HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



down and the pain will go away and never come back 

 again." Goodness knows what else they thought this 

 savage method of doctoring would accomplish. Half a 

 dozen more cock birds, tied by the leg close by, pulled at 

 the tethering strings with their tongues hanging out 

 gasping for water. These were to be sacrificed at sun- 

 down and their intestines strung around the chief in 

 place of those he was wearing at present. The women 

 wailed, children scampered round, flies, butterflies, bees, 

 and ants all buzzed and droned around the feverish form 

 on the litter, and one of the wives was kneeling down and 

 waving a palm leaf over his head. For some time we 

 endeavoured to persuade the chief and his son to dis- 

 pense with the horrible-smelling mess that hung round 

 him ; at length the son spoke to one of those standing 

 by and presently a shout went up, " Where is Yabena ? ' 

 A messenger tore off to the village and presently 

 returned with the " oracle." In spite of his great age, 

 the old fellow was as lithe and active as a boy and 

 hurried towards us. The chief's son told him something 

 about the white men who kill the elephants and pointed 

 to the medicine chests that we had brought with us. 

 The old fellow regarded us with anything but a friendly 

 expression, and I could see that should the people decide 

 in our favour we should be taking on a great respon- 

 sibility. The chief had lain there for days and nights, 

 how many the people could not say, they had lost count, 

 but he had been there for " many, very many days ! " 

 He was no better, and the people were not slow to show 

 their approval of the advent of the white men with their 

 medicine, in spite of an excited speech by the oracle 

 which he punctuated with blows of a stick that he carried 

 and swung round him, slashing at any interrupter. At 

 length the women carefully removed the bands, and we 

 ventured on the risky proceeding of supplanting a native 

 doctor in the endeavour to cure a native chief on whom 



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