CHAPTER IX 



WE BUILD A FORTIFIED CAMP IN THE DEPTHS OF 

 THE FOREST — STRUCTURE OF THE CAMP— LAYING 

 IN STORES OF PROVISIONS — KOOLA NUTS — SOURCE 

 OF MY INFLUENCE OVER THE NATIVES 



ONE evening as Rogala, Shinshooko, Alapai, and 

 I were seated around a blazing fire, we talked 

 about gorillas, elephants, and other big game, and 

 determined to go and build an " olako " camp in the 

 deep and gloomy recesses of the forest, taking with us 

 Andekko and Ndova. 



The following day the women put a large quantity 

 of cassava roots or manioc in the stream running 

 near Rogala's house ; these were to remain in the water 

 three days, after which they were to be cut, pounded, 

 cooked, and made into cakes. 



I was short of soap ; so my hunters collected a 

 quantity of palm nuts, the kind from which palm oil 

 is made. These nuts we boiled until the pulp be- 

 came quite soft. Then the women pounded the nuts 

 in wooden mortars, and the pulp furnished the oil. 

 I then gathered all the ashes from the fires, boiled 

 these for a long time, then leaving the ashes at the 



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