AN UNSUCCESSFUL HUNT FOR ELEPHANTS--I TAKE AIM AT A BUFFALO--A
LEOPARD IN THE GRASS NEAR US--WE SHOOT THE LEOPARD AND HER
KITTEN--GREAT REJOICING IN CAMP--WHO SHALL HAVE THE TAIL?--A
QUARREL OVER THE BRAINS--THE GUINEA HENS--THE MONKEYS.
Early the next morning, Aboko and I got up. Aboko covered himself with
his war fetiches, and also with the fetiches that were to bring good
luck, and give him a steady hand. On the middle of his forehead was a
yellow spot made with clay. When he had finished these preparations we
started.
Our desire was to kill elephants. We saw plenty of tracks, and we
hunted all day long. In many places, to judge by the tracks, the
elephants had been only an hour or two before ourselves. But we did not
see a single elephant, and I killed only a few monkeys for my men's
dinner, as well as a few birds.
We were returning to the camp, rather down-hearted, when I heard the
cry of the grey male partridge, of which I have already spoken, calling
for his mates to come and perch on the tree he had chosen. We turned
back to get a shot, if possible, for they are fine eating. We were
just on the edge of the forest; and, as I pushed out into the prairie,
suddenly I saw several buffaloes, one of which I made sure of as he
stood a little in advance of the rest, where the grass was high enough
for a stealthy approach. I immediately put a ball into the barrel that
had only shot, so that I might have my two barrels loaded with bullets.
Then Aboko and I advanced slowly towards the unconscious bull, which
stood a fair mark, and I was about to raise my gun when Aboko made a
quick sign to hold still and listen. Aboko, at the same time, breathed
as if he were smelling something.
I did not know why it was that Aboko had stopped me, but I knew there
must be better game at hand, or some other good reason for his doing
so. Perhaps he had heard the footstep of an elephant. I looked at his
face, and saw that it appeared anxious.
As we stood perfectly motionless, I heard, at apparently a little
distance before us, a low purring sound, which might have been taken,
by a careless ear, for the sound of the wind passing through the grass.
But to Aboko's quick ear it betokened something else. His face grew
very earnest, and he whispered to me "Njego" (leopard).
What were we to do? The noise continued. We cocked our guns, and moved,
slowly and cautiously, a few steps ahead, to get a position where we
thought we might see over the grass. The leopard might pounce upon
us at any moment. What would prevent him from doing so if he chose?
Certainly not our guns, for we did not know exactly where the beast
was. To tell you the truth, I did not feel comfortable at all; I had
a slight objection to being carried away in the jaws of a leopard and
devoured in the woods.
Our situation was far from being a pleasant one. The leopard comes out
generally by night only, and nothing but extreme hunger will bring him
out of his lair in open day. When he is hungry, he is also unusually
savage, and very quick in his motions.
We knew the animal was near, but we could not succeed in getting a
sight of him. As the wind blew from him towards us, I perceived plainly
a strong peculiar odour which this animal gives out; and this fact
proved, still more decidedly, that the leopard could not be far off.
The thought passed through my mind: Is he watching us? Is he coming
towards us--crouching like a cat on the ground, and ready to spring
upon us when near enough? Do his eyes penetrate the grass which we
cannot see through? If so, is he ready to spring?
Meantime our buffalo-bull stood stupidly before his herd, not twenty
yards from us, utterly innocent of the presence of so many of his
formidable enemies--the leopard, Aboko, and myself.
Just then we moved a little to one side, and, peering through an
opening in the grass, I beheld an immense leopard, a female, with a
tiny young leopard by her side. The beast saw us at the same moment,
having turned her head quickly at some slight noise we made. She had
been watching the buffalo so intently as not to notice our approach. It
seemed to me as if a curious look of indecision passed over her face.
She, too, had more game than she had looked for, and was puzzled which
to attack first. Her long tail swished from side to side, and her eyes
glared, as she hesitated for a moment to decide which of the three--the
bull, Aboko, or me--to pounce upon and make her victim.
But I saved her the trouble of making up her mind; for, in far less
time than it takes me to tell you what took place, I had put a ball
into her head, which, luckily for us, relieved her of further care
for prey. She dropped down dead. At the same moment Aboko fired into
the little leopard and killed it. At the noise of the guns, the
buffalo-bull and the herd decamped in the opposite direction, at a
tremendous pace, the bull little knowing the circumstances to which he
owed his life.
I felt much relieved, for I had never before been in quite so ticklish
a situation, and I felt no particular desire ever to be in a similar
plight again.
When we returned to the camp there was a great excitement as soon as
they heard the news that two leopards had been killed. Aboko carried in
the young leopard on his back; but mine was too heavy, and had to be
left in the field. Guns were fired in rejoicing; and the big leopard
was fetched in. When the people returned with it to the camp, all
shouted, "What an enormous beast! what an enormous beast! We heard gun
firing," etc., etc.
In the midst of this noise Niamkala made his appearance with some of
our party, bringing in some wild boars and a pretty little gazelle
which the natives called _ncheri_. Of course the wild boars had been
cut up into several pieces, for they were too heavy to carry whole.
Niamkala and his party were received with great cheers. The prospect of
a good supper brightened all their faces, and mine also; and I shouted,
"Well done, Niamkala and boys!"
Everything was brought to my feet. There was so much to eat that there
was no use in dividing the meat into equal shares; so I let everyone
take as much as he liked.
