LEAVE THE ISLAND FOR OUR CAMP--MONKEYS AMONG THE TREES--FIND EVERYTHING
UNTOUCHED--I GET LOST FOLLOWING NGINAS--AM LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND KOOLA
NUTS--CAMP UNDER THE KOOLA TREE--ANOTHER NIGHT IN THE FOREST
THE time had come for us to leave the island and go back to our camp.
I was very much pleased with our trip. Now I kept the days carefully.
We cooked hard all the turtle's eggs we had and roasted the fish we
had caught. Fish tasted very good, for we had been so long without it.
Rogala loaded the raft with our outfit. On his return, after landing
the latter, I embarked and bade good-bye to the island and to the sun,
the moon, and the stars.
It was not long before I heard in the distance a noise like a storm
amongst the branches of the trees. The sound was peculiar. Monkeys
were coming towards me. This noise always proclaimed their approach.
When they came in sight, I saw there was a troop of about thirty of
them; they were ndovas. On their march onward, they flung themselves
from branch to branch, travelling with very great speed. The branch
upon which they alighted bent sometimes ten and fifteen feet under
their weight, and rebounded with great force after they had sprung
to another. Sometimes they were high up in the tree-tops. Then they
descended, to go up higher again. They never sprang upon a branch that
could not rebound, and it was during the rebound that they leaped
to another, never making a mistake. Their eyes were too quick to
miss their mark. They calculated the distance they could spring with
marvellous accuracy.
They followed their leader, a big fellow, in quick succession and in
silence, and seemed to go four or five abreast. They used chiefly their
arms to grasp the branches upon which they alighted and their legs to
support themselves. They were so quick in their motion that my eyes
often could not follow the movement of their limbs. The end of branches
often struck against their faces, but apparently did them no harm, as
they swung in the same direction. So they went forward, leaving behind
them branches of the trees still swaying for quite a while, filling the
forest with their tremor.
They were travelling parallel with the hunting-path, and seemed to go
at the rate of fifteen miles or more an hour. Soon they were out of my
sight. Gradually the noise they made became less and less and less
and then ceased. They were far away. I continued on my way towards the
plantation. After a few miles I heard the chatter of ndovas, and came
upon a tree upon which they were feeding. They seemed to be having a
great carnival of joy amongst themselves. I was interested in looking
at them, hidden in a thick bush, and did not wish to kill any, as we
had food enough in the camp. They made queer faces at each other; the
leader would give now and then a fruit to one of his female companions.
When we got sight of our camp, we looked around and listened awhile,
but nobody was there. We went after the ladder, climbed it, and soon
were within the enclosure. Ndova's house was just as it was. Rogala's
house for the new moon was intact. The large stock of firewood we had
gathered was all there. Nothing had been disturbed. Our abode had been
discovered by no one.
Two days after Shinshooko and Alapai returned loaded with plantains. We
were glad to see them again, and enjoyed the plantains prodigiously.
A few days after our return I went into the forest in search of game.
Towards noon I heard, at some distance from the path, a noise made by
some animal. I left the path and went in the direction of the noise.
The jungle in that part of the forest was not thick, and I could walk
fast.
After a while I saw amidst the trees some black objects moving ahead
of me. At first I thought they were men, but soon discovered they were
nginas. I hid behind the trunk of a tree and watched them. There were
three nginas. I saw the biggest take a young tree several inches in
diameter, break it in two, and eat the heart of the wood.
The nginas were not old, and looked extremely human. They moved away
a little further, and where a fruit called tonda by the natives was
growing, they uttered chuckles of delight at their discovery. One
handed a tonda to one of the others. I was much afraid they would see
me, but after eating the tondas they moved further off and got into the
midst of some pineapples, which drew from them more guttural sounds
of content. The pineapples disappeared quickly. They ate at least ten
each. Then they rested and looked at one another.
Before long, however, they became suspicious, and moved away. I
followed in their tracks, but, in my eagerness to pursue them, I
omitted to make marks of any kind as I went along so that I could find
my way back. It was a great mistake.
Twice I came within sight of the nginas, but intervening branches and
overhanging lianas prevented me from using "Bulldog" and getting a shot
at them. Finally, I gave up the chase. Then I remembered that during my
excitement I had forgotten to mark the trees in order to find my way
back, and soon I realized that I was lost. I was in a great dilemma,
and I reproached myself for being so careless, and for not having
followed the advice that had been given me in the forest.
I walked one way, then another, but could see no traces whatever
of where I had been. I was lost, and the remembrance of my former
experience while hunting with Oshoria, the slaves of King Mombo, and my
other hunters, came vividly before me.
I began to be hungry also. I saw two big koola trees, but the boars had
been there, and eaten all the nuts that had fallen. I wished I could
have had a peep at these boars, I would have fired at them. Suddenly
down came a nut. I made for it at once. Then I said to myself: "I will
stay under this tree the rest of the day and camp here to-night, for
probably more nuts will fall during that time." I looked for water, and
found a little rivulet near by, which confirmed me in thinking this a
good place for a camp.
Another nut fell. I rushed towards it, broke it, and soon the kernel
was in my mouth. Then another nut fell, and another. No sound seemed to
me sweeter than that of the falling of the koola nuts. A strong wind
was evidently blowing, for the tops of the trees were shaking and the
leaves were quivering. "Blow hard," said I to the wind, "blow hard, for
the nuts will fall."
Listening to the sound of the nuts as they fell one after another, and
putting a lot of wood on the fire, I lay down to sleep, feeling a great
deal better after my meal.
The next morning I awoke perfectly fresh. During the day I came to a
tolerably well-trodden path, which was more used than all those I had
seen since I had been in my forest home. But I did not know in which
direction to follow it. Finally, I determined to follow the right. I
walked the rest of the day, but I found nothing to show me where I was
going. I was very hungry, but the koola nuts had kept me alive, with
the help of water.
I camped again that night in the forest. I put under my head as a
pillow my revolvers, and laid "Bulldog" by my side.