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The steamer coming south the following evening dropped anchor at Victoria.
We went on board to return with it to Bibundi, a journey.
which otherwise must be undertaken in a small boat along the coast. Imagine
our surprise when, coming close to the steamer, we recognized
the "Erna", with whom we had camped so long during the outward journey.
It was a happy reunion, "old friendship does not rust", as they say,
and the ties that had united us by daily association during
such a long journey could not have been severed in a few months.
The captain was himself and answered in his usual way
questions posed, without anyone understanding what he meant,
the first engineer Mr. M. still had the true German humor
and joked as usual, and one of the officers Mr. S. was still
as angry as a bee.
At the following breakfast, champagne came from the captain's wine cellar on the table, and we emptied a glass to the memories of the previous trip
and the happy reunion.
While we were still sitting at table, a shot from the steamer's salute cannon rang out and echoed away towards the Cameroon mountain; we
were there, and after a final farewell we steered in a boat sent to meet us towards the mouth of the river.
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Bibundi --> Ekundu
Back to the forests.
With the first boat
I now wished
to return to Kitta, and on the 9th of
April we steered
at 10:00 AM from
Bibundi north along the coast.
The journey
went quickly, and
at 7 o'clock we were already at
Ekundu jetty.
Here we were met
by the sad news that the factory manager in Kitta was seriously ill with hemorrhagic
fever, the most dangerous manifestation of climatic
fever.
Early the following morning we set off
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Fever
Page 325
therefore in a boat and found him on our arrival at the factory
in a most exhausted condition. His health had already been weak. Pale and emaciated, he now lay on the bed surrounded by thick mosquito nets in an air almost plagued by feverish fumes.
Unable to leave his bed for several days and with only a couple of bush negroes for help, he had not had any nourishment during this time, as he was not allowed to keep the slightest food. He was now carefully carried, wrapped in blankets, on board the
boat to continue the journey to Bibundi, where we hoped that the fresher sea air would restore his strength. Unfortunately,
he would never see his native land again.
Thus all the whites had left the factory.
But I too would soon feel the fever seething in my veins,
as had been the case for a couple of days during my stay in Bibundi, and
I lay on the floor bathed in sweat wrapped in blankets.
On returning home from a march into the forests, a
couple of days later voices and shouts were heard from the landing site. It was
Knutson who had arrived with a new factory manager, so
I hurried down to ask how Mr. Pettersson was
and received a rather reassuring answer.
The very next day K. was to return.
As mentioned, I had hired a Negro boy in Bibundi, who
was taken to Kitta. The first few days he showed himself willing, and
I noticed no distaste for the work in him.
But when K. was ready to leave, things broke down. Accustomed to only sunbathing outside the bush houses and otherwise running around wherever he pleased, the regular work was already beginning to seem burdensome to him, and he longed to return to the open air. When he was informed that K. was going to Bibundi, he was seized with a strong desire to return, and when, after saying goodbye to K. in the morning, I went out on an excursion, he refused to take the things he had to carry. Finally, however, he found it better to take the things like the other porters and set off towards the edge of the forest. But it went slowly; time and again I had to ease his dragging, hesitant steps, during which he uttered the most ear-splitting cries of distress. And when we had reached the forest, he threw himself on the ground
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the hired help
326
howling, said that foam was coming out of his mouth. As I knew all too well that it was only laziness that was bothering him, I tried
to put an end to the noise with some suitable reminders, but in vain. When he finally got to his feet, with a bottle basket
and a bag intended for him in his hand, he threw everything
together down the hill, rushed down to the factory in a wild leap and
fell on his knees before K., shouting that he would die if he did not get to go home. He had then been at work for four days, the only time
he had been dependent in his life! However, K. understood very well what was at stake and sent for a fine rod, with which
he was treated. Now his last hope was to avoid working outside,
and although reluctantly he went back to the forest, where I had to keep him near me all day to get him to do something. This negro boy, who was given the name Prisse or "Bésé"
as his companions, who did not seem to be able to pronounce pr, called
him, became my constant companion in the forests during
the entire stay in Cameroon, an unusually long period of service for a negro, who usually does not want to commit himself for more than one to three
months without offense.
After this significant day in his life he became constantly better
and seemed to have acquired character at once. He found himself in the necessary
and soon became so faithful that he became "headman" over
the others. Already on the 14th I was able to record: "the boy better
than ever, works like a whole man . He showed unusual honesty and throughout his service, as far as I could tell, never took the slightest trifle, something very unusual for a bush negro, who is so easily able to do so, as he often was. Now the new factory manager, who had just come from Sweden and could hardly speak any English or had even had time to learn any of the natives' language, was to begin trading with the blacks. As already mentioned, the natives at Kitta were sometimes quite unpleasant and found this opportunity convenient to try to impress the newly arrived manager and to cause him difficulties. They arrived in droves amidst shouting and clamor; A chief acted with unparalleled audacity
and brandished rifles and cutlass in front of B.
