Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-02

While man sees this upper world
at distance, or not at all, his nearest
animal relations cannot only reach it,
but are at home in it. One may hear
the cries of monkeys above him, and
the rustling of the branches as they
scamper away from tree-top to tree
top, faster than he can follow on the
ground. But to catch a glimpse Of
them is not so easy. One may, pcr-
haps, be shown by a native guide
some leafy bed in the branches above
and be told that chimpanzees have
slept there.
Nor are monkeys and lemurs the
only arboreal animals. The forest is |
paradise for squirrels, of which |
there are eight or nine species. of all |
colors and sizes, down to the little |
pigmy squirrel the size of your
thumb. Besides, there is a whole |
peculiar family of scale tail flying
squirrels, with sort of hob-nails on
the under side of the tail, to help
them climb or jump. The cats, from
the leopard down, climb trees
Even snakes are seen as often over
head as on the ground.
Except where the path goes. the
under world is not much more ac-
cessible than the upper. at least to
the white man, who doesn't know how
to twist in and out among thorny
vines. The little antelopes, the wild
| hog and the pOrcupine can slip about
i'll the universal thicket, and the ele-
! plant crashes through it, uprOoting a
| sapling here and there, and leaving a
! broad path behind him But these
animals are seldom seen or heard. In
| general there is lonely silence below
| the forest.
1t is gloomy and dark on this lower
! deck of the tropical world. The sun
! shine, birds and flowers are mostly
} far overhead. But one sometimes
| meets delightful surprises, for there
| is beauty even here. Several kinds
of trees and shrubs have a way of put
ting forth blossoms right out of the
! trunk. There are flowers set right on
| the damp, black bark, as yellow as
!
they seem to light up the gloom.
Again, at the right season, one may
| find clusters of blood-red fruit, grow
! ing down on the trunks of trees. But
| these bits of brightness are only Oc-
! casiOnal. For the most part all Is
| black, damp and decaying
The loneliness of the forest is OPP
| hnl
! tween two settlements there is no
| more welcome sight than a garden
! clearing, showing that human habita-
| tons are not far off. Then the two
! rows Of smoky tumble-dOwn hutS with
/ the yellow clay street between that
from the village are gladdcning
view, for they are the dwellings of
| ones own kind
The sense OF the Omnipresence Of
| the forest appears in the speech Of
! the men who inhabit it. TO go astray,
/ or aside, in the Fang language, is to
| go into the forest" To throw a
thing away is to throw it "a-forest"
| To arrive at a place is to come out
! or emerge" while to set forth from
! Il pace Is TO enter. 1T is not nGct $
sary to add what is entered or come
out from. AS evident in the character
Of the people is an Unborn revulsion
against the loneliness of the forest.
| The ideal village to them. is perfectly
| cleared of vegetation. Shade trees
have no attractions for them. To
! travel alone, and especially to sleep
alone, in the forest is a hardship not
so much on account of any danger as
on account of the loneliness. 4
favorite name for d village means
''Noise-of-P People" The hubbub of
talking and singing and drumming in
the village street is dear to the heart
Of Fang, for in it he forgets the
great black forest.
Only the dwarf tribe, occasionally
met with in this country seem to be
! entirely recOnciled to the forest.
Only they are content to live in
booths Of leaves. hunting the game of
the forest depths with an heredita' y
| keeness that is almost instinct