AN AFRICAN FIRESIDE.—A CAMP BY THE SEA-SHORE.—THE FIRST GORILLA
HUNTER.—NEGRO BLARNEY.
As I and my men lay by the fire, I said to them—“Now to-night I am going
to tell you a story; an old story from the white man’s country
concerning yours.” There was a very great silence at once, for they knew
it was not often I came out with a story, and they all shouted with one
accord—“Tell us a story!” at the same time forming a circle round me.
So I begun: “Ever so long ago, and a long way off from here, but still
in your own land, there was a powerful country called Carthage. The
people of that country were brave and not afraid of war. They had many
ships, and their ships went into different countries. At that time the
Commi nation must have been a long way in the interior and your people
had never seen the sea.
“Would you believe,” said I, “that these Carthaginians came with their
ships round here? And I really think they saw the very country in which
we now are! They not only saw this country, but saw the gorilla, yes,
saw the gorilla! If you were in the white man’s country I would show you
the old manuscript (the book), where we have an account of what I am
going to say. You know,” said I, “that words coming from the mouth are
soon forgotten, but these words that are written are not.” Then taking
from my chest my journal, I read it to them, and then said—“When I am
dead, and you and your children are dead, and for ever so long
afterward, that journal, if it is not lost, will be read in the same
manner as I read it to you to-day, and the people will understand the
meaning of it then as you do to-day, and will know what I did, though
thousands of rainy and dry seasons may pass away.
“So Hanno the Carthaginian,” I continued, “was the head-man of all these
ships, and left Carthage with sixty vessels. In that time the ships were
unlike those you see now, and thirty thousand men and women are said to
have sailed with him. Each ship was rowed by fifty oarsmen. When we read
that book called the ‘Periplus; or, The Voyage of Hanno,’ we find the
following words in which we now suppose he alludes to the gorilla:
“‘On the third day, having sailed from thence, passing the streams of
fire, we came to a bay called the Horn of the South.’
[“That ‘Horn of the South,’” I added, “might be Cape Lopez.”]
“‘In the recess was an island like the first, having a lake, and in this
there was another island full of wild men.’”
[At this point of my story they looked in each other’s faces with
amazement.]
“‘But the greater part of them were women with hairy bodies, whom the
interpreters called Gorillas.’”
[Here there rose a wild shout of astonishment.]
[Sidenote: _THE FIRST GORILLA HUNTER._]
“‘But pursuing them, we were not able to take the men, who all escaped
from us by their great agility, being _cremenobates_ (that is to say,
climbing precipitous rocks and trees, and defending themselves by
throwing stones at us). We took three women, who bit and tore those who
caught them, and were unwilling to follow them. We were obliged to kill
them, and took their skins off, which skins were brought to Carthage,
for we did not navigate further, provisions becoming scarce.’”
[Illustration: EVENING AMUSEMENTS IN AFRICA.]
During this latter part of my story there was a dead silence, and as
soon as I had finished they said—“Chaillu, is this a real story or not?”
And when I assured them it was, they said—“Yes, it must be the gorilla
that that man called Hanno saw.”
I was quite astonished at their remembering the name of the admiral; it
showed me what an impression my story had created on their minds.
Then said I: “Boys, there are two or three points in the story I have
told you which inclines me to believe that the country Hanno speaks of
is not this one, and still there are several facts which make me think
that the country where we are now is the same.
“The very land on which we stand is sandy; not far off is the River
Fernand Vaz, and on one side another river, the Commi River, is found.
It may be that the land on which we stand was then an island, and that
Cape Lopez is the Horn of the South of which that great man Hanno
speaks. Time changes countries; in one part the sea will take away, in
another part the sea will give. Such is the country in which we are.”
They shouted with one accord that it could not be; how could land rise?
how could the land go down? As to the sea eating away the land, they
believed it, for they had seen it; and as to the land gaining in some
places, they believed that also, for they had seen it.
They all wondered how near the word Gorilla was to that of Ngina and
Nguyla, the latter name being given by the Bakalai to the beast.
After my story, we all went to bed. I wrapped myself carefully in my
blanket and soon fell asleep, thinking unconsciously of the gorillas,
and hoping soon to meet some.
It was the dry season; we were in the month of August, and I was near
Cape St. Catherine. The wind was blowing hard, the atmosphere was
chilly, the sky was clouded as though it was going to rain, but no rain
was coming, for no rain falls at this time of the year. The thermometer
stood at 70°, but I felt quite cold, and I wore a sailor’s woolen shirt.
