THE NATIVE DOGS—HOW THEY HUNT THEIR OWN GAME WHEN THEY ARE NOT
FED—THEIR WAYS OF ATTACK—THEIR USEFULNESS TO THEIR MASTERS IN
WAR-TIME—OSHORIA’S STORY.
One morning I was surprised not to see a single dog on the plantation,
and I wondered where they could have gone.
“Where are all the dogs?” I asked Regundo.
“Oguizi,” he replied, “all the dogs have gone to the forest. They act in
this way when they are hungry. They found that we had no food for them,
and, having gnawed all the bones they had hidden in the ground, they
thought it was time to go and hunt by themselves, and feed on what they
could catch. Often they spend the whole day hunting, and do not return
before sunset, sometimes not until the next day, when they find out an
old camp to sleep in. Dogs are very sly. They have a leader; they
understand him, and they understand each other. One by one they leave
the plantation and meet outside.”
I had been wondering, since I came, what the poor dogs had to eat, for
no one ever gave them food. They seemed to feed only on the bones that
were thrown to them. The hungry dogs were always watching the movements
of the people, though they appeared as if asleep. But this was only a
blind, for as soon as a house was left vacant, they immediately got up
and entered the place to see if there were any food to steal. All these
native dogs are great thieves, and wherever they have a chance they
steal, and it is very seldom they miss the opportunity offered. As soon
as they get a bone they go to a lonely spot where they are safe from the
other dogs, and when tired of gnawing it, they hide it in the ground,
and never forget the spot where they have left it when they want it
again.
In the evening the dogs made their appearance before the houses of their
respective masters. They had evidently been unsuccessful in their hunt,
and had had nothing to eat, to judge by the pinched appearance of their
stomachs. A few pieces of manioc, just enough to prevent them from dying
of starvation, were thrown to them, after which they fell asleep, as
they were very tired.
“It is not good for dogs to be too well fed,” said Regundo to me.
After what Regundo had told me, I watched the dogs every day, and found
that, though they belonged to different masters, they formed a pack
amongst themselves, and that they understood each other thoroughly. I
discovered that “Fierce” was their leader. When they wanted to go a
hunting together, they did not bark. On the contrary, they were very
sly, and looked at each other with a peculiar expression of their eyes,
which meant one thing or another to them.
How “Fierce” had become their leader I could not tell, except that he
could attack with fierceness, and could bite savagely. Physically he was
the strongest of all the dogs; hence he ruled over the others. He was
always the first to leave, and the others followed. He generally went to
see the other dogs before they started. He always led in the attack, and
seemed to prevent the other dogs from being too forward in the fray.
When he retreated, they retreated, and in some way, unknown to me, each
dog was given his proper position in the attack.
One morning when I got up I found that the dogs had again left, and no
one had seen them go away, or could tell whither they had gone. “They
are very hungry,” said Regundo, “and will continue to go into the forest
until they have killed some game, and thus have their hunger satisfied.”
Towards sunset the dogs returned. What a sight they presented! their
muzzles were red with the blood of the animals they had killed and
eaten. Some were wounded. One had its ears cut almost in two. Another
had the end of one of its ears bitten off. Another had the upper lip
cut. Three had their backs somewhat lacerated. Suddenly Rogola said,
“Where is my dog ‘Spear’? I do not see him among the others; he must
have been killed in his fight with the wild beasts.” It was no doubt so,
for “Spear” was never seen again. Regundo gave it as his opinion that
the dogs that came in with their ears and lips cut, had fought with
monkeys they had surprised on the ground. Those whose backs were
lacerated had been wounded by wild boars; and they had succeeded in
killing some animal, and had devoured it; hence their bloody muzzles.
Some of the men attended to the wounded dogs, and said that in a few
days they would be all right again. The dogs had evidently fed well that
day; soon after their return they all were fast asleep under the piazzas
of their masters’ houses. Three days afterwards all the dogs that were
not wounded disappeared again and went to the forest to hunt. They were
evidently on the scent of game, for we heard them barking. Regundo took
his gun, to be ready, but gradually their bark became fainter and
finally died away. The game had escaped them.
