288 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



squatted in a circle below him. As yesterday, he 

 raised his hands, palm up, to the skies; he faced in turn 

 all parts of the compass; he bent humbly, his hands 

 crossed on his breast, calling on the forest, the Powers, 

 and the gods of elephants in a loud monotone. The 

 others, once more, their heads low, muttered choral 

 responses, and at times beat the earth softly, in unison, 

 with the palms of their hands. Then suddenly they 

 rose and disappeared, leaving us by the little fire. 

 After a short interval they returned, bringing tufts of 

 some herb. These N'jahgi dipped in the white ashes, 

 and with them spattered each countenance, muttering 

 some sort of a charm. The herbs were distributed. 

 Each sat on his share, while N'jahgi intoned another 

 invocation. Obeying a gesture we arose and started 

 for the forest. But this was not all. At the beginning 

 of the elephant spoor the little men all knelt down in a 

 row, beat the earth softly with their palms, shook their 

 herb bundles in the air, bent forward and blew three 

 times on the trail. Then they planted the herbs be- 

 neath trees on either side of the trail. We started in 

 good earnest. 



It rained steadily. For three hours we followed the 

 Wanderobo at a great pace, crossing two deep caiions 

 on the way. At dark we camped where we found our- 

 selves. The rain continued. Our little Wanderobo 

 shivered like dogs. 



It took half an hour to make a fire. These tropical 



