THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OE CENTRAL AFRICA. 207 



festival the more joyfully that it is honoured by the presence of 

 strangers. The hospitality of all the Soudanese is extraordinary, 

 but in no other race is it so remarkable as among the Hassanie. 



In the course of our journey we come upon other settlements of 

 these forest-shepherds, sometimes also on the villages of other Sou- 

 danese, and at length, after travelling nearly a month, we reach 

 the desired region. The dense forest on both banks of the river 

 prevents our searching gaze from seeing farther into the country. 

 In this region there are no settlements of men, neither fields nor 

 villages, not even temporarily inhabited camps; the ring of the 

 axe has not yet echoed through these forests, for man has not yet 

 attempted to exploit them; in them there dwell, still almost unmo- 

 lested, only wild beasts. Impenetrable hedges shut oif the forests, 

 and resist any attempt to force a way from the stream to the 

 interior. Every shade of green combines to form an enchanting 

 picture, which now reminds one of home, and again appears entirely 

 foreign. Bright green mimosas form the groundwork, and with 

 them contrast vividly the silver glittering palm-leaves, the dark 

 green tamarinds, and the bright green Christ- thorn bushes; leaves 

 of endless variety wave and tremble in the wind, exposing first one 

 side and then the other, shimmering and glittering before the sur- 

 feited and dazzled eye, which seeks in vain to analyse the leafy 

 maze, to distinguish any part from the whole. For miles both 

 banks present the same appearance, the same denseness of forest, 

 the same grandeur, everywhere equally uninterrupted and impene- 

 trable. 



At last we come upon a path, perhaps even on a broad road, 

 which seems to lead into the depths of the forest. But we search 

 in vain for any traces of human footprints. Man did not make this 

 path; the beasts of the forest have cleared it. A herd of elephants 

 tramped through the matted thicket from the dry heights of the 

 bank to the stream. One after another in long procession the 

 mighty beasts broke through the undergrowth, intertwined a thou- 

 sand-fold, letting nought save the strongest trees divert them from 

 their course. If branches or stems as thick as a man's leg stood in 

 the way they were snapped across, stripped of twigs and leaves, all 



