PAULINE FORE MOFFITT LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA GENERAL LIBRARY, BERKELEY 1 JAMES K. MOFFITT s X /*w f The World of the Great Forest "Here I am, dear, waiting fir you" The World of the Great Forest How Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects Talk, Think, Work, and Live By Paul Du Chaillu Author of "The Viking Age," "The Land of the Long Night," " Ivar the Viking," "The Land of the Midnight Sun," "Explorations in Equatorial Africa," "Stories of the Gorilla Country," "Wild Life under the Equator," " Lost in the Jungle," "My Apingi Kingdom," "The Country of the Dwarfs," etc., etc. WITH OVER FIFTT ILLUSTRATIONS BY C. R. KNIGHT AND J. M. GLEESON New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1900 Copyright, IQOO BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. ro CHARLES SCRIBNER AND ARTHUR H. SCRIBNER DEAR FRIENDS, Remembering the uniform courtesy and consideration it has been my good fortune to experience at your hands for a series of years, and recollecting the delightful relations that have always been reciprocal between us, and that have contributed so much to my happiness, I take infinite pleasure in dedicating this volume, u The World of the Great Forest" to you both, as a slight evidence of the sincere esteem entertained by me, an author, for you, my publishers. PAUL DU CHAILLU. Introduction THE World of the Great Central African Forest is a remarkable one. Its denizens range from the huge elephant to the smallest ant, and in its dark recesses and almost impenetrable jungle I have studied the life of these creatures. From close observation and persistent study I have arrived at the conclusion that animals, birds, reptiles, ants, spiders, etc., possess great power of apprehen sion and prevision ; that creatures of the same species have understanding with one another, either by voice, sign, or other ways unknown to man ; otherwise they could not act with such harmony and deliberation. It is not reasonable to say that animals do not con verse because we do not understand or hear the sounds they make. The fault is ours, not theirs. Do we not always say, when we are learning a foreign language and begin to speak with the natives, that they talk so fast we cannot follow them ? The articulation and the words seem to be blended together, and it is only after a time that we catch separate words. vii INTRODUCTION Everything that lives is born with wonderful gifts suited to its mode of life. The shape and appearance of animals are designed to enable them to lead their special lives. Many have great power of scent, much keener than that of man. This particular attribute enables them to approach their prey and avoid danger. For example, the animal that preys upon others knows enough to move against the wind on his predatory ex peditions. Those that feed on fruits and nuts know exactly at what season, in what month or week of the year, these are good to eat, and where they are to be found. They know how far distant is their feeding- ground, and the time needed to reach it. They all know their way, whether through the air or in the jungle, and nothing escapes their observation. When animals or birds are taught to speak, or to do special tricks, it is clear that they must exercise mem ory, and memory means thought, and thought means reason. The destruction of life, the battles that take place among the creatures of that great African Forest, the millions that are killed and eaten up every day, are be yond computation. Life, to sustain itself, must destroy life; such is the economy of nature. It is a struggle for existence among all. So the great gift given to every creature is knowledge of how to protect itself from its enemies, and how to approach its prey. If it were not for constant destruction, the animal world vui INTRODUCTION would increase so fast that there would be room and food left for none. To enable the reader to enter into the life of the great African Forest, I have made the animals tell their own stories and explain their own actions as if they were endowed with the power of speech. And I have given to them native names. A number of the ani mals mentioned, I discovered myself. PAUL DU CHAILLU. AUGUST 15, 1900. IX Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. THE GUANIONIEN, OR GIANT EAGLE i II. THE GUANIONIENS' DEPARTURE FOR THE LAND OF PLENTY 9 III. THE NGOZOS, OR GRAY PARROTS WITH RED TAILS . 16 IV. THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS, TRAVEL TOWARD THE LAND OF PLENTY 30 V. ARRIVAL OF THE NGOZOS AND NKEMAS IN THE LAND OF PLENTY 43 VI. THE NIGHT ANIMALS 49 VII. THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD 51 VIII. BIRTH OF THREE LITTLE NJEGOS 60 IX. THE BIG NJEGO BECOMES A MAN-EATER .... 65 X. THE HAKOS, OR ANTS 73 XI. THE NcHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS 75 XII. THE GIANT NCHELLELAYS 86 XIII. THE NGOMBAS, OR PORCUPINES 91 XIV. THE IPI, OR GIANT ANT-EATER 97 XV. THE NGOMBA, OR PORCUPINE THE IZOMBA, OR TURTLE THE IPI, OR ANT-EATER 101 XVI. THE NGOOBOO, OR HIPPOPOTAMUS 1 06 XVII. A FIGHT FOR Miss NGOOBOO 116 xi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVIII. THE FIVE APES, OR MEN OF THE WOODS . . . 1 20 XIX. THE NGINAS, OR GORILLAS, AND NJOKOOS, OR ELEPHANTS 1 24 XX. THE NGINAS TRAVEL TO A PLANTAIN FIELD ; THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURES 134 XXI. THE NJOKOOS, OR ELEPHANTS, TRAVEL TO THE PLANTAIN FIELD 139 XXII. ARRIVAL OF THE HUMAN BEINGS WHO OWN THE PLANTAIN FIELD 143 XXIII. THE THREE NGINAS KILLED BY HUNTERS . . . 145 XXIV. THE OMEMBAS, OR SNAKES 1 56 XXV. A HUGE OMBAMA, OR PYTHON . . . . . . 158 XXVI. THE NTOTO, OR ICHNEUMON 165 XXVII. THE IBOBOTI, OR SPIDER 170 XXVIII. THE TRAP-DOOR IBOBOTI, OR BURROW SPIDER . 176 XXIX. THE HOUSE IBOBOTI, OR NIGHT SPIDER . . . 184 XXX. THE NYOI, OR WASP, AND THE IBOBOTI . . . 188 XXXI. THE Two NKENGOS, OR PALE-FACED APES . . .191 XXXII. A BABY NKENGO is BORN TO THE OLD NKENGOS . 204 XXXIII. THE NGANDOS, OR CROCODILES 210 XXXIV. THE OGATA, OR BURROW CROCODILE . . . . 216 XXXV. THE KAMBIS, OR ANTELOPES, THE NCHERIS, OR GAZELLES, AND THE BONGO 220 XXXVI. THE OSHINGI, OR CIVET 224 XXXVII, THE INSECTS, APILIBISHES, OR BUTTERFLIES, AND OSELIS, OR LIZARDS ......... 235 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXXVIII. THE NJOKOOS, OR ELEPHANTS 238 XXXIX. ADVENTURES OF THE NEW NJOKOOS 244 XL. EVIL DAYS FOR THE NJOKOOS 251 XLI. NjOKOOS AND THEIR BABIES 256 XLII. THE MBOYOS, OR JACKALS 263 XLIII. THE NSHIEYS, OR FISH, AND THEIR ENEMIES . . 268 XLIV. THE KONGOO, ONE OF THE FISHING EAGLES . . 272 XLV. THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS 284 XLVI. THE DARKENING OF THE DAY 291 XLVII. THE NTUNGOOLOOYA, OR KINGFISHER .... 293 XLVIII. THE OBONGOS, OR DWARFS 297 XLIX. ADVENTURES OF A NKENGO AND A NSHIEGO . . 309 GLOSSARY OF NATIVE ANIMAL- NAMES 323 Xlll List of Full-Page Illustrations " Here I am, dear, waiting for you " Frontispiece FACING PAGE " Here is a huge manga " 39 " He watched her " 66 "How they enjoyed their sea bath" 115 " Then ensued a terrible fight " 117 " He gave him a terrible bite " 136 "He attacked him, imbedding his teeth firmly in the back of his neck" 166 "All the others fled in terror and disappeared in the Great Forest" 214 " A pack of ugly-looking striped hyenas " 266 " The kongoo, using all his strength with his wings, gave several flaps" 280 " The poor njokoo fled for his life " 288 xv The World of the Great Forest CHAPTER I THE GUANIONIEN, OR GIANT EAGLE A GUANIONIEN, as he soared between the great forest and the sun, said to himself: " I am the lord of the air ; I am the largest and most powerful of all the eagles of the land. I am called the leopard of the air. I feed on monkeys." Then he chuckled, the way the guanioniens do, and rose higher and higher in the sky at each circle that he made. It seemed as if he were going directly toward the sun. At last he flew so high that no eyes from the forest could see him. After a while he reappeared; he was coming down again in a series of circles to the forest. At times his huge wings spread their full length and then stood still. He seemed to hang motionless in the air. When he had come down near enough, he scanned the great sea of trees all over, to see if their branches were moving, for this would show that there were monkeys upon them feeding upon their fruit, nuts, or berries. But all was still ; not a branch THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST stirred, and there was no wind. His eyes looked down perpendicularly and could see any object right under him. There was no monkey in sight. He said to himself: " Why have the monkeys been so shy of late, and kept themselves in the middle of the trees, never coming to their tops ? Surely other guanioniens must have been here before me and scared all the monkeys : they are afraid and keep out of sight ; they know that we cannot pounce upon them. How cunning they are ! " He saw a giant tree about four hundred feet high, rising twice as high as the other trees of the forest, and meditated : " The creatures of the forest know the favorite trees upon which I perch and eat my prey, only by the skulls and bones of the monkeys I have torn to pieces and devoured lying at their feet on the ground. But," he added, " it is not every day that I get a meal." He laughed : " No harm can ever befall me, for no enemy can frighten me ; no bird is strong enough to fight against me ; the spears and arrows of human beings can never reach me and hurt me, for I fly and perch so high ; men cannot even see the tops of my trees on account of the thick foliage which shuts off from them even the sun and the sky." After he had rested, he flew away and soared over the dark green forest, which was so large that it seemed to have no beginning nor end, and once more he watched for monkeys. But his piercing, far-sighted eyes saw nothing, not a branch of a tree THE GUANIONIEN was moving. Then he thought it was time to seek his mate, for they had agreed when they parted in the morning to meet on a certain tree upon which they were accustomed to rest during the day after their noon search for prey, and tell each other what had happened. Before long he saw the tree he sought. It was easily recognizable by the peculiar shape of its branches. Soon he was soaring over it, uttering pe culiar sounds belonging to the language of the guanioniens, and meaning, " Are you there, dear ? I am coming; " and his mate, already at the ren dezvous, replied, " Here I am, dear, waiting for you." Soon after, the big guanionien had alighted upon a branch close to hers, and the two looked at each other with affection, for they had not seen each other since they had parted a little after daylight. They uttered sounds which seemed strange, for these were words belonging to the guanionien lan guage, which meant, " How glad, dear, I am to see you ! How are you ? " or, " How have you been since this morning ? " After their greeting there was a short silence, then the big guanionien said to his mate, " Dear, what is the news ? Have you been lucky to-day ? Have you had a meal ? " " No," she replied. " Not a monkey came in sight to-day. They were afraid to come to the tops of the trees to feed, though I heard many of them 3 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST talking among themselves several times. I am starv ing. Surely guanioniens have been in the region before us, and that is the reason why the monkeys keep away." In her turn she inquired, " Have you good news to tell me ? Have you discovered a place where monkeys are plentiful ? Have you had a good meal ? " " Only bad news have I to tell," he replied. " I have seen no troops of monkeys. Bad luck con tinues to follow us. I am starving, too. For three days we have soared over this great forest and have seen and caught nothing." And with a sigh, " How hard we have to work for our living ! " said both at the same time. " Oh, how fortunate it is that we guanioniens are so constituted that we can starve for days without dying ! This great gift has been given to us to suit our mode of life. Hunger is our enemy; but old age is our greatest one." They left their tree and agreed to come back in the evening to sleep upon it, as had been their cus tom for some little time. They flew a long way off, in a bee-line at first, keeping in sight of each other for a while, then parted. Toward sunset they were once more perched on the tree, and each inquired for the afternoon's news. The big guanionien said: " Several times I saw branches moving, with monkeys upon them. At this sight my appetite grew more voracious than before, and I thought that I was going to have a good meal. 4 THE GUANIONIEN I soared over the trees, but the monkeys never came to the tops so that I could swoop down upon them. They seemed to dread danger, although I was so high in the air that they could not see me. But experience has taught them that it is not safe for them to be on the tops of the trees ; ugly, suspi cious monkeys, we have to be very cunning to cap ture them/' After he had finished, he asked his mate what she had to tell. She replied : " During my flight I came to a place where I saw the tops of several trees covered with big red fruit. Surely, I thought, mon keys will be tempted when they see this, and will come out to eat. I soared over them until it was time to leave to meet you, for sunset was fast coming on. At the dawn of the day we must fly to that place, for I believe that some wandering troops of monkeys will surely come there to feed." " If I capture a monkey, he will never drop from my claws,'* said her mate. " Neither will one from mine," she replied. "Oh, dear, how hard it is to work for nothing ! " The sun had set, and darkness came over the land, and the two guanioniens fell asleep. They felt safe, for the tree was large, and its first branch was so high above the forest that nothing but winged creatures could get to them. At daybreak the two guanioniens left, travelling in the direction of the fruit trees as fast as they could. They remained in sight of each other, but did not 5 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST talk or hail each other, as was their wont, for fear the monkeys might hear them and become more wary than ever. At last, to their great satisfaction, after travelling about one hundred miles, they saw in the distance the bright red tops of the fruit trees they sought. At the sight the two guanioniens came together and whispered : " Surely some troops of monkeys will come and feed upon these trees. Let us soar above them all day, if necessary. Patience is often rewarded. Sometimes the prey comes when we are ready to give up." Then they flew very high and soared above the fruit-bearing trees. They soared a long time, looking down in that peculiar manner which belongs to the eagle, their eyeballs moving so that they can see directly under them. Suddenly they heard monkeys chattering among themselves. The reason of this loud talk was that two troops of different species of monkeys were quarrelling, daring each other and ready to fight. One troop was trying to drive the other away. The two guanioniens, by peculiar motions of their wings and other silent ways of communication only known to their species, told each other the news about the monkeys. Great indeed was the joy of the guanioniens at the prospect of a good hearty meal. They bided their time and watched for their opportunity. They were not going to be rash and run tne chance of missing their prey. 6 THE GUANIONIEN It happened that two or three days before, troops of monkeys had come to those same trees and had eaten up all the fruit that was on their lower and middle branches, thus leaving that on the top. The monkeys looked and when they saw the bright red, juicy fruit, they forgot all about guan- ioniens, and soon were all over the tops of several trees eating away to their hearts' content, unaware of the presence 7 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST of their enemies soaring above them and waiting for the opportune moment to pounce upon them. Suddenly, like a flash, the two guanioniens swooped down perpendicularly from their height, and before the monkeys were aware of their presence, they had seized the two largest in their talons, clutched firmly by the neck and back, and rose in the air with them. CHAPTER II THE GUANIONIENS' DEPARTURE FOR THE LAND OF PLENTY ONE evening after the guanioniens had returned to their tree to spend the night, and as they stood close together on a branch upon which they had perched, the big guanionien said to his mate : " Dear, it is time to prepare ourselves for the long journey we take every year at this season, to go to our nest and repair it. The country where we have built our nest will soon be a land of plenty ; there will be berries, nuts, and fruits in abundance. By that time little guanioniens will break out of their shells into the world. The monkeys will come in great numbers to feed on the ripened fruits or nuts, and," with a laugh peculiar to guanioniens, " then we shall be able to feed ourselves and our dear little ones quite well." " It is so," replied his mate. " The height of the sun, the intense heat, dry moons and rainy moons that have passed away since we were in the Land of Plenty tell us that it is time for us to go to our nest, repair it, and raise a brood of guanioniens." Then came a long silence ; the guanioniens were fast asleep. The following morning they greeted each other, then started for the Land of Plenty to visit their nest, 9 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST which they had done every year for a long time past. They flew in a bee-line. They knew their way per fectly well through the air ; but how, no one in the forest could tell but guanioniens themselves. They had to travel over a thousand miles before reach ing their nest. Now and then they looked down upon the forest to see