200 



THE SEMLIKI VALLEY 



At last we reached a partial clearing open to the sky. This was an 

 Mbuba village inhabited by tall, not ill -looking negroes, who spoke a 

 language quite distinct from Bantu and not easy to classify. The ^Ibuba 

 huts were not badly constructed, though very low, and their roofs, formed 

 of leaves of zingiberaceous })lants, liad but a sliglit pitch. There was a 

 little ornamented porch in fi-ont of e\ery doorway. In spite of the partial 

 clearing which had taken place, the vegetation was so rampant here that 

 it was difficult to obtain a jiiece of bare giound for the camp. In tlie 

 vichiity of this forest clearing the butterflies were amazingly beautiful, 

 an exact reproduction of those already described in connection with the 



162. IX THE CONGO FOREST, NOKTH-WEST OF MBENI : AN MBLBA CLEARING 



Toro and Xaudi forests. Whilst camping in this })lace, however, we were 

 rendered miserable by the appalling thunderstorms. Our tents were too 

 near to colossal trees for us to feel comfortable when we heard other 

 monsters of the forest crashing down during the midnight storms, while 

 it was very difficult to keep our beds dry from the rush of water. P'rom 

 this place we plunged farther into the forest till we reached the Dwarfs' 

 homes. All this time we were searching fruitlessly for the okapi, though 

 I believe we were once on its track, for the natives showed me the 

 footprints of a large, cloven-footed animal on the black soil of rotted 

 leaves near a little watercourse. As, however, up to this time I believed 

 the okapi to be an aberrant species of zebra, I turned away impatiently 

 from these footprints, thinking them to be the spoor of a forest eland. 



