io6 In the Heart of Africa 



shoulder plaited out of grass-stalks. The only weapons we 

 observed were spears, having fairly long lancet-like blades. I 

 have little doubt, however, that they also possess bows and 

 arrows, only that they are not in the habit of always carrying 

 them. The demeanour of these pygmies was shy and hesitating, 

 and we were only able to come to any understanding with them 

 through Tamate's mediation. After we had gained their con- 

 fidence, by making them some small presents, they declared 

 themselves ready to hunt monkeys for us, but could not be 

 induced to go on the hunt with me, because, as Tamate said, 

 they were afraid of the crack of my gun. Then for four days 

 I neither saw nor heard anything of them. 



Meanwhile we undertook long excursions in the forest, and 

 followed a path which was good going at first, but which, as 

 we penetrated deeper, became narrower and narrower, and finally 

 lost itself entirely in the bush. By far the most attractive 

 phenomena in the whole green shrubbery presented by the African 

 virgin forest are the tree-ferns which are found chiefly in clumps 

 close to small watercourses. They are perhaps the most beautiful 

 children in Africa's flora ; with their slender stems, ten metres 

 and more in height, and beautiful crowns, they are more like 

 palms than ferns, and no layman would recognise in them a 

 relation of our common bracken fern. The luxuriance of the 

 undergrowth corresponded with the richness in species and variety 

 of the lower animal world. When I sent my guides and "boys" 

 along to collect wadudu (insects — in a broader sense, small 

 animals) my time was fully occupied in separating the valuable 

 from the useless specimens from the abundant supply they 

 brought. Earthworms of more than forty centimetres in length, 

 and fully as thick as one's thumb {Benhamia spec.) were ex- 

 tremely common ; earth-crabs, snails, with and without shells, 

 too, were gathered in large numbers without any trouble. The 

 most striking feature, however, was the wealth of butterflies in 

 this forest. As they are usually associated with tropical plants, 

 I had been astonished at the small part they had played hitherto 

 in the country we had traversed; in the steppes, forests, etc., 



