CHAPTER XIII 



WESTWARD TO STANLEYVILLE — OUR LAST " SAFARI " 



— THE ITURI FOREST — GOLD, IVORY, 



MAMMALS AND MEN. 



" A nd so, at last the hut-tops peer out amid the trees. 

 And heathen words of greeting come loating on the breeze ; 

 Behind the belt of brushwood dark shadows come and go. 

 Where swaddled shapes, like dancing apes, 

 Come forth to mouth and mow — 



The twilight broods in the heavens. 

 And all the West's aglow." 



■■On Patrol," Verse V. By CuUen Gouldsbury. 



AFTER the cool of the forest the last stages of our 

 journey into Irumu seemed doubly hot and trying, 

 both my wife and myself therefore looked forward 

 with considerable satisfaction to a rest and a few luxuries 

 on our arrival there. Alas, however, for our hopes in the 

 latter direction, for we found the stores contained neither 

 wine, spirits, nor tinned food. Butter, milk and a few 

 vegetables we did obtain, however, and so with these we 

 had to rest content. 



All that time, ivory was the one thing with which Irumu 

 seemed to be concerning itself ; it had reached an absurdly 

 high figure owing to a fictitious rise on the home market and 

 the price then ruling was something in the neighbourhood 

 of one hundred and thirty francs per kilo. In consequence 

 the ivory trade was brisk, to say the least of it, and the search 

 for the stuff fast and furious. I was pounced upon by both 

 white and Indian traders immediately I entered the town- 

 ship, who would hardly believe me when I informed them 

 that I was not selling my ivory. 



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