HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



that trickled here and there gave the country an appear- 

 ance of a model arcadia. The natives were not too 

 pleased at our arrival in their midst, and in many cases 

 gave practical demonstrations of their feelings by holding 

 out rotten eggs and dead chickens, shouting and spitting 

 at any of my boys whom they could reach, and jeers and 

 curses were showered on us. 



One afternoon a solid phalanx marched towards us 

 with an array of knives, old guns, bows and arrows, there 

 must have been two hundred of them yelling, shouting, and 

 waving their arms above their heads. When about sixty 

 yards off, they began to throw dirt into the camp, then 

 they halted and held an excited parley among themselves. 

 I went inside the hut and made some loopholes in the 

 grass sides of the structure and got the guns and ammuni- 

 tion out on the table ready for trouble should the occasion 

 arise. Lighting my pipe I returned to my chair under 

 the tree close by and waited for the next move. Three 

 of my boys had bows and a good stock of arrows that 

 they had bought from the natives near Wadelai for a 

 few spoonfuls of salt, the others cut boughs from the 

 trees for use as cudgels, axes and knives were all re- 

 quisitioned for purposes of self-defence. My men looked 

 warriors born, but I knew that on the first shower of 

 arrows from the enemy they would make themselves 

 scarce. Pishi was posted in my grass hut, and so we 

 waited to see what was going to happen. I sat for fully 

 ten minutes while the crowd, besides hurling stones and 

 earth at us, were fast quarrelling among themselves. A 

 stone hit one of my carriers full in the face making a 

 nasty gash on the left cheek, and for a moment he was 

 stunned by the force with which it struck him. Mean- 

 while heated arguments were taking place among the 

 villagers and presently they took to blows. After about 

 ten minutes they retreated to the village. I was at a 

 loss to understand this sudden change in tactics, but a 



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