ADVENTURES OF A NKENGO AND A NSHIEGO
Before closing this volume I will give the story of two remarkable
creatures which belonged to the “World of the Great Forest,” a nshiego
and a nkengo. These two were made captive, and after many adventures
left their gloomy home, went to the country of the white man, where one
of them died and the other learned many things which excited great
interest, and sent many observers home with food for thought.
One day a big nshiego with her little one was wandering in the great
forest in search of food, but without being aware of it they came near a
region inhabited by human beings that had guns. The mother was killed by
some hunters, and her baby was captured by them and brought to their
village. She was tied to a long pole with a ring round it to allow her
to go up and down.
Everything in the village looked very strange to the little nshiego, it
was so unlike the dark gloomy forest where she had lived. At first she
was afraid of the human beings, but in less than three days she became
very friendly because they brought her nuts, berries, and fruits to eat.
She was especially fond of her master. Her mistress did not like to
handle her, for she thought she was too much like a human being.
The poor little captive nshiego always had a sad expression, and when
looking at her one could see that she was thinking, at which times she
looked more human than ever; but no one could ever guess of what she was
thinking. She had partly learned the language of the nshiego, which had
been taught to her by Papa and Mamma Nshiego. Her father had been shot a
few weeks before her mother had perished, so that she was now an orphan.
She had a very quick temper, although she was very affectionate and
loved to be petted. When they brought her food and she was pleased, she
would say, “Whoe! whoe!” When displeased, she would utter the most
piercing shrieks and strike the ground with her feet and hands. If she
could not have her own way, she would at once become angry and shriek.
In a short time she learned to eat cooked food, and was especially fond
of boiled meat. She learned also to drink the intoxicating beverages of
the people and liked these very much.
It happened one day that some people of another tribe nearer the sea
came to the village where the nshiego was, to buy slaves. When they saw
her they wanted to buy her also, for there was a great demand for men of
the woods by the traders on the Atlantic coast. They bought the poor
nshiego for a small bunch of red beads.
When the time came for the departure of the strangers, the nshiego and
the slaves they had bought went with them. She felt very badly, for she
had become much attached to the people who had been so kind to her.
On the journey to her new master’s home, she felt her change of
condition still more. The slaves were chained round the neck, and the
poor nshiego’s head was put in the fork of a very long stick with a
cross-stick in front. After three days she came to the village where her
new master lived, and she was glad when they released her from her
horrid shackles and tied her to a pole, for her poor neck had become
very sore from chafing. From the pole she could see a large river near
the village where she was.
She had not been in her new place long when some men living still nearer
the sea, who came to buy elephants’ tusks, saw her, and they bought her
for a large hollow copper ring, a small looking-glass, and a file. When
the time came for these people to depart, they tied the nshiego on the
forward part of their canoe, for they were to travel by the river. The
poor nshiego wondered at all she saw on the journey, and in the course
of two days they arrived at a village by the sea.
One day they took her to see the big ocean. At first she was very much
alarmed when she saw the heavy breakers, foaming white, rolling toward
the shore. But she soon got accustomed to them. She looked at the ocean
and could see no land on the other side and wondered why, for she
thought it was a big river like those she had been accustomed to see in
the forest while wandering with her mother and father. Then she uttered
a peculiar plaintive sound. Was she thinking of them?
The dry season came, and it was cold, and she loved to sit by the
fireside with the people. She was now entirely free and never thought of
running away. When night came she would fix her little bed of leaves by
shaking them, and put over herself rags that had been given her to keep
warm.
She was friendly with everybody, for every one brought her berries,
nuts, and fruits, and also ripe plantains and bananas, of which she was
very fond, and she continued to eat cooked food also.
It happened that while the nshiego was travelling to the sea, a nkengo,
somewhat larger and stronger than she, was captured, after the killing
of his mother and father. He was also sold, and in the course of time
came to the seashore, but for some reason he was vicious and could not
be tamed, and never became friendly with the people. So he had a much
harder time in his captivity, for he had bitten a couple of people. He
would have been killed, but the natives knew that one day or another
they could sell him for a good price to some white trader who would come
to the coast with his ship.
