A FORMIDABLE BIRD.--THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF IT.--A BABY
CARRIED OFF BY THE GUANIONIEN.--A MONKEY ALSO SEIZED.--I
DISCOVER A GUANIONIEN NEST.--I WATCH FOR THE EAGLES.
Several weeks have passed away since the story of Akenda Mbani was told
us, and we have since been wandering through the forest in the midst of
the intricate hunting-paths which Querlaouen knew so well. At night we
would all meet and recount the adventures of the day, and eat the game
which some of us had been fortunate enough to kill. In case we had
killed no game, then we had our elephant meat to fall back upon.
How silent the forest was! Not a human being besides ourselves was to be
seen. A leaf falling, a bird singing, a wild guinea-fowl calling for its
mate, the footsteps of a gazelle, the chatter of a monkey, the hum of a
bee, the rippling of the water of some beautiful little stream as it
meandered through the forest, were the only noises that ever disturbed
the stillness of this grand solitude.
Now and then we could hear the wind whispering strangely as it passed
gently amid the branches of the tall trees hanging over our heads.
We must have looked strange indeed as we wandered through that great
forest, where God alone could see us. How strange every thing seemed to
me! I was in another world, and novel objects every where met my eyes.
One morning I hear a strange cry high up in the air. I look, and what do
I see?--what do I see yonder up in the sky? An eagle. But what kind of
an eagle? for it appears to me so much larger than any eagle I have ever
met with before. And as I asked this, my men exclaimed, "It is a
_guanionien_; the leopard of the air; the bird that feeds on gazelles,
goats, and monkeys; the bird that is the most difficult of any to find
and to kill." "Yes," said Querlaouen; "in my younger days I remember
that my wife and myself were on our plantation, with some of our slaves,
and one day we heard the cries of a baby, and saw a child carried up
into the sky by one of these guanioniens. The baby had been laid on the
ground, and the guanionien, whose eyes never miss any thing, and which
had not been noticed soaring above our heads, pounced on its prey, and
then laughed at us as he rose and flew to a distant part of the forest."
Then Querlaouen showed me a fetich partly made of two huge claws of this
bird. What tremendous things those talons were! how deep they could go
into the flesh!
Then came wonderful stories of the very great strength of the bird.
The people were afraid of them, and were compelled to be very careful of
their babies. These grand eagles do not feed on fowls; they are too
small game for them. Monkeys are what they like best; they can watch
them as they float over the top of the trees of the forest; but
sometimes the monkeys get the better of them.
"People had better not try to get hold of the guanionien's young if they
want to keep their sight," said Gambo; "for, as sure as we live, the
old bird will pounce upon the man that touches its young."
For a long time I had heard the people talking of the guanionien, but
had never yet had a glimpse of one.
Now, looking up again, I saw several of them. How high they were! At
times they would appear to be quite still in the air; at other times
they would soar. They were so high that I do not see how they could
possibly see the trees; every thing must have been in a haze to them;
monkeys, of course, could not be seen. They were, no doubt, amusing
themselves, and I wonder if they tried to see how near they could go to
the sun. Some at times flew so high that I lost sight of them.
Oh, how I longed to kill a guanionien; but I never was able to do it.
Once I examined one, but it was dead, and had been killed by spears as
it had come down and seized a goat. The natives had kept it for me; but
when I returned to the village it was quite spoiled and decomposed, the
feathers having dropped out.
Several times I was on the point of killing one, but never was in time.
My men went hunting that morning, while I remained alone in the camp,
for I felt tired, and wanted to write up my journal, and to describe all
the things I had seen or heard during the past few days.
In the afternoon I thought I would ramble round. I took a
double-barreled smooth-bore gun, and loaded one side with a bullet in
case I should see large game; the other barrel I loaded with shot No. 2.
Then I carefully plunged into the woods till I reached the banks of a
little stream, and there I heard the cry of the mondi (_Colobus
Satanus_), which is one of the largest monkeys of these forests. From
their shrill cries, I thought there must be at least half a dozen
together. I was indeed glad that I had one barrel loaded with big shot.
If the mondis were not too far off, I would be able to get a fair shot,
and kill one.
I advanced very cautiously until I got quite near to them. I could then
see their big bodies, long tails, and long, jet-black, shining hair.
What handsome beasts they were! what a nice-looking muff their skins
would make! I thought.