However, they did not have much for their trouble, but were dismissed
plainly and simply.
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guns and germs
Page 327
However, it became apparent on one occasion how little it can be
needed to inspire respect among these people. It was one of the following days, the natives were still quite close when they came to the factory, and the manager's patience
was sometimes severely tested. I was in the room inside the drawing room, when suddenly a violent creature appeared outside. Mr. B's
rapid steps were heard in the storeroom, and when he came running in the next moment, I thought something was wrong and his
nervous anxiety had been carelessly discharged on some native. It was, however, only an "eagle" that had swooped down on the factory yard
after some animal. To seize the gun, which stood loaded in the corner,
run out to the market hall and shoot the flying griffon,
which had taken off from the field and was just swinging past the factory,
was the work of a few moments.
This otherwise extremely simple shot aroused a real
jubilation, and when I returned
to the factory with the big bird in my hand, the blacks moved out of the way and regarded the gun
with visible respect. Their behavior became more
calm after this, and when I later met
them during the marches in the forests, they now moved out of the way in silence.
On the 19th a letter came from Knutson to meet him
in Ekundu to plan a joint trip to Ndian, and
the following morning at 11 o'clock our canoe landed at Ekundu
the jetty, where, however, no white was to be seen. something that did not, however, surprise me under the oppressive heat that was now prevailing. At the factory I found K. stretched out in a lounge chair, Löfdal studying at the table and was just about to exclaim that people here seemed to be taking their day in pleasant calm. when Knutson's unsteady steps, when he stood up to meet me, and a dull look instead provoked the question of how he was feeling. Fever, a strong fever was now the more than usual disappointing answer. Just back from a trip to Bonge, he and engineer Dusen had been overtaken by a tornado with thunder, the most violent K. said he had experienced in Africa. Lightning literally filled the air; in front, behind and on all sides they were firing without a moment's pause, so intensely that D., with his watch in hand, counted 80 (says
eighty) in one minute. Knutson could hardly yet understand how it had been possible that they had escaped unharmed.
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After such weather, drenched in rain and shivering with cold, they had to endure a six-hour journey on the river and in the mangrove forest, and that the fever could not be far off was not surprising. After a while K. therefore went to bed. For some occupation I took a canoe and paddled out into the mangrove forest. The sun seemed to me to have never burned so intensely before;
the exposed mud banks were fermenting in the heat, and not a leaf moved in the stifling air. The crocodiles were gasping for breath in the mud,
and in a short time I had shot three of them without making them stay where they were. The last one received a round ball in the forehead, but had enough strength to make a few strokes with his strong tail, so that he came down into the water, which was thick and opaque here, and was then gone.
When the shot rang out through the mangrove forest, it was answered by the hoarse croaking of a white heron, and the next moment it came rising ever more rapidly over the creek. A few quick strokes of the paddle pushed the canoe a little way out into the canal and within reach of the beautiful bird, which at the shot whirled down from the air into the swampy water. It was the only specimen I got of this cautious but otherwise not rare heron in many places.
The sun had now become so bright that its body seemed to freeze, whereupon we headed back towards the factory. At a bend of the creek, however, movements in the foliage had caught our attention, the branches bent this way and that, dark shadows appeared here and there, only to disappear immediately when a shot rang out and a monkey fell onto the mud bank below.
It was a nun monkey (Cercopithecus mona), the same animal mentioned earlier, how when wounded, it wiped the mud from its eyes with its hand and threw it away.
Here and there, during the journey, umbretta storks and the small common herons were seen strolling about on the banks or sitting on the roots and lower branches of the mangrove trees.
The return trip to Kitta took place that same day.
However, heralded by the immense heat of the day, a torrential rain broke out during the journey, which almost drowned it, among other things. a.
a suitcase and a crocodile skin already deep in the small craft.
For a couple of hours the rain fell intensely from the leaden gray sky,
but the raincoat, southwest and umbrella protected well against the small-
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the showering of water on my feet, which were soaked through by the inflowing water. Without feeling any fever on my arrival, I nevertheless took some medicine to be on the safe side, and the following day, which was used for packing the collections made so far,
which Knutson had promised to bring to Sweden, where he would now, for this time satisfied with Africa, return shortly, was at first
healthy. But in the evening my eyes began to burst, my pulse beat rapidly, and a general languor set in. I took some medicine to eat, whereupon
after drinking hot tea, I wrapped myself in a couple of blankets
and soon fell asleep, but woke the next morning with a leaden head and a burning thirst. To quench this I ate one of the
large oranges I had found in the forest some time before, which were then green but now yellowed. Larger than our usual ones, they had an extremely bitter, foul-tasting shell, but were otherwise not unpalatable. In the condition the body was in, however, the stomach could not tolerate this food, which came up almost immediately; and now vomiting began, which did not seem to want to end. The stomach was as if elastic, not even a spoonful of water could be retained; unfortunately, no china was available at the time for the fever, nor any potassium bromide for the vomiting. Growing weaker, I had to lie all day without being able to consume either food or medicine, and the situation became alarming. A messenger was therefore sent to Ekundu with a request for potassium bromide, the only thing that could help me and for lack of which the former factory manager had become what he was when we arrived, and towards evening the canoe arrived in which engineer Dusen had accompanied me. After taking potassium bromide, the vomiting stopped almost
immediately, and soon I was able to eat both china, drink tea
and later also gruel, which Dusen boiled in water from condensed milk and rice grains.