It came to pass in the course of time that both the nshiego and the
nkengo were sold to two sea captains and sailed for Portugal in two
different ships. On their voyage they wondered very much at the ship, at
the blue ocean, and that no more trees were to be seen. To them it was a
very strange world. On board both got accustomed to eat the food of the
white man when the plantains and bananas were all eaten up. In the
course of time they reached their destination in very good health; they
were now in the country of the white man.
[Illustration: [Bald-headed Ape]]
After several years of trials and tribulations, both the nshiego and the
nkengo crossed the broad Atlantic and one fine day landed in New York.
They were owned by “the biggest circus show on earth.” They had become
big and strong since they had left the west coast of Africa, and people
were more or less afraid of them.
The day of their arrival their cages were changed and they found
themselves again behind strong iron bars in two boxes close together,
and saw wonderful animals, such as lions, tigers, rhinoceroses, and many
others they had never seen before. They were very much frightened when
they heard their roars and yells. Their hair stood erect on their
bodies, and they uttered great yells also, and if they had been in the
forest how fast they would have run away!
They saw some njokoos, but were not afraid of them, for it was like
meeting old acquaintances of the great forest.
In the course of time they became reconciled to their new lot, and did
not mind any more the noises of the menagerie. Their places of
confinement were close together and separated inside by iron bars. This
arrangement was made in order to enable them to become friends if they
chose. They travelled through the big cities of the United States and
saw many things which they had never seen before. They were very much
astonished when they journeyed on railroads, and at first were
frightened, but became accustomed to this and to many other ways of
civilization.
They had been put under the charge of a special keeper, who had nothing
to do but to take care of them, for they were considered the rarest and
most valuable creatures of the big show, and experience had taught their
owners that the American climate was not good for the men of the woods,
that they did not live long here, and generally died of consumption or
pneumonia. So the greatest care was given them.
During their travels great crowds of people came to see them, and no
wonder, for no such large nshiego and nkengo had ever been seen before.
They looked so much like people that some thought that they were a sort
of human being, the “missing link” between man and beast.
They were so large now that no keeper ever dared to go inside of their
cage, for it had long before been discovered that their tempers were
very uneven, that they got angry for nothing, and were whimsical and
treacherous. They were so powerful that no man could wrestle with them,
as he would surely have been torn to pieces.
The nshiego was called Johanna and the nkengo Ntchiko by mistake. The
two became stronger and stronger every day as they grew bigger. A new
cage with thicker iron bars had to be made, for sometimes they seized
the bars with such power that there was danger that they would break.
Ntchiko never showed the slightest sign of tameness, except that he
would take food, such as apples, bananas, nuts, etc., from the hand of
his keeper, who had to be very careful when he handed these to him. In
front of their cage was a railing, so that no spectator should get
within the reach of their long arms.
Johanna’s face as she grew older became gradually black, but with
patches of yellow. She was more amenable to the keeper than Ntchiko, but
nevertheless he never dared to go inside of her cage, for he knew what
his fate would be in case she objected to his presence, and he did not
want to be killed.
Strange to say, the two apes were never friendly, though their cages
inside were only separated by iron bars through which they could shake
hands and scratch each other if they wished. On this account those who
had charge of the show never dared to experiment by putting Johanna and
Ntchiko together, for fear that they would fight, and Ntchiko, who was
the stronger, would kill Johanna.
[Illustration: [Monkeys]]
After the travelling season was over, Ntchiko and Johanna wintered in
New York at the Arsenal in Central Park, and had very comfortable and
warm quarters.
One day, Friend Paul, who was living in New York, went to see them,
having heard of their fame and of the excitement they created.
As he came before their cages, he imitated the language of the nkengo,
which he had so far heard in the great forest of Africa. To his utter
astonishment, as soon as Ntchiko heard him, he became furious, uttered
terrific yells of anger, jumped from one side of his large cage to the
other, went to the farthest corner, picked up some sawdust from the
floor and threw it at him, then came toward him and behind his iron bars
showed every disposition of wanting to fight him. Paul must have told
him in the language of the nkengos something he did not like, to make
him so angry. Paul had no gun with him, and was glad that the iron bars
were between him and Ntchiko.
