242 In the Heart of Africa 



thickets which prevent you from penetrating the green depths 

 on either side, and, on gazing upwards, the dense canopy of 

 foliage overhead forbids an untrammelled view of the heavens 

 to the eyes so wearied with eternal green. On coming to a glade, 

 the green walls rise implacably up to a height of forty metres, 

 and the traveller can only be compared to a prisoner who has 

 exchanged the narrow confines of his cell for the prison court- 

 yard. The forest is oppressive in its monstrous hugeness and 

 density, filling up all the space from the ground to the highest 

 tree-tops. Thus we could understand how it was that the Belgian 

 officials found their foret vierge deadening and soul-killing, and 

 often spoke with mild horror of the march through the forest 

 from Stanleyville to their stations on the eastern boundary. 



To those coming from the open plains, animal life here appears 

 to be extinct. Just as the ocean voyager can see little of the 

 wealth of life concealed in the sea, so we could discern nothing 

 of the rich animal world hidden in the depths of the interior 

 of the forest. It is true that we came across many tracks of 

 elephants and buffalo, but we never saw the beasts themselves ; 

 the birds were silent, and not even monkeys enlivened the motion- 

 less trees. It was not until we were a little way from Mawambi 

 that we saw somewhat more of the fauna. At the start monkeys 

 abounded, but they were scared away by Mildbraed. He was 

 the first of us to arrive in Irumu from Beni, and as he found his 

 hands idle there he marched off in advance, so as to have more 

 leisure for collecting ; he was to await our coming at Mawambi. 

 When he shot down the boughs from the tree-tops he did not 

 spare their four-legged inhabitants ; he showed us some colobus 

 species, black mangabeys (which look like devils), and a green 

 monkey. At night we often heard elephants in the darkness 

 amongst the banana fields around the station, breaking down the 

 shrubs and generally creating havoc. 



Until we reached Mawambi we had thunderstorms almost 

 daily, but fortunately they did not break out till the afternoon or 

 during the night. The loamy ground was in a state which did 

 not conduce to pleasant travelling. The air was so saturated 