On the advice of the doctor, I also stayed in bed the following day, and
this probably proved to be the wisest thing to do, for the fever was still boiling in
my blood. But now Dusen had to leave, and since the factory owner was gone,
I was left alone with some black bush negroes. By chance
a Kittaman arrived with two eggs, which were very welcome.
But my cooks could not boil them — they were apparently not
into the higher cooking — so I had to go up
and do the cooking in a small preserving pan over an
spirit lamp.
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All afternoon sweat flowed from the body, which was
as if it had been boiled.
Evening had come and after a meal of rice porridge,
china (Quinine - editor) and chloral hydrate sleep finally came. It was restless, however,
and three times during the night more chloral hydrate had to be taken.
In the morning I woke up quite well, but after about ten minutes,
after I had left the bed, my body was again in a bath of sweat; from
the forehead rolled drop after drop, and the same unpleasant
feeling as the day before set in.
Hunger had also come
and had to be appeased, and as the rice porridge proved excellent,
this diet was continued. A spoonful of condensed
milk was taken from a jar, which dissolved in water and left a rather good, albeit sweet milk, flour was stirred into what seemed to be slightly overcooked rice grains, whereupon
I went down into the "kitchen" to cook gruel. But what
a tragicomic sight this must have been! Wrapped in a blanket,
I sat on a box by the smoking fire, a Negro boy lay on his stomach
blowing at the embers, a swarm of large
ants that had come in with the wood bit him so that he screamed, while the smoke threatened
to destroy us both. The beads of sweat usually fell
on the pot, which finally had to be lifted away from the fire so as not to
become full of soot. With that, the soup was ready, a piece of butter
was put in it, and now I thought it tasted exactly like fish sauce.
The boy beamed with joy when he received a spoonful of the preparation on an old leaf.
The same day the natives came with chickens, which at that time
were more than usual welcome as a change from the preserves.
After recovery, the investigations were continued; almost
daily visits were made to the surrounding farms, which were quite productive, but on the whole the harvest during this period was not large. Hunting was very difficult in the dense
terrain, the constant crawling in the thickets tiring
and sometimes gave little reward for the effort.
At least at this time, the birds at Kitta were unusually scarce, and many times during the excursions no birds were heard or seen for long periods.
Almost every evening I had tried for some time to catch a giant turaco (Corytha?ola cristata), perhaps the most magnificent bird of the primeval forest,
but in vain. This magnificent helmeted bird is about 70 cm long,
its color is usually light blue, the breast is green and the belly is reddish brown.
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The blue-black and the eyes blood-red. It was quite common
in most places in tall-stemmed primeval forest, in farms, etc., alone,
in pairs or in smaller groups. It was especially common here in
Kitta and near Bonge. It is a restless bird; it runs leisurely along
the branches, occasionally spreading its large rounded tail, jumps
smoothly between the branches and then passes on to nearby
trees, whereupon it often lets its loud cackling voice be heard,
answered by the others. It was especially when the sun was setting
that their far-sounding voice echoed through the forest and
at this time. when the birds moved forward in the forest, probably to
seek out their night camps, it was most appropriate to keep an eye out for them
under certain tall trees. where they struck down in passing, as they usually did not fly long distances but hurriedly advanced from one tall tree to another, where these were not too close to each other. One day in early May, at sunset, I had taken up post under one of the tall trees on the farm. A flying dog was already flying with measured wingbeats through the air to an oil palm, from where his monotonous voice was soon heard, and the cackle of the giant torocon was also heard from a distance, when suddenly some of the timid animals came running and struck down in the high crown of a silk-cotton tree obliquely above me. Jumping from branch to branch or running along the same, they would again give up. when, without having much prospect of hitting at a long distance, I fired a shot.
Unharmed, the bird threw itself out with the others, after which
I let the second pipe go, aimed at a magnificent specimen, which
made a turn out of the tree, and like a spear, the bird, to my joy, shot down from the air, whizzing diagonally, into the middle of the uncultivated
farm. Seeing the state of the plant at which it fell, when in the fall it broke off one of its large leaves. we cleared ourselves with great effort
there. A tuft of feathers sitting on the leaf showed that we were on the right
way, and I was already happy about the long-awaited prey; but despite the most diligent search, we could not find the bird in the
desolate tangle of leaves, twigs, lianas and the like.
Especially as the sun had set and dusk had already set in,
even deeper down here among the dense vegetation.
