HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



round the bend full of paddlers singing in unison, taking 

 deep strokes as they head for the shore below. The frail 

 craft is made fast to the bank, and they walk in single 

 rile up to the village through a profusion of wild peppers 

 and other foliage. At length the great sun sinks red in 

 the west, the mosquitoes buzz around slowly, the stars 

 twinkle in the heavens above, and then I can see the 

 people gathering for the dance. Another puff and I 

 can hear the low growl of the leopard against the shrill 

 shriek of the hyaena ; great bats pollute the atmosphere 

 for the moment as they flit past and gather in the trees 

 beyond. I look up and see the Southern Cross lifting 

 itself high in the clear night sky and listen to the voices 

 of men and women singing in the village, and the shuffling 

 of their feet on the hard-trodden ground. Drums roll, 

 anklets clank, children cry, and the dogs are barking all 

 the time. Presently I see the tired people crawling into 

 their huts through the low, narrow aperture that serves 

 as a doorway. The fires dwindle and die away, the wind 

 rocks the trees gently as the silent lap of the ocean on 

 the sandy shore. At length a stillness falls over the land, 

 broken only by the buzz of the mosquitoes or the distant 

 cry of a night bird. 



Think of those people who are living in that tre- 

 mendous stretch of country, who have dwelt there since 

 time immemorial, shut out from the world as we know 

 it ; we have progressed with the advance of civilization, 

 but they have lived there without a guiding hand, without 

 knowledge of the Supreme Being. It may well be styled 

 Darkest Africa ! They are cut off from the outer world ; 

 few of us realize the ignorance that exists among the 

 natives in that far-away land. I am longing to hear 

 again the mighty crash and roar of the hippo, and feel 

 the earth tremble under the feet of the great elephant 

 herds as they dash by in a cloud of dust with gleaming 

 white tusks and huge ears flapping like sails, and the 



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