“Sometimes the dogs have great trouble in chasing an antelope,” said
Regundo to me, “for these animals are very fleet. Often they tire the
dogs; these then gradually fall behind, and the antelope escapes.”
Early the following morning Oshoria, Ogoola, Ngola, Quabi, and I went
after antelopes. The men had their dogs with them. These were soon out
of sight, and as we went along on the hunting path, my hunters would
call them. After walking about three hours we heard the dogs bark. “They
are running after an antelope,” said Oshoria. The barking came nearer.
Soon it was very close to us and we were watching intently when an
antelope, followed closely by the dogs, dashed by us. We fired, and the
beautiful animal fell dead. We had the greatest trouble to keep the dogs
at a distance, and we could not do so until we had cut off the legs and
some of the meat of the animal and thrown these to them.
In the evening, as my hunters and I were seated by a bright fire, they
told stories of dogs.
Oshoria’s story, which was the longest, was as follows: “Some dogs are
very useful in time of war, for they can find men hiding behind trees,
and warn us of their presence. One day, years ago, I was on the
war-path. I had then a dog called ‘Idombe.’ He was very cunning, and
followed me always in the forest in war times. I had trained him never
to bark when he discovered a stranger, but to come back to me. At that
time the enemies of King Mombo would lie in wait for his people along
the paths in the forest, then attack them suddenly. Sometimes there were
two or three together, and sometimes but one. I had gone to reconnoitre,
and had Idombe with me. He was scouring the forest in every direction
ahead of me as I went along. Sometimes I lost sight of him. Once when he
reappeared and came towards me, when he was near enough he looked at me
and made me signs to follow him, which I did, for I knew that he had
seen something unusual. Suspecting danger, and fearing a sudden attack,
I walked most carefully, at the same time stopping every few steps and
looking around and even up into the trees. Suddenly Idombe barked
fiercely, looking in a certain direction, turning towards which I saw a
spear fly out and graze Idombe’s body. This was followed by an arrow,
which imbedded its head in a tree near him.
“I looked all around. At first I could see no enemy. Then I saw two men
near together lying flat on the ground among the leaves; one had a bunch
of barbed spears by his side, the other a bow and a bag filled with
arrows. I came forward, giving the cry of King Mombo. This was
immediately answered by the same cry, which meant peace. These two men
belonged to a friendly clan, whose warriors had come to side with King
Mombo. Poor Idombe had a narrow escape.
[Illustration: “_Just in time to see a huge male leopard spring upon one
of the dogs_”]
“The next day I went again into the forest with Idombe. I had lost sight
of him and wondered where he had gone, when I heard him give a certain
cry of pain, as if some one were choking him. I went in that direction
and came to a little pool of water where animals came to drink, for
there were many footprints round it. Then I saw a very large python
squeezing poor Idombe tightly within its powerful folds. The dog was
dead, its head was already in the mouth of the big snake. It is the
habit of these big pythons to lie by pools coiled round a tree of the
color of their skin and wait for their prey; then they spring upon their
victims and, squeezing them to death, swallow them slowly.
“Our dogs are brave and a number of them are not even afraid of
leopards. These leopards, when they become man-eaters, like the meat of
man better than any other. Some years ago a leopard prowling near our
plantation succeeded, to our great sorrow, in killing and devouring two
people, a man and a woman. Our idol said that we must go and hunt the
leopard. Then, taking our dogs with us, we went in search of him. After
a while we heard the fierce barking of the dogs. They had discovered the
leopard’s lair, and we came up just in time to see a huge male leopard
spring upon one of the dogs and crush him between his jaws. With fierce
glaring eyes he looked at us, then he let the dog drop from his mouth
and lay flat on the ground ready to spring on one of us. But we were
ready for the beast, and before he had time to spring we fired and
killed him on the spot. The belt I wear is from the skin of this
leopard.”
When the leopard story was ended it was time to go to sleep, and we all
left for our respective quarters bidding each other good-night.