On the way back to the factory we met the new factory manager, who, wondering about the delay, thought we had gotten lost and
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September - Bonge
Page 332
armed with rifle and revolver and followed by a couple of negroes
set out on a reconnaissance mission!
Only at Bonge would I finally obtain a giant turaco.
They lay their nests on the branches of tall trees, and the pale blue-
green, rounded, about five cm long eggs are two in number.
As can be seen, hunting in this dense terrain was troublesome and
difficult, not so much to bring down the animals as to find the
shot prey.
In general, the plantain eaters, to which the giant turaco, like the often
mentioned helmeted bird, belong, are known to be very fastidious,
and most of the helmeted birds I shot and saw fall from
the trees were as if blown away on emerging. Reichenow also says of them: "they are very fastidious; The chased birds are usually lost to the hunter, as they hide in the dense thickets.
These birds generally lay three pure white eggs. There is also another of the forest birds, which in these regions at certain times, in association with the giant turaco, makes itself noticeable by its far-sounding voice, lending the twilight in the primeval forest a special atmosphere, and for a long time I had listened with wonder to this strange concert, before the mystery of who these musicians were was finally solved.
It is a September evening at Bonge. Around the open field surrounding the factory, the dense primeval forest spreads out, the silence of which at dusk is only interrupted by the eternal chirping of insects; the sun is sinking rapidly, and its last rays are beginning to disappear. Then suddenly a deep, hollow,
protracted honking sounds from the forest: you, you, you, you — now rising, now falling again
itself. Scarcely has the first note died away, before another
quicker and perhaps even stronger voice breaks in, which is soon
answered by similar ones from several directions. A cackle is the
introduction, after which some quickly emitted, several times
repeated double notes follow. It is the aforementioned giant turaco.
which then breaks in; and until midnight these two musicians
can suddenly tune up their strange concert. But to whom
did the first dull, honking voice belong? It was this that
would so long defy all attempts to interpret. One afternoon-
at Bonge after the rainy season I was standing outside my little hut, when
suddenly the strange voice was heard in the trees just behind.
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To grasp the gun, balance myself over the narrow trunk that lay over the brook that flowed out behind, and cautiously penetrate the thicket was the work of a minute or so. With a beating pulse I listened. But all was quiet again when the high voice of a walking bird sounded right next to me, a shot echoed, and a bird of a little more than a meter long came down between the vines and branches.
It was a sparrow cuckoo, the kind whose voice was accustomed to be heard at Bibundi from the tall grass, but another, larger and more stately form, the great sparrow cuckoo (Centropus leucogaster). The whole head with neck, throat and foreneck were blue-black, the back and wings were brownish and the belly white. At Bonge this spur cuckoo, whose voice was much deeper, slower and more hoarse than that of the smaller form, was not uncommon, especially in those parts of the primeval forest which bordered on watercourses, Meme or those falling streams. It leads a reclusive life and hides carefully among the dense vegetation or in the tall elephant grass at the edge of the forest, where it would easily escape notice if it did not at certain times betray its whereabouts by its loud voice. It made this sound especially during September and October, when its breeding season probably fell. One of the following days a march was undertaken in a direction not previously much visited. Further down the mangrove forest, and further into the bush forest, the narrow negro path wound its way through the extremely dense terrain.
After a while we came across several ridges with
quite steep sides, which we had to climb. Here in this dense
forest was the haunt of the shy horned magpies (Bycanistes Sharpei),
the same black and white birds, which were often seen in strange, arching flight in flocks, darting forward over the mangrove forest.
They were as usual wild and shy. Already at a distance they sensed the danger, emitted their sharp, growling sounds, reminiscent of a tempting grouse, threw themselves down from the trees in noisy flight and disappeared between the crowns.
While penetrating the dense undergrowth to possibly shoot some horned magpie, we were suddenly surrounded by a mass of
bush hornets, whose nest we had come across, and a stinging sting was felt on our forehead and one cheek. There was nothing else to do here
but to tear off a few branches and, striking around, try to get rid of the strange creatures, which was easy enough for me, whereas
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Pidgeons and doves
Page 334
one of the Negro boys on the thorny vines, quite black, injured himself in his eagerness to get away from them.
While walking forward in the dense terrain, a few
light flapping of wings was heard, and a pair of small dark pigeons rose elastically
from the ground, disappearing into the forest. It was an already
well-known bird, Calopelia puella, about the size of a turtledove, completely reddish-brown, slightly lighter underneath, with a light gray-blue
head and green metal beaks on the wings, called Ndoua by the natives.
This small, beautiful pigeon was not rare in the area of such a local
site. She always stayed there, never in freer places
such as in farms or the like. In the forest it kept itself in dense
lower treetops, than on the ground, than in the high crowns, usually
in pairs or in small flocks. It was first encountered in Itoki.
where a few were surprised in the middle of the dense forest at a
small clearing, where they took a midday nap in a lower crown.
