HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



our previous information as to the treachery of the 

 Legworo people further on in the country, where our 

 path must necessarily take us to reach the region around 

 Aba. In the afternoon of the day of our arrival he 

 brought one of his children up to the camp. The little 

 one was suffering from the bite of a dog, and queer methods 

 of cure had been employed. The gaping sore, which 

 measured some five inches in length, was on the left leg 

 just below the calf. Green leaves of a certain wild plant 

 had been gathered and boiled to a pulp. This material 

 had been applied to the wound boiling hot and left there, 

 being partially covered up by wide bands of grass and 

 leaves, that sei-ved as bandages. The youngster stood 

 by our tents trying with a small leafy twig to dissuade 

 the flies and other insects from worrying the sore. 

 Pieces of flesh hung out from the edges of the wound. 



Getting out the medicine chests we set to work trying 

 to alleviate the youngster's distressing condition, while 

 the father stood by, as did the crowd of villagers, watching 

 closely. Permanganate of potash and warm water soon 

 cleansed the wound, which had laid bare the bone. The 

 little feUow was quite happy, sucking away at some sugar 

 we had given him, and was as proud as Lucifer of the 

 cloth and lint bandages on his leg. Then the father 

 lifted him on to his shoulder and murmured his thanks, 

 and the little one was borne away to the village, waving 

 his hand at us as they stepped into the trees below. 



After this several of the villagers took the oppor- 

 tunity of hunting up their sick relations, and it was sur- 

 prising how many people came for medicines. I little 

 guessed that I should live to bless the day when, by going 

 to a little trouble, I was creating a friendship with these 

 people, who proved by their actions later on, that although 

 savages, and in many cases of cannibalistic habits, they 

 are not the heartless, unthankful, and forgetful people 

 they are generally said to be. 



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