SOUNDS OF HUMAN VOICES—I ENCOUNTER REGUNDO AND HIS WIFE, SLAVES OF KING MOMBO—OTHER SLAVES—HUNTERS AND WARRIORS OF MOMBO.

I followed the path. I had hardly walked fifteen steps when I heard the sound of an axe—some one evidently was chopping wood. The path was a well beaten one, showing that many people passed over it. The sound made by the axe became louder and louder as I advanced inland. Then I heard human voices, and stopped to listen. After a while I found that two people were talking to each other, but I was too far away to hear the language they spoke. I wondered if these two people would be friendly, or would run away at sight of me.

I advanced cautiously, and soon saw the roof of a house, then the whole house, which had a veranda; and under the veranda were a man and a woman talking to each other. The house was built of the bark of trees. The man was gray-headed, the woman likewise; they were almost naked and only wore a little strip of soft bark round their loins.

I appeared suddenly before them, so that they did not even have time to rise. Both looked at me, appearing dumbfounded. They tried to get up, but fear had paralyzed both and they could not rise. I showed to them “Omemba,” the stick of King Mombo, which they recognized at once. Then I saluted them in the Commi language by saying, “Mbolo.” They answered, “A-ee,” and returned the salutation by saying “Mbolo,” and I answered “A-ee.” This is the mode of salutation in King Mombo’s country.

The sight of “Omemba” had somewhat calmed their fears. I saw by their appearance that they were slaves, for both had their front teeth filed to a point. The Commi people do not file theirs—these two people came evidently from a far country. The man said to me, in the Commi language, “Both my wife and I are slaves of King Mombo, and many more slaves owned by him are in the neighborhood, on different plantations.”

His wife went inside of her house and brought me out a stool and the tail of an elephant to kill the flies which bothered me, and they both bade me welcome and asked me to stay with them.

Strange indeed was the appearance of Regundo, for such was the man’s name. One side of his face was painted with red ochre, the other with white; a broad yellow stripe adorned the middle of his chest; the circuits of his eyes were also daubed with color. In the middle of his forehead was a round, white spot. He had evidently just made his toilet, for the colors looked fresh. He was also covered with charms or “mondahs.” His wife’s face was also painted. She wore large iron rings in her ears.

On the roof of Regundo’s house were skulls of antelopes with their horns, skulls of wild boars, leopards, monkeys, and other animals, evidently apes, unknown to me, but the heads of which resembled, somewhat, human heads. Six large elephants’ skulls were lying in front of the veranda—under which hung in a line sixty-three elephants’ tails.

As I was looking at them, Regundo said, “These are the tails of the elephants I have killed. I have been a great hunter all my life, but now I have given up hunting, and I send but very little game to my master, King Mombo. But there are hunters here who are younger than I am, and who go much into the forest in search of elephants and other game.”

While Regundo was talking his wife went away, but soon returned with a chicken that was a kind of bantam, tied by the legs, a basket of sweet potatoes, a bunch of plantains, and four eggs, and laid these at my feet. My talking to them in a language they could understand, and the sight of “Omemba,” had reconciled them to me. They had also heard, before I came, that I was a great friend of King Mombo.

I looked round. I saw, at a little distance, a number of small houses together, also built of the bark of trees. As soon as Regundo saw me looking at them he said: “Those are houses of slaves belonging to King Mombo. He has many slaves; some of them are old, and he has inherited them from one of his brothers.”

He had hardly uttered these words when I saw a number of men and women coming towards the houses. The women carried heavy bunches of plantains, or baskets filled with manioc roots. Most of the men had axes with them, and were returning from the forest, where they had been felling trees for new plantations.

“Those people are the slaves of King Mombo,” said Regundo. “There are others that live further on in the forest. The brothers of the king, and some of his people, also have plantations and slaves not very far from here, higher up the river and in the forest.”

I went towards them, and when they saw me they stood still. I raised “Omemba,” which they recognized at once as the stick of King Mombo, their master, and which reassured them.

These slaves, from their appearance, seemed to belong to many different tribes. Some belonged to tribes which filed their front teeth sharp to a point. Others had their four upper and lower front teeth pulled, this being considered beautiful among some tribes. Some had two upper middle front teeth somewhat filed in the middle. They also varied in the color of their skins; some were quite black, others less so, and some dark-brown color. Many shaved their eyebrows, and two women wore rings in their noses.