This pigeon also belongs to those birds which, by their peculiar,
wide-sounding call, attract attention and give
a characteristic atmosphere to the region they inhabit. Early in the morning, both here and at Ekundu, strange,
wide-sounding calls were heard at certain times,
suddenly, as if the bird had been disturbed,
interrupted
and then resumed, dying away in a remarkable descending course,
which undoubtedly came from this pigeon. I often stood for long periods near or under the tree from which the notes came, without it being possible to discover the bird in the dense foliage. Finally, one morning, something was seen moving up there from which the notes were heard, and at the shot a dove fell. Although I did not see it emit the notes, they had undoubtedly come from it. It lives on seeds. The demand for fallen specimens was filled. Besides this and the small one at Bibundi and on the grassy plains near the Cameroon towns, the even smaller Chalcopelia afra was found, a turtledove (Turtur semitorquatus), somewhat larger than the puella and similar to a laughing dove, with a black neck ring.
Although this pigeon was often seen in flocks in the air, I never found it stationary at any place I visited; the only specimen obtained was shot one evening in April at Bibundi by a lucky shot from a small bird passing high in the air.
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335
flock. The same species was also brought back by Knutson and Valdau to
the Cameroon Mountains, where the Columba
Sjöstedti described by Reichenow also occurs, whose closest relative C. arquatrix is
widespread over northern, eastern, southern and southwestern Africa. This
later, and undoubtedly also its Cameroonian relative, nests
on branches in trees, feeds on berries and the like — it is particularly fond of
olives — and is often seen in flocks of thousands.
Another pigeon, besides the aforementioned fruit pigeon Vinägo
calva, was found, namely the small, beautiful Tympanistria tympanistria or tambourine pigeon. Like the African, it kept to
open terrain, but also in forested areas up the rivers, where
the latter was not often found. Here and there at the edge of the forest.
Beside the tall elephant grass and in occasional standing trees
she not infrequently appeared, but never in the dense forest, as was the case with the puella. The entire underside was white, the sides of the neck finely grey-streaked, the upper side brown with black wing-
Hedges. At Bibundi it was quite common; here it usually kept
single on the ground beside the tall grass, along which
it flew quickly forward in alarm, the white belly
now and then gleaming in the light during the bird's darting flight.
During a march a single Negro camp had been encountered
and on the way home we headed there to take a closer look, as a rising column of smoke showed that the
somewhat deserted farm was situated.
Here, upon arrival, an idyllic pine tree appeared. The father of the family lay stretched out on the ground, basking in the hot sun, an old, frightening old woman sat by the smoking fire, peeling coconut, while the five children piled on more fuel. At our arrival, great terror arose among the youngest children, who, screaming pitifully, took to flight into the hut. The man, who had a good, strong appearance, stood up with a questioning, wondering, lively look that caused the rare visit, but calmed down immediately when we greeted him with a wave of our hand, after which the rest of the family gradually came over. The old ones wore a small skirt, the others, of whom a couple were half-grown, were naked. The small bush hut
with its surroundings looked quite inviting and was cleaner than
generally the case there.
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On our way out we met some women with plantains, which
they had brought from the farm, but in fright they threw them away and disappeared into the bush, something that was not so rare here at Kitta,
where the natives had not been in contact with the whites for a long time.
Almost every day at this time, in the beginning of May, was cloudy,
the rain also fell often, and excursions were made much more difficult by this.
To enter the constantly dripping bush was not
pleasant and often almost useless, as hardly an animal except myriopods, podurids, snails and the like were to be found there. The sun had hardly
risen before a shower broke out again and forced
us to leave the dripping forest. That under such
conditions not much could be harvested is natural; and it was not grateful that after a whole day's work perhaps returned
with only about fifty insects and other animals. Larvae
were not common at this time, although, remarkably, all
the cages were occupied; one was found here, another there,
and when they were collected, they were not found to be so few.
The capture with set traps would not succeed, as the migratory
ants constantly turned up to the bait. It was rats in particular that I
hoped to get in this way.
This group was also the most numerous of all the mammals
within the area, as twelve species belonging to it were found, one of
which was previously unknown. As with the rodents in general, of which
21 different kinds were obtained, great attention was paid to this group, as their collection was a special part of the plan of the trip.
Consequent to the nocturnal habits of the rats in the dwellings, here and there in the forests, under fallen trunks, under tree roots, in earthen passages, etc., they were hardly more than occasionally accessible except with traps. Such were also set everywhere where the animals appeared to be present in passages or in other ways. In the same places, however, were also found the migratory ants, these industrious scavengers, but as mentioned also one of the most unpleasant pests of the forests. The traps set for the rodents, provided with fruits, meat, and the like, were therefore usually deprived of their bait, long before the rodents got there. After several months of trying with one bait, then with the other, which was regularly picked up sooner or later by the voracious ants, I had finally almost lost hope of catching anything in this way, when a coincidence
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I happened to discover a decoy, which later gave the most
unexpectedly favorable results.
During a march into the forests at Kitta, attention was drawn to a train of ants marching along the side of the road.
