to carry his wife's parrot under that tree and I would lie
in wait there. So Ngozo was taken there by his master, and he began to
talk.
Soon I heard above our heads a flock of parrots. They came down upon
our tree and began to talk to our parrot and feed. When I saw three or
four in such a position as to enable me to kill them all, I fired, and
they fell, and the others, shrieking with all their might, flew away in
affright.
I went after the parrots, which had deep yellow rings round their eyes.
I saw that they were very old, but nevertheless I was glad, for I would
have some meat to eat. I broiled one on charcoal. When he was cooked,
he was so tough that I thought he must be over one hundred years old.
It seemed as if I were biting an old piece of India rubber or a piece
of leather.
In the evening, thinking that the others were as tough as their
companions, I boiled them, and I thought that I was going to have a
good parrot soup. The soup was not bad, but the parrots were so tough
that I gave up trying to eat them.
The following morning we again put the parrot under the tree, and a
flock alighted in the same way, and I succeeded in killing two of them.
In the afternoon another flock alighted also, and I killed two more.
But after this no parrots came near us, though a number of flocks flew
over our tree and Ngozo called to them.
All the flocks of parrots meet every evening, and the flocks that had
been fired at had warned their fellow ngozos of their danger and to
take good care not to alight on that tree.
After this the flocks of parrots, as they passed above or near us, took
care to fly high, uttering shrill cries of anger.
One day while I was stuffing some birds I had killed in the morning,
and Rogala was looking at the work I was doing with great astonishment,
Shinshooko made his appearance. He was out of breath, for he had been
running fast. As he saw us, he shouted: "Jockoo! Jockoo! Elephants!
Elephants!"
"Where are they?" Rogala and I inquired at the same time.
"Not far from here," he said, speaking with difficulty, for he was much
out of breath.
We took our guns, I taking "Bulldog" with me. We had hardly walked an
hour in the path, when we came upon numerous elephant tracks.
"They have gone towards the river," whispered Shinshooko, as he looked
in the direction in which their footprints pointed.
When we came to the river, we saw the canoe with several paddles. It
did not take us long to embark, and we paddled so noiselessly down the
stream that our paddles could not be heard as they struck the water.
Before coming to a bend which commanded the view of the river for a
long distance, we landed to search further down. Shinshooko went to the
extreme end of the point, where a better view could be obtained. In a
short time he returned. I could see by his face that he had good news
to tell us. He had seen the elephants.
We followed the left bank of the river, and came to a place where we
saw a herd of elephants standing close together. Foremost was a large
bull elephant, their leader. I counted twenty-seven elephants. Their
big ears were moving continually, and their trunks were swinging up and
down. They were trumpeting and squealing. Some were very large. The
bull seemed to be about ten and a half feet in height, some of the cows
nine and a half feet.
Suddenly the bull made for the river. The others followed, and soon
they had a grand time together in the water.
After watching them awhile, Rogala and Shinshooko whispered: "Oguizi,
we must follow the river through the woods and get opposite the
elephants." We walked through the jungle most carefully in order not to
attract their attention. Fortunately they were having such a noisy time
that they could not hear us. Nor could they scent us, as the wind was
in our favor. When we surmised from the noise they made in the water
that we were opposite them, we made for the banks of the river. Finally
we got a glimpse of the elephants and crept to the water edge. The
bank of the river here was high and abrupt, so the elephants could not
charge us. I was very glad of this, for I never felt comfortable when
the huge beast was bearing down upon me. It had been agreed beforehand
that each one of us should pick out an elephant and that we should fire
at the same time.
The elephants, unaware of our presence, were swimming without any
suspicion of danger. All at once the huge bull turned and swam towards
us. There was no way to kill him but by a forehead shot, that is,
shooting him between the eyes. The steel-pointed bullets of "Bulldog"
could do the work well. A number of cow elephants turned also
towards us. I pointed out to Rogala and Shinshooko two of them that
could be shot near the temple or behind the ears, and made them a sign
that I was going to take a shot at the bull.
[Illustration: "_Suddenly the bull made for the river_."]
We raised our guns. I looked at Rogala and Shinshooko. They were
looking at me also. We took careful aim and I gave three clicks; the
third one was the signal to fire. Bang, bang, bang, went our guns at
the same time. I thought the guns of my men had burst, so loud was the
detonation. I saw only a dense smoke, which hid them for a while from
me.
Looking at the water, I saw the bull elephant raise and lower his trunk
twice; then he swam towards our bank, which was so steep that he could
not land. He was evidently badly wounded. Suddenly the water around him
became a mass of foam. He was in his last struggle. The current took
him down stream. The two cow elephants were badly wounded and seemed
dazed, but they succeeded in reaching the shore.
In the meantime, at the noise of the guns, the herd took to the shore
and fled through the forest, tearing down and trampling everything in
the jungle that obstructed their flight.
We went for our canoe, and after descending the river we saw the big
bull elephant stranded. What a huge beast he was! He had two enormous
tusks, but, as was always the case, they were not of the same length
and weight.
We left the bull, and went into the forest in search of the two cow
elephants, for Rogala and Shinshooko were sure that they had wounded
them and that they had probably died in the forest not far from the
place where they were shot.
We had landed where we had seen them leave the river, and saw some
blood on the ground. Following their tracks, we came to a dead cow
elephant.
"Let us go after the other one," said the two men.
In the meantime they had reloaded their guns. We followed the track the
other cow elephant had left behind. After a short time we came up with
her, seated apparently on her knees. As soon as she saw us she got up
to charge, but she had not gone five steps when she fell dead.
Then we went back to the plantation, and the following day all,
including the women, returned with axes and baskets to get the tusks,
and as much of the meat as we could.
The huge tusks of the bull were imbedded in his head over thirty-one
inches, so there were only about four feet of the tusk outside. He was
ten feet in height, and had fine big ears. The hair on his tail was
long and coarse. One of his tusks weighed sixty-nine pounds, the other
sixty-two. The tusks of the cow elephants were smaller, the biggest not
weighing more than twenty-nine pounds.
Rogala, Shinshooko, and Alapai danced round the elephants and cut
their tails off, to add to the number they had. Then we made for the
plantation with all the meat our canoes could carry. A big platform was
built to smoke the meat. We fed on elephant meat for a time, but it was
far from being as good as monkey flesh.