202 THE SEMLIKI VALLEY AND CONGO EOEEST 



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 doorwav. 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 the ground erect. These sticks are then 

 bent over in a flattened semi-circle to a point on the opposite 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 Araormirii — are 

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

 are usually phiced in widening circles beginning from the apex of the hut, 

 much as tiles would be put on to a roof, overlapping one another. As- 

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

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

 living all round his encampment 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 okapi, and returned to the grass-lands of the 

 Semliki. 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 loads- 

 to British territory. 



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

 appears to be extremely unhealthy. jNIany Europeans who have attempted 

 to travel through this country 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 l'})per 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 