if any branches were mov ing at the tops of the trees. This would be a sign that monkeys were there. When they suspected that it was so, they would soar above them, peeping deeply into the branches, but that day they were unsuccessful. Toward sunset they saw two giant trees growing close together, well known to them, and upon these they perched for the night. After they alighted they looked all around. They saw some nut-bearing trees, and the big guanionien said to his mate, " Let us soar over these trees to-morrow morning ; perhaps we shall discover monkeys feeding on their tops. We shall have to be patient, for as you know, dear, prey sometimes shows itself at the last hour and when least expected. We cannot well undertake this long journey without food." Then they went to sleep. Early the next morning they saw from their resting-place branches of trees moving in several places, and knew that troops of monkeys were feeding. At once they left and soared over the monkeys and succeeded in capturing two, which they carried to the tree where they had spent the night, and devoured them. TO THE GUANIONIENS' DEPARTURE After this bountiful repast they said, " Now that we have had a fine meal we can reach our destination without difficulty." In the afternoon a small black spot rose above the horizon in the east. It gradually grew larger and larger against the sky, in spite of the wind which blew against it. The old guanionien flew to his mate and said: " Dear, by the look of the sky a tornado will soon be upon us ; the wind will blow fiercely. Let us find a tree upon which we can shelter ourselves, for we are not strong enough to fly against the tornado, and we could not possibly go with the wind, for we do not know where it would take us. It might carry us to a country we do not know." They looked around them and saw a tall tree, and flew toward it as fast as their wings could carry them, and soon were perched in its centre, being protected thus by its big trunk and many branches. They knew that these would partly break the force of the fearful wind. They had met with many tornadoes during their lives. They faced the black spot, for they knew that the tornado was to blow from that direction, then sunk their huge talons deeply into the wood on the branch on which they were perched, so as to have a powerful hold and not be carried away when the tornado fell upon them. They made themselves as small as they could by bending their legs, and shortening their necks. They had hardly prepared themselves for their con- ii THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST its flict with the tornado when the wind blowing against the black spot stopped, then came a calm, the precursor of the tornado. A white spot rose from the horizon under the now huge black mass that had gathered. It was the tornado. In the twinkling of an eye with terrific force it struck the tree upon which the guanion- iens were. The wind hissed through branches, many of which bent as if ready to break, but the guanioniens had chosen a good place. Never- * theless, they had a hard time to hold on and not to be blown away. Then the wind subsided, and terrific vivid lightning accompanied by claps of thunder filled the open spaces and the great forest. It rained in torrents and such rain as is only known under the mountainous equatorial regions of that great forest. 12 THE GUANIONIENS' DEPARTURE It stormed and thundered the rest of the day and during almost the whole of the night. The guanioniens had pressed their feathers close together. Fortunately they were well oiled and the rain ran off over them, so that their skins escaped a drenching. In spite of the great storm, the guanioniens had short naps, at times being awakened by the vivid lightning and terrific peals of thunder, re-echoed from mountain to mountain. At daybreak they awoke, and one said, " Dear, we have had a very uncomfortable night, but at this season of the year we shall meet many more of them." Before leaving their tree for their journey, they made their toilet, and it took them quite a while. Not only the guanioniens, but all the birds have a bag or pouch just at the end of the spinal column near the tail, full of an oily or fatty soft substance, which they take from the opening with their beak and with which they oil their feathers. The guanioniens had a big one indeed, making a large protuberance. They began to take the oily substance from their pouches, and their beaks went through almost every feather, these being placed one upon another as shingles on a roof. They were, in a word, combing themselves. When no more oil was left, then they went back to their pouches for more. They had plenty to do, for the heavy rain of the night had taken almost all the oily matter from their feathers. When they had THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST finished they said to each other, " Now our skins are protected against the rain." It was just as good as if they had had on india-rubber coats. After their toilets, the guanioniens continued their journey, looking for prey as they went along, soaring after a long time above the place where monkeys were likely to come. One day they saw and recognized in the distance the giant tree upon which was their nest. They flew toward it and shortly afterward perched upon one of its branches with much satisfaction. Looking at their nest, the big guanionien said to his mate : " Dear, our nest requires much repairing : it is terribly weather-beaten ; it is getting quite old, and soon we shall have to make a new one. We have raised many little guanioniens in this dear old nest of ours, two or three at a time. Since we mated we have been true and faithful to each other, for we guanioniens always keep true to our mates. What care these little ones have given us ! How we have had to protect them with our wings from cold and from the rain ! How hard we have had to work to feed them, and to raise them until they could get a living for themselves ! I wonder where they all are now, and if they some times think of their parents.* 1 The following day they began to work in earnest at repairing their nest. They went in search of small twigs of trees and interlaced them and put them where they were needed. Then three eggs were laid in it by Mrs, Guanionien. THE GUANIONIENS' DEPARTURE The guanioniens had a hard time while they hatched their eggs, and became quite thin, for only one could go after monkeys at a time, and these were not plentiful. They watched the trees and could see the fruits, berries, and nuts getting larger every day, and saw them changing color and coming to maturity, and they were overjoyed, for their lives had indeed been hard since they had come to their nest. CHAPTER III THE NGOZOS, OR GRAY PARROTS WITH RED TAILS are many kinds of birds in the great forests. Among the most numerous and most intelligent are the gray ngozos with red tails. These ngozos, when young, have very black eyes, but as they grow older a yellow-whitish ring forms itself round the black. Many of them live to be more than a hundred years old. They live in flocks of tens, twenties, thirties, some times even fifties, though seldom more. Each flock has its leader, whom it obeys implicitly. He is chosen to be chief because he is supposed to be wise, and to know the forest and where food is to be found at the different months or seasons of the year. Hence he is old and has had more experience, and is the first to give the signal of danger. It is the custom of the ngozos to meet every even ing, sometimes before sunset, to tell the news, what has happened and where food is to be found. Then after this they go to sleep. The ngozos and the monkeys are not good friends. The ngozos hate the monkeys with all their hearts, and have good reason to do so, for they both are fond of fruits, berries, and nuts ; and it often happens 16 THE NGOZOS that when a flock of ngozos is upon a tree, enjoying its delicious meal and very happy, a troop of monkeys suddenly makes its appearance, succeeds in driving the ngozos away, takes possession of the tree, and eats up the fruit so that when the ngozos return they find nothing left. Sometimes they have regular fights, but the ngozos generally get the worst of it, and have to fly away, saying all kinds of saucy things to the monkeys. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST One evening, flock after flock of ngozos arrived at their place of meeting, which was on an island situated in a large river. There they felt more secure from their enemies in the forest. Many had travelled a long way, but they knew exactly how long it would take them for their homeward journey, and though their wings were tired, they were not exhausted. After they had alighted, all the ngozos greeted one another, exclaiming, " Glad to see you ! Glad to see you ! Welcome to our place of meeting." Such a pandemonium of ngozos' voices was heard far and wide in the forest, for at least ten thousand of them were there perched on three or four trees that were close together. They jabbered away at a great rate. A stranger would have thought that they made too much noise to understand one another, as their voices were so confused, and as they were apparently all speaking at the same time. But to the ngozos it was not so ; they held a conversation, and one ngozo was talking to one of several of his friends who were listening to him. Though there were five or six hundred leaders of flocks in this great army of ngozos, each leader knew every member of his flock, and every ngozo knew his leader and recognized his voice, just as he recognized their voices also. He knew the number of his flock, and if one were missing he could tell which, and the other members of the flock likewise. No doubt each ngozo had a name known to the others of the flock. As they were telling the news, the leader of one 18 THE NGOZOS flock of ngozos said : " We have come back hungry this evening, for when we came to the trees we had seen loaded with our food of berries and nuts, we found they were all gone, for the monkeys had been there and eaten everything in sight. We were very angry, and during the day we had to fly over the forest and alight here and there to pick what we could. But almost everywhere the monkeys had been before us, and left only unripened berries or nuts, and we had to content ourselves with these, and few at that." After hearing this tale of woe, all the ngozos with one voice cried, " We hate the monkeys ; ugly mon keys ! " The noise was terrific when they said this, for they said these words all at the same time and they repeated them several times in succession, with anger. Oh, what a noise they made ! The ngozos of another flock, when they heard this, said : " We are sorry for you, dear ngozos ; it is too bad that you came home hungry. We came to a part of the forest where all the tops of the trees were cov ered with beautiful ripened fruits ; they were fine, and we ate them all day long, and no horrid monkeys came to disturb us. They were busy somewhere else eating our food." They called it " our food," for the parrots consid ered the berries, nuts, and fruits of the forest as their own, and thought that the monkeys had no business to eat them. The monkeys thought likewise of the ngozos. Then some ngozos belonging to another flock said: '9 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST " We flew over a village of human beings, and saw a number of our kin in the place. They could not fly ; their wings were cut ; we spoke to them, but they could not understand us, neither could we understand them." The reason they could not understand each other was because the ngozos in the village of the human beings had been captured in their nests when their bodies were covered with down, and had only learned the language of the human beings. They had no ngozos to teach them the language of their kin living in the forest. They had invented a jargon of their own, which they used when they did not speak the human language. Some flocks advised others not to go where they had been, for there was very little food to be found ; others told where monkeys were numerous, or where they were not. It was getting late, near sunset, and all the flocks ought to have arrived ; but the ngozos noticed that two were still absent. They were very much excited, and began to be afraid some great misfortune had happened to the missing ones, and talked loudly to one another. They wondered why no stragglers had arrived. Suddenly they heard voices above them. It was one of the flocks arriving. " We are coming ! " said the belated ones ; " we are coming ! " and they alighted. " Welcome ! " said all the ngozos at the same time. 20 THE NGOZOS " What makes you so late ? " cried all the ngozos. "Well, we have come from a long way off, and our wings are tired. We had great trouble to find food enough to-day to satisfy our hunger, for the monkeys had been there before us this morning. We went a great distance, and, guided by our leader, we came to a region in which food was plentiful, and which the monkeys had not found out. Several flocks can find plenty of food there to-morrow, provided the ugly monkeys do not find the place." " Horrid monkeys ! " chattered all the ngozos at once. The ngozos waited anxiously for the only flock missing. They were much distressed. Had the flock left them to go to another place? The sun had set, and it was fast growing dark, for in the forest darkness comes soon after sunset. Soon, to their great joy, they heard above their heads the voices of the missing ones, and a great cry arose among them. " Welcome ! " they shouted with one voice. The flock alighted. " What makes you so late ? It is almost dark," cried the ngozos together. " Don't speak of it," cried the belated flock. " Don't speak of it. We had an awful fight with the monkeys, and we are lucky to have escaped with our lives from their clutches." " Hateful monkeys ! " cried all the ngozos. " See how dilapidated some of us look," said one of the late comers; and one of the flock, turning her 21 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST back, cried, " Look at me. I am almost without a tail. An ugly monkey plucked it off. It was hard for me to fly and reach our meeting-place, for having hardly any tail I flew with difficulty." " Look at me," said a second one, as he also turned his back to the ngozos. "My feathers are all gone between my wings. I wonder how I es caped from that savage monkey." All the ngozos listened silently when they heard this tale of woe. A third one said, " Look at me, ngozos. See the state of my poor feathers and how many have been plucked by one of those monkeys. But I suc ceeded in giving him a bite and cut off one of his fingers, and he had to let me go. He gave such a cry of pain." " Good for you ! " shouted all the parrots ; " good for you, ngozos ! " " How did the fight happen ? " asked one of the wise ones who had been listening. " Tell us." Then the chief of the flock said : C Our flock was on a tree feasting on delicious fruits, when suddenly 22 THE NGOZOS we heard a troop of monkeys coming. Soon they leaped on our tree and wanted to drive us away, and attacked us. We tried to resist, but the monkeys are so quick of motion, and they have hands and feet that can clutch, while we ngozos can only bite. The com bat was unequal. One of our number was killed by them. The reason that we are so late is that we had to fly slowly on account of our disabled ones. We did not want to leave them behind, for we are all good comrades and we love one another dearly." " That was right. You are true ngozos," cried they all. Then came a shrill chorus, and all the ngozos shrieked again, "We hate the monkeys." But soon the jabbering among the ngozos became less and less, for many were getting sleepy. Then quiet settled down on the army. All had fallen asleep, after, however, having first agreed where the flocks should go to the next morning. Long before dawn, between three and four o'clock, all the ngozos were awake and talked to one another. When ready for their journey, each leader said to his flock, " Be ready, ngozos; we must hurry." His flock would answer, " We are ready." " Follow me, then," would say the leader as he flew away, followed by all the numbers that belonged to him. Flock after flock of ngozos left one after another, after saying, cc Good-by," " Good luck to you." " Good luck to you," was the answer, and in less than ten minutes they all had left. Some flocks 23 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST flew toward the north, others to the east, west, south, to some particular part of the forest where they thought they would find plenty of food. They were all in a great hurry to reach the different places, so as to be there before the monkeys, the small flocks going where there were only a few fruit-bearing trees to be found, and the flock that had been so badly beaten by the monkeys going to the nearest food place. The ngozos possess the wonderful gift of knowing their way through the air; the trees are their land marks, as they fly above the forest and look down to discover any fruit-bearing trees. A very old ngozo, about eighty years old, with powdered feathers and deep yellow eyes (which is a sign of old age), who was the last to go away, said to his flock : " I know of a place where at this time of the year there are trees that must be loaded with fruit [and he named the fruit]. I will lead you there." "Good for you, our chief!" cried all the ngozos. "You are a good chief. With you we shall find plenty of food." After a journey of about twenty miles, the old leader said to his flock, " Look yonder. Do you see the tree-tops red with fruit?" And they looked in that direction and saw trees red with fruit, and all uttered cries of joy, saying, " What a good morning's meal we are going to have ! " They flew with still greater rapidity and soon alighted upon the