DECIDE TO BREAK UP OUR CAMP AND RETURN--ARRIVAL AT ROGALA'S HOME--I
MAKE MYSELF A PAIR OF SKIN TROUSERS--DEPARTURE FOR ROTEMBO'S
VILLAGE--OUR GRAND RECEPTION AND SUCCEEDING FESTIVITIES--ROTEMBO'S
PROMISE--FAREWELL
THE monkey meat did not last more than two days. Then food became as
scarce as before. We had clearly exhausted that part of the forest.
"The times are hard with us," I said to Rogala; "the bashikouays have
driven the game away. There are no more koola nuts. Let us go back to
your home, where we shall find plenty of plantain and cassava."
Rogala agreed readily to my proposal. The two following days we rested
and made preparations for our departure. I was very glad to return to
the home of my hunters. My clothes were in tatters; hardly anything was
left of my trousers; I had worn out all my shoes; my old panama hat was
a sight.
Joyfully we left our old forest camp, and after an uneventful journey
we reached the home of my hunters. It was time indeed. How well I slept
in my little hut that night! All the things I had left behind were
exactly in the same place. No one had touched them.
I had saved skins of the gazelles we had killed, and I sewed them
together first; then I took what was left of my trousers and put them
on the skins and marked out the pattern with charcoal. Then I cut up
the skins and sewed with my big needle, and at the end of the day I had
made a pair of skin trousers. I also covered my old shoes with gazelle
skin.
When I had furnished myself with something to wear, we prepared to
return to Chief Rotembo. All my hunters and Akenda-Mbani were to
accompany me. Many bunches of plantain were collected; the men went
hunting and killed an antelope for Rotembo, and the following morning
we left, one canoe loaded with the skins and bones of the animals I had
killed and with the birds I had stuffed.
After a pleasant trip down the Ogobai, we arrived at the village of
Rotembo amid the firing of guns and the beating of the tomtoms.
The news quickly spread that the Oguizi had returned, and many people
came flocking to our village. Canoe after canoe was to be seen
coming from up or down the river all the time.
[Illustration: "_At the end of the day I had made a pair of skin
trousers._"]
Then a great meeting took place. Rotembo was dressed in state, and made
a great speech, saying how much he loved me. The crowd shouted, "Great
is Rotembo, the friend of the Oguizi! Great is the Oguizi!" Tomtoms
beat and guns were fired.
Then I arose, and in the midst of a profound silence I made a speech.
"Rotembo," I said, "I love you and your people. When I was hungry you
gave me food; when I was thirsty you gave me water. You gave me shelter
and nothing was stolen from me." At these words a great shout of joy
arose. The tomtoms beat furiously, and more guns were fired.
"You gave me Rogala, your faithful slave," I continued; "I bring him
back to you. There are Shinshooko and Alapai also, your faithful
slaves, who love you. They with their wives and children have been
kind to me. There is Akenda-Mbani, whom we found in the forest. Now,
Rotembo, you are my friend." (All shouted, "He is your friend!") "Never
let one of these men or their wives be sold."
"I will never sell them," cried Rotembo.
Then the great meeting broke up. Rotembo and his people drank a great
quantity of fermented drinks they had made to celebrate my return.
There was a grand ball which lasted all night. Rotembo himself danced,
and came before me singing and dancing in the midst of vociferous
cheers by the people.
The next day I prepared a great feast that Rotembo and I were to
eat together. The bottom of our canoe was to be our table. Rogala,
Shinshooko, Alapai, and Akenda-Mbani were seated at a table close to
ours. Rotembo's wives waited upon us. A mass of people formed a great
circle round us, and looked at us, and one of them said: "The great
Oguizi loves also Rogala and Shinshooko, Alapai and Akenda-Mbani."
In the evening I called my hunters together, and gave each a new gun,
powder, and some iron bars. I gave them beads for their wives also, and
the next day I accompanied them to their canoe and bade them good-bye.
They felt sad to leave me, and as they embarked, Rogala said: "Oguizi,
come again to see us at our plantation."
The people believed that I had killed Andekko and Ndova to take them
with me, and wondered why I had not killed my hunters to take them with
me also. "When they die," said they, "the Oguizi will take them with
him, for he loves them."
Two days afterwards, I bade good-bye to Rotembo. He invoked the spirits
of his ancestors, and came to the shore to see me off. He had given me
people and a canoe to take me to another part of the great forest, to
a great king who was his father-in-law. And with the stars and stripes
floating at the stern of my canoe I was paddled out of sight of Rotembo
and his village.
End of Project Gutenberg's In African Forest and Jungle, by Paul B. Du Chaillu