Just as I was considering which of them I would fire at, I saw some big
thing, like a large shadow, suddenly come down upon the tree. Then I
heard the flapping of heavy wings, and also the death-cry of a poor
mondi. Then I saw a huge bird, with a breast spotted somewhat like a
leopard, raise itself slowly into the air, carrying the monkey in its
powerful finger-like talons. The claws of one leg were fast in the upper
part of the neck of the monkey; so deep were they in the flesh that they
were completely buried, and a few drops of blood fell upon the leaves
below. The other leg had its claws quite deep into the back of the
monkey. The left leg was kept higher than the right, and I could see
that the great strength of the bird was used at that time to keep the
neck, and also the back of the victim, from moving. The bird rose higher
and higher, the monkey's tail swayed to and fro, and then both
disappeared. It was a guanionien. Its prey was, no doubt, taken to some
big tree where it could be devoured.
The natives say that the first thing the guanionien does is to take out
the eyes of the monkeys they catch. But there must be a fearful
struggle, for these mondis are powerful beasts, and do not die at the
eagle's will. There must be a great trial of strength; for if the monkey
is not seized at an exact place on the neck, he can turn his head, and
he then inflicts a fearful bite on the breast of the eagle, or on his
neck or leg, which disables his most terrible enemy, and then both,
falling, meet their death.
I looked on without firing. The monkeys seemed paralyzed with fear when
the eagle came down upon them, and did not move until after the bird of
prey had taken one of their number, and then decamped. When I looked
for them they had fled for parts unknown to me in the forest. I was
looking so intently at the eagle and its prey that for a while I had
forgotten the mondis. I do not wonder at it, for monkeys I could see
often, but it is only once in a great while that such a scene as I
witnessed could be seen by a man. It was grand; and I wondered not that
the natives called the guanionien the leopard of the air. As I write
these lines, though several years have passed away, I see still before
me that big, powerful bird carrying its prey to some unknown part of the
forest.
Long after the time I have been speaking to you about, I was hunting in
the forest, when I came to a spot where I saw on the ground more than a
hundred skulls of various animals, and of monkeys of all sizes, from
those of baby monkeys to those of large mandrills; and there were two or
three skulls of young chimpanzees. What a ghastly sight it was! Some of
these skulls seemed almost fresh; they were skulls of all the species of
monkeys found in the forest.
What could all this mean? I quickly perceived that these skulls were all
scattered round a huge tree which rose higher than any of the trees
surrounding it. Raising my eyes toward the top, I saw a huge nest made
of branches of trees. I looked and looked in vain. I could not even hear
the cries of any young birds. They had gone; they must have left their
nest, and I wondered if they would come back at night with the _old
folks_; so I concluded that I would lie in wait.
I waited in vain. The sun set, and no guanionien; darkness came, and no
guanionien. Then I took a box of matches from my hunting-bag, and set
fire to a large pile of wood which I had made ready, and then I cooked a
few plantains I had with me.
I was all alone; I had taken no one with me. How quiet and silent every
thing was around me that night! Now and then I could hear the dew that
had collected on the leaves above come down drop after drop. I could see
a bright star through the thick foliage of the trees. I could hear the
music of the musquitoes round me; for I think there is something musical
about the buzzing of a musquito, though there is nothing pleasant about
its bite. I could see now and then a beautiful and bright fire-fly,
which seemed to be like a light flitting through the jungle from place
to place, sometimes remaining still and giving a stream of light all
round as it rested on some big leaves for a while, then moving farther
on.
Now and then I could hear the mournful cry of the owl, and at times I
fancied I could hear the footstep of wild beasts walking in the silence
of night.
I did not sleep at all that night; I did not wish to do so; and, as I
was seated by the fire, I thought of the strange life I had led for some
time past--how strange every thing was from what I had been accustomed
to see at home. There was not a tree in the forest that we had in ours,
and the face of a white man had not been seen by me for a very long
time.
The night passed slowly, but at last the cries of the partridges
reminded me that daylight was not far off. When the twilight came, it
was of very short duration; the birds began to sing, the insects to move
about, the monkeys to chatter, but the hyena, the leopard, and other
night-animals had retired long before the sunlight into their dens.
Then I got up and roasted a plantain, which I ate; forthwith I
shouldered my gun and started back for the village by a hunting-path
that I knew.
Coming to the banks of a stream, where the water was as pure and limpid
as crystal, I seated myself by the charming rivulet, thinking I would
refresh myself by taking a bath, when lo! what do I see? a large snake
swimming in the water. Its body was black, and its belly yellow, with
black stripes. I immediately got up and fired at the disgusting
creature, which I killed; and that water, which appeared to me a few
minutes before so nice, was, to my eyes, no longer so.