trees. "We are here just in season," they all exclaimed at 24 THE NGOZOS the same time. Then they remained perfectly silent, so as not to attract other ngozos, and also so as not to let the monkeys know where they were. The fruits were very dainty. Soon every ngozo was enjoying his meal, holding the fruit in his claw (for they use their feet as we do our hands) and peeling it with his beak. u * <*/ After having had a good meal, they flew away to an other part of the forest, where their leader thought they would find a kind of nut they liked very much. Halfway they settled upon a tree to feed, when suddenly a stranger alighted among them. They looked at the new-comer, and at once wanted to drive him away, for he did not belong to their flock. Great cries of rage were heard among them ; but as they were preparing to fight the poor wanderer, the chief of the flock cried with a very piercing and command- 25 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST ing voice : " Do not drive him away. He is lost. For some reason or another he is solitary. Don't you see that he belongs to our kin, and has a gray body and a red tail ? Let us welcome him." The ngozos did so at once in a chorus. But, to their utter astonish ment, they found that the stranger could not under stand what they said to him ; and when he spoke to them they could not understand what he said, and they marvelled at that, and looked at their new friend with amazement and did not know what to make of him. The fact was that the poor ngozo had escaped from a village of human beings, one of whom had taken him away from his nest when he was a baby ngozo. He had given him to his wife, who fed him and raised him tenderly and taught him to speak or listen to her words. Consequently, he had not learned the lan guage of the ngozos, not having lived among them. He spoke at times a queer kind of jargon which he and two or three captive ngozos of the village had invented for use among themselves. In the evening the stranger followed them. He had been admitted as one of the members of the flock, and when they arrived at a certain place they met other ngozos. All marvelled at the new-comer, who was exactly like themselves, but could not understand them, as they could not understand him. But never theless they were soon friends. The hour came when the flock thought it was time to return to the island where all the ngozos met, and 26 THE NGOZOS they started and before long reached the place with the new friend they had adopted that day. As usual they had their talk out and then went to sleep. That night this ngozo stranger thought of the home he had left, of his mistress who had been so kind to him, and how much he was petted by the people. The next morning he followed the flock that had received him. He had no one to bring him his breakfast, and henceforth he would have to work for his living. It was a new life before him, but after a while he found that it was much better to be free, even if you had to work for a living, instead of having some one to take care of you and be a slave. Often the adopted stranger, when his people (the other ngozos) were resting on a tree, would talk the language of the human beings who had brought him up. While he did so, the other ngozos listened in silence. It did not take them long to learn the language of the human beings through their new friend. He wondered why and how they could learn so quickly from him, while it had taken him so long to learn the same language. The reason was that the ngozos learn much more quickly from one another. He also learned quickly the speech of his kin, and after a while could talk the language of wild gray ngozos as well as the rest of them. Nevertheless, though years passed away, he never forgot some of the words his master and mistress had taught him, and he remembered them to his death. One evening after all the flocks had arrived, the 27 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST ngozos' chiefs said, " Now it is time for us to start for the Land of Plenty/' " Yes," cried all the ngozos, " it is time for us to start for the Land of Plenty. A grand time we will all have there." " This is the moon of tornadoes, thunder, lightning, of great heat," said one chief. " Fruit and nuts will soon be ripe in that far-off country." And all the ngozos kept repeating over and over again, "It is time for us to travel toward the Land of Plenty." It was agreed among them that this should be the last day of the season they were all to stay and sleep at the dear old place, where they had had so many chats together, and they were sad ; but the glo rious time they were to have in the Land of Plenty from morning to night made them feel that they must go, for of late they had had a hard time to get food. The ngozos are very wise, and they agreed to scatter and take different ways, for otherwise they would starve, there were so many of them. As usual when daylight came, flock after flock left, bidding each other good-by, to meet again in the Land of Plenty. In the evening only a few flocks returned to the old place of meeting. But the trees did not seem the same to them. There was a look of sadness among the ngozos, so many dear friends and faces were missing. There was less bustle, less chattering, less noise, less laughing (for the ngozos laugh). 28 THE NGOZOS Three days afterward not one ngozo was to be seen on the trees. They all had left for their prom ised land. Flock after flock were spread over a vast extent of country, flying over the trees. They saw once in a while a troop of monkeys and bore them no good will. When the ngozos saw any nut- or fruit-bearing trees, they alighted upon them, and after they had fed, con tinued their journey. Several flocks had trouble with the monkeys while feeding. When they came near, the ngozos made fearful noises, their feathers rose on their backs, and their tails spread, showing how angry they were. They gave all kinds of bad names to the monkeys. The monkeys did not know what the ngozos said to them, as they did not understand their language. But they knew they were angry, and every time the poor ngozos had to get out of their way when they had made up their minds to climb on their tree. 29 CHAPTER IV THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS, TRAVEL TOWARD THE LAND OF PLENTY WHILE the guanioniens were hatching their eggs, the monkeys began to think that it was time to start on their journey to the Land of Plenty, a journey which they took every year. They remem bered the great time they had in that land, and how loaded many of the trees were with berries, nuts, and fruits. What feasts they had, and how fat they had become while there, even before they had eaten up everything in sight ! From many distant parts of the great forest north and south, east and west, troops of monkeys accord ingly were travelling to the Land of Plenty. Among those were the white-mustached miengai, the red-headed nkago, the jet-black, long-haired mondi, the white-nosed ndova, the bluish-black oganagana, the nchegai, and the mpondai. Each troop was hurrying as fast as possible, so as to reach the Land of Plenty before all the other monkeys, and even before the ngozos. All the creatures of the forest do likewise ; hence they all start at the dawn of the day. 30 THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS Each species of monkey has a distinct language of its own, and so easily recognizable that the other crea tures of the forest can tell which kind of monkey is talking. The various species do not mingle with one another. The number in each troop is from ten to twenty or thirty ; sometimes, but rarely, even as many as fifty. Every troop has its leader, chosen for his cunning and knowledge of the places where food is to be found at different seasons, months, and sometimes even in different weeks in the forest. The monkeys never eat any kind of new food without first smelling it to find out whether or no it is poisonous, for the forests abound in poisonous fruits, which are sometimes most tempting and deceiv ing in appearance, and, if bad, the monkeys throw them away at once. They know all the trees, rocks, brooks, and other landmarks. They choose a track or path where they can find food on their way. Among the monkeys who were thus travelling was a troop of white-nosed ndovas, numbering about twenty-five. Their leader was a very knowing old fellow, who had by his quick sight and acute hearing and cunning warned them many a time of danger, so that they could escape. All the troop believed in his wisdom and had great confidence in his judgment. For nearly fifteen consecutive years the old ndova had made the trip to the Land of Plenty. One evening before going to sleep, the chief said 31 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST to his followers : " Strange is our life. The trees are our home ; we never sleep twice on the same one ; we have to travel all the year round in search of food, and sometimes food is so scarce that we have to go long distances and then get only a scant living. In deed, at certain times of the year we have to work hard for our living. We have even to walk on the ground to pick up what we can get. When we are walking we are timid, for it is only when we are in the trees that we feel at home. Leaping from one tree to another, we can travel very fast." " That is so," said all the ndovas, when they heard their leader speak these words of wisdom ; " we are glad to have you for a chief." " Yes," he replied, " but I am getting old, and soon the younger ndovas will drop me and choose another chief." " Not yet, not yet ; not for a long time yet," cried all the younger ndovas. Soon deep silence reigned among them. They all had fallen asleep. At daylight they got ready for their long journey. And their chief said to his followers, " We shall have to travel fast to-day, for food will be scarce on our way." Soon after the ndovas started on their journey, the old chief leading, while four or five of the strongest were almost abreast of him, the others following. They did not run or walk on the branches of trees, but travelled as they always do on such occasions when THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS they make a long journey. They took flying leaps, falling on the end of the branches they reached, their weight bringing down with great force the limbs of the tree upon which they fell, ten or twelve feet and sometimes more, the limbs then rebounding with great force. On the rebound with astonishing quickness and unerring eyes they sprang to the extremity of another branch. These leaps varied in length from ten to fifteen or twenty feet. Their feet and hands caught with great firmness and precision the flexible limb upon which they landed. Their eyes measured instantly the space to be leaped over and the branch to be reached. Their quick ways are one of the gifts given to many of the monkey tribe. On their journey the ndovas found themselves sometimes on trees higher than all the surrounding ones. Then they had to leap down some forty or fifty feet, and the limbs upon which 3 33 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST they fell, bent with a great crash and rebounded with amazing force. Thus they went on incessantly for several hours, all keeping silent, never uttering a cry, and at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour. The sound of the bending and rebounding of the branches of trees, the rustle of their leaves, was heard by many creatures of the forest, who said, " The monkeys are travelling." At last they came to several trees covered with nuts. There was great joy among all the ndovas at the sight. The leader had taken them to the right place. They might have passed the spot either on the right or on the left without knowing it, for the trees were so thick. They were there before any other troop of monkeys or flock of parrots. So they had it all to themselves, and soon were cracking nuts and eating them as fast as they could. After the ndovas had eaten until they could eat no more, they were somewhat lazy. They moved quietly, and leaped gently from one branch of a tree to another to amuse themselves. They played with and ran after one another. Some of the old ones were by themselves. There was one hanging to a branch of a tree by one arm. Suddenly one of his companions, getting hold of his legs, hung by them, the branch bending heavily down with the combined weight of the two. " Let go ! Get away ! " shouted the upper one with all his lungs. cc You are too heavy. I am going to drop. 34 THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS My hands cannot hold the branch much longer." When the other heard this, he laughed at his friend and let go and dropped. Another one would raise himself with his arms, climb over his fellow, and then run off pursued by the angry ndova, who did not like to have such tricks played on him. Then both would stop, glare at each other, and peace was made. Some of the ndovas were hanging downward, look ing at their friends underneath, who were quiet and holding a conversation. Others were looking search- ingly in the skin of a comrade who was lying on his back on a big limb of a tree and picking out any little thing they saw in his fur. They all seemed to enjoy this immensely, especially the one lying on his back. He had the best of it. He loved to be scratched. A number were very lively, and were running after one another, to see which could run the fastest and escape. They shouted : " You cannot catch me. I dare you." They would leap from one branch to another, then stop and grin at their companions who could not catch them. These were the young mem bers of the troop. A good meal did not make them lazy. Some ndovas made queer grimaces at each other. Others were quarrelling for one reason and another. They uttered sounds of defiance and were full of fight, daring and tantalizing one another, their angry eyes almost sticking out of their sockets. One or two ndovas lay on their backs, quietly rest ing on a heavy limb of a tree, holding to a branch to 35 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST steady themselves or so as not to tumble down. Sud denly they were seen by some other ndovas above, who came and disturbed them. Then came a short fight. Their chief was quietly looking on at his followers. All at once he gave a cry of alarm well known among the ndovas, which meant, " Let us be off; there is danger." There was a cry of fear from the other ndovas and a general stampede, all going to the left from the danger, for that peculiar cry of the chief meant they were to run from the right. It was which among them could run the fastest. They leaped from tree to tree, from the extremity of one branch to the end of another branch, and so the whole troop went on. They were in full flight and going as fast as they could. It did not take them long to get out of the supposed danger and far from the place. When they thought they were safe, they slackened their speed. Suddenly a peculiar sound or cry was uttered by their chief, which meant for them to stop. Then when they had come together he said to them, " We had a narrow escape. A huge tree omemba [serpent] was coming toward us." They rested a little while and then continued their journey toward the Land of Plenty. They came to a cluster of trees loaded with nuts and all uttered cries of joy at the sight. Their chief had led them right; they were not to starve. They broke the shells and ate the kernels with great avidity. When their appetites were satisfied they 36 THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS filled the pouches inside of their cheeks until the skin of these was so distended that they could hold no more. "If we do not find food," said they, "we will eat the nuts that we have stored in our pouches. How nice it is for us to have such pouches, so that we can carry provisions with us and eat them on the way when hungry ! " Then they resumed their journey, for the Land of Plenty was still far away. " Let us hurry as fast as we can," they said, " so as to be the first on the spot." But an hour or two afterward, they slackened their speed and stopped, walking leisurely on the branches of trees. They were hungry, and began to eat the food they had stored in their pouches. These were so full that they had to use their hands outside to press out the pieces of nuts. After this they continued their journey, and when it was nearly sunset stopped, and prepared for their night's rest. Some quarrelled for places. But soon all were seated comfortably on their haunches with their legs bent, their heads gradually fell on their breasts, and they were ere long fast asleep. They remained undisturbed the whole of the night. Early the following day the ndovas were again on the march. During the day, while they were resting and chattering, the whistling of several arrows was heard among them, and two of their number were pierced and killed and fell to the ground with a great 37 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST crash. All the ndovas, giving a cry of alarm, fled with the greatest speed. They knew that those arrows had been shot by human beings, for several of their number had been killed in that manner before. They were not afraid of the apes, or " men of the woods," but they knew well what human beings were like, and every time they saw them they fled. Having run a long way, they stopped. They were all sad and mourned greatly the death of their two companions. The chief said, " We never know where these human beings are lying in wait for us. They are so sly. They are under trees on which we feed before we know it, and often they take us unawares, though we watch and are on the lookout for them." After a pause another wise ndova said : " Next the human beings our greatest enemy is the guanionien. He swoops down upon us, seizes us in his powerful claws, carries us up in the