HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



beads were strung round his waist with a little grass 

 apron fore and aft, and a copper ring through the upper 

 lip completed his toilet. 



The others were younger men, but their features also 

 were spoilt by unnecessary trinkets. Through a hole 

 in their lower lips dangled pieces of glass, shaped like a 

 new moon and some four to seven inches in length. The 

 glass ornaments have a horrible effect on the wearer, and 

 when in a rage they draw the under lip up so that the glass 

 rod projects out like a sting. These ornaments, which 

 look like glass icicles, are made by knocking the bottom 

 off an old bottle and grinding it down on a stone to the 

 shape required, generally in the form of a small tusk. 



The men were quite satisfied when, in exchange for 

 the fish, which weighed thirty-seven and a half pounds — 

 a barbel by the way, the same as is found in the South 

 African waters — I gave them an empty six-pound sugar- 

 tin. For two chickens I exchanged an old bottle and four 

 teaspoonsful of salt. For a soft iron hoe head and a red 

 blanket they contracted to take us across the river, loads 

 and all, which meant about fifteen trips to and fro to 

 get the complete safari across, as well as one of the mules. 

 The other mule and donkey I was going to leave at 

 Wadelai, till my return. It was only possible to get 

 two boys and three loads aboard at the same time. The 

 queer craft was what is called a dug-out made of a tree 

 trunk roughly hewn out with a native adze. This one 

 was about seventeen feet long by twenty inches in width 

 and depth. The natives are exceedingly clever in their 

 manipulation of these extraordinary craft. I have seen 

 them even standing up while paddling. On first seeing 

 the natives sitting high in the stern dipping the large 

 curved bladed paddle it seems easy enough to " paddle 

 your own canoe," but to be a mere passenger in one is a 

 sufficiently nerve-trying experience for most people. I 

 knelt down in the thing, and, as I was the only unoccupied 



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