HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



due west, close to which, on a large well-kept piece of 

 high ground, there were a number of " Bandas " or 

 conical roofed grass huts with thick mud walls. Some 

 of them were built square and lined with reeds, so we 

 knew that this was an outpost of the Belgians, and was 

 occasionally visited by a patrol. Halting on the square 

 we had not long to wait before the chief, a middle-aged 

 surly brute, was seen to approach, garbed in fancy blue 

 and white striped cloth like a sun awning. He was 

 followed by a large retinue of people clad in a variety of 

 old Belgian uniforms and the customary relics of old 

 flint-lock guns ; one of them, however, carried a modern 

 weapon, a superior trade gun, but the ammunition had 

 evidently been spent, for the bandolier and pouch were 

 empty. Any chief who brings a certain quantity of 

 ivory into a Belgian Government Station or Boma is 

 rewarded with one of these weapons. The sight of a 

 caravan of ivory passing through the country is a great 

 temptation to these natives, and should there be but 

 an Indian in charge of, say, forty native carriers with 

 ivory, he is likely to be attacked for the sake of the tusks, 

 for which, under the present conditions, the natives can 

 obtain a few guns and some ammunition by delivering 

 them to the nearest Boma. In this instance the chief 

 was rich in his way, for he was the proud possessor of an 

 old deck chair which one of his followers placed in position 

 for him. With a self-satisfied air and complete disdain 

 for either of us he dropped into his chair and lolled like 

 a badly brought up child. 



He told us there were plenty of elephants, and pointed 

 away in the direction of Faradje, the Belgian Boma. 

 By his manner and crafty expression it was plain that 

 he was trying to put us in the way of trouble with the 

 Belgians. Our little boy Savarkaki, who was not more 

 than sixteen years of age and had distinguished himself 

 greatly by his knowledge of the language and tracking 



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