FIGHT BETWEEN MONKEY TRIBES, NKAGOS AND MONDIS—MY GUN PUTS BOTH SIDES TO FLIGHT—A VISIT FROM THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS—EVERYTHING FLIES BEFORE THEM—WE DRIVE THEM OFF WITH FIREBRANDS AND BOILING WATER

I loved to walk by myself in the great forest, taking my smooth-bore gun for birds, with which I always took a few bullets in case I should meet some large animals.

One day as I walked along looking at the butterflies that were very plentiful on both sides of the path, I thought I heard, at some distance, a noise among the trees ahead as if monkeys were feeding. Cautiously I went in the direction of the noise. I had to leave the path and go through the jungle. I had to walk slowly, with my body bent, in order to be hidden from the monkeys and not to frighten them.

When I got near the trees, I found that they were nkagos feeding and uttering grunts of satisfaction, so pleased were they. I could recognize the leader of the troop on the lookout. Suddenly he gave a peculiar cry or sound. The nkagos became very much excited. Their hair became erect on their backs; the sounds or words they uttered were quick and showed anger. They seemed as if getting ready for a fight.

What was the cause of this sudden change in their conduct? I asked myself. I was soon to know. I heard in the distance a noise as if a troop of monkeys were coming in our direction, the noise made by the bending of the branches as the monkeys leaped from one to another. It became louder and louder.

Soon this noise was responded to by the loud cries of the troop of nkagos near me. The monkeys that were approaching answered them, and I recognized their cries to be those of the mondis. They knew the tree and had come to feed upon its fruits. They were too late. The best had been eaten by the nkagos, who also knew the time when the fruits were to be ripe and had come ahead of the mondis.

The mondis were furious, and advanced boldly towards the tree, led by their old and trusted chiefs. The nkagos had made up their minds to fight and finish the repast they had begun. They had not yet filled their pouches. The mondis jumped on the tree, and a fight ensued among all the monkeys. There were terrible shrieks and some pretty hard bitings. The nkagos were getting the worst of the fight, when I raised my gun, aiming at a mondi that had just finished a fight with a nkago. Bang went my gun. There were general cries of fright among the mondis and the nkagos, and both sides fled with the greatest precipitation, each troop, however, going in a different direction.

In the meantime the mondi I had fired at had fallen to the ground with a great crash, dead. It was a very fine big one, covered with long black glossy hair as it was. I thought I would remain hidden and see if the monkeys would come back.

After about two hours I heard a noise through the branches. I looked up and saw a solitary mondi. He uttered a cry of distress, calling upon his mate that had been killed.

Spying her dead body lying on the ground, he came to her, and uttered low mutterings of distress as he saw that she was dead. I shouted, and he fled. I carried the dead mondi to our camp, and as it weighed I judged about forty pounds, I was glad when I arrived and laid it on the ground.

Several days after this, being in the forest but not far away from the camp, I saw a leopard running quickly in front of me with one of her cubs in her mouth. I wondered at this, for it was so unusual to see a leopard out of her lair in the daytime. She was evidently taking her cubs away for some reason. I had not walked a hundred feet further when I saw the leopard's mate running in front of me with a cub in his mouth also.

I wondered again why the leopards were moving away from their lair. I soon found out. Other animals, and even snakes, were all fleeing in the same direction as the leopards. This, and the flight of insects themselves, told me that an army of bashikouay ants was advancing, attacking every living thing before them. I ran towards the plantation as fast as I could.

Soon Andekko, who had gone into the forest by himself, made his appearance. He was perfectly wild. The poor dog was crying, moaning, and rolling himself on the ground to scratch his body, on which were numbers of the ants biting him. During the night we were awakened by the bites of the advance guard of the bashikouays. They were in our houses. There was a great commotion among the mice, rats, and cockroaches. They were surrounded by the bashikouays. Wherever they fled, there were the bashikouays to attack them. The scorpions, centipedes, and spiders could not help themselves, and were eaten up in a short time.

Meanwhile all the inhabitants of the plantation were up and out of their houses, the babies in the arms of their mothers. Numerous fires were lighted everywhere. Boiling water and hot ashes were thrown upon the ants and we put brands across their paths.

It took us the rest of the night to drive them away and disorganize them. We had killed hundreds of thousands of them. The men could not find words bad enough for the bashikouays. "Oh," said Shinshooko, "these horrid bashikouays will drive all the game away, and it will be a long time before it will return."