air, and then alights upon a tree and devours us. How we dread him ! He is worse than a human being. We have to be con stantly on the lookout for him, for we can never scent him, and before we know it one of us is carried away. So we have to watch above our heads for the guanioniens, and under the trees for the human be ings. Fortunately there are not very many of these horrid guanioniens." A third ndova, after listening to this, asked : " What about the big tree snakes ? Has no one seen one of them after us on this journey ? " 38 u Here is a huge manga " THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS In the course of the day the ndovas came to a stream and followed its banks until it became narrow enough for them to leap to the other side. They stopped to rest on a tree overlooking the river, when suddenly they spied a strange creature swimming along the banks. At first they could only see his head. "Here is a huge manga [manatee]," said the chief of the ndovas to his followers. " He is feeding on the leaves of the trees that hang with their branches touching the water. Look at him ! how big he is ! [the monster weighs sometimes fifteen hun dred pounds]. What a clumsy animal ! He is eating leaves, and yet he never gets out of the water, never lands on the shore. How small his eyes are ! " The manga is indeed wonderful ! on his sides are fins, or hands without nails, which he uses as oars to swim with, and his tail is flat, and with the help of his paddles he can raise his body up vertically, and this enables him to feed on the leaves of the trees, while the gentle motion of his paddles or hands help him to keep his upright position. His body, ten or twelve feet long, is dark gray with a few bristles about one inch in length here and there on the skin. The stream was clear, and the movements of the manga could be easily seen as he swam and moved along eating the leaves. The ndovas watched the manga with great curiosity ; they were not afraid, for they knew he could not climb trees. Then they con tinued their journey. That evening the ndovas all went to sleep with a 39 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST sorrowful heart, especially the two that had lost their companions. At daybreak they continued their journey. They met soon after their departure with a great adventure. They came to a tree in one of whose hollows was a beehive. Immediately the bees attacked the ndovas with great fierceness and stung several of them. They uttered loud cries of pain, and all fled with the greatest haste, shouting in the language of the ndovas, " Horrid bees ! Horrid bees ! " Toward noon the troop came to a number of trees covered with nice fruit. As they were eating quietly, they heard the sound of a moving branch, telling them that another troop of monkeys was coming. The noise became more distinct; evidently the strangers were coming in their direction. They remained silent, so as not to give them a clew to their whereabouts, for fear of having to divide their find of fruit with them. They heard the loud voices of the long, black shaggy-haired mondi, the largest of the monkey tribe. Soon they were on a tree near them. The mondis were furious when they found out that the ndovas were there first, for they knew the place, and had hoped to reach it before any other troop of monkeys. The mondis uttered their war-cry. It is indeed a fearful one, one that can be heard at a great distance. This was answered by the war-cry of the ndovas, but the latter was faint compared with that of the mondis. The hair of the ndovas stood erect, their 40 THE NKEMAS, OR MONKEYS eyes glared at their enemies, and the mondis' eyes glared at the ndovas. The ndovas were more numerous than the mondis, but these were more heavily built, and far stronger. They had immense canine teeth, which could go deep into the flesh ; and though the ndovas had good ones also, they were not so large. It is true the ndovas had quicker motions and were far more agile. The mondis came nearer and nearer. Their looks were fiercer and fiercer. The mondis defied the ndovas, and the ndovas defied the mondis. The noise both troops made was fearful. At last the mon dis leaped upon the trees where the ndovas were, and attacked them. The ndovas were soon routed and had to flee, leaving the fruit- bearing tree in complete possession of the long black-haired mondis. The mondis started at once to eat, for they were very hungry. They had hardly begun their meal, however, the ndovas looking at them from a tree near 41 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST by, full of anger, when there appeared upon the scene two nshiegos (large full-grown apes), who also knew these trees and came to eat their fruit. They were very angry when they saw the mondis were there before them, for they too had come from a long dis tance. They gave tremendous yells, and the fright ened mondis fled in great haste, for the nshiegos, with their long, powerful arms, would have made short work of them. " Good for you ! " shouted the ndovas to the nshie gos when they saw they had driven away the mondis. The nshiegos ate everything in sight. The ndovas travelled every day toward the Land of Plenty, and had to pass through a part of the forest where nuts, fruits, and berries were very scarce, for the fruit season had passed. Other troops of monkeys, large flocks of toucans (a bird with a huge bill), and other large birds had been there before them. They agreed to travel in squads, so that they could get food more easily, for there was not enough for all of them when they were together, and then to meet at a certain place before sunset, the leader of each squad having been in the country before, on their way to the Land of Plenty. They had a hard time to get their living on that day. Fortunately the Land of Plenty was not far off, and at last they entered its borders. 42 CHAPTER V ARRIVAL OF THE NGOZOS AND NKEMAS IN THE LAND OF PLENTY FLOCKS of ngozos and troops of nkemas began to enter the Land of Plenty one after another. Many squirrels had also made their appearance. Among the ngozos that had arrived was the flock which had had a fight with the ndovas. The one whose tail had been plucked, and the other whose feathers had been pulled out between his wings, and who had bitten off the monkey's finger, had not for gotten the horrid ndovas. Among the monkeys was the troop of ndovas which had attacked the ngozos, and with them the one that had had his finger cut off. He had cause to remember the horrid ngozos. Day after day the monkeys gradually worked their way toward the guanioniens' nest. But the ngozos knew of the nest, and when one day they recognized the ndovas that had attacked them, they hoped that the guanioniens would kill many of them. The time came when, to the great joy of the old birds, three little guanioniens broke through their shells. They looked so cunning with only down on their bodies. Their parents loved them dearly and took great care of them. 43 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The old guanioniens were watching the fruits and nuts every day and said, " These are growing fast, they will soon ripen, and we must expect the arrival of the monkeys very soon/* One fine morning, just at daybreak, the guanioniens heard for the first time the jabbering of numerous troops of monkeys. " Do you hear the talk of the ndovas, nkagos, mpondais, and mondis?" said the big guanionien to his mate, for they could tell the species they heard talking. " I hear," she replied. Both gave a chuckle of pleasure, for now they knew that they would have food in plenty. The old birds had worked very hard every day to get food for their young ones, for they were getting bigger and bigger, and their appetites increased in pro portion to their size. And Mrs. Guanionien said to her mate, " Now with plenty of food our little ones will grow up quickly and become strong." The guanioniens left their tree, and soon after were soaring high in the air above a troop of ndovas, wait ing for their opportunity to pounce down upon them. But somehow the ndovas would not go to the top of the trees, but kept in the thick middle part. The two guanioniens circled near each other, and the big one said to his mate : " These ndovas are know ing ones. They do not come to the tops of the trees, and we are not to have our meal as soon as we expected." The ndovas, having plucked and eaten the best 44 IN THE LAND OF PLENTY fruit, moved away a little farther on and soo'n came to two other trees heavily laden. The fruits were big and ripe, but were all at the top, those on the lower branches having been eaten already by other monkeys. The ndovas chuckled with pleasure at the sight. The temptation was so great that, forgetting to be prudent and all about their enemies, the guanioniens, they ascended the branches and began to eat in silence. The guanioniens from their great height saw the branches of the trees, upon which the ndovas were, moving, and they came down and soared above the place ready to pounce upon them. The ndovas were unaware that their great enemies, the guanioniens, were so near them, and were watching them with eyes made sharper by hunger. They were enjoying their feast with great relish, and said to each other, " This is the best fruit we have had for a long time. It is so sweet and so juicy. What luck we have ! " "I hope," said one of them, " that those horrid mondis, who are stronger than we are, will not make their appearance, for they will drive us away. Let us make haste and eat all we can." The guanioniens delayed their attack, for they watched their opportunity and wanted to make sure not to miss their prey. The ndovas had not quite reached the very top of the trees, and the birds could not swoop down upon them if they had to go through the branches, for not only would the branches stop their flight, but would break their wings, as they struck with great force against them. 45 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The two guanioniens soared nearer the ndovas, watching with their keen eyes the trees upon which they were feeding. Suddenly they saw several ndovas come to the very top of the trees. They watched with fierce and expectant eyes, swooped down with terrific speed, seized two of the biggest ndovas and rose in the air, each with his talons firmly imbedded in the back and the neck of his victim, so that he could not turn. One of the monkeys was the chief of the troop ; the other was the one whose finger had been cut off by the ngozo. The eagles flew with their prey toward their tree, and the first thing they did was to tear their eyes out, and then kill them by disembowelling them. They fed first, and then, tearing off small bits, they fed their young ones with them. It happened that not far off from where the ndo vas had been carried away, on a tall tree, was the flock of ngozos which had been so badly treated by those same ndovas. They were feeding on nuts. Suddenly they heard the cries of pain uttered by the ndovas as the guanioniens rose in the air with them. Looking up, they saw the ndova whose finger had been cut off by one of them, and jabbered with joy. " Good for you, guanioniens, good for you ! kill all the monkeys you can ; " and in chorus, " We hate the monkeys, we hate the monkeys ! we hate the ndovas more than the rest, for they have done us the most harm." The troop uttered fearful cries of dismay and IN THE LAND OF PLENTY dread when they saw that the guanioniens had been among them and had carried away their chief and one of their number. They fled in terror to some safer place. In the evening they looked at one another with deep sorrow and mourned greatly the loss of their chief and of one of their comrades. One of the ndovas was especially sad, for it was his beloved mate that had been carried away by one of the guanioniens. Still monkeys, parrots, and guanioniens had a good time in the Land of Plenty, and all became very fat. But the guanioniens made great havoc among the monkeys. At the foot of their trees the ground was covered with a great number of skulls and bones of those they had eaten up. The time came at last when the fruits, berries, and nuts became scarce. They had either been eaten or had fallen to decay on the ground, and the monkeys and parrots left for other parts of the forest. The guanioniens and their brood, who had begun to fly, also left. The old ones were going to a partly open country to teach their young how to capture prey, and then the goats and gazelles would have a bad time. The Land of Plenty became deserted until the fol lowing year, when it would become again full of life. After their departure the parrots mated, built their nests in the hollows of the trees, and did not come to gether again into flocks until their young began to fly. A few flocks came at first to the old meeting-place ; 47 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST the same number of flocks that came in the evening went off in the morning, with the same chief. At first the flocks and their number of ngozos could be easily counted ; but in a few days they became so numerous that it was impossible to number them. CHAPTER VI THE NIGHT ANIMALS STRANGE as it may appear, in the night the great forest is more alive with animals than during the day. These night prowlers can only see well when it is dark, and the darker it is the better they can see. They generally have short legs and walk so lightly that their footsteps cannot be heard when they go through the jungle. They are very sly and most dangerous to other creatures. Most of them feed on animals that have warm blood, for they love blood, which is to them as water. They sleep during the day, which is their night, and roam about during the darkest part of the night, which is their day. It is at that time that they seek for prey, so they are much dreaded by the animals that sleep during the night. Their abodes are in the deep hollows of trees, in holes or gloomy recesses under their roots, in caverns, in crevasses found among the rocks, in burrows under fallen trees, and where fallen limbs are piled upon each other. In a word, they like the places where the light cannot penetrate, for the light blinds them. They cannot bear the bright sunshine. 4 49 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST These prowlers do not come out of their abodes to attack their prey until the night is far advanced, for then the sleep of the day animals is heaviest, and they do not easily awaken and scent their enemies. One of the gifts of these night creatures is that they know the hours of the night just as well as if they had watches or clocks, and they seldom emerge from their abodes for their raids and depredations before midnight, and generally return to their dens towards four o'clock in the morning. If they go out earlier, or return later, it is because hunger obliges them to do so. Almost invariably they make their raids singly, so that the pair have more chance to capture prey. It is wonderful how these night creatures know their way. They see so well that they go through the thick jungle as if the sun were shining, and through the intense darkness, they note every sapling, every branch, every thorny bush, every leaf, every ant, and, no matter how far they go, they know their way back to their lairs. This gift of theirs is not possessed by human beings, who have to make special marks, such as breaking young branches of trees, marking them back, or putting heaps of leaves, or sticking sticks into the ground to find their way back. There are only a few night winged creatures, such as owls, vampires, bats, flying squirrels, and a few birds ; but there are many night snakes. CHAPTER VII THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD THE njego, or leopard, is the most dreaded of all the night prowlers by all the animals of the great forest. One night a njego, looking at his beautiful spotted skin, his long tail beating his flanks, exclaimed to him self: " Many creatures of the great forest hate and fear me, for I love blood. I thrive and live chiefly on kambis [antelopes] and ncheris [gazelles]. I have no friends. All think I am not to be trusted. " I am the biggest of the night prowlers. I have to be cunning in seeking my prey. No large creature can walk in the forest and through the underbrush with a lighter step than mine, and if I make a slight rustling going through the thicket of the jungle, the beasts of the forest think the wind is the cause of it. " I can also see in the daytime, but the light makes me wink. I can spring farther than any animal. This is one of the gifts I possess, otherwise I could not get my living. How I love the flesh of the kambis and of the ncheris ! " As he thought of them his eyes glittered and shone like fire, and he licked his chops. THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST " When animals see me close to them, my eyes often paralyze them, and they cannot run away." Then he grinned as njegos do, and added, " No won der that the animals of the forest dread the njego, for often he makes a prodigious leap, falling in the midst of them when they are not aware of his presence, and then he gloats over the victim he has chosen." Suddenly the njego heard the trumpeting of a njokoo (elephant), and the terrible and appalling roar of a ngina (gorilla), and he listened a while, and said, " These creatures I do not attack." Soon after he met his mate near their lair, and they went inside, for the day was coming, and they were soon asleep. The njegos have a peculiar, silent way of communicating with each other by looks, move ments of the tail, and other signs only known to them. So in this way after they had slept all day long and well into the next night the big njego said to his mate as they were lying in their lair : " Dear, the night is far advanced ; it is time for us to go out in search of prey, and the day animals will be in their heaviest sleep and will not hear or scent us." It was then about midnight. After coming out of their lair, they rejoiced when they saw that the night was so dark. They said to each other, " How well we shall see to-night ! " Then they looked at each other with great affection, the big njego licking the skin of his mate to show her how much he loved her. They said good-by to each other, for njegos, like all night prowlers, as already said, go in search of THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD prey by themselves, and they wished each other good luck. " I hope, dear/' said the big njego to his mate, " that you will find a kambi [antelope] to-night." " I hope so," she replied, "and I wish you the same." After this they parted, each going his own way, walking as noiselessly as still air, their lithe bodies passing through the jungle with a suppleness that was wonderful. The glow of their eyes was sometimes such that they looked like two bright burning pieces of charcoal. The big njego, as he walked along, would stop now and then to scent better or to hear if some prey was moving in the forest. But in spite of all his cunning, power of scent, and good sight, he had bad luck, and did not get any prey. Toward four o'clock in the morning, the two njegos thought it was about time to return home. When the big njego came to his lair, his mate had not yet arrived, and he waited for her outside. Soon after, he scented her, and then he paced to and fro, his long tail beating his flanks, and his eyes glaring like fire from excitement and pleasure at the prospect of her coming. 