Onward, along the track by the river bank, penetrating deeper and deeper
into the great, limitless, virgin forest of the Congo--that region
absolutely unknown to civilised man--we proceeded by paths very
infrequently employed, under dark depths of bush, where our progress was
interrupted every few minutes by the tangle. For food, we had tubers of
manioc; for drink, the water of the river.
Approaching the native town of Bangoya, I climbed into a tree to view
it; but not liking the savage look of the people, we avoided the place,
and, acting on the advice we had received, left the river bank and
turned towards the great Forest of Perpetual Night, striking due south
in search of the Aruwimi river, and the cannibals of the Avisibba, who
knew the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great Sin.
As we left the river we commenced to tramp over primeval swamps, almost
impenetrable, and low-lying land that had been submerged by the winter
flood. We were alone, in a trackless, unexplored land, far from cities
and the ways of men. The moon glanced in through the leaf gaps, like a
face grown white with fear; the bright-plumaged birds fluttered and
chattered, disturbed, and a wind stole through the tree tops, with a
sound like the roar of ocean's wrath heard in the calm of ocean's
depths. Nor foot of man, nor foot of beast had trodden large areas of
those pathless thickets--save, perhaps, some homeless elephant--since
the days of an elder creation, and one's imagination could fancy the
giant lizards and extinct amphibians without incongruity in such
desolate wilds. In parts all Nature was still, in that wide,
pestilential swamp that gave entrance to the virgin forest; neither bird
nor monkey disturbed the silence, unless it be a crocodile moving slowly
in the ooze, a long-legged wader, or a solemn crane. Soon, however, the
ground became drier, the trees more thick, and at last we plunged into
the wonderful forest of which I had long ago heard so much from negro
slaves, even away in far-off Omdurman--the huge, towering forest and
jungly undergrowth that covers an area of over three hundred thousand
square miles of the centre of the African continent. Here, one can
travel for six whole moons, through forest, bush and jungle, without
seeing a piece of grassland the size of a praying-mat. Nothing but
leagues and leagues--endless leagues of gigantic, gloomy forest, in
various stages of growth, and various degrees of altitude, according to
the ages of the trees, with varying thickness of undergrowth, according
to the character of the foliage, which afforded thicker or slighter
shade.
Throughout many days we strode on fast through the mighty trees, and
forced our way onward, travelling always southward as near as we could
guess, through this primeval forest, a journey fraught with more terrors
than any we had previously experienced. The great trunks, gloomy, gaunt
and sombre, grew so thickly as to shut out the blessed light of the sun,
therefore, even at high noon, there was only twilight, and, for many
hours each day, we were in darkness--impenetrable and appalling. Had it
not been that I was convinced we should ere long reach the Aruwimi, I
should have turned back, but, once having plunged into that trackless
forest, there was no returning.
The attacks upon us by insects drove us almost to the verge of madness.
By day tiny beetles bored underneath the skin and pricked one like
needles; the mellipona bee troubled one's eyes; ticks, small and large,
sucked one's blood; wasps in swarms came out to the attack as we passed
their haunts; the tiger-slug dropped from the branches and left his
poisonous hairs in the pores of the skin; and black ants fell from the
trumpet-trees as we passed underneath, and gave us a foretaste of
Al-Hawiyat. At night there were frequent storms; trees were struck by
the lightning, and the sound of the tempest-torn foliage was like the
roar of the breakers on a rocky shore. Snakes, chimpanzees and
elephants were among our companions, while the crick of the cricket, the
shrill, monotonous piping of the cicada, the perpetual chorus of frogs,
the doleful cry of the lemur were among the sounds that rendered night
in that lone land hideous and repulsive.
Suffering severely from hunger, without light or sunshine, and compelled
to be ever on the alert lest we should be attacked, it was a journey
full of terrors. The tribes of the forest were, I knew, the most
vicious on the face of the earth, and every noise of breaking twigs, or
of the falling of decayed branches, caused us to halt with our rifles in
readiness. The legs of our asses had been rendered bare by the myriads
of insects, and the centipedes, mammoth beetles and mosquitoes caused us
considerable pain, yet that unexplored forest was full of fascinating
wonders. Many of the trees, weird and grotesque, were centuries old,
and some giants--the teak, the camwood, the mahogany, the green-heart,
the stinkwood, the ebony, the copal-wood with its glossy foliage, the
arborescent mango, the wild orange with delicate foliage, stately
acacias, and silver-boled wild fig towered to enormous heights, and over
them, from tree to tree, ran millions of beautiful vines, streaming with
countless tendrils, with the bright green of orchid leaves. Great
lengths of whip-like calamus lianes twisted like dark serpents, masses
of enormous flowering convolvuli and red knots of amoma and crimson dots
of phrynia berries were confusedly intertwined and matted until all
light from heaven was obscured, except a stray beam here and there which
told that the sun was shining and it was day above. The midnight
silence of the forest dropped about us like a pall.
As we struggled onward, existing as best we could upon roots and fruit,
and with our clothes torn to shreds by the brambles, thoughts of Azala
constantly occurred to me. Of time I had kept no count, but already
four moons must have passed since I had left Kano. Perhaps the
conspiracy between the Khalifa and Khazneh, Aga of the Women, had been
carried out, but having sent warning of it by Ayehsa to Azala, I felt
assured that the woman I loved would place his Majesty on his guard, and
the base machinations of the pair of scoundrels would be frustrated, and
the Empire saved from those who were seeking its overthrow.
Azala trusted in me to elucidate the mystery. Her deep, earnest request
uttered before we parted, rang ever in my ears in that trackless, lonely
region, her words stimulated me to strive onward to ascertain from the
fierce savages of the Avisibba the whereabouts of the Rock of the Great
Sin.
"What time has elapsed since we set forth?" I asked of Tiamo, one day
as we plodded doggedly forward.
"Nearly four moons, O master," he answered, promptly. "See! I have
notched the days upon my gun's stock," and he held out his gun, showing
how he had preserved a record of time. I told him to continue to keep
count of each day, then asked him if anxiety or fear possessed him.
"I am the slave of the beauteous Lalla, sent on a quest to bring her
peace. Thou art her devoted friend. While thou leadest me I fear not
to follow," and mumbling, he fingered his amulets.
"Be it as Allah willeth," I said. "Peradventure he will reward us, and
gladden our eyes with a sight of the mystic rock. If it is anywhere on
earth it is in these regions, unknown to all but the ivory-raiders who
come up from the Congo and return thither."
"Let us search, O master," the dwarf, said encouragingly. "Though our
stomachs are empty and our feet sore from long tramping, yet if we
continue we shall find the river."
"Bravely spoken, Tiamo," I answered. "Thou art well named El-Sadic.
Yea, we will continue our search, for with a light heart and
perseverance much can be accomplished. Though of small stature, thou
hast indeed a stout heart."
He grinned with satisfaction, and we trudged onward in silence through
the falling gloom, resolved to bear our weariness bravely for the sake
of the beautiful woman who, imprisoned in the great, far-off palace, was
watching and waiting anxiously for our return to release her by solving
the secret.
The strange device that seemed to link our lives puzzled me even in that
dark forest, and many hours I remained silent, wondering whether I
should ever ascertain how we both came to bear marks exactly similar in
every detail.