Johanna, who belonged to another variety, did not mind what Paul said,
for she did not understand him. That same winter, their keeper, who
slept in an adjoining room, heard a noise in the room occupied by
Ntchiko and Johanna, and thinking that they were disturbed by something,
got up to find out what was the matter. He was dressed in a long white
nightshirt, and as he came unconsciously toward the bars of the cage of
Johanna, he was seized by the arm. She had passed one of her arms
through the bars; she was frightened. The poor keeper could not get away
from her clutches. She was so scared that she would not understand or
recognize his voice. It was a struggle for life. His arm was terribly
lacerated and he had to go to the hospital.
Time passed away, and Ntchiko during his travels caught cold and died
from it. To his death he remained vicious and untamable.
A year or more passed away, and in the spring the great show was once
more installed in Madison Square Garden, Johanna with it, but with no
Ntchiko near her.
It happened that the same Paul was invited by the proprietor of the show
to a special morning audience, given to see how Miss Johanna was, and
how much she had learned since he had seen her, and was told that he
could bring some of his friends with him.
One fine morning, Paul, with two of his dear little chums, Alfred and
Elizabeth, together with their mamma and Fräulein, went to Madison
Square Garden to make a visit to Miss Johanna by appointment. They
descended the stairs leading to the basement and found themselves in the
midst of many caged animals, and came after a while in the presence of
Johanna.
Great indeed was the change Paul saw in Johanna. She was a docile
creature, and loved dearly her new keeper. She had grown a great deal.
Her face had become almost entirely black, with here and there a small
yellowish patch left. Her complexion was much like that of a
chimney-sweeper. The skin of her body had become black and her nails as
well.
Her new keeper understood her better than the former one, and knew how
to teach her the ways men have; in a word, he was a very intelligent and
patient trainer. Perhaps Johanna, who no longer had the vicious Ntchiko
for a constant neighbor, had become more gentle on that account.
Whatever the cause, she had become a new and wonderful creature. All she
had been taught, she had learned by seeing her keeper do it before her,
outside of her cage. She imitated him, as children do by looking at
their parents.
Soon after our arrival Johanna’s morning toilet began. A wash-basin
filled with water was passed under the bars, then a towel and soap. She
washed her face, dried it afterward with a towel, and washed her hands
and dried them also. Then a tooth-brush was given to her, and she
brushed her teeth.
Afterwards a powder-box was handed to her. She powdered her face with
the puff, and rubbed her skin with a towel all over her face. She then
took a looking-glass to see how she looked.
All these preliminaries of her breakfast seemed mechanical. That is, she
was not civilized enough to know what cleanliness was, to know that her
face was dirty and needed to be washed, and that a sign of beauty was to
have good and clean teeth. But there are many people in this world who
do not know as much as this, and are not familiar with tooth-brushes.
Johanna appeared to feel better and more lively after her toilet was
completed.
Breakfast was then served to her upon a board as a table, passed to her
under the bars. Upon the table were put a plate, a glass, half a bottle
of wine, a napkin, tooth-picks, a knife and fork. She looked
complacently at the preparations for her breakfast, and did not show any
signs of impatience. She seemed to know that it was coming when ready.
Then chicken sandwiches were served.
She cut her sandwiches with her knife, and ate with a fork, as a
civilized person is accustomed to do. Now and then she wiped her mouth
with her napkin. While eating, she took the cork from the bottle of port
wine, filled her glass properly and generously, not quite to the brim,
and drank it in two sips, put the glass on the table, wiped her mouth,
and recorked the bottle.
The keeper said to me: “We only allow her a glass of port wine at each
meal. She is very fond of this kind of wine, and when she thinks I do
not see her, she will help herself to another glass if I turn my back to
her. I will talk to you, and you can watch her.”
It happened just as the keeper said; as soon as he turned his back,
Johanna uncorked the bottle, filled her glass quickly but in a proper
way, and drank the wine at one draught, corked the bottle, and when her
keeper turned around she looked at him as if she had only taken one
glass, and as if nothing out of the way had happened. When her meal was
finished, she used a tooth-pick.
A lighted cigarette was then given to her. She smoked it like a man,
enjoying it wonderfully well, inhaled the smoke, and let it come out of
her mouth in puffs, and once or twice let it pass through her nose.
There was no difference in manner between her and a man smoking.
After this she lay on her back until she was called for a sherry flip.
It was served to her with straws, which she used also like a person
accustomed to take such kinds of drinks. When her sherry flip was drunk,
she lay on her back again, and then rested for a very short time. The
keeper then asked her if she wanted to put her shoes and stockings on.