53 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST Soon she made her appearance, and he received her with great delight. He looked at her and said : " I see by your hollow flanks, dear, that you have had nothing to eat to night." " You are right," she replied, " my stomach is empty ; I am starving." Then, looking at him, she said : u I see also by your flanks that you did not kill anything to-night. You have had no flesh to eat, no blood to drink." " You are right," he replied. " I also am starving. Well, we have to work hard for our living. It is not every day that we get prey." They spoke of the animals they had met that night. " I saw a herd of njokoos," said the big njego. " I thought it was wiser to let them alone. I might have sprung upon one and made fast to his trunk and lain between his tusks, but he would have run through the forest and dashed his head against the trunk of a tree and killed me. " A little after, I scented a kambi ; but the creature scented me also, and, though I followed her with all the cunning I possess, she succeeded in crossing and swimming to the other side of a large stream. I had to give up the pursuit, for unfortunately we njegos are afraid of crossing rivers, as we do not swim." They entered their lair. Then they went to sleep ; but they were restless, for they were hungry. Every time they awoke, each said, " I wish night would come." It came at last. They awoke, gave several yawns, and opened their mouths, showing their strong, 54 THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD sharp teeth. Their terrible retractile claws like those of a cat moved as if ready to sink deeply into the body of some animal. " If I catch a kambi to-night, what a feast I shall have ! " thought each njego at the same time; and at the thought of blood both licked their chops with their prickly tongues. They left their lair and parted, as was their custom both prowling in the dark, gloomy, and silent forest, for all the birds were asleep as well as the day animals. Afar off there were two kambis together, when suddenly one said to the other : " We are in danger. I scent a njego. Let us flee, for the wicked creature is coming our way. Let us hasten. Yes, the scent is becoming stronger and stronger every moment/' They fled in the opposite direction from the scent, 55 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST and after a long run came to a large river and swam across. Then they felt safe, as the broad stream was between them and the njego ; for kambis know that the njegos never swim across a river. After a while the njego scented the two kambis. He followed the scent until he came to the place where they had lain down. Here it was quite strong. He thought they were very near, and crouched on the ground, his belly touching it. Never had he been more wary, though he was intensely excited at the prospect of a good meal, and his eyes glistened as if they were fires. Slowly he advanced, but his sharp eyes saw no kambis. He followed the scent, walking with great rapidity, and was gaining upon them very fast. At last the scent grew very strong, and he made sure he was to have a meal. Soon he came to a river where he saw their footprints on the bank. He gave a fear ful growl of disappointment and rage when he found the water of the wide stream between him and his prey. He knew they were beyond his reach. Then he walked along the banks of the river, trying to find a place where two trees opposite each other had branches spreading far over the river, so that after climbing he could make a prodigious bound from one to the other, and thus span the chasm that separated him from the two kambis. As he was looking for such a place, he said to him self: " I will make the greatest leap I ever made, for I must kill one of those kambis. I am so hungry. THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD I have had no food for three days. How hard I have to work for my living ! " At last he saw two such trees, and grinned with joy. He rose on his hind legs and imbedded his terrible claws in the bark, and ascended one of the trees just like a cat. When he reached its longest transverse thick branch, he walked over it, and looked across to the other side. But, to his disappointment and dismay, he saw that the gap between the trees was so great that he could not leap over the chasm. He looked down with dread at the swift deep water of the stream under him, and exclaimed : " I can never leap over this big gap, for if I try I shall surely fall into the stream. I have a horror of falling into the water. This has never happened to me in my life." But before coming down from the tree he uttered another growl of rage, when he saw that he could not follow the kambis. His roar was so loud that he awoke the day creatures that were asleep in the neighborhood, and they fled in every direction. The njego had travelled a very long way from his lair, pursuing the kambis, and it was time for him to go back to meet his mate. As he walked, he was very despondent and said : " Again another day with out a meal. But luck may come before I reach my lair. It often happens that at the last moment I find prey." True enough, as he was going along he suddenly scented a kambi. His eyes once more flashed fire. He hurried on. Nearer and nearer he came toward 57 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST his prey, who was nipping leaves, unaware that her life was in such danger, for the night breeze was blowing from her direction in that of the njego, so that she could not scent him. At last the njego, as sly as a snake, came within sight of the kambi. At that moment the kambi for the first time scented danger and fled in terror, for it was the scent of the njego, her most dreaded enemy. The njego, seeing his prey running away, made a tremendous bound. He missed, and the kambi fled as fast as her legs could carry her; but he made spring after spring, and each leap brought him nearer and nearer his quarry. He gave growls of rage every time he missed his prey, fearing that it would escape him. The poor kambi was so terrified that she ran in a wild, erratic way, and became paralyzed with fear. At last the njego, with a prodigious bound, landed on her neck. His teeth were immediately imbedded in the flesh of the panting creature, and his claws 58 THE NJEGO, OR LEOPARD sank deep into her body. The struggle was soon over. The njego made a great feast on the warm body of his victim. While eating, the njego was silent for fear of attract ing other njegos toward his prey. It was terrible to see his glaring, treacherous-looking eyes while he was feasting. If another njego had come near, he would have been attacked with great fierceness. After eat ing until he could eat no more, he continued his way toward his lair, too surfeited to attack another kambi, even if he had met one on his way. His mate was waiting for him before their lair. After he arrived, she looked at him, and said : " Dear, I see blood around your mouth and on your paws. This is the blood of a kambi. Your flanks are also so swollen that your stomach must be filled with flesh." "Yes," he replied, "I have been lucky. I came upon a kambi ; you are right." " I have also been fortunate," she said. " I had a ncheri for my meal, but, as you know, a ncheri is small compared with a kambi. So I had only a good meal and nothing to spare. But I am thankful for this, for I am not hungry any more." The two njegos were soon fast asleep, and did not wake during the day. After the njego had left the remains of the kambi, a pack of hyenas came just in time, before the ants arrived to eat the rest, and they feasted on what the Jeopard had left of the kambi. 59 CHAPTER VIII BIRTH OF THREE LITTLE NJEGOS ONE day, three tiny little njegos were born, and the old ones were delighted. They watched over their little ones with great care, and when Mamma Njego would go in search of prey, Papa Njego remained behind to take care of the little ones. Now and then he had a hard time, for they cried when they wanted Mamma Njego to nurse them. But mamma wanted an outing sometimes, and had to go after prey. " What made you so late ? " Papa Njego would sometimes say when his mate returned. " If I am late," she would reply, " it is because I have had a hard time to find prey," or, " Well, dear, I am famished ; I found nothing." When Papa Njego went out and was successful, he would bring food to his mate, for she had to be nearly all the time with their dear little ones. So the old leopards were kept busy. After a while they would leave the little njegos alone, saying, "We can leave them now, for they are still afraid to go out of our lair when we are not with them." The little njegos grew fast, feeding only from the breast of their mother, and began to roam around their 60 THREE LITTLE NJEGOS BORN lair. One day, as their parents were looking at them playing about, the mother said to her mate : " Look how big our little ones are ! How much they have grown lately ! We must soon give them a taste of blood." Two or three nights afterward both were success ful, and returned each with a gazelle, and almost at the same time. They tore the gazelles to pieces, and called their little ones out, and put before them the pieces they had torn off. The little njegos looked at them first, and as if they did not seem to care, for they did not know what blood was, or raw flesh. They came and smelt the meat, but did not lick it, and went back to be nursed by their mamma. The next day the njegos went after prey and were again successful. Again they tore off pieces of the 61 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST flesh and put them before the little ones. This time they smelled the meat and licked it two or three times, to the great joy of the old ones. The third time meat was put before them, they licked the meat until no vestige of blood was left on it. When their parents saw this, they were delighted and said : " Our little ones are doing well. They now enjoy the taste of blood. They are going to be true njegos." The little njegos, who had now licked blood, wanted more, and were very restless and cried for it, though they could not yet talk the njego language, for they were too young. The next day Papa Njego was luckier, and brought a young kambi to their lair. This time the eyes of the little njegos fairly glared when they saw the bloody pieces of meat, and they pre cipitated themselves upon them and licked off the blood with great gusto, for they loved blood more every time they tasted it, to the great delight of the old njegos. Soon after, as their teeth grew, they began not only to lick the blood, but to eat the meat. One day the big njego said to his mate : " Our little ones are get ting big, and soon we shall have to work harder and harder to feed them, for their appetites increase more and more as they grow larger and larger." Then he rubbed his head against her neck to show how much he loved her. The time arrived when the little njegos were able to follow their mother, and as they grew older they un- 62 THREE LITTLE NJEGOS BORN derstood every day, more and more, the ways of the njegos. One day, one of the little njegos pounced upon a ncheri (gazelle), and when his little brother and sister came to enjoy the prey with him, he growled fiercely, for he did not want them to have any of it. But Mamma Njego made peace among them, tore the poor ncheri into pieces, and all three had a peace ful meal, while she was looking on. After they were satisfied, she ate the rest, and then, as the day was soon to dawn, she returned to her lair with the little ones. Her mate was waiting for her. She said to him : " One of the little ones has killed a ncheri. Soon they will be able to take care of themselves. Then we shall not have to work so hard. Look at them, and at their little muzzles and paws, red with blood." Time went on, and the little njegos had grown big, and were able to hunt for themselves, and finally left their parents. By this time almost all the animals for a long distance round the land of njegos had fled away to escape the fate of those who had been eaten up. The kambis, the ncheris, and other animals would say to their kindred, " The njegos have come to our land ; let us migrate to some other parts of the great forest." So the old njegos starved. Night after night they had no prey. The big one said to his mate, " We must leave this country if we do not wish to die of hunger." " Yes, let us leave this horrid country," she replied. " See how thin we have become for want of food." 63 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST And they looked at each other and saw their ribs showing through their beautiful spotted skins. They departed, but, as the forest was depopulated for miles around, they got a very scanty subsistence, just enough to sustain life. They came, indeed, to a worse country still, for the formidable bashikouay ants had been in the land a few days before in countless millions, and their vast army had attacked all the living creatures that came in their way, and devoured many, and all the rest had fled for their lives, and no creature walking or crawling on earth was to be seen. Hard indeed was the lot of the two njegos. Death by starvation stared them in the face. In that plight, Mrs. Njego said to her mate : " Now that we have raised our young, let us separate for good, according to the custom of our kind. When we are far apart, we shall get food more easily." They parted with great friendliness and said, " Per haps in the course of our lives we shall meet again." They went in opposite directions and lived alone, prowling every night in search of prey, and resting often during the day on branches of trees. 