242 
In the Heart of Africa 
thickets which prevent you from penetrating the green depths 
on either side, and, on gazing upwards, the dense canopy of 
foliage overhead forbids an untrammelled view of the heavens 
to the eyes so wearied with eternal green. On coming to a glade, 
the green walls rise implacably up to a height of forty metres, 
and the traveller can only be compared to a prisoner who has 
exchanged the narrow confines of his cell for the prison court¬ 
yard. The forest is oppressive in its monstrous hugeness and 
density, filling up all the space from the ground to the highest 
tree-tops. Thus we could understand how it was that the Belgian 
officials found their foret vierge deadening and soul-killing, and 
often spoke with mild horror of the march through the forest 
from Stanleyville to their stations on the eastern boundary. 
To those coming from the open plains, animal life here appears 
to be extinct. Just as the ocean voyager can see little of the 
wealth of life concealed in the sea, so we could discern nothing 
of the rich animal world hidden in the depths of the interior 
of the forest. It is true that we came across many tracks of 
elephants and buffalo, but we never saw the beasts themselves; 
the birds were silent, and not even monkeys enlivened the motion¬ 
less trees. It was not until we were a little way from Mawambi 
that we saw somewhat more of the fauna. At the start monkeys 
abounded, but they were scared away by Mildbraed. He was 
the first of us to arrive in Irumu from Beni, and as he found his 
hands idle there he marched off in advance, so as to have more 
leisure for collecting; he was to await our coming at Mawambi. 
When he shot down the boughs from the tree-tops he did not 
spare their four-legged inhabitants; he showed us some colobus 
species, black mangabeys (which look like devils), and a green 
monkey. At night we often heard elephants in the darkness 
amongst the banana fields around the station, breaking down the 
shrubs and generally creating havoc. 
Until we reached Mawambi we had thunderstorms almost 
daily, but fortunately they did not break out till the afternoon or 
during the night. The loamy ground was in a state which did 
not conduce to pleasant travelling. The air was so saturated 