When some of the natives on the road threw pieces
of a cocoanut, it split, then rejoined
and continued. Without attacking the pieces, rather avoiding them,
the hordes walked on unbroken. Here, then, was
something at last that the migratory ants did not care for, but which the rodents would undoubtedly eagerly devour. Now the traps were baited with coconuts, and from that day on the catch went so well that I was able to bring home over sixty rats, and many duplicates were also thrown away due to the lack of alcohol during the last few days.
The richest place to catch forest rats was, however, Bonge,
and the most fruitful places were the felled logs lying on the farms, along which the traps were set.
The most common of all rats with us was the brown,
now almost completely extinct black house rat (Mus rattus), which
appeared in immense numbers in many places in the Negro villages.
It was also sometimes common at the factories. Thus, in Ekundu, at midday, it could be seen coming out of its burrows and running along the factory walls; but in the factories they were far more thrifty than in the negro villages.
During a march to Ekundu we had halted in the village, when one black rat after another appeared along the houses.
Desiring some beautiful specimens, I ordered the negro boys to get me a few, promising them a leaf of tobacco for each;
but in a little while they came dragging so many
rats that the tobacco store would have been plundered too much if I had taken them all. Not only at night did they lodge in the negro huts, where they unabashedly ran over sleeping people, but even during the day they were not infrequently seen inside or outside the bush houses. When, during a journey up the Meme after the rainy season, I spent the night in a Negro hut and fell asleep with a newspaper in my hand, the following morning it was partly gnawed to pieces by the rats. Sometimes they were so close that they gnawed the soles of the feet of sleeping Negroes, as happened to the porters during one of the Swedes' marches inland. Except for the black forests of VäaUtfrtka. 22
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The house rat was not found with certainty in any other rat in the
dwelling houses. A rat (Mus hypoxanthus), easily recognizable by its rusty-red nose, about
14 cm long, whose narrow tail
had a length of up to about 20 cm, was quite common among
the elephant grass in Bibundi, where it was caught during the rainy season by the negroes who were redding on the farm.
The most common of them all, after the black one, was the small
about 10 cm long Mus Tullbergi, whose tail had a length of
11 — 13 cm. It was dark brown above, the sides lighter, striking
in yellow and the underside on a gray ground white with a fairly sharp color border to the sides; the feet white. At Bonge numerous
specimens were caught, of which over thirty were brought home, especially in farms along
larger trunks that had been felled; and during the dry season in Nov. and Dec. there was
almost every morning someone in those exposed, coconut-lined traps. The neatest of the mice, however, was Deomys
ferrugineus with its beautifully brownish-red back, in the middle considerably
darker brown, dazzling white underside and white feet.
The Lophuromys af er, which was
completely dark brown above, and beautifully rusty yellow underneath, also had a rather beautiful, although rather rough coat, distinguished
by its small tail, which was a third shorter than its
9 cm long body.
The largest of all was the previously mentioned bush rat Cricetomys
gambianus and next the black house rat. The Mus longipes, which lives in tunnels under tree roots, and the aforementioned rusty-nosed
Mus hypoxanthus were smaller but still too large to be called
mice, whose list we can start with the one caught at Bonge,
black above on a gray background and brownish-yellow speckled, white below
Mus dolichurus, and then continue with the beautiful, long-
eared Deomys, the common M. Tullbergi, the newly discovered M.
rufocanus, the one with a narrow black band along the back
M. univittatus, the white-footed, dark brown above M. setulosus,
the one living near the mangrove forest, from M. Tullbergi by
its gray-brown, white-toed, not purely white hind feet
differentiated, and the beautiful, short-tailed Lophuromys afer.
Of the mammals in these forests, as usual, squirrels were the most common, the aforementioned small greenish-yellow Sciurus poensis and the brown, yellowish-red on the outside of the legs under white, along the sides with a yellow-white band S. pyrrhopus, as well as the largest
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Local food
Page 350
severe coconut palms showed that we now had the village before us,
through whose gate, limited by a palisade hedge, we entered, advancing on the only street that sloped upwards. All the houses were
approximately the same, rectangular, built of the leaves of the raffia palm on a
framework of poles and branches; the floor was the bare ground
and the comfort was scanty.
Soon the blacks stuck their curly or often shaved
heads out of the doorways; but, accustomed to trading at the factory,
they did not follow curiously at our heels but let us pass in peace.
Only the
women, who rarely come to the factories, were more timid
and ran in when they saw us. As the animal world at the moment interested us more
than the blacks, we continued our excursion up the street; but soon our stomachs cried out for food, and we directed our steps
to a rather pleasant house with a sort of garden in front to
eat. Here a group of negroes had gathered, looking at some object that one of them had in his hand.
Wondering what
could so interest them, I went there and found it to be
a half-monkey they had caught, a Galago Alleni (Galago Alleni). It was a
small, soft, fine animal. The black-brown tail was bushy and
evenly broad, the upper side of the animal dark brown with a yellowish-gray tint, the underside white. The length to the root of the tail was 20, the tail 27 cm.
