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
When one of the Ashiras said to me, pointing to the mountain, "You see
that mountain, Moguizi?" "Yes," said I. "From that part of the
mountain," continued Oyagui, Olenda's great-grandson, in the most
serious manner, "goats come out. That is a great mountain; a spirit
lives there. Sometimes, when our people want a goat, they will go there,
and a goat will come to them." I said, "That can not be." "Yes,"
insisted Oyagui, "I know plenty of people who get goats there."
Then we passed by numerous villages, skirting most of the hills at
their base, and crowds of people every where cried out, "The moguizi is
coming! the moguizi is coming!"
All these villages were surrounded by groves of plantain and banana
trees.
After a journey of about ten miles, we came, at the foot of the
cloud-capped Mount Andelè, to the village of Mouendi, whose chief,
Mandji, came forth with great joy to meet me, for he was a great friend
of Adouma. He sang, as he came forward with his people, "It is good that
the moguizi comes to see our town."
To the rear of the village, on the slope of the mountain, the forest had
been cleared, and the space occupied by plantations, where tobacco,
peanuts, plantains, yams, and sugar-cane were grown to an extent which
makes this a land of plenty where no man starves. Bushes of wild cotton
were seen now and then, but not in great numbers.
I was glad that I had reached a country where I should not readily
starve--plantains and goats were plentiful. As I stood and cast my eyes
over the scene, the yellow waving grass, with now and then a dark green
patch in low land between the hills, where water stood, and the
cane-fields contrasting with the dark green of the forest, reminded me
of rural scenes at home; but I looked in vain for cattle; none were to
be seen.
I had a great time at Mouendi; Mandji, its chief, was very kind to me. I
had more goats and plantains given to me than my men and myself could
eat. The Goumbi people were in great glee; that was just the country for
them, and, I may now say it, it was just the country for me also. I was
in clover, I thought.
CHAPTER XXV.
ASCENSION OF THE OFOUBOU-ORÈRÈ AND ANDELÈ MOUNTAINS.--THE
ASHIRA BLEED THEIR HANDS.--STORY OF A FIGHT BETWEEN A GORILLA
AND A LEOPARD.--THE GORILLA AND THE ELEPHANT.--WILD BOARS.
The day arrived when we were to ascend the Ofoubou-Orèrè and Andelè
Mountains, which were the highest peaks of that range. Mandji, who is
really a nice chief, had given me the necessary people, and I longed to
reach the summits of these woody regions. We intended to hunt there also
while we looked around.
Every one prepared himself for several days' hard work, and finally,
when every thing was ready, each being loaded with a good stock of
provisions, we bade good-by to the villagers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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