NDOVA AS A TEST OF POISONOUS FRUITS AND BERRIES--HE DISCOVERS A
BEEHIVE--A FEAST OF HONEY--ANDEKKO'S USEFULNESS IN HUNTING--KOOLA
NUTS--WE KILL TWO WILD BOARS--CAPTURE OF A BABY "MAN OF THE WOODS"
ONE day while out shooting birds, I came to a part of the forest where
I saw several kinds of fruits and berries I had never seen before. Some
were beautiful to look at and very tempting, but I did not dare to eat
them for fear that they might be poisonous.
Remembering what Rotembo had told me about Ndova and other
monkeys,--that they never made a mistake in regard to fruits, berries,
or nuts, and never ate those that were poisonous, and threw them away
if given to them,--I determined to go back to our camp and bring Ndova
with me, and show him the fruits.
The following morning I took Ndova with me, leading him by a cord,
for I was afraid of his running away. When I came to that part of the
forest where I had seen so many berries, I tied Ndova to a tree,
and went to collect them. On my return I gave the most tempting one
to Ndova. He smelt of it and threw it away, giving at the same time
that peculiar grunt of dissatisfaction which he always uttered when
things did not please him. I gave him one of another kind with the same
result. I began to think that all the berries I had collected were
poisonous. I gave him a third one. He smelt of it and gave it a bite
to taste it, then ate the rest with sounds of pleasure very unlike the
grunts he had uttered before. Then I took him to the place where there
were many of these berries. He ate a lot, and filled his pouches.
I myself ate many of these berries. They tasted very good. I was no
longer afraid to eat them, for what was good for the monkey was good
for me.
After a while I gave Ndova a berry of another kind, which he also ate.
Seeing this, I put one in my mouth, but took it out quickly it tasted
so bitter. So I found that Ndova and I had sometimes not the same
taste, and that some of the fruits, berries, or nuts he ate, though
they were not poisonous, were very unpalatable to me. But afterwards in
other expeditions I had to eat them in order not to die of starvation.
The next morning Rogala and I took Ndova with us into the forest, and
let him stay by himself. But in a short time he returned. He was in
a very angry mood, expressed by peculiar sounds; his hair stood up
straight, a sign that he was afraid and angry. Not knowing what the
cause could be, we made ready for any emergency, and then went towards
the place from which he had come. Soon we were rewarded by the sight
of a number of bees round a big hole in a tree. Ndova had discovered a
beehive, and, having been stung by bees before, he had come back to us.
We were delighted and made preparations to smoke the bees out and get
the honey. We did so, and there was a large quantity of it. We were so
hungry that we ate the wax and dead bees and the honey all together.
Ndova ate heartily with us.
After we had had our feast I petted Ndova and said to him: "Ndova, you
have found honey for us, now help us to find some berries."
We continued our walk, and soon came upon fruit-bearing trees. I gave
one of the fruits to Ndova, but he threw it away, giving a grunt of
anger or dissatisfaction at the same time. These fruits were red and
looked very tempting. I petted Ndova again, and said: "Thank you,
Ndova, for showing me that this beautiful fruit is poisonous."
Further on I saw some nuts at the foot of a tree. I broke one and gave
it to Ndova. He ate it; so the nuts were good. We took a quantity of
these with us. Nuts are far more nutritious than berries, and more
wholesome.
We returned to the camp and were received with great demonstrations of
joy by Andekko. Ndova made at once for Andekko and got on his back.
Andekko lay down, and Ndova began to play with his hair. They had a
grand time together, for Andekko loved to be scratched.
After this I constantly took Ndova with me, and found him very useful
in finding berries, and sometimes he walked by my side or rested on my
shoulders without being tied. One day he ascended a tree full of small
ripe fruits, uttered grunts of contentment at his discovery, and began
to eat while I was looking at him. As I stood under the tree to get
some of the fruits that fell on the ground, I wondered whether Ndova
threw them at me intentionally or not. I picked them up and tasted
them. I found that they had a pleasant acid taste. After a while Ndova
came down the tree with the pouch on each side of his cheeks stretched
to the utmost and filled with a stock of the fruits to be eaten when
hungry.
I had noticed that Ndova was apparently always hungry, for monkeys can
eat all the time.
We continued our way, and it was not long before Ndova began to take
food from his pouches, and he soon emptied them. He seemed contented
and happy; he evidently liked very much the fruits he had eaten.
While we were taking our breakfast, one morning, I said to Rogala:
"To-day we will leave Ndova in the camp and take Andekko with us. We
must try to kill some game and smoke the meat."
After our meal we made preparations to leave the camp. Andekko was
delighted when he saw us handling our guns, for he knew from this that
we were going hunting and would take him with us. We put Ndova into
the house we had made for him; we did not wish to leave him attached
to his pole, for we did not know what might happen. A big eagle might
pounce upon him, and being tied up to his pole he would have no chance
to flee. Perhaps a huge python or some other big snake might come
within the enclosure and charm him, encircle him within its powerful
coils, squeeze him to death, and swallow him. Ndova did not enjoy being
shut up in his house, and made us understand it by his shrill cries of
dissatisfaction as we went out.
Andekko was in high glee; he followed us for a little while, then
wandered off into the forest by himself, and from time to time came
back to us to make sure, probably, of our presence. He had left us for
the fifth or sixth time, when suddenly we heard his barking; he was
evidently after some gazelle or antelope. We knew that he was coming
in our direction as his barking became louder and louder. We expected
at every moment to see an antelope or gazelle pass before us. We were
not mistaken. Erelong a beautiful antelope with large spiral horns
appeared, followed by Andekko, barking at the beast in the fiercest
manner. A well-directed shot brought the antelope down.