64 CHAPTER IX THE BIG NJEGO BECOMES A MAN-EATER NOW we will only follow the big njego, having lost track of his mate. He was in a pitiful state, and mad with starvation. It happened one day that he saw a spring where human beings came every day to get water. He scented their footprints, and his appetite then seemed to increase tenfold. He followed the scent, which led him to their village, and as he came near the scent seemed to him the most delicious and appetizing aroma he had ever smelled. " I have never dared," said he, " to attack human beings before. I have always kept shy of them. But I am famished, and the country contains no prey, so that I shall die of starvation unless I eat one of them. So I must not be afraid." The village was fenced, and that first night he did not dare to leap over the fence, for he was timid in spite of what he had said to himself. Toward morn ing he hid in a thick part of the jungle close by the spring, and went to sleep on a cross branch of a tree. He was so hungry that after sunset he descended the tree, and lay in wait near the path leading to the spring, waiting for a human being to come. It was 5 65 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST almost dark, and all the people had come to the spring to get water but one. The njego's quick ear soon heard footsteps coming, and presently he saw a woman with a big water jar on her head walking in the path toward the spring. He watched her. While she was bending over the water, filling her jug, he made a tremendous leap and landed on her back, fastening his claws in her body, at the same time that his big jaws with their terrible teeth sank into her back. The poor woman was so paralyzed by fear that she did not utter a single cry. The leopard carried her into the jungle and devoured her. The flesh of the woman tasted so good, and the blood he licked was so sweet, that the njego thought it was better than all the kambis or anything else he had ever eaten in his life before, and he said to himself: " Why did I not dare to kill human beings before ! They are harm less. This one did not fight. What a fool I have been ! " From that day the big njego was a man-eater. Soon after, a man who had gone into the forest for wild honey happened to pass near where the njego was, and he also was attacked and devoured. The njego became the terror of the people of that country. The human beings, missing their fellows, went in search of them, and saw in one place the big foot prints of the njego, and blood in another, and knew that a njego had turned into a " man-eater," and was in the neighborhood, and had carried off their missing 66 " He watched her" THE BIG NJEGO A MAN-EATER ones. There was great sorrow among the villagers at this discovery, for they thought more of them would be slain and devoured. From that time on they never went alone into the forest or to the spring, and were always armed with spears or poisonous arrows. At night they kept many fires burning in the street, and consoled them selves by saying, " No matter how hungry a njego may be, he is afraid of fire." They also danced all night and beat their tom-toms. During that time the njego kept far out of the way in the jungle. But he thought all the time of the flesh of the human beings he had eaten, and said, " I will watch my opportunity." The villagers, after a while, thought the man-eater had been scared away and had left the country, and that he would never come back. So they stopped dancing every night, and went to sleep without any fear of the njego. But, in the course of time, the njego returned. One night he walked toward the village, and, coming to the fence, turned around it, hoping to see some open ings through which he could get. But he saw none. Then he leaped over the palings, falling so lightly that no one heard him. Noiselessly he passed through the dark street, his eyes looking everywhere, in search of prey. He listened to everything, and was very cautious and somewhat timid, for he had never en tered a village of human beings before. He scented human beings in every house ; but the 67 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST houses had doors, and these were all closed. The village was composed of a single street with houses on both sides. So he went in the rear of the houses and walked by them, but saw no openings to get in. Finally he came to a goat-house ; but there was no way for him to enter, for the house had been espe cially built to protect the goats against njegos. So, after walking several times around it, and saying to himself, " How I like goats ! " he retreated, and soon after he leaped over the fence and went back into the jungle, and slept on a huge branch of a tree. But he was thinking all the time of the flesh of the human beings he had eaten, and the following night he went again to the village and examined carefully every spot ; but he was still very timid, for everything was yet very strange to him. He lingered much longer than on the first night, and walked several times the length of the street and back of the houses, scenting human beings everywhere, which gave him a tremen dous appetite. He remained uncertain what to do ; but he had come to the conclusion that the roofs were the weak est parts of the houses. However, that night again he leaped back over the fence, went into the jungle, and slept on the same tree that he had slept on since he had first come to the village. The next night there was a great thunderstorm, with terrible lightning, and the rain fell in torrents. The njego said : " This is good weather for me. I will enter the village of the human beings, and carry 68 THE BIG NJEGO A MAN-EATER away one of them for a meal/' He waited as usual until the night was somewhat advanced, and then thought it was time for him to leave his place. He came down the tree and directed his steps toward the village. When he came in sight of the fence, he listened, but could only hear the heavy rain falling on the roofs of the houses. He heard no voices of the human beings, but his scent told him that many were there. Then he said to himself: "They are sleeping, just as the men of the woods, the monkeys, and other ani mals of the forest do, during the night, and now is the time when I can pounce upon them." The scent of human beings gave him courage, for he was famished and had become desperately ferocious from hunger. He walked slowly and silently in the middle of the street, looking here and there, his eyes shining like fire. At last he stopped before a house in which peo ple were asleep, and thought for a while. Then, as quick as a swooping guanionien, he made a tremendous bound, landed in the middle of the palm-thatched roof, plunged through it and seized one of the inmates (a young girl), and in the twinkling of an eye he had sprung back through the hole he had made going into the house, with his prey in his mouth, made another spring, which landed him outside of the fence, and carried off his victim into the forest. The njego had been so quick that the Inmates of the house had hardly time to realize the great mis fortune that had happened to them. They saw blood 69 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST and the hole through the roof. Then they knew that the man-eater had been there and had carried off one of their people. At their cries of anguish, the whole village awoke, and all the people knew that the man-eater had come back, and swore that they would never rest and be happy again until they had trapped him. They made a trap in the forest, in the shape of a funnel, planting long poles in the ground, close together, and making them fast. The structure was much narrower toward the end, so that it was impossible for the leopard to turn back. At the end was a sort of cage. The top of the trap was also closed with poles made very secure, so that when he went in he could not possibly escape. When the trap was finished, they brought a goat and put him in the cage. During the night the goat, which was much frightened, cried incessantly. The man-eater heard him, and said, " To-night I will make a meal of that goat." When the night was sufficiently advanced, he de scended the tree upon which he had slept, and, at tracted by the noise of the goat, went toward the trap in which it was imprisoned. Now though the njegos are very clever in getting prey, they are otherwise very stupid, and can easily be deceived. So the njego went round the trap, and tried several times to reach the goat by putting his big paws inside ; but the sticks were made so secure that he could not 70 THE BIG NJEGO A MAN-EATER do it. He had never seen in the forest anything like the trap, and suspected that all might not be right about it. But at last his hunger got the better of him, and he entered the funnel, and walked towards the goat, which cried louder than before, it was so frightened. At first the njego had plenty of room, but, as he advanced farther and farther, he found it more difficult to move forward on account of the nar rowness of the space. Then he touched a spring, and a trap-door fell behind him. At the noise the trap door made in falling, the njego became frightened and tried to escape ; but he found himself so tightly held that he could neither move forward nor backward. Then he became furious, and uttered terrific yells of rage in quick succession. There was great joy among the people in the village when they heard the cries of the njego, for they knew he was trapped. In the morning they went to the trap and saw the njego making frantic efforts to get away ; but the structure had been built so strongly that it was impossible for him to break through. His yells of rage became terrific and filled the forest with their din. The people shouted to him : " Ah, ah, you ferocious and terrible creature, you njego man-eater ! You have eaten enough kambis and ncheris and other animals which we would have killed and eaten ourselves, if it had not been for you, and you have also eaten our people. Now it is all over with you. You will eat no more. No one will be afraid of you hereafter." THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST Then they passed their spears through the openings between the sticks and pierced him to death. After they were sure the njego was dead, they broke up the trap, and took his body out, and brought it to the village and laid it in the middle of the street, and the villagers, looking at it, shouted : " You wicked creature, you will eat no more of our people ! No kambi or ncheri will ever be eaten by you again. We all hate you. We hate you more than any other animal of the forest." They broke his jaws, and took away his teeth for a necklace, and skinned him to make belts of his hide, and cut off his tail for a charm, and ate his liver to give them courage. 72 CHAPTER X THE HAKOS, OR ANTS THE forest is inhabited by many species of ants, of many sizes, and of many different colors. Their number is so great that they not only cannot be counted, they cannot even be estimated. Their mode of life, their habits, and their homes vary greatly. Marvellous is the intelligence of these small creatures. Their thrift, perseverance, and industry are beyond those of any other insect or animal. They have great tenacity of purpose, and are most systematic. For their size they have immense strength. They possess many gifts to suit their different modes of living. They understand each other perfectly, otherwise they could not work with such deliberate concert of action, and so intelligently. They have chiefs, leaders, and workers. Almost all the species of ants live together in large numbers. There are few that live solitary lives. Those which prey alone are very voracious and fierce. Many ants are endowed with a wonderful power of smell, and often, though not one of them can be seen, they suddenly make their appearance by thousands, or tens of thousands, when they scent food, many of the species coming even from under the 73 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST ground. They are such nuisances that human beings have to put the feet of their tables and cupboards into vases of water for protection. Many ants have the ferocity of the leopard or other night animals. They attack their prey with great courage. One species, the bashikouays, go in countless numbers on their raids, and attack all life in the forest. All animals flee in order to escape them. Among the most wonderful ants are the termites, or white ants, who build structures of clay, or of grains of earth, to shut themselves from the light, to be pro tected from the rays of the sun, from the rain, and from their enemies. Some species of termites are very fond of cotton goods, paper, etc., but avoid woollen or silk articles. They manage to scent paper and cotton goods from under the ground, and ascend the poles upon which the trunks or chests which contain the goods rest. They build a long tunnel from the ground on the outside of the poles, and climb through to the chest, into which they eat their way. The tunnel is made of minute particles of wood glued togethe^ by a substance coming from their bodies. Often the owner of the chest, when he opens it, finds nothing inside, everything having been eaten up by the termites. 74 CHAPTER XI THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS ONE of the white ants, or nchellelays, said one day to another nchellelay : " Strange indeed is our life. We are unlike the other ants, for they enjoy the light of day, and breathe the air that passes over the prairies and forests. They can ramble where they please in search of prey or food. We nchellelays live in darkness. Light is odious to us. The sun is our greatest enemy, and we have to protect ourselves from its rays, which kill us when they strike our bodies. If, perchance, by some catastrophe, our houses are damaged, and we are thrown out of them, we have not only the sun, but the rain as our foe. Crea tures surround us on every side to pounce upon us and devour us, and many kinds of ants are also our enemies. Our life is safe only when we are shut up in our houses." An old and wise nchellelay, who had been listening, said : " Why do you complain of your existence ? We are born with great gifts which other creatures do not possess, to suit our mode of life. To us, darkness is light, for we can see so much better in it. We erect buildings through which neither the sun nor the air, the light nor rain, nor our enemies can penetrate. We build during the night, so the sun cannot harm 75 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST us. Just think how comfortable and cosey are our chambers ! " All the nchellelays were listening to what the wise and knowing one said, and when she had done speak ing, they said : " You are right, wise one. We are born with certain great gifts, which no other creatures possess, to suit our mode of life, and protect ourselves from our enemies." These nchellelays that were talking belonged to the species that build only on the prairies that are sur rounded by the great forest. Their structures, or houses, are of the shape of gigantic mushrooms. They vary in height from ten to eighteen inches, the tops or crown being from ten to eighteen inches, and the stem or round pillar supporting the crown about five inches, in diameter. As the colony grows larger, some times two or three crowns are built on the top of one another. Each house forms a colony. From immemorial time, these nchellelays have built on the prairies, and as they increase and multiply in a wonderful manner, their structures cover the whole prairie, and can be counted by tens and tens of thousands, at short distances from one another. Strange indeed is the sight. The colony inhabiting these gigantic mushroom- like structures is of three kinds of nchellelays unlike in shape and having different kinds of work to perform. The chiefs, few in number, are much larger in size than the others. Their heads are armed with powerful nippers. THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS The next class are smaller than the chiefs, have elongated bodies, and are armed also with strong nippers. These are the officers or overseers and fighters. The third class are exceedingly numerous, and form by far the greatest population of each colony. They are shorter and smaller in size. Their heads are square, and their nippers are shorter than those of the other two kinds, and of a somewhat different shape. This class is born to work. They are the builders of the structures. Their life is one of labor. They have soft bulky bellies, of dark bluish or yellowish gray color, filled with the clay they feed upon. The head and nipper-like jaws of the chiefs, officers, or overseers are very hard, and of dark color, contrast ing with the color of their bodies. These pincers are given to them for fighting, wounding, piercing, catch ing their enemies, and also tracing lines where the work has to be done. One day some mushroom nchellelays said : " We need a new house, and we will build one which will last for years, through which neither rain nor sun can come, and through which our enemies cannot enter. We are small, it is true, but among the gifts that we have are patience, perseverance, industry, and a good thinking brain. With these four gifts we can accom plish a good deal and succeed." There was great excitement among the nchellelays when they made ready to commence their work. The chiefs gave orders to the officers or overseers, and 77 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST these gave orders to the workers. The dry season is the time the nchellelays choose for building. They know the time of the two seasons, the rainy and the dry, perfectly well. The workers, having received their orders, began work in great earnest. They made deep perpendicu lar tunnels to reach the blue clay, and, when they had reached it, they made other tunnels upward, all these under the place chosen for building their house in. It was a remarkable sight when they began their labor. The workers followed one another in a con tinuous stream, and ejected a quantity of thick, soft, semi-liquid clay, which they had eaten and which had been transformed during the digestive process into a gluey material. Each load was put side by side with wonderful precision. After this, they followed one another and disappeared under the ground. The column of workers never ceased for an instant. There did not seem to be any lazy ones among them; no one was shirking work and lagging behind. They marched like a well-drilled army of workers who knew what their duty was. Their system showed great intelligence. No bricklayer among the most civilized human beings could have laid bricks side by side with more skill than they did their loads. The officers were looking on and watching how the work was done. Once in a while some of the nchellelays brought grains of earth and deposited them in the mortar. THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS The structure rose as if by enchantment, and at last the making of the crown was begun, numerous cells or rooms communicating with one another. A large cell, much larger than any of the others, was built for their queen. Every tunnel and cell was coated with a gluey, shining matter, coming from the bodies of the work ers, to prevent them from giving way. At the base of the column they had built inside a round clay ball, divided into three parts which could be separated, full of very small cells for eggs to be deposited in. This ball communicated with the rest of the buildings by tunnels through which the eggs might be transported to the various cells. After the building was completed, the nchellelays said, " Now we must go and store in many of the cells little grains of earth to use in our mortar." So they went to work, and brought loads of these and stored them in the cells which the officers had selected. When everything was in order, a new arrangement was made. The officers were scattered over the build ings and kept watch over the cells. The large cell for their queen had an entrance at each end com municating with all the corridors in the house. A large body of officers kept watch and surrounded her. In the course of time the queen did nothing but lay eggs, and an enormous number of them. These eggs hatched from the heat, and then the little tiny nchellelays, which were of a milky white color, were taken to different cells by the big ones, 79 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST and in the course of time became