Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-05-15
In THE PATH OF
THE BASHIKOUAY
By ALBERT W. ToLMAN,

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/ was standing In the monkey
house at the zoo. A white-haired, eld-
erly man was making the circuit Of
the cages with paper bag of mixed
nuts. BY the time he came to where
! stood, in front of little white-face,
his stock was almost gone. He ished
out an English walnut. The monkey,
hanging from his perch by his tail,
swung across the cage, and put out
his paw for the proffered dainty.
Il never miss one of EN-" said the
man with the bag, for II / did, he'd
feel bad all day. Intelligent? Why,
sir, those apes know more than a
good many men. / can understand
their talk. That macaque in the cor
ner's thirsty. He's begging for wat
er. Cheouw! cheouw! Just listen to
that poor little scamp boohooing.
Somebody's hurt his feelings. Here.
boy!"
He held up his last almond. A
tiny brown paw clutched it, and the
whimper changed to a humble of sat-
isfaction. The man continued:
Understand monkeys pretty well?
ought to. Twenty-years / collected
'em for circuses and museums. I've
been to Central and South America
and Africa SO many times I've lost
count. as we'll as twice to India and
once to Borneo. Strange experiences?
Yes. plenty. Narrow escapes? Some.
It's no fun to meet a gorilla with
only one bird-shot cartridge. A river
full of crocodiles isn't the pleasant
est place to be spilled into.
But the thing that's responsible
for more of these white hairs than
any other didn't have anything 20 do
either with gorillas or crocodiles.
Ever hear of the bashikouay? No?
Sit down on that bench, IL you've a
few minutes to waste, and let me
tell you about the worst scrape / ever
got into.
I'm July, 1891, was camped with
a party of hunters on a prairie near
the thick forest north of the Ogowe,
a big West African river emptying
not far from Cape Lopez. This for
est, which lies almost on the equa-
tor, contains more different specieE
of monkeys than any other spot on
the globe. The gorilla also lives in
Its gloomy depths; and / was par
ticularly anxious on this trip to Sc
cure two or three living specimens
OF this giant ape.
For about two weeks everything
went well. My camp began to look
like a menagerie. as the cages were
set up and filled with nshiegos,
mbouves, nkengos and kooloo-kam-
bas. as my men termed the various
apes.
One evening / was sitting alone
In my tent, when I heard wild yelis
outside. Over and over again was
repeated the word:
,Njego! Njego!'
"Suspecting what the trouble was,
grabbed my rife and jumped out.
Three or four Of my men had just run
in from the drinking-pool They told
me that Mpongwe, one of my best
hunters, had been carried OF by
leopard.
I'VE formed a party at once, and
followed the bloody trail. A mile
from camp 1t entered small glade
and then plunged into the thick
jungle. 1t was useless to pursue far
Their. Poor Mpongwe was beyond our
help. and we should only expose
ourselves to a similar fate. There
was little sleep in the camp that
night.
For the next three days my work
was at a standstill. When q leopard
has once tasted human flesh, he be-
comes a confirmed man-eater. My
hunters knew this, and were panic
stricken. They refused to enter the |
forest. BY night they kept bright |
fires burning, and danced and beat |
toms-toms to brighten the animal |
away. l saw that nothing further |
could be accomplished until he was
killed.
at was perfectly plain, too, that |
must do the job myself. My men
were so badly frightened that l could |
count on little help from them. How
could l get the man-eater without |
giving him chance to get me? I |
puzzled over 1t for some time. Then |
remembered a tiger-hunting trick |
that an Englishman had told me about
when I was In India the winter be-
fore.
81 had two especially large cages.
intended for gorillas, IL were fortu-
nate enough to capture any. On the
third afternoon we set up one Of these
cages In the glade through which
the leopard's trail had led. Into this
] locked myself at sunset, with a
and my heavy double-bar