On the 17th we reached the Ihuru, and the next day forded the river, and from thence we cut our way through the forest, through bush and plants which were the undergrowth, and early in the afternoon of the 19th we emerged out of the trackless bush, and presently were on the outskirts of the plantations of Fort Bodo, at which all the people admired greatly. On the 20th we cut a track through the deserted plantations, and after an hour’s hard work reached our well-known road, which had been so often patrolled by us. We soon discovered traces of recent travel, and late foraging in piles of plantain skins near the track; but we could not discover by whom these were made. Probably the natives had retired to their settlements; perhaps the dwarfs were now banqueting on the fat of the land. We approached the end of our broad western military road, and at the turning met some Zanzibari patrols who were as much astonished as we were ourselves at the sudden encounter. Volley after volley soon rang through the silence of the clearing. The fort soon responded, and a stream of frantic men, wild with joy, advanced by leaps and bounds to meet us; and among the first was my dear friend the Doctor, who announced, with eyes dancing with pleasure, “All is well at Fort Bodo.” CHAPTER XXIII. THE GREAT CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST. Professor Drummond’s statements respecting Africa--Dimensions of the great forest--Vegetation--Insect life--Description of the trees, &c.--Tribes and their food--The primæval forest--The bush proper--The clearings: wonders of vegetable life--The queer feeling of loneliness--A forest tempest--Tropical vegetation along the banks of the Aruwimi--Wasps’ nests--The forest typical of human life--A few secrets of the woods--Game in the forest--Reasons why we did not hunt the animals--Birds--The Simian tribe--Reptiles and insects--The small bees and the beetles--The “jigger”--Night disturbances by falling trees, &c.--The Chimpanzee--The rainiest zone of the earth--The Ituri or Upper Aruwimi--The different tribes and their languages--Their features and customs--Their complexion--Conversation with some captives at Engweddé--The Wambutti dwarfs: their dwellings and mode of living--The Batwa dwarfs--Life in the forest villages--Two Egyptians captured by the dwarfs at Fort Bodo--The poisons used for the arrows--Our treatment for wounds by the arrows--The wild fruits of the forest--Domestic animals--Ailments of the Madis and Zanzibaris--The Congo Railway and the forest products. [Sidenote: 1888. Dec. Forest.] An English Professor, qualified to write F.R.S.E., F.G.S., after his name, who is a talented writer, and gifted with first-class descriptive powers, while confessing that he was but a “minor traveller, possessing but few assets,” ventured upon the following bold statements respecting Africa:--