large themselves. When the colony became too large, the nchellelays said to one another : " Now we are living too many together. Our structure is too small, and we must build a new addition to our dwelling." So the workers went down to the clay and built a short stem, as they had done before, and then made another mushroom- like cap. They also built many cells, and the surplus population took possession of these new ones. But the colony kept increasing, and another mush room-like structure was added, and built on the top of the second cap. At last a fourth one was needed and then the nchellelays said, " We cannot add to our structure, for it would be too high and become top heavy." While the mushroom nchellelays were enjoying quietly the comforts of the house they had built with so much care and skill, the following event took place. Another kind of nchellelays, that were lazy and lived as much as they could on the labors of others, said to one another : " Let us make our abode in the structure of the mushroom nchellelay. We must be very cunning, for it is not an easy matter to build cells and tunnels in their house without being dis covered ; still we are accustomed to do this, and can succeed if we want to. But if we are found out, we shall have a hard time, for they are much stronger and more powerful than we are." These intruders were very small, mere pigmies in 80 THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS size compared with the mushroom nchellelay. They also had chiefs, officers or overseers, and workers. They went forthwith to work, and with their nippers dug into the thick walls of the mushroom nchellelays from the bottom, carrying away the debris of the material they demolished and depositing it in the earth. They took good care to make no mistake, and their small cells and tunnels were built between the original cells. They were extremely intelligent, and could tell when they were getting dangerously near the tunnels or cells of their bigger neighbors. They succeeded at last in building their cells and corridors throughout the structure. These were coated with a black gluey matter, and consequently were different in color from those of their neighbors, which were yellow. So two colonies of different nchellelays lived in the same buildings, the big ones not knowing that intruders were in their abode. These little dwarf nchellelays lived happy and contented, and often laughed at their big neighbors, saying, cc They do not know that we have made our home in their house." One day the njokoos (elephants) happened to come into the country of the mushroom nchellelays, and several bulls getting into a fight among themselves, they demolished many of the buildings of the mush room nchellelays, treading upon them with their big feet, often crushing a great part of their structures, and thus also killing many nchellelays, and wounding many others. 6 81 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The nchellelays were very much excited, and those who had escaped with their lives and heard the crash, went into all the cells to tell of what had happened. None could tell the cause of the catastrophe, for such a thing had never happened to them before. This was indeed a great and sudden misfortune. The officers made their appearance immediately at the opening of every cell or tunnel that had been damaged, put their heads out of the entrances to see what was the cause of this sudden smash, and then disappeared inside and reported to their chiefs. Soon after, a large number of officers or over seers arrived at all the breaks. They cried, " Let us defend our homes," their big nippers opening and closing all the time. They were ready to bite and to fight any intruder, not a nchellelay, that wanted to get inside of their dwelling, and at the least sign of danger they opened their nippers still wider, ready to bite. Great, indeed, had been the havoc made by these njokoos. Dead and wounded were lying everywhere among the ruins. Among them were young nchellelays of a milky white color, and others quite tiny, having just come out of the eggs. Eggs, whole or smashed, were seen in every direction. It was a terrible sight to contemplate for the nchellelays. Everything was topsy-turvy. Still the nchellelays recovered quickly from the sudden confusion into which they had been thrown, for they had cool heads. The work of rescue began 82 THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS first. Luckily it was a cloudy day and the dry season, when the sun is not powerful. Orders were given, and the nchellelays went out to begin the work of rescue. They were seen every where among the debris, looking round for the dead and wounded. When they saw one, they immediately went toward him. If so dangerously wounded that they thought there was no hope for him, he was left on the ground to die. When they saw that there was hope of saving the life of one, they took the poor wounded one gently between their pincers and carried him tenderly inside, those who guarded the entrance making room for the rescuer to pass. The wounded that could, hopped or crept around, and were helped and led in. The young were also carried in with the utmost tenderness and affection, for they were babies and helpless. Then, and last, the eggs that had not been injured were also carried in. In the great catastrophe that had taken place, the big nchellelays and the pigmy ones were mingled together in the ruins. The pigmies had also many dead and wounded. Their presence was the first intimation that the big nchellelays had of them. Their rage knew no bounds at the sight. Officers and workers attacked the intruders with great fury. These, however, fought with the utmost bravery, for it was a fight for life with them, and many of the big ones bit the dust in the conflicts that took place. The mode of warfare among the nchellelays is 83 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST to disembowel one another by piercing their soft stomachs with their nippers. The belly is the vul nerable part of their body, and once pierced they are crippled, and die soon afterwards. Now the ruins were turned into a great battlefield. It was soon a scene of carnage. While many of the big nchellelays were transport ing the wounded, the young, and the eggs inside the ruins of their buildings, many were busy seeking the pigmy nchellelays, the intruders within their house, to fight and kill them. Dead and wounded from the numerous combats lay everywhere. There were many thrilling fights and death-struggles. The attacks on both sides were fierce, and no one asked quarter. Combatants were seen fighting one another over the whole battlefield. Sometimes the fight occurred in a very rugged place where the ruins of the buildings lay around on the top of one another. One nchellelay was seen ascending the steep incline ready to charge the enemy at the top, who was waiting for his onslaught. In another place, one was descending with great fury to attack his enemy, who was coming up. 84 THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS Elsewhere, one could see a worker or an officer of the larger kind attack his diminutive enemy, and succeed, after some sparring, in disembowelling him, when suddenly an officer of the pigmy kind, seeing one of his comrades in the fight, or in his death- throes, would attack the victorious one before he had time to turn round and get ready for the fight, and succeed in disembowelling him with his pincers, although the antagonist was at least two or three times his size. It was a miniature fight of giants and pigmies, the latter fighting as bravely as the giants. The time at last came when all the pigmy kind were overpowered and killed, one by one, and the battlefield was strewn with their dead, mingled here and there with those of the larger ants. When the battle was ended, and the young and the eggs had been carried inside of what remained of the building, the work of repairing all the rents that had been made by the destructive work of the njokoos began. The officers made tracings with the points of their nippers at the apertures to show where the closing was to take place. Then the workers came and first carried away the debris that was in their way. Then they closed the walls in the manner in which they had at first built the structure, by putting loads upon loads of clay-like matter upon one another. Others came carrying minute pebbles or coarse grains of earth in their mouths, and during the night they finished rebuilding the structure just as it was before. 85 CHAPTER XII THE GIANT NCHELLELAYS THE giant nchellelays are so named as they are much larger than all the other species of nchel lelays, or white ants. Their bodies are of a whitish yellow color, with very hard black heads, armed with most formidable pincers, terrible weapons for righting and biting. Their officers or overseers are smaller than the workers, but have more elongated bodies. As they are larger than all the other nchellelays, so their structures are much larger also. They vary from five to fifteen feet in height. Millions upon millions of grains of earth are required in their con struction. Their mode of building these is wonderful and unlike that of other termites. How they live under the ground before their structure is built, no one can tell. One day the giant nchellelays said : " Let us build a new structure for us to live in and be secured against our enemies, the air, the rain, and the sun." " Yes," replied all the others forming the great colony, adding : " We shall have to work hard and use a great deal of thought, perseverance, and skill before our work is accomplished, for untold numbers of grains of yel- 86 THE GIANT NCHELLELAYS low earth will have to be taken from under the black loam and carried above the ground where we are to build, put side by side, and cemented together before our home is finished." Soon after this talk they began their labors. They brought, from the numerous tunnels they made, grains of yellow earth, and laid their foundation, each nchel- lelay carrying only one grain at a time. The workers labored with great earnestness ; thou sands upon thousands carried between their pincers grains of earth, and laid them down side by side, each passing over the grain he had brought and deposit ing on it a gluey substance which might be called mortar or cement, and which joined the grains of sand together. Layers upon layers were built in this manner, and this flat foundation communicated by numerous tunnels with the yellow earth underneath. The officers kept watch to see that the work was done. Special care was taken in the building of the outer walls, for these were to be very solid, having to protect the interior from the weather or from violence. They made the wall much thicker and harder, and impervious to rain. When daylight approached, they closed all the openings leading into the building. Strange to say, though it is dark in the house, the ants can tell when the day is over and when the night has come. So, after the sun had set and darkness had come over the land, the officers broke with their big pincers the THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST mortar that had closed the openings, and the workers continued their task. The building rose as if by en chantment, for thousands upon thousands were work ing with all their might. As the structure rose, the number of cells and tun nels increased, and the building assumed somewhat of a sugar-loaf appearance. As they began to reach the top, they built points or pinnacles, making the top the very strongest of all the parts of the structure. The giant nchellelays were wise in the art of build ing, and knew that the summit of their dwellings was to bear the brunt of the weather, of the rain-storm, and even the fall of a tree, so that in this place the masonry was several inches thick. The structure, after a great deal of labor, was fin ished, attaining a height of fourteen feet and a diame ter of five feet at the base. Hundreds of millions of grains of yellow earth had been used in its construc tion. Each grain had been placed as systematically as if the most skilful bricklayer had done the work, and the roofs of the cells were arched, for the ants knew the strength of the arch. And, when com pleted, the building was so strong, high, and large, that even the huge njokoo had to pass it by, leaving it untouched. A long time had passed, when one day a very large dead branch fell upon the building of the giant nchelle lays and destroyed some of the pinnacles. News soon spread through the cells that a great accident had hap- 88 THE GIANT NCHELLELAYS pened, that the top of the house was damaged ; there was great commotion and excitement among the popu lation when this occurred. The officers came round the openings to see what was the matter, and to defend them against possible intruders. The wounded and the eggs were brought inside. The work of repairing began at once, and the workers brought their grains of earth, and much of the broken material was used in making repairs. During the night the nchellelays rebuilt the pinnacles, the new ones being of exactly the same shape as those that had been destroyed. Things went on well for a few days, when another huge limb of the same tree fell on the structure and damaged it again. It was again rebuilt as it was before the accident. Sometime afterward the building was once more damaged by another limb of the tree. 89 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST This time the giant nchellelays held a consultation, and after deliberation concluded not to rebuild the pinnacle, deeming the place dangerous, and determined to erect another structure in some other place, and they accordingly withdrew. 90 CHAPTER XIII THE NGOMBAS, OR PORCUPINES ONE day two porcupines were getting ready to go out of their dark burrow, to seek for food, for they were hungry. They were near the entrance, and listened. Hearing no noise, and scenting no danger, one said to his mate, " All is quiet ; so we can safely leave our home/' After they were out, they raised their quills, many of which were about one foot long, hard and sharp, and shook them against each other and made a rattling noise. Then the big ngomba said to his mate : " Dear, we porcupines are not blood-thirsty ; we do not attack the animals of the forest, and drink their blood, and feed upon them ; neither do we fight them. We are harmless. We feed on roots, nuts, and vegetable things. What a precious gift our coat is ! Its quills are our weapons of defence. No animals in this great forest possess such a valuable coat. When we walk, our quills lie quietly on our back or sides. When we fear danger, we roll ourselves into a ball, and raise them upright, and we feel safe and fear no animal of the forest, no matter how fierce he may be." His mate replied, thoughtfully, however : " You forget; there is one enemy we have, and we dread 9 1 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST him much, though he is very small. It is the bashi- kouay ant. When they attack us, their number is so great that they can penetrate between our quills, attack our bellies, which are not protected, and our eyes, and well-nigh devour us. How we hate and fear the bashikouays ! " The big porcupine that day went farther than usual from his burrow. He heard heavy footsteps, and said to himself: " These are the footsteps of the njokoo. Perhaps he is coming my way." The footsteps came nearer and nearer, and the porcupine rolled himself up, not daring to walk farther. The njokoo came nearer, looked at him, and then stopped. The poor porcupine, as he heard the foot steps of the elephant nearing him, stood still, as if he were dead ; but his quills were erect. The njokoo looked at the ngomba, for he had never seen one before. He was suspicious, and did not like the looks of his sharp-pointed quills, and trumpeted, which meant : " I am not going to toss you about with my trunk. I am not going to play ball with you. Neither will I trample upon you, and try to crush your body under my feet. I do not fancy these sharp-pointed quills. They would hurt my trunk if I got hold of you, and lame me for life and perhaps cause my death if I trampled upon you. So do not be afraid. I will not try to hurt you/' After this the njokoo left, and for a while the porcu pine could hear his heavy footsteps or the cracking of saplings which he broke as he walked through them. 92 THE NGOMBAS, OR PORCUPINES The porcupine did not know what the trumpeting of the njokoo meant, and did not know what the big and powerful njokoo said to him. But he had been so scared by the elephant that he did not dare for a long while to unroll himself and go about. At last, when he was sure that he was safe, he continued his rambling in search of food. He soon came to the den of two leopards who were out in search of prey for their three baby leopards, who were walking round outside. As soon as these saw the poor porcupine, they started for him, and he had just time to roll himself up, for their steps were so light that he had not heard them. The little leopards were so young that they had no experience, and thought they would play with the much- frightened porcupine with their paws, just as a cat does with a mouse. But they did not try it twice, when they felt the pricking of the porcupine's quills. 