[Sidenote: _ON THE SEA-SHORE._]
The sea was rolling up the shore in heavy rollers which would upset a
canoe in the twinkling of an eye; we had just arrived, and had come to
hunt, fish, and be merry.
My Commi men had all gone to the woods to cut branches of palm-trees,
and collect poles to build shelters.
I wish you could have seen the place where I had my encampment. On that
part of the coast from Cape Lopez, and further south than Cape St.
Catherine, the whole coast is low and covered with prairies which lift
but a few feet above the sea level. They are wooded here and there, and
shrubs are often mixed with the grass growing on the sandy soil; the
grass is good, not growing to a great height, but at this time of the
year it has been burned down. The landscape has a great sameness, and
from the sea it is most difficult to know any special spot of the land.
Altogether it is a dreary country, a very dreary country to look at, but
after all I was thankful not to be shut up in the forest; for to see
nothing but trees and trees is very tiresome; besides, the Atlantic was
before me, and as I gazed upon its broad waters I wished I could see the
shores of America.
The spot where I stood was about two degrees south of the equator.
Our camp was to be built near one of those numerous islands of trees
which dot the prairie, and we were to have it built in such a manner as
to protect us from the high winds which blew almost directly from the
south that time of the year.
One by one the men came back—some with a load of long-stem branches of
the palm; others with the leaves; others with fire-wood, and others with
sticks to make our beds with.
Then we went to work in earnest, and as they worked the men sang songs.
These men, my own people, had always been with me wherever I went except
when I went too far into the interior. They were all splendid canoe-men.
There was Kombé whom we had called the quarreller; Ratenou his brother,
who was a splendid fellow to go with his canoe through the breakers;
Oshimbo, who could paddle better than any man I ever knew; Ritimbo, a
jolly good fellow, always ready to beat the tamtam when asked for;
Makombé, a splendid one to tell us marvellous stories in the evening;
Rakenga, a great fisherman; Bandja, a man who knew how to climb the
palm-trees and get palm wine; Adouma, who could trap game and was said
to possess a wonderful fetich to make the game come to him; Risani, a
good carpenter, who said he was willing to work, but who was continually
talking of the amount of food he could eat; then came Yombi, who
constantly bragged of how much palm wine he could swallow, but was
always promising never to get tipsy—for I had promised him as good a
drubbing as ever he would wish to get if I caught him in a state of
intoxication. The last man of the party was a slave, a harp player.
There was no hunter but myself.
So you see we were a nice set altogether, and all were devoted to me and
obeyed me cheerfully. They all loved me dearly. Indeed, all the people
of that country loved me.
[Sidenote: _NEGRO BLARNEY._]
We had also quite an outfit of things with us. The cooking utensils were
numerous: we had three brass kettles, three iron pots, one frying-pan,
and three waterjars. We had also three axes, half a dozen machetes, and
several fishing-nets, and I had three of my guns, fifty pounds of shot,
a couple of hundred bullets, and there were flint-lock guns for the men.
We did not care to be armed; we were in our own country—in the Commi
Country, where my settlement of Washington is situated.
I had three chests, one containing my clothes and one filled with
splendid heads of Kentucky tobacco for my men, for they were all
inveterate smokers, myself being the only one that did not smoke. I had
also several dozens of pipes.
All rejoiced at the unbounded supply of tobacco and pipes: they were to
have such a glorious time; they were to take such great care of their
friend Chaillee, their king; there was no other Ntangani (white man)
like him; he was their good Mbuiti (spirit); all this talk was to soften
my heart about the tobacco.
At last the camp was done, and we were not sorry, for we had worked hard
the whole day. We had a huge pile of plantains with us, which the wives
and slaves of King Olenga Yombi had brought to us; we had a large
quantity of sugar-cane and some baskets of ground-nuts; the river and
the sea were not far off, and having our nets with us there was a
prospect of getting plenty of fish.
In the evening, when my men were smoking their pipes, we quietly talked
about our hunting and fishing prospects.
I had discovered that this Cape St. Catherine was a very great gorilla
country. These huge beasts roam in the forests which grow down to the
very edge of the sea, and now and then get a peep at the ocean. I wonder
what they think of it. I would have given the world to see them looking
at it; to see their deep gray eyes gazing on the broad expanse of the
waters. I have seen their very footsteps within a few yards of the
beach.
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]