Okapi Hunting 



along the track from which we had stood aside, the bell 

 (made from a hard seed-pod with two clappers) attached to 

 its neck tap-tapping as it ran, and then, following it, a naked 

 Pygmy holding a little bow and a sheaf of arrows, both soon 

 disappearing however as quickly as they had come. The 

 fluting was continuous and as far as I could judge was the 

 little men's method of keeping the centre of a half-circle. 

 They evidently passed through the forest in this formation, 

 with the idea of surrounding anything their dogs tracked up 

 for them ; the Pygmy playing the flute being guided to a 

 certain extent by the bells of the dogs. 



The forest dwarf is an adept at " calling " animals, 

 especially I believe the chimpanzi, and will sit alone with 

 his bow and arrows imitating the cry of this ape or some 

 other animal, until one approaches closely when he lets fly 

 a shaft and kills it more often than not, for they are expert 

 marksmen and use poisoned arrows. I think, how-ever, 

 they kill very few elephants without assistance from the other 

 forest negroes, the game being too big for their primitive 

 weapons, but they certainly ably assist their more robust 

 brethren in arranging traps and pit-falls. The fierce but 

 pygmy red forest buffalo is perhaps their hcte noire, for this 

 sturdy beast is the " devil and all " when aroused, making 

 even the bird-like Wambute " step lively " on occasions. 

 Later on when nearing the Ituri River the report was brought 

 to us that one of these animals, after being wounded, had put 

 five Pygmies right out of action by goring them, three of 

 whom had not survived. Most Pygmies are extraordinarily 

 agile tree climbers (a very necessary accomplishment, by the 

 way, for a grey parrot snarer), but I am unable to give 

 credence to the reports one reads of tree-hving Pygmies, 



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