93 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST As soon as the tiny little leopards went back to their den, the porcupine unrolled himself and ran away as fast as his short legs would let him. After he had settled down into a walk, he passed a big snake of the color of the dead leaves, hiding among them and waiting for prey. When he heard the noise the por cupine was making, he was delighted, for he said, " Surely I am going to have something to eat ; " but the porcupine had not yet wholly got over his fright, and was walking with his quills standing up. The snake, with his sharp, small eyes, said : " It is of no use to try to swallow this creature, for his quills would pierce and kill me. I shall let him alone." It was late, and though the porcupine was far away from his burrow, he knew the way there well, for he was acquainted with the surrounding country, and was in a hurry to go to meet his mate, whom he loved tenderly. Hurrying along, he suddenly heard a noise above his head, and, being scared, he rolled himself once more and raised his quills. The noise had been made by a ngina (gorilla) on a tree laden with fruit that he had been eating, and he was coming down. The ngina was unaware of the presence of the porcupine. He had reached the lower branch of the tree, and was hanging to it before stepping on the ground. As his left arm was ready to let the branch go, he stepped on the porcupine, and gave a terrific yell of pain, as the quills went deeply into the sole of one of his feet. Quick as a flash, he tried to take away the porcupine 94 THE NGOMBAS, OR PORCUPINES from his foot with one of his hands. Then he gave another terrific groan of pain, for some of the quills entered the palm of his hand. The blood was dripping from both his hand and foot. Then, hanging to the branch he had not quitted, he lifted himself up and shook his legs several times with great force, and with a mighty kick sent the porcupine flying to a long dis tance. The porcupine was terribly scared. Never in his life had he been attacked and buffeted in this way. Nor had he ever heard such terrific yells and groans. 95 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST All his muscles were called into play in order to keep his body in ball-shape and his quills standing upright, for the ngina was furious, yelling and roaring by him ; but fortunately he did not dare to handle him, though the frightened porcupine thought his last day had come. At last the ngina went away. The porcupine remained coiled for a long time, for he had never been so frightened in his life. Then, when he thought there was no more danger, having listened carefully and heard no noise, he continued his way toward his burrow. The porcupine met with no farther adventures on that day, and finally came to his burrow and saw his mate waiting for him. She said, " What makes you so late? I began to feel anxious." " Dear," he replied, " I have had an awful time to-day. The wonder to me is that I have come back at all. I have never met with so many adventures and dangers in my life before; but, thanks to my wonderful coat, I am safe/' And after they had retreated into their burrow, he recounted to his mate what had happened to him during the day. 96 CHAPTER XIV THE IPI, OR GIANT ANT-EATER DARKNESS had come over the land. An ipi was listening inside of the opening of his bur row. After making sure that there was no danger, he came outside and stood still, waiting for his mate to come out also. His body was about five feet long, and covered on the upper surface and on the sides chiefly with large, thick, horny, yellowish, overlap ping scales, these scales becoming smaller as they approached his head. He shook his body and the scales rattled, as they struck together. Soon after, his mate came out, and they looked at each other and admired their wonderful coats. 7 97 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The big ipi said to his mate : " Fortunate are we to possess such a good coat to cover our bodies. Our scales are so hard that after we have rolled ourselves up for protection, the teeth of our enemies cannot pierce them. They slip over them. It is our weapon of defence, as we ipis have no teeth. " Strangely do we pass our lives. We have no choice of food, but feed on ants. We are gifted with an extensile tongue which we can shorten or lengthen at our will, and at its extremity it is covered with a glutinous secretion, and no ant when caught can ever escape. Oh, what a multitude of ants we have eaten since we were born ! " he laughingly added. " What a number we need to satisfy our appetites ! " " Yes, indeed," his mate replied, u and sometimes the ants become scarce, or we cannot find many, and we have to go back to our burrows with empty stomachs." Their conversation was suddenly interrupted. They heard a great noise near, and they rolled them selves up and pressed their scales against one another. The noise had been made by a number of kambis who were fleeing at great speed from some enemy. When this noise had died away, the two ipis unrolled themselves, and said good-by to each other, and each went a different way in search of ants. The sight of the ipis at night is wonderful. Nothing escapes them when they go through the forest and jungle. They can even spy a single ant marching alone, though it is pitch dark. 98 THE IPI, OR GIANT ANT-EATER The two ipis were fortunate that night, for both dis covered long lines of ants that were foraging. After getting within a proper distance from the ants, each ipi began his meal. Every time the tongue came out, its extremity struck an ant which stuck fast to the gluey matter, and could not escape. The tongue went in, deposited the ant inside in the twinkling of an eye, and then came out again and struck another ant. After eating thousands of ants, the appetite of each was satisfied, and they returned toward their homes and told each other of the good luck they had had, and soon were fast asleep. In the course of time the ipis had to travel farther and farther to get their meal of ants, and one evening, after their return with empty stomachs, the large ipi said to his mate, " Let us leave this part of the forest and go somewhere else, for ants have certainly become very scarce in this neighborhood." The following night they bade good-by to their old burrow, where they had had so many days of cosey sleep, and where they had raised a family. They journeyed toward a new country, picking up here and there an ant with their sticky tongues. Ere long they came to a big tree, and saw a hollow under its roots, and said, " Here is a good dark place to spend the day and sleep," and they went in and slept soundly. When night came, they set forth again, and continued to seek for a region where ants were plentiful. 99 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The third night they met a great many ants that were foraging. They thought it would be a good country for them to settle in, and said, " Let us find a hill on the side of which we may make our burrow/' They were soon fortunate enough to find one, and set to work with a will digging out the ground with their claws. That night they did not finish their burrow, so they went back to the hole under the root of the tree where they had slept before. The following night they worked very hard and finished their home, which had two openings communicating with the chamber in which they were to sleep. When the work was done, one ipi said to the other: " We have worked hard to make our new home. It is a good thing for us that our short legs are so mus cular and that our claws are so strong. How much earth we can move away ! " They felt very happy to be able to sleep in their new home. There they lived for a while, ants being plentiful in the neighborhood, and raised a family of little ipis. IOO CHAPTER XV THE NGOMBA, OR PORCUPINE THE IZOMBA, OR TURTLE THE IPI, OR ANT-EATER ONE day an izomba (turtle) was walking in the forest, when suddenly she heard a noise, and became suspicious ; as the noise came nearer, she drew her head, her four feet, and tail under her shell, and said, "Now I am safe. 3 ' It happened that an ipi had made the noise that scared the turtle. The ipi stopped and looked at the turtle with great curiosity. Then she, too, heard a noise and became suspicious in her turn, coiled round and made her scales as tight against each other as she could, and said also, " Now I am safe." The noise had been made by a porcupine whose coat had the longest, hardest quills that porcupines have. It happened that he came between the ipi and the izomba. When he saw them, he stood still and looked at them both with great curiosity. Suddenly he heard a crash through the jungle. A dead branch of a tall tree had broken off and had fallen on the ground. He in his turn was so scared that he rolled himself up and put his quills out, for he thought njokoos had made the noise, and then he, too, exclaimed, " Now I am safe." IOI THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST The three remained thus for sometime, feeling sure that so they were safe. At last, hearing no noise, the turtle peeped out slowly, her head and her four feet and tail issuing from her shell. The ipi, hearing no noise, unrolled herself, and so did the porcupine. Then the three looked at each other and wondered at their coats. The ipi said to the izomba, and to the porcupine, " Do not be afraid of me. I do not bite. I have no teeth and feed only on ants, so I cannot do you any harm." Next the porcupine said to the turtle and to the ipi : " Don't be afraid. I am a rodent. I feed on roots, fruit, and nuts which I find on the ground. It is true I can bite, but I do not feed on blood and flesh ; besides, my teeth could not go through your coats." Then the turtle, looking at the ipi and the porcu pine, said : " Do not be afraid. I am enclosed in a hard shell-like coat this is to protect me. I live chiefly on leaves. I can bite terribly, but how could I ever bite you with the grand coats you have." 102 NGOMBA IZOMBA IPI But, as it happened, the three did not understand one another, for each had a different language which belonged to their species. They kept talking never theless, each expressing his thoughts in his own way. The ipi, looking at the big scales fastened to the shell of the turtle, wondered why they could not move like her own, and thought to herself, " Strange indeed is the coat of the turtle." She also wondered at the way the turtle had of hiding herself under her shell, for the turtle's head, tail, and legs would now and then suddenly disappear. The porcupine, in the mean time, was examining the coat of the ipi and of the turtle. Finally he said to them : " I have the best coat of you all ; when I make my formidable quills stand up, no one dares to handle or attack me or tread upon my body." Then he gave a great porcupine laugh and cried : " Ipi and turtle, monkeys and men of the wood can toss you about ; njokoos can tramp upon you, for though your coat protects you it does not sting, pierce, or hurt like mine. You are harmless." After a while all three went on their way to get their living, each thinking his coat better than the others'. It happened that the turtle came under a tree where a large nshiego (chimpanzee) was resting. When he saw the turtle he came down from his tree. When the turtle saw the nshiego come toward her, she drew her head, tail, and legs under her shell, for she was terribly afraid. It looked then as if the turtle were dead. 103 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST But the nshiego had seen the turtle moving, and wondered what it was, and soon the poor, frightened turtle was in his two hands, and he turned her over, first on one side, then on the other, tossed her around, and, when he got tired, dropped her, and went away. The poor turtle had never been handled in that way before, and was so scared that she did not dare to peep her head out of her shell for a long time afterward, when she went into hiding under the roots of a big tree. The nshiego farther on met the porcupine, who when he saw the nshiego rolled himself up and put out his quills. The nshiego came up to him, looked at him carefully, and said to himself: " I am afraid of thee, porcupine, and I will not toss thee as I did the turtle, for those ugly-looking quills will pierce my hands and hurt me dreadfully. I am afraid of them." And he went his way. Toward evening the same nshiego saw the ipi walk ing. When the ipi heard the nshiego, she rolled her self in a coil, and with all her strength made the coil as tight as she could. Then the nshiego came toward her, and soon the ipi was in his hands. He played with her, tossed her about, and, when tired, dropped her and went away. When the ipi came to her burrow, she told her mate all the things she had seen that day, of the turtle and the porcupine, and what had happened to her with the nshiego, and how afraid she had been. 104 NGOMBA IZOMBA IPI When the porcupine came to his burrow, he told his mate of the strange creatures he had met, of the ipi and the turtle, and said : " Dear, I met also a nshiego who stood by me quite a while, but, thanks to my good coat of quills, he did not dare to handle me, as I saw he did the turtle and the ipi." '05 CHAPTER XVI THE NGOOBOO, OR HIPPOPOTAMUS ONE day a big ngooboo, or hippopotamus, look ing fondly at his mate, said : " Dear, what a pleasant home we have. Our shoal is surrounded by deep water. We swim and dive around it, and enjoy ourselves in the broad river. The animals of the forest cannot come and attack us ; the water is too swift for the crocodiles, and though the huge njokoo loves to bathe, he does not dare to disturb us, for he only fights on land. Even if he did attack us, we could dodge him and his big dangerous tusks by div ing and remaining under the water out of his sight, for he cannot dive. Besides we could attack him and lacerate him with our big, crooked, hook-like tusks." Then he laughed in the fashion of the ngooboos, opening his enormous mouth and showing his tusks. "We could not," he continued, "have chosen a better spot for a home. On one side of the river is the big forest, on the other is the extended prairie, where we go every night to graze and enjoy the juicy and suc culent grass, unless we scent danger and think it wiser not to leave the river, in which case we have to dive and eat the grass growing at the bottom." 106 THE NGOOBOO, OR HIPPOPOTAMUS Looking affectionately at Mrs. Ngooboo, he then uttered a grunt and snort which meant, " I love you dearly." He admired her greatly. He thought the rosy gray of her skin was the most beautiful he had ever seen, and her form the most graceful of figures. The ngooboos believe that they are handsomer than all other creatures, and that their ponderous, clumsy bodies and short, ugly legs are very lovely. The ngooboos are in nowise more conceited than all the other animals, each kind thinking itself the hand somest. One of the peculiarities of the ngooboos is that each family owns its shoal. It is their castle, and no other ngooboo is allowed to land there, and if they try, there is a fight ; but when in the water they are friendly with one another. Each ngooboo knows his own shoal. The ngooboos forming the colony were about thirty in number, including the babies. When they stood, or were lying on their shoals, their heads and backs were above the water, and their bodies looked like huge, stranded logs. Sometimes at a certain angle their heads looked like the heads of horses, hence the white people call them hippopotami, which means river horses. " Do you remember, dear," resumed Mr. Ngooboo, " when we migrated and came to the river in company with two other couples who live on yonder shoals ? We were driven from our former homes by human beings who had settled on the far-off prairie, made 107 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST traps to ensnare us, and succeeded in capturing several of our number. At last we did not dare to land any more, so we concluded to leave the place and emigrate to some other country, and travelled until we discov ered this beautiful river with its big prairie. Now we have prospered and increased in number, for this land has not many human beings." " I remember it well," replied Mrs. Ngooboo, look ing fondly at her mate, coming near him and putting her head close to his. Then the two looked at their dear little baby, who was very tiny and only a few weeks old, and thought she was the sweetest little baby ngooboo they had ever seen, as well as the most beautiful. She had such lovely eyes, such a cunning little mouth, and she was so intelligent for her age, in a word, she was such a wonderful baby that there was no other little ngooboo like her. The big ngooboo here took a plunge, remaining 108 THE NGOOBOO, OR HIPPOPOTAMUS under water for a while, and reappearing on the surface, quite a way off from his shoal. Then he called to his mate, by peculiar grunts and snorts, which is the lan guage of the ngooboos : " Be careful of our baby, for the current is swift." Hearing the call of her mate, Mrs. Ngooboo plunged into deep water and swam toward him, watching the baby carefully all the while, and the baby, when tired, would come gently and rest on the back of her mamma, who was delighted. In a short time they were by the side of Papa Ngooboo. They took a swim, then ascended the river to their shoals. After they had rested a while, Mr. Ngooboo said to his mate : " Dear, our feet are so shaped that we can both walk on land and swim. Our straight and crooked tusks allow us to get the grass at the bottom of the river. We are so built that we can stay under water a long time." The colony of ngooboos had a good time. They would play in the water, dive, and swim, often run after one another, and all this time the young ones were learning the wisdom belonging to the ngooboos. Once in a while a troop of monkeys who were travelling would look upon the ngooboos from their trees, on the wooded shores of the river, and would say, " We have never seen such an ugly creature in our lives." Watching the ngooboos from among the thick trees lining the banks of the river were the small yellow osengi monkeys with their long tails, and their bosom 109 THE WORLD OF THE GREAT FOREST friends, the hornbills, with their great beaks several inches long. The osengis and the hornbills are great chums ; in deed, they seem to be inseparable. So that when other birds of the for-