Lost in the Jungle; Narrated for Young PeopleDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
General
Lost in the Jungle; Narrated for Young People
Du Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
Africa, West -- Description and travel; Africa, West -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
The excitement of the savages became extreme. They wanted blood. They
wanted to find victims. They wanted to kill somebody. Old and young, men
and women, were frantic with a desire for revenge on the sorcerers.
The doctor came. The people surrounded him, shouting, "We have wizards
among us. We have sent for you to find them. Do find them out, for if
you do not, our people will be dying all the time."
Then the mboundou was prepared. I have described it to you before, and
how it is prepared. The doctor drank a big cup of it in one draught.
Oh how his body trembled; how his eyes afterward became bloodshot, his
veins enlarged. How the people looked at him with bloodthirsty eyes, and
with mouths wide open.
Every man and boy was armed, some with spears, some with swords, some
with guns loaded to the muzzle, some with axes and huge knives, and on
every face I could see a determination to wreak a bloody revenge on
those who should be pointed out as the criminals. The whole people were
possessed with an indescribable fury and horrid thirst for human blood.
I shall never forget the sight. There I stood, alone in the midst of
this infuriated populace, looking at those faces, so frightened, but, at
the same time, so thirsty for blood. A cold shudder ran through me, for
I knew not what would come next. I knew not but the whole village of
Goumbi might be deluged in blood. I am sure you would have felt as I
did.
For the first time my voice was without authority in Goumbi. No one
wanted to hear me when I said that nobody must be killed; that there
were no such things as sorcerers. "Chally, we are not the same people
you are. Our country is full of witchcraft. Death to the wizards!"
shouted they all, in tones which made the village shake. "Death to the
_aniembas_!"
They, were all surrounding the doctor, as I have said before, when, at a
motion from the stranger, the people became at once very still. Not a
whisper could be heard. How oppressed I felt as I looked on. This sudden
silence lasted about one minute, when the loud, harsh voice of the
doctor was heard.
The people did not seem to be able to breathe, for no one knew if his
name would be the one that should be called, and he be accused of the
crime of witchcraft.
"There is a very black woman--a young woman--who lives in a house having
one door only, with a large bunch of lilies growing by the door. Not far
off is a tree to which the _ogouloungou_ birds come every day."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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