ANOTHER EXCURSION--FOOTPRINTS OF GORILLAS (NGINAS)--LISTENING TO THE
MONSTERS' ROARING--TWO OF THEM CALLING TO EACH OTHER--THEY GRADUALLY
DRAW NEAR TO EACH OTHER AND TO US--THEY MEET AND WE SLEEP IN THE
FOREST--SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF THE MALE NGINA--KILLING OF THE NGINA AND
HIS MATE
WE were up early, and had all slept well. After our breakfast we
started, but before doing so we hid our ladder and also an axe as a
precaution in case our abode should be discovered and our ladder stolen.
Shinshooko and Alapai were to visit the traps to see if any game had
been caught. Rogala and I were to reconnoitre and see where the game
was to be found. Ndova and Andekko remained in the camp.
We had been gone about two hours, and had seen several footprints of
gorillas; so we knew that they were in the neighborhood. Suddenly
Rogala stopped, and said in a whisper: "Oguizi, listen."
His quick ear had heard a noise far, far away. I listened, and soon
heard what I thought was the reverberation of thunder among the hills.
The noise seemed to be on our right. Rogala listened attentively, and
then whispered "Ngina" (gorilla). The noise was made by a gorilla and
was renewed from time to time.
While listening, Rogala's quick sense of hearing caught another noise
in the far distance, this time on the left, somewhat similar to the one
on the right. He listened attentively and then said, "Ngina." It was
another ngina, who was answering the talk of her mate.
Then he whispered to me: "Oguizi, there are two nginas talking to each
other, the one on our right is the man ngina, the one on our left is
the woman ngina, and she answers him."
They were a few miles from each other, and we were about midway between
the two. We followed the path which seemed to be half-way between them,
looking at our guns carefully in order to be ready for any emergency.
As we walked, we could hear them talk to each other, one answering
after the other stopped. It was a real ngina conversation. I could
detect the different intonations.
We walked several miles, all the time hearing the two gorillas
continuously talking to each other. Rogala said to me: "There is not
food enough for the two together, so they have separated in order that
each may have enough to eat."
After a while their voices came nearer and nearer, and our position
became, I thought, dangerous.
Rogala said in a very low tone: "The nginas are going to meet before
night; for they will sleep very near together."
Louder and louder their guttural roar-like sounds came. At last they
seemed to be abreast of us, one on either side. I asked Rogala in a
very low tone: "Have the nginas scented us?"
"No," he replied in a whisper; "they are talking to each other, and
will gradually meet as they come along picking berries and fruits. The
nginas can see wonderfully well through the jungle. So let us stand
perfectly still.
"The female ngina always runs away," continued Rogala. "It is the male
ngina that fights, but both are afraid of noise, and when they hear it
they go in an opposite direction. It is only when the male is suddenly
surprised by the appearance of a man that he attacks him, or when he is
tired of being followed or tracked. Then he makes a stand. Then it is a
fight for life."
There was no mistake. The nginas were abreast of us, and we were
not more than half a mile from each. But soon the voices or sounds
gradually seemed to be ahead of us and became more and more distant.
They had passed us.
"After they meet," said Rogala, "the female ngina, as it is getting
late, will go up a tree to sleep with her baby if she has one, and
the big fellow will sleep at the foot of the tree, his back resting
against its trunk, and there keep watch. We will sleep in the forest
to-night. We have koola nuts in our bags, and we will eat these for our
evening and morning meals, and we will go after the nginas to-morrow at
daybreak."
The nginas' tremendous voices gradually died away, till one might have
thought it was the dying reverberation in the far distance of claps of
thunder.
We slept at the foot of a large tree, and made a very small fire, for
we did not dare to sleep without one. We had collected the firewood
very quietly.
At daylight we were up, and followed the path leading towards the place
where we thought the gorillas had slept. We had walked several miles,
and I was ahead of Rogala, when suddenly I thought I heard the breaking
of branches ahead of me. Could it be possible that a camp of natives
was on our way. I thought perhaps I had made a mistake, and that the
noise had been made by elephants either breaking branches with their
trunks or trampling in the jungle and breaking the saplings in their
path. I lay flat, putting my ear to the ground, but did not hear the
heavy footsteps of elephants. I got up and said to myself: "It is a
heavy dead limb of a tree that fell and was the cause of the noise I
heard." Nevertheless I walked more slowly to give time to Rogala to
overtake me. I had gone but a little way when I heard the breaking of
another sapling or tree-branch; then I stopped and waited for Rogala.
Soon after I saw him coming, and I gave the "click" warning, made with
my tongue striking my palate.
At this sign Rogala stood still. I beckoned him to come to me. I could
not hear his footsteps as he walked towards me. No leopard or night
prowler in search of prey could have made less noise.
As he came near me, I put one of the fingers of my right hand upon my
lips. This meant, "Be silent, do not say a word." Then I put my left
hand to my ear; that meant, "Listen."
We remained silent looking anxiously at each other. Suddenly another
breaking of a limb of a tree was heard. Rogala knew the cause of the
noise, and whispered, "Ngina."
We looked at each other without saying a word, then looked at our guns.
They were all right. Then Rogala took the lead, and followed the path,
for the noise we heard came from that direction.
After a short walk we saw the branches of a tree moving and being
swayed to and fro by the ngina. The tree was loaded with large fruits
of the size of oranges. The monster was breaking the branches, and when
they had fallen on the ground plucked the fruit.
The jungle was so thick around the tree that we could not see the huge
creature. So we lay flat on the ground, and advanced towards the tree,
separating the jungle on the right or on the left as we made our way
towards the monster.
I was so excited that I could hear my heart beat; then I stopped.
The rustling ceased. We looked round and listened. There was no more
noise. All was silent; not even the note of a bird or the pecking of a
woodpecker was heard.
I was just concluding that the huge creature had departed, when
suddenly we heard on our left three most terrific yells following each
other In succession. These yells were followed by roars that filled the
forest with their din. I looked in the direction with my rifle ready to
fire. Then I saw peeping through the leaves a black fierce face looking
at us. It was a horrid sight. The brute's eyes were sunken, while a
heavy overhanging ridge was over each. He gave vent to yell after yell,
resembling somewhat the barking of an angry dog, but seeming to me a
thousand times louder. These were followed by terrific roars, somewhat
similar to those of lions, but louder. They reverberated through the
forest, from hill to hill, and died away in the distance. The forest
was filled with the echo of his horrid voice.
Then his whole body came in sight; he was advancing towards us, walking
erect, to kill us. His short legs were scarcely strong enough to
support his huge body. All at once he stopped and looked at us. How
vindictive his eyes looked! They seemed to say to us: "You will soon be
dead."
Then he beat his chest with his huge fist. How long and muscular were
his powerful arms! How broad was his chest! His hair stood almost erect
on his body, and the hair on his head moved up and down.
But our guns had been pointed at him from the moment we saw him, and
just as he was ready to advance we fired in the direction of his heart,
and the great monster fell like a human being, face forward, uttering a
fearful groan, his limbs stretched out. Then all became silent. He was
dead.
His arms extended measured nearly nine feet; around his chest measured
nearly seven feet. He was nearly five feet ten inches in height. We
skinned him on the spot, and hung his skin and skeleton on a branch of
a tree.
The following morning we went after the skin and skeleton of the big
beast Rogala and I had killed. I put arsenic on the skin and stuffed it
with dry leaves.