A JOURNEY TO THE ELEPHANT COUNTRY—SERIOUS ANNOYANCE FROM FLIES, WASPS,
AND MOSQUITOES—IN THE MIDST OF A DROVE OF HIPPOPOTAMI.
I was anxious to go on a long hunting expedition. One day when Regundo,
Oshoria, Ogoola, Ngola, Quabi, and I were seated under a big tree, I
said to them: “We must go and hunt elephants, hippopotami, crocodiles,
and other big game.” This suggestion was received with sonorous grunts
of approbation by them all, and it was agreed that we should prepare
ourselves for a long expedition.
The following day I saw Oshoria slyly entering the idol house, and after
he had closed the door behind him I approached the house and, peeping
through a crack, saw that he was marking his body with ochre of
different colors. Then he muttered words to the idol that I could not
understand. Afterwards he took from a little wooden box a piece of red
ochre and made a mark with it between his eyes, and another mark in the
hollow of his chest, and then spoke very fast. Then he went to another
box, and took from it a charmed necklace, to which was hung a sort of
small iron bell, which was filled with charmed powder and which he put
around his neck. When I saw that he was ready to come out I retired as
quickly as possible.
For three days great preparations were made for our hunting expedition.
The wives of the hunters prepared food for us. Dear Regundo invoked
every evening the spirits of his ancestors to protect us. The ouganga or
medicine doctor, made incantations for our success, and said that we
were to be lucky.
We started with two canoes, the people following us to the banks of the
river. As the day advanced it became very warm, for there was not a
breath of wind on the river. It was a good day for flies; they plagued
us sadly, attacking us with great persistency. I was kept busy all the
time handling my elephant-tail to protect myself against them, but when
they got between its long, coarse, black hairs it meant death to them.
My eyes had to be everywhere in order to watch for them, and my ears
very quick to find out where they were flying; but in spite of all my
watchfulness they succeeded in giving me now and then a sting.
Suddenly we would hear a sharp whiz; then the men would shout at once:
“Look out, there is an ibolay flying around.” They were not mistaken.
There was an ibolay, flying with such rapidity that he was no sooner
seen than lost to sight. I kept a sharp lookout for him, ready to strike
with my elephant’s tail, but I was stung twice by one during the day. It
was worse than the sting of a bee. I had to be quiet, for it would not
have done for an Oguizi to utter cries of pain, but it was very hard
sometimes not to do so.
Another fly, the iboca, of the size of a hornet, also quick in its
motion, gave the severest bite of all; my clothes were no protection
whatever. Often the blood ran down the face or body of the men that were
bitten. The fly that annoyed us most was the nchouna, which was very
numerous. We could not tell of its approach, for it came unobserved and
silently and had inserted its bill so gently that it got its fill of
blood before we knew we were bitten. Afterwards the itching began, and
lasted several hours, varied at intervals by certain sharp stabs of
pain. We paddled as often as we could under the branches of trees
overhanging the water, to be protected from the powerful sun. Once, to
our utter dismay, our canoe went bang into an elonay’s nest. The elonay
is a very fierce wasp. There are no flies the natives dread so much. The
men shouted: “The elonays are after us; let us get out of the way,” and
we paddled as fast as we could, to be out of their reach. Ogoola, Ngola,
and Quabi seemed to be the men they chiefly attacked. These threw
themselves into the water. They did not think of crocodiles or anything
else. They kept under water quite a while, and after a time came back on
board. The bite of the elonays is very painful. It leaves an acrid
poison, which causes pain for two or three days. At intervals the poison
seems to gather fresh force, and the wound begins to throb.
That night we slept in our canoes. During the night there was a constant
howling of wild beasts. I thought the forest was full of leopards,
hyenas, and unknown fierce creatures. Fortunately, our canoes were at
anchor far away from the banks, and the hungry animals could not reach
or spring upon us. Evidently they scented us, and would have been
delighted to make a meal of some of our number.
The mosquitoes troubled us so much that we were glad when morning came.
Then we were bothered by sand-flies. These disappeared when the sun
became powerful enough to drive them away, but the flies that delight in
the sun and the heat of the day took their place. The rivers are far
worse than the forest in regard to flies.
Suddenly Oshoria, who steered my canoe, shouted: “Ngooboos [hippopotami]
ahead.” Then he added: “They are in the middle of the stream; let us go
near the shore.” The men stopped paddling, and we all looked in the
direction in which Oshoria pointed, and saw a herd of hippopotami,
looking like stranded logs on the water, for they did not move. We
paddled slowly and noiselessly close to the shore, so that the huge
beasts could not see us. We came nearer and nearer to them every minute.
I counted twenty-two hippopotami.
My attention was suddenly attracted to a part of the river where I heard
peculiar loud sounds, or grunts. Looking in that direction, I saw two
bull hippopotami by themselves, fighting with each other. They rushed
towards each other,—then disappeared under the water, and reappeared
again. Their big, ugly mouths, when opened, showed us their tusks. They
attacked with great fierceness, lacerating each other’s bodies with
their crooked tusks. Finally one was victorious, and the other swam away
as fast as he could.
[Illustration: “_Their big, ugly mouths when opened, showed us their
tusks_”]
We approached the hippopotami slowly and with caution, to within fifty
yards of the herd, without seeming to attract their attention. “Let us
paddle nearer,” I said to the men. We came within twenty-five yards, and
then I took “Bulldog,” and aiming at the ear, as one of their vulnerable
spots, I fired. The animal sank. I found that it was of no use to kill a
hippopotamus in the water, for they sink to the bottom. The whole herd
of hippopotami became much excited at the shot, snorted and plunged
under the water,—disappearing and reappearing,—and soon the animals were
seen scattered in every direction around us. They dived, and when they
rose some of them came dangerously near. I became fearful they would
upset our canoes, and that if they succeeded in doing so, they would
attack us, and their big crooked tusks were sure to make short work of
our poor bodies. Oshoria ordered that we should paddle as fast as we
could to get out of their way. One of the hippopotami swam under our
canoe, and rose about three yards from us. But we kept on our way
untouched, and a few miles further upstream we came to another herd of
these unwieldy creatures, sporting and snorting in the water, now
popping their huge unshapely heads out, then diving to the bottom.
We passed this herd, and after paddling two or three miles further we
saw two cow hippopotami, with their little ones apparently resting on
their backs.