On closer inspection it appeared to be shockingly wounded, with deep wounds on the thighs, back and abdomen, so that the intestines fell out, wherefore I snatched the poor animal to me and by hugging it hard over the heart put an end to its torment. The Negroes are completely insensitive to the suffering of animals. For example, when they bring chickens from far inland to the factories, they tie them alive, several together, by the legs, and then they are left to hang with their heads down like bundles of shot game, without food or drink, sometimes for several days. It is easy to see how the poor animals are tormented by this; and when the ties are finally loosened on the way out, the chickens can lie for a long time, cold in the sand, unable to support themselves on their often outstretched legs. Another case which shows the same callousness may be mentioned here.
During my stay at Ndian I had requested a negro who often carried a gun and lived a few days' journey inland to kill mammals, which, however, were not rotten when they arrived, but had just been shot, and to bring them down to the factory.
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In a canoe to Ndian.
On the morning of the 20th of May
we went
at Ekundu
on board
the canoe, which had been loaded the previous evening,
which, to meet the tide before
the break of day,
under the sonorous singing of the negroes,
were steered
away through the great creek
to the deltas of the Massakes and
Ndian. Linnell, well acquainted
with how tiring
such long river voyages can be, had done
everything to make it somewhat comfortable.
An arched roof of raffia leaves was stretched
over the front and middle part of the canoe for protection from the sun;
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375
colossi, that the natives, in danger of starving to death, moved the village to
a mountain goose 4 km. away.
A tropical heat prevailed in the confined open space,
while we had been cool in the forest, although the steamy air
pressed the sweat out of our pores.
After another moment's march the sound of axes reached our ears;
ahead of us lay an open space, and looming rows of
coconut palms showed that we were standing at a negro village. A small, slender
old man with a laughing rubber physiognomy appeared first, hurried forward while bowing, made, during the traditional "amma
fokko!", a gesture with his hand, evidently pleased with
the white man's visit, snatched the burden from one of the bearers, and with it
on his head he marched headlong into the village of Matamani.
Thus we were in Ngololand, while Mundemba
and Ndian were Balundu villages.
Yi entered a wide street, bounded on both sides by a long row of houses, and the whole had a neat and inviting
appearance. The houses, about twenty on each side, were covered
with yellowish earth, laterite, and even the cleanly kept street was
of the same hue.
Curious faces appeared in the doorways,
but all of them had a good and friendly appearance. They
were evidently accustomed to seeing the white man.
When visiting the villages, etiquette requires that the white man always
enter the house of the chief, who in return receives suitable gifts.
In his eagerness, however, our guide wanted to take me to his house,
when I was informed by the interpreter that we had already passed the chief's
residence, which was only distinguished from the others by a staff placed outside. The chief is also the only one who is allowed to take the
white man in the hand, and after a short while the same man appeared,
attended by "the big men of the town \ who, however, paid their compliments from a distance.
The chief immediately ordered the house to be vacated, and we set down our
stuffs, whereupon I, tired after the day's march, sat down on
a wooden bunk, my usual bed. However, the room was full
of smoke, for which reason I was soon chased out again.
Hunger became increasingly noticeable, and one of the blacks was ordered to prepare the shot parrot; but the interpreter explained.
that it was too tough to chop, and when even neg-
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Page 376
The men found it tough, what would the white man not think. — But
perhaps it was only a ruse to get it himself! It was nevertheless replaced
by a hen, which boiled in oil with pepper and plantains
tasted excellently.
The sun was still up, so I and a couple of negroes made
a raid on the edge of the forest and in the farms, where the elephants had crossed
over and over, leaving wide paths through the dense
vegetation. The negro children who came towards us were a little timid, but
the older ones had put on a calm, dignified air. The population
had a good appearance, and many had regular, sympathetic
faces.
But soon the sun disappeared behind the forest canopy, the dusk
became increasingly dense, the sounds of the flying dogs rang out here and there
from trees and palm trees, the eternal concert of crickets, warblers and grasshoppers
roared louder and louder through the forest, and the negroes
had already disappeared into their houses when we returned to our simple bush hut on the deserted street.
Now the preparation of the day's catch remained, for which a box set on its short side served as a table, while the
little servants Anolly and Prisse settled down beside them on the
floor, looking with wonder at the written notes that
lay beside them.
They spoke of my home, which was "far away", and where they had often asked me to accompany them. They were most interested, however, in my new, yellow, high, iron-heeled, buckle-
boots, which aroused their lively admiration and undivided approval.
Apart from the wooden bunk, the only furniture in the room was a small cot; and over the fireplaces at both ends of the latter, racks for drying clothes were built. There was also a proper door, something that even the factories could lack.
It was the first time I had slept on the Negroes' plank beds;
it was not exactly comfortable, and the rest was not great. I woke up stiff in the morning, and at dawn we were ready to set out. The chief came to receive his gift, consisting of two bundles of tobacco. This was for the lodging,
however no plantains could be obtained, as according to the chief
the elephants had so spared the farms that the people had barely
for their own needs.
