202 THE SEMLIKI VALLEY AND CONGO FOREST 



are perhaps not more than three feet at their greatest height above the- 

 ground, are circular, and have a tiny hole at one side which is used as 

 a doorway. The huts are made by tracing first of all a rough circle with 

 the point of a stick on the cleared ground. All round this circle long 

 withes or twigs are stuck in tlie ground erect. These sticks are then 

 bent over in a flattened semi-circle to a point on the o])]iosite side of the 

 circle, and thus cross and recross one another, making a kind of low cage 

 of sticks. The large oval leaves of a zingiberaceous plant allied to the 

 bananas or the cannas — very often a species of Costus or Ainoimim — are 

 fastened by tlie ends of their stalks to this network of twigs. The leaves 

 are usually ])lacc(l in widening circles beginning from the apex of the hut, 

 nuich as tiles would be ])Ut on to a roof, overlap[)ing one another. As 

 this work \ery often is faulty, quantities of leaves and grass are thrown 

 on to the roof of the hut, and become settled down in time by the impact 

 of the rain into a mass of vegetation from which the water trickles off down 

 the outer side. Here these Dwarfs live in little communities on the 

 outskirts of the settlements of big negroes. Their huts are so difficult to 

 distinguish in the gloom of the forest that the traveller may have Dwarfs 

 living all round his encam])ment and be unaware of their presence, especially 

 as they manage to conceal their own little bodies so cleverly. When they 

 are on friendly terms, however, with the big black negroes, they have a 

 degree of confidence in these neighbours, especially in certain individuals. 

 If one of their friends goes out into the forest and shouts to them, they 

 will come at his call, even if it be to visit the mysterious and dreaded 

 European. In our own case, of course, we were at once friends with the 

 Dwarfs, as we had brought back to their homes those who had been taken 

 away by the German trader. These returned exiles brought into my camp 

 numbers of their fellows to be photographed and measured. 



After several days' residence in this forest we were compelled to abandon 

 any further search for the oka])i, and returned to the grass-lands of the 

 Sendiki. I do not remember noticing mosquitoes particularly in the forest, 

 but something gave the whole caravan severe malarial fever, and most of 

 my porters were too ill to carry their burdens. The Belgians came to 

 our assistance, providing us with porters and soldiers to carry away our load& 

 to British territory. 



The forest between ^Ibeni and the navigable waters of the Aruwimi 

 appears to be extremely unhealthy. ^lany Europeans who have attempted 

 to travel through this countrv have died of blackwater fever, amongst them,. 

 I deeply regret to say, that excellent servant of the Congo Free State, 

 Lieutenant Meura, who had done so much in the Upper Ituri District to 

 conciliate the natives and introduce law and order into their forest settle- 

 ments. With this reservation, however, as regards danger to health, I think 



