HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



snoring carriers, the tents were down, beds folded, and 

 everything ready to resume the march. In an hour or 

 so the well-kept road from Hoima had dwindled down to 

 a narrow, and in places almost indistinguishable, track 

 where it was necessary to march in single file. Every 

 now and then we had to cross the improvised native 

 bridges placed over streams and small swamps, out of 

 which surging hordes of buzzing malarial mosquitoes 

 came to greet us. Occasionally amidst the grass and 

 trees, we could discern a rest-house, erected for the porters 

 who carry merchandise between Hoima and the lake. 

 Around the fire, huddled up in blankets, some half-dozen 

 forms would be sitting, chattering away. They would 

 endeavour to peer through the dense cloud of smoke 

 as it hung over the fire. Their curiosity would perhaps 

 be aroused, and the}' would advance to the roadside, 

 questioning our boys as to our destination, and the object 

 of our journey, to which one would reply, " Tembo," 

 " Congo," to which thev would regard us with awe and 



reply, "Ah! ah! ah! oh ! oh ! oh ! o h— h," 



and as an afterthought one would say in Swahili or 

 Luganda, " Elephants, oh yes, elephants ! elephants ! 



a h — h — h, O ! " He would then draw the blanket 



around him, shake his head, and say, " Congo bia sana " 

 (Congo very bad). A running conversation would be 

 kept up between them and our boys, despite the fact that 

 we were now perhaps sixty yards ahead. 



Gradually we were shaking off the bonds of civiliza- 

 tion. At the moment I had little idea that several 

 months would come and go before I should again speak 

 to or see a white woman. Many people are apt to regard 

 Africa as a civilized country. How main- white people 

 have penetrated the vast forests of the Congo ? One 

 good person whom I met shortly after my return home, 

 in referring to my trip, asked me " if the influence of the 

 Dutch Government was making itself felt in East Africa." 



