HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



and spoke wildly about some bird or other that had come 

 the last few nights and sat on a tree close by. The 

 superstition of these people in regard to certain things 

 is insurmountable, among them is the belief in the " bird 

 of death " which makes a strange sighing noise in the 

 trees at night. 



While on the topic of superstitions there are one or 

 two little things that may be of interest in this connection. 

 The people to the west of Lake Albert and the Upper 

 Nile have a rooted belief that should the moon cast a 

 shadow across any one sleeping in the open, death will 

 speedily overtake him. Sir Harry Johnston (" George 

 Grenfell and the Congo "), says, "... the Bangala 

 believe the sun to be the lover of the moon, whom he is 

 continually pursuing across the sky. On the rare occasion 

 on which he catches her there is an eclipse." I once 

 asked some natives — cannibals by the way — near Aba 

 what they thought of the Comet (Halley's) that had 

 appeared in the sky some time before my arrival among 

 them. For some minutes they shook their heads and 

 talked fast among themselves ; it was some time before 

 they grasped what I had spoken of, and one of my boys 

 who understood what I meant, talked to them for a long 

 time about the great light in the sky that came some few 

 moons before. At length they saw what I meant and 

 all started to talk at once. For them it was a long way 

 back to remember. " Yes ! " they said, " the sky was 

 on fire." Other ideas of theirs as to the meaning of the 

 " fire in the sky " were freely discussed. It is the law 

 of the people not to attempt to alter that which nature 

 has commanded, what nature has done must be left 

 as it is. I have come across a tree that had been blown 

 down and lay across the path, it has been left there and 

 the people make a detour and walk round it and pass on. 

 It was no good trying to help the young fellow who lay 

 i >n the litter, my proffered assistance was rejected. I 



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