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Road crossing Ndian river, on to Vevoka
Page 377
Landel Bteg(??) inland more and more, and already this place was considerably higher than Ndian. The cold had been noticeable even during the night and forced me to get up and rub my frozen body. All night long the rain had lashed the roof and walls, and even as we were leaving a fine drizzle swept through the air. The air was misty and raw, the whole forest was dripping with water, and it was almost hard to believe that we were in the middle of a tropical primeval forest. After a while the road crossed a tributary of the Ndian River and from there continued up a steep ridge. Here we had to grab branches and vines with our hands to get up, and the porters occasionally stopped on their knees to rest. Then we went down again, where at the bottom a river was rushing briskly, the banks surrounded by large, tree-like snake-like bushes. Rising from the sloping rock just above the river, over which they shot out, they unfolded in the now emerging sun their entire splendid foliage, covered with waterdrops, which like countless little fireballs glitteringly reflected the golden rays. But no smiling flowers delighted the eye; wherever the gaze wandered, from the water to the high crowns of the trees, this eternal sea of leaves spread out, where only the different shades of greenery and the different shapes of the leaf groups gave variety to the mind. Even the birds, which seemed to have had an El Dorado here, were silent, and only rarely did any sound, except from the strongly rushing stream, break the silence of the primeval forest. Shortly after noon we were at the main branch of the Ndian River, about 40 m. wide, coming from the Rumpi Mountains.
After the porters had successfully transferred their packs, two of them returned to carry me across and cut a couple of sticks for support on the slippery, rocky bottom. When this was done, I threw myself onto the shoulders of one of them, and supporting each other, the men climbed carefully into the river, which was certainly not deeper than I could thus cross, but was rushing and foaming strongly.
Soon a village again showed its rows of coconut palms, and we were at Meta, where we intended to rest, as the people had not yet had a bite to eat all day, and I myself had only taken a couple of cold plates and a cup of black coffee. But time did not allow
any pause, as we had to reach Vevoka before evening,
where it was still said to be quite a long way, and rain was also threatening.
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Cannabalism and slavery and oil palms
Page 390
the fresh, cool, almost chilly air, and with strengthened strength
we were about to continue our march.
The information I had received at Ndian that the plains would
begin here was certainly incorrect, although the terrain had begun to become partly freer and suggested that the country inland would be even more
open. There was therefore reason to try to penetrate further; the interpreter
was summoned to obtain signs, but refused to go further, in the most definite way advising against continuing in that direction.
The chief who had been rudely rebuffed the day before had left
the village indignant, and the reception in his village would be unpleasant and not without danger.
Offended in the presence of his own and his neighbours, he would here
show his power and at all events prevent further penetration.
All the porters agreed; and since this place had been fixed from the beginning as the goal of the march, the goods for trade had already begun to diminish greatly, and the rains were increasingly interrupting the work, I decided to return.
Inside Ngolo spread the great Batangai people, whose inhabitants had a reputation for being notorious cannibals. Waldau, who had recently attempted to penetrate this country, but was forced to return by the resistance of the natives, writes about it: “As for the statement that the Batanga are cannibals, I assumed that it was true in so far as they do not live on human flesh, but do not despise it, but on the contrary gladly eat it, if the opportunity presents itself. The same may be said to be the case in Ngolo, although they deny it, knowing that the whites and the coast people abhor cannibalism. All the tribes in these regions have been cannibals, but for the past 20 or 30 years the slaves, who used to provide the material for their cannibalistic meals, have become far too valuable to serve as food. When the palm oil trade began, all the surplus labor of the country was employed in the manufacture of this valuable commodity, and with the practical eye which is innate in the negro, he immediately realized that the slave as a producer of palm oil would be of incomparably greater use to him than as a slaughter animal. The price of a slave had multiplied, and self-interest forbade his master to part with his most valuable property for the sake of a few meals.
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The last time in Ndian.
Page 397
The last time in Ndian.
As a result of the rain, which began to fall in torrents almost daily, soon not much work could be done in the open air, and
some longer excursions into the dripping dense forest were out of the question. The moments that could be spent outside, I therefore kept mostly near the factory, where, moreover, the
best catching places were found, partly down by the river, where, as mentioned, the large butterflies often flew around, and partly also in the
bush, which, however, gave much worse results, although it
must be examined from time to time in any case. Beetles were
very scarce, and of the larger forms, mainly ceramby ciders were found. Small, tired owners flew around the lamp in the evenings, where they got stuck on the oil house, or ate into the beams of the factory. The sand flies were sometimes quite annoying, but the mosquitoes, on the other hand, had almost disappeared.
One evening, when the rain had stopped, I guided my steps into the bush forest following the narrow path; but hardly an animal was to be seen. Not a chirp was heard, everything was quiet and still. The animals did not seem to thrive in these damp, impenetrable thickets. From the river everything looked so impressively beautiful through the undulating
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