200 THE SEMLIKI VALLEY 



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

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

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

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

 of leaves of zingiberaceous ])lants, had but a sliglit ])iteh. There was a 

 little ornamented porch in front of every doorway. In spite of the partial 

 clearing which had taken place, the vegetatiou was so ramj)ant here that 

 it was difficult to olitain a piece of bare ground for the camp. In the 

 vicinity of this forest clearing the butterflies were amazingly beautiful, 

 an exact reproduction of those already descrilied in connection with the 



162. IN THE CONGO FOEEST, NOKTH-WEST OF MBENI : AN MBUBA CLEARING 



Toro and Nandi forests. \Yhilst 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. From 

 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. 



