HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



and shuffling on the ground as they pursued a wild dance. 

 Almost from sundown to daybreak the village rang 

 with the noises of the excited dancers, and I am sure 

 I did not get an hour's solid sleep during the whole 

 night, although my camp was a quarter of a mile away 

 from the scene. On asking the reason of this long con- 

 tinued annoyance the next morning, I was informed that 

 I alone was the cause of this outburst of joy, for they 

 had not seen a white man for a very long time, and this 

 was their way of showing their satisfaction at my appear- 

 ance among them. 



Several elephant tracks ran close to the village, but 

 they were old, and the natives said that the herds were 

 now further west. Among the cultivated lands outside 

 the village I saw a lofty platform on poles standing fully 

 thirty feet above ground, and on the top of this there 

 stood a native clad in antelope and leopard skins, with 

 a large drum made from a section of hardwood tree and 

 covered with skin tightly stretched over either end was 

 affixed to one of the corner poles that held the platform 

 aloft. He would beat this in a monotonous way for a 

 few moments as though it were a funeral bell, and then 

 perform on it in a frantic manner for several minutes on 

 end to the accompaniment of a wild chant. I stood 

 watching him for about ten minutes, in which time he 

 repeated the performance twice, and continued to do so 

 until the sun went down some two hours later. What 

 the idea was I cannot say unless he was acting as a 

 human scarecrow, or indulging in a little drum talk 

 with some village far away, for at intervals I could 

 make out the sharp notes of a drum beating from a 

 north-westerly direction. All through the Congo this 

 method of drum tapping is used as a means of communi- 

 cation between the people of neighbouring villages ; in 

 fact the drum acts a prominent part in their life, serving 

 as a warning in case of an approaching stranger, and I 



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