Wild life under the equator : $b narrated for young peopleDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
General
Wild life under the equator : $b narrated for young people
Du Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
Africa, West -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
We came to a little spring and felled a small tree across for the monkey
to use as a bridge; then not far from the end of the tree or bridge we
bent a bough, at the extremity of which we made a ring. This ring,
touching the bridge, was fixed in such a manner that the monkey would
have to pass through it to go to the other side, and in doing so would
start a spring, when the ring would fly up before the monkey could get
through it, and thus the animal would be hung by the neck and choked to
death.
[Sidenote: “_NOTHING TO WEAR._”]
We made two of these traps.
Then we went and looked for wild honey, but could not at first see any
bee-hive in the hollows of trees. I had just made up my mind that I
should like to have some honey. Besides, I wanted to get some wax in
order to make some candles.
Just as we were returning to the camp we discovered two bee-hives; we
smoked the bees, and then took the honey-combs.
The next morning I went right to work to make wax with the honey-comb we
had collected. After having boiled it and made the wax, there was a new
difficulty—I had no wick. I had never thought of it before; of course I
had not a bit of cotton with me, and I finally concluded that I would
tear off the lower part of one of the two only shirts I possessed to
make wick. Acting with the thought, I tore the shirt. I had a good deal
of trouble to make these candles. First I dipped the whole length of the
wick in the hot wax, holding each extremity by my hands; then I let the
wax which had adhered to the wick get cold, and dipped again and again
by the same process until I had obtained the size of a candle. I
succeeded in making eight candles.
My clothes were getting very much worn; my pantaloons had been mended
over and over again, and were getting so old and rotten that I did not
know what to do. I wanted to save a pair for the sea-shore. So I
resolved that we should go Ashinga hunting again, and that I would make
clothes from the skins of the wild animals we should capture.
[Illustration: SMOKING OUT THE BEES.]
We all turned out with our Ashingas, leaving, of course, Njali and Nola
to take charge of the premises. We left them the three spare guns. We
took the dogs with us.
We captured, in the first place, a hyena, which I dispatched as it laid
entangled in the net with a bullet through the head. It uttered a
fearful groan. We captured a porcupine, which we killed with a club.
Then we laid unsuccessfully the Ashingas three times, and I began to
think that we would have nothing but hyena for dinner and supper, and no
skins to make clothes with. We must make another trial.
[Sidenote: _MAKING CLOTHES._]
We went a long distance to haul our nets again, and then captured two
ncheris and two nchombis. We killed them on the spot with clubs, and
then returned home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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