She put her legs through the bars and let him put them on for her. After
this he asked her if she wanted to go out. A lady’s hat was given to
her; she put it on her head, then took the looking-glass to look at
herself, and stood up erect. Then she seated herself. She evidently was
not accustomed to thick leather laced shoes, and these were not kept
long on her feet. Her keeper asked her to kiss him. She did so through
the bars, kissing him with a pouting mouth on one of his cheeks.
She understood everything he said to her. He asked her if she wanted to
take her shoes and stockings off. She put her legs outside the bars to
have them taken off. Then the ceremony was ended.
Something drew her attention at some distance from the cage. She stood
up erect and looked in that direction, as a human being would have done.
On a sudden she took a dislike to one of our party, glared, took a
handful of sawdust and threw it right at the person, uttering sounds of
anger.
From the intelligence Johanna displayed, if her temper could have been
relied upon, I do not see why she could not have served a small party at
dinner.
Johanna is now in England. How much more she has learned I cannot tell;
but if she has still the same keeper, she has undoubtedly learned to do
some other things.
GLOSSARY OF NATIVE ANIMAL-NAMES
Apilibish _Butterfly_.
Bashikouay _Ant_ (species).
Bongo _Antelope_ (species).
Compagnondo _Fishing Eagle_ (species).
Guanionien _Giant Eagle_.
Hako _Ant_ (generic name).
Iboboti _Spider_.
Iboco _Fly_ (species).
Ibolai _Fly_ (species).
Ipi _Scaly Ant-eater_.
Izomba _Turtle_.
Kambi _Antelope_ (species).
Kongoo _Fishing Eagle_ (species).
Kooloo-kamba _Ape_ (species).
Manga _Manatee_.
Mboyo _Jackal_.
Miengai _White-moustached Monkey_.
Mogara _Ant_ (species).
Mondi _Jet-black, Long-haired Monkey_.
Nchegai _Mandrill_.
Nchellelay _White Ant, or Termite_.
Ncheri _Gazelle_.
Nchouna _Fly_ (species).
Ndova _White-nosed Monkey_.
Ngando _Crocodile_.
Ngina _Gorilla_.
Ngoa _Wild Boar_.
Ngooboo _Hippopotamus_.
Ngomba _Porcupine_.
Ngozo _Parrot_.
Niare _Buffalo_.
Njego _Leopard_.
Njokoo _Elephant_.
Nkago _Red-headed Monkey_.
Nkema _Monkey_ (generic name).
Nkengo _Ape_ (variety).
Nshiego _Chimpanzee_ (variety).
Nshiego-mbouvé _Bald-headed Ape_.
Nshiey _Fish_.
Ntoto _Ichneumon_.
Ntungoolooya _Kingfisher_.
Nyoi _Wasp_.
Oganagana _Bluish Black Monkey_.
Ogata _Burrowing Crocodile_.
Ombama _Python_.
Omemba _Serpent, Snake_.
Oseli _Lizard_.
Osengi _Monkey_ (species).
Oshingi _Civet_.
Ozoni _Ant_ (species).
Vengela _Grasshopper_.
Viviki _Mosquito_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_=Popular Juveniles by Paul Du Chaillu=_
_The_ LAND _of the_ LONG NIGHT
WITH 24 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
BY W. J. BURNS. Square 12mo, $2.00
The Nation.
The record of a winter journey from Southern Sweden up through Lappmark,
Finland, and Finmark to Nordkyn, the extreme end of the European
mainland. To say that it will interest its youthful readers from
beginning to end is well-nigh superfluous.
New York Tribune.
Happy is the winter evening of that young person who, forgetting time
and space and the household gods about him, goes forth into strange
countries with Paul Du Chaillu. For that most kindly of travellers has
in narrative a beguiling simplicity and realism which enables him to
hold his readers closely to the end.
New York Times Saturday Review.
It is a capital book for boys or girls or anybody, and Mr. Burns has
contributed a great many excellently drawn and very telling
illustrations.
The Outlook.
Here are information, stories, and incidents of adventure in Arctic
regions strung together by a personal narrative of travel—all readable,
unconventional, entertaining.
Philadelphia Public Ledger.
His narrative is engagingly frank, full of information, and with no lack
of adventure and incident. It will prove a treasure to readers young and
old.