They were all more or less tattooed. This form of adornment among the Africans is not done without pain; the skin is cut in such a manner that it is made to stand up in small ridges.

Regundo soon rejoined me, and told the slaves that the great Oguizi, of whom they had heard, was before them.

When I was talking to these slaves, four or five men made their appearance. They looked like great warriors. They carried with them long, single-barrelled flint-lock guns, of heavy calibre—the only kind of guns the natives like. They are called “tower guns,” and are made in England especially for the West African trade.

They were followed by queer-looking hunting-dogs, which at once began to bark furiously at me.

These dogs seemed half starved, they were so lean. They had short hair, straight ears, a somewhat elongated muzzle, with powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Their tails were curly, a sign of their being thoroughbred. They were not large, and had rather long legs for their size. They were yellow and white, or black and white. Some were almost all of one color.

Then Regundo, pointing to one of these four men, said: “This man is Oshoria; he is the greatest hunter among us all, and knows not what fear is. He hunts all the time, and spends many days in the forest by himself; and when he finds no game he has to feed on berries, nuts, and fruit. He knows every part of the forest for a long way.”

I looked at Oshoria. He was a fine-looking man, about five feet seven in height, well proportioned, with broad chest, and strong, muscular arms and legs, and small feet. He had broad, thick lips, deep, searching, and suspicious-looking eyes, which seemed to look all round at the same time, as if expecting danger everywhere, and he had a very determined face. He was not much tattooed. His teeth were not filed. After eying him I said to myself: “Regundo is right. The whole appearance of Oshoria shows that he is a cool and brave man, who knows not what fear is.”

Then Regundo, pointing out three other men, who had come with Oshoria, said to me: “These three men are great hunters also, and the equal of Oshoria in fearlessness, but are not quite as successful in killing game. Their names are Ogoola, Ngola, and Quabi. When King Mombo makes war, he always calls upon these four men to follow him, and they are always in his canoe.”

I looked at Ngola. He was tall, very thin, of reddish-black color, with piercing eyes and a bold, daring countenance. The scars on his body showed that he had followed King Mombo in war. One cut on one of his shoulders had been a terrible one, judging from the scar, and had been inflicted by a heavy machete.

Quabi was thick and short, the counterpart of Ngola, and was very black. No negro could have been blacker. He was blue-black. He also had scars on his body—from the wounds he had received when he followed King Mombo in warfare. He came from a far country and had been sold by his relations when very young, so he had forgotten the language of his people. By merely looking at him one could see that he was brave.

Ogoola was of medium height, with a bold countenance, a real fighting chin; his eyes like those of Oshoria seemed to look all around at the same time in the same wandering and restless way. No scars were to be seen on his body, for he was so quick of motion and so expert with his shield that no spears, arrows, or bullets had ever been able to strike him. So quick were his eyes when watching the motions of his antagonist, that he seemed always to guess the time when a spear was thrown or an arrow shot or a gun fired at him. Then he would either jump sideways, or bend low, or even fall on the ground to escape the shot. He attributed his escape to a powerful “mondah,” or charm, in which he had great faith. He was of medium height, and he had come into the possession of King Mombo when a boy.

“No leopard,” said Regundo to me, “can approach its prey as these hunters can the wild beasts. They are the bravest and best hunters of King Mombo.”

I called these four fierce-looking fellows to me and shook hands with them. They looked shyly at me, for they had never seen a white man before, though Regundo had. I gave each of them a steel disc and a flint, to make fire with, with which they were delighted. When I returned to Regundo’s house his wife had prepared a meal for me of boiled antelope meat and plantains. In the meantime she had made ready the little house that I was to occupy while with them. It was quite small, about nine feet long and six feet wide. The walls, made of bark, were about five feet in height, the top of the roof about eight feet, and made of palm leaves; the sticks supporting the leaves were close together and made very secure to prevent leopards at night getting through and seizing the inmates in their sleep. The door was made of the bottom of an old canoe.

Being tired, I bade good-night to Regundo, who handed me a lighted torch, and after getting inside I looked carefully all round and under the bed to see if there were snakes, scorpions, or centipedes about. Then I lay down to sleep without undressing, wearing my shoes. I took my two revolvers from my belt and put them under my head, and laid “Bulldog” by my side. Such was the way I went to sleep almost every night, and even without fearing danger, prudence made me do so. In that way I was ready for a fight at once in case of any sudden emergency. As I fell asleep I heard the voice of Regundo calling on the spirits of his ancestors.