Then we cut the game to pieces, and made two "otaitais" (baskets to
carry on the back), and we put a lot of the meat in them. On our return
to the camp we built a big platform, upon which we put the meat and
lighted fires to smoke it.
One day, not long after, Rogala said to me: "Oguizi, the boars are very
fat just now, for they feed on koola nuts, and these are plentiful. I
feel like having boar's meat to eat."
As he said this, his mouth seemed twice as large as usual. He evidently
fancied he was eating fat boar's-meat. I agreed with him, and we
decided on a boar-hunt. We put a lot of berries and nuts in the cage
of Ndova, and left plenty of bones for Andekko, and departed for the
hunting-ground where the boars might be found. Quite a distance from
our camp we could still hear Andekko barking and the cries of Ndova.
We soon came to a koola tree and saw many nuts on the ground. We
thought we would get a meal before the boars did, so we broke open
many nuts and ate them. Afterwards we hid near the trees. We waited
for a long time before any boars made their appearance. At last we
heard their grunts, and soon after they were busy eating the koola
nuts before us. We picked out two of them, fired, and killed them
both. They were fat, as Rogala had said they would be. We could not
carry all the meat with us, so it was agreed that Rogala, Shinshooko,
and Alapai should return the next day to fetch what we could not
take. On returning to camp, we built another platform for smoking the
boar's-meat.
"Now," said I to Rogala, "we have plenty of meat, so we can go and hunt
the 'men of the woods.'"
It was a curious coincidence that my hunters on their return from
fetching the boar's-meat next day brought news of the "men of
the woods." They said: "Oguizi, to-day we saw a place where the
nshiego-mbouvés have been. They have come to feed on a peculiar fruit
that is just getting ripe, and I am sure they will remain in the
neighborhood where we saw their tracks for a time. Let us go there."
It was agreed that we would not fire at any other animals, even if we
saw an elephant with the biggest of tusks. The men advised me to take
"Bulldog" with me, for we might meet nginas, who also were fond of the
fruit.
After a good night's rest we started, Rogala taking a net with him
to throw over a baby nshiego-mbouvé or a baby ngina, if we should
encounter any. We left Ndova and Andekko in the camp this time also.
After a long walk we approached the ground where the men expected
to find nshiego-mbouvés. We were startled by the voices of two of
them. They were talking to each other,--the male was calling for his
mate,--and as it was getting toward sunset Rogala said: "He is calling
his wife, for he thinks that it is time to go to bed."
"What do you mean, Rogala?" said I.
"These nshiego-mbouvés," he replied, "make resting-places upon the
trees to sleep in at night. The 'man' has one place, the 'woman'
another. Let us go carefully into the jungle and see if we can see
their 'beds.'"
We did so, but found nothing, and decided to camp for the night,
Rogala's net making a nice soft pillow for me. At dawn next day, when
it was just light enough to see our way, we ate a light breakfast and
started forward. We soon came to a part of the forest where there
were many trees laden with the fruit Rogala had mentioned. Soon we saw
places where two nshiego-mbouvés had been eating the day before, and
where after their meal they had rested on their backs, side by side.
"See here," whispered Rogala; "there they rested, for they had eaten
too much. They will remain in this region for a few days, for they find
plenty to eat."
The others said: "We are sure to meet them if we are patient, but the
nshiego-mbouvés are so shy that we must be extremely careful not to
raise their suspicions, otherwise they will escape from us."
At last Rogala gave a "cluck," stopped, and looked at me. He put his
finger upon his lips, a sign to keep perfectly still; then put his
hands to his ears, which meant "Listen." We heard the voices of two
nshiego-mbouvés close to us. They were talking in a sort of low tone or
grunt. I looked at "Bulldog;" it was all right. Rogala looked at the
pan of his gun; it was closed. He raised it; the powder was there. Then
he closed it again.
We advanced in the direction of the noise, when suddenly Rogala stopped
and made me a sign to lie low on the ground. Then we crawled toward the
trunk of a big fallen tree. Rogala's quick ears had detected that
the nshiego-mbouvés were coming in our direction, and soon after, as
we peeped over the trunk of the tree, we saw a female nshiego-mbouvé
with a black face, then a very young nshiego-mbouvé near her. His face
was very white, as white as that of any white child. The mother seated
herself and nursed the little fellow. It all looked very human. She
plucked some fruit, threw away the pulp, then gave the inside to the
little fellow, who said, "Whoe, whoe." While he was eating this, she
ate half a dozen herself.
[Illustration: "_He put his nose close to her face and moaned
pitifully._"]
She was getting dangerously near, and we ran the risk of being
discovered; then she might, in her fright, disappear in the jungle
before we had time to take a good aim and shoot. Looking at Rogala, I
raised "Bulldog" and fired. The big nshiego-mbouvé fell, and the little
fellow ran up a tree, uttering shrill cries of terror.
I whispered to Rogala: "Now let us get our net ready to throw over the
little nshiego when he comes down the tree to see his mother."
We kept perfectly still. Soon the baby nshiego-mbouvé came down the
tree, and went up to his mother, who was lying dead on her back. He put
his nose close to her face and moaned pitifully. He seemed to know that
she was dead. Rogala ran up and threw the net over him. He shrieked
fearfully. We took him in that manner to the camp, and having cut off
the mother's head as a trophy, we took it with us. But our little
captive died soon after. We could not keep him alive.