After supper the leopards were hung on a pole resting on two forked
sticks; and then the negroes danced round them. They sang songs of
victory, and exulted over and abused the deceased leopard (the mother).
They addressed to her comical compliments upon her beauty (and the
leopard is really a most beautiful animal). They said, "What a fine
coat you have!" (meaning her skin). "We will take that coat off from
you." They shouted, "Now you will kill no more people! Now you will eat
no more hunters! Now you cannot leap upon your prey! What has become
of the wild bull you were looking after so keenly? Would you not have
liked to make a meal of Aboko or of Chaillie?" (for they called me
Chaillie).
Thus they sang and danced round till towards morning, when I made them
go to sleep.
Next morning there was great quarrelling among my men. What could be
the matter? I found that Niamkala was declaring his determination
to have the end of my leopard's tail, while the rest of the hunters
asserted their equal right to it. Aboko said he did not care, as he
would have the tail of the one he had killed.
I skinned the two leopards in the most careful manner, and gave the end
of the tail to Niamkala, and I promised Fasiko to give him the tail of
the next one I should kill. They all shouted, "I hope you will kill
leopards enough to give to each of us a tail!"
Poor Fasiko looked very down-hearted. When I inquired why, he said,
"Don't you know that when a man has the end of a leopard's tail in his
possession he is sure to be fortunate in winning the heart of the girl
he wants to marry?"
I said, "Fasiko, you have one wife, what do you care for a leopard's
tail?"
He replied, "I want a good many wives."
The palaver about the tail was hardly over when another quarrel broke
out. This time it was about the brains. Aboko, Niamkala, and Fasiko
each wanted the whole brain of the animal. The others said they must
have some too; that there was only one end to each tail, but that the
brains could be divided among them all. For a few minutes a fight
seemed imminent over the head of the leopard.
I said, "You may quarrel, but no fighting. If you do you will see me
in the fight; and I will hit everybody, and hit hard too." At the same
time I pointed out to them a large stick lying by my bedside. This
immediately stopped them.
They all wanted the brain, they said, because, when mixed with some
other charms, it makes a powerful _monda_ (fetiche), which gives its
possessors dauntless courage and great fortune in the hunt. Happily,
I was able to persuade my three best hunters that they wanted no such
means to bolster up their courage.
The dispute over the brains being settled, Aboko, in the presence of
all the men, laid the liver before me. As this had no value or interest
for me, since I was certainly not going to eat the liver of the leopard
for my dinner, I was about to kick it aside, when they stopped me, and
entreated me to take off the gall and destroy it, in order to save
the party from future trouble. These negroes believe the gall of the
leopard to be deadly poison, and my men feared to be suspected by their
friends or enemies at Sangatanga of having concealed some of this
poison. So I took off the gall, put it under my feet and destroyed it,
and then, taking the earth in which it had been spilled, I threw it in
every direction, for I did not want any of these poor fellows to be
accused of a crime, and lose their lives by it. I intended to inform
the king, on my return, that we had destroyed the liver. But I told
my men that their belief was all nonsense, and a mere superstition.
They said it was not. As I could not prove their notion to be false, I
stopped the discussion by saying I did not believe it.
Having plenty of game, we carried the leopard-meat a long way off, and
threw it away.
We did not go hunting for two days, but spent our time in smoking the
meat we had on hand. It was just the sort of weather for hunting,
and for living in the woods. The air was cool and refreshing, for it
was June, and the dry season; but the sky was often clouded, which
prevented the sun from being oppressive. To add to our pleasure, the
forest trees were in bloom, and many of them were fragrant. The nights
were very cold indeed for this country, the thermometer going down to
sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. The wind blew hard, but against that we
managed to protect ourselves. The dews were not nearly so heavy as they
are in the rainy season. The grass was in great part burned off the
prairies.
Every day we succeeded in shooting more or less game, among which were
antelopes, gazelles, wild boars, monkeys without number, and guinea
fowls. These guinea fowls were of a beautiful species. In this country
you have never seen any like them.
My joy was great when I killed this hitherto unknown species of
guinea-fowl (_Numida plumifera_). It is one of the handsomest of all
the guinea-fowls yet discovered. Its head is naked, the skin being of
a deep bluish-black tinge, and is crowned with a beautiful crest of
straight, erect, narrow, downy feathers, standing in a bunch close
together. The plumage of the body is of a fine bluish-black ground,
variegated with numerous _eyes_ of white, slightly tinged with blue.
The bill and legs are coloured a blue-black, similar to the skin of the
head.
This bird is not found near the seashore. It is very shy, but marches
in large flocks through the woods. At night they perch on trees, where
they are protected from the numerous animals which prowl about.
I killed several beautiful monkeys called by the natives _mondi_.
What curious-looking monkeys they were! Only the stuffed specimen of
a young one had been received in England before this time. The mondi
is entirely black, and is covered with long shaggy hair. It has a very
large body, and a funny little head, quite out of proportion to the
size of the animal. It is a very beautiful monkey; the hair is of a
glossy jet black; and it has a very long tail. In Africa no monkeys
have prehensile tails; I mean by that, tails which they can twist round
the branch of a tree, and so hang themselves with the head downwards.
That kind of monkey is only found in South America.
The mondi has a dismal cry, which sounds very strangely in the silent
woods, and always enabled me to tell where these monkeys were.
[Illustration: ABOKO KILLS A ROGUE ELEPHANT.
CHAP. XVIII.]
[Illustration]