HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



out that the cause of this sudden halt is merely a bunch 

 of eland on the grass plain ahead, you realize that you 

 have been led on a wild goose chase. 



" The elephants are gone," they say. " Kill this 

 meat, it is good. No ! there is no ivory, but we shall 

 all get plenty to eat, see ! there are many many." You 

 then return to camp conscious of the fact that you have 

 been fooled ; you may have seen old tracks, but the 

 elephants of last night that they had spoken of must 

 have had wings. 



During the stay in Mangbettu country I noticed 

 that a large number of people carried ivory trumpets 

 slung over their shoulders. I remember one day when 

 we were travelling along I saw ahead of us on the sky- 

 line what I thought were elephants in single file. When 

 we got there, however, I found that what I had seen was 

 a number of women bearing on their backs loads of bark 

 and produce from the fields to the village. Our visit 

 to their country was brief therefore. 



The journey back to the country west of the Kibi was 

 accomplished in some twelve days, and was without 

 any event of an exciting nature. Our progress in the 

 journey eastwards to Mount Wati was, however, arrested 

 at a village called Lodo, the headquarters of a powerful 

 chief of that name and the site of a Belgian rest camp 

 used when the officials are on patrol. The camp com- 

 prised half a dozen square-built huts of mud and grass 

 and a banda for the officer in charge — when there is one. 

 This was simply a tall conical grass and reed roof some 

 hundred feet in circumference at the base, supported on 

 poles. On approaching the village a number of people 

 flocked along the narrow path in the tall grass to meet 

 us, and unusual excitement seemed to prevail among 

 them. We found that the chief was lying very ill and 

 had sent one of his sons to greet us. He was a handsome 

 young fellow and possessed of good manners for a native. 



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