_IVAR THE VIKING_
A ROMANTIC HISTORY, BASED
UPON AUTHENTIC FACTS OF THE
THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES
12mo, $1.50
Richard Henry Stoddard.
There is that in Mr. Paul Du Chaillu’s “Ivar the Viking” which not only
satisfies the lover of romantic adventure, but carries the scholar back
into the remotest period of Scandinavian history. Beyond all living
writers this traveller in and explorer of many countries has collected
the documents and discovered the secrets of the Norselands.
New York Times.
The reader who has begun with a blank mind closes the volume with a
tolerably clear expression of a very energetic, powerful, and wealthy
young Viking, capable of strong affection, foremost in games and fights
requiring physical force, and with a vast number of habits and customs.
It is a history that interests through its simplicity.
The Nation.
“Ivar the Viking” is to be thoroughly recommended. The story is
characteristically spirited, and the romantic part leaves nothing to be
desired.
_=Paul Du Chaillu’s Great Work=_
THE VIKING AGE
THE EARLY HISTORY, MANNERS, &
CUSTOMS OF THE ANCESTORS OF
THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS
WITH 1400 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP
2 vols., 8vo, $7.50
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, Publishers
New York Tribune.
“These luxuriously printed and profusely illustrated volumes embody the
fullest account of our Norse ancestors extant. Mr. Du Chaillu has gone
very fully and very carefully over the whole of his ground. This
extensive and important work must be of high interest to all
English-speaking people.”
Newark Advertiser.
“Their weapons, ornaments, ships, domestic manners and customs, art and
industries, are all reconstructed with a minuteness that is remarkable,
if we consider (as we must) that all this comes to us after centuries of
neglect.”
London Athenæum.
“What is really valuable in these volumes is the exhaustive digest which
they contain of the extant information respecting the manners and
character of the ancient people of Scandinavia. The work deals with the
entire field of Scandinavian archæology. In the main, we believe the
picture he has drawn of the manner of life of the Vikings and their
countrymen to be as accurate as it is undoubtedly full of interest.”
Edinburgh Review.
“The subject of M. Du Chaillu’s work is vast in extent and full of
perplexing difficulties. We have shown that its author has collected a
store of valuable information, a great part of which has hitherto been
inaccessible to English readers. His enthusiasm will have a very useful
effect if it leads the people of this country to study and admire the
ancient civilization and the splendid literature of our Scandinavian
kinsmen.”
Springfield Republican.
“Mr. Du Chaillu is every whit as agreeable and entertaining as a student
of history as he has long proved to be in the character of a traveller.”
Chicago Inter-Ocean.
“Mr. Du Chaillu has certainly given to the literary world a work full of
interest.”
The Nation.
“While in Germany and in Scandinavia itself books have been written upon
the life of the ancient inhabitants of the North, no such comprehensive,
popular work as this, with citations from the old literature and
illustrations of all sorts of objects preserved from the ancient days,
has yet appeared. It is, accordingly, an unused opportunity that the
author of the work, with characteristic energy, has recognized and
seized. The two volumes are filled to overflowing with curious and
interesting facts concerning the people of the Scandinavian North, whose
manners, social customs, and national life the more than thirteen
hundred illustrations serve to bring up almost visibly before us. The
book as a whole is a record of persistent and ingenious research, and of
extraordinary literary zeal.”
Philadelphia Record.
“M. Du Chaillu’s book is full of valuable information respecting the
manners and character of the ancient Norse people. It is, in fact, a
perfect museum of Northern antiquities, covering the entire field of
Scandinavian archæology. The extracts from the Sagas which are furnished
must whet the appetite of students of Norse literature.”
Boston Transcript.
“Mr. Du Chaillu’s monumental work, ‘The Viking Age,’ upon which the
careful labor of over eight years has been expended, is one for which
scholars will be profoundly grateful. It brings together from
innumerable sources a vast amount of information, relative to the period
covered, never before put in systematic form. The chapters on the
mythology and cosmogony of the Norsemen, on the superstitions, slavery,
graves, finds, weapons, occupations, feasts, warfare, etc., are
intensely interesting. The text is accompanied by nearly fourteen
hundred illustrations.”
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, Publishers
153–157 Fifth Avenue, New York
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
190 six legs were cut off, one after eight legs were cut off, one
the other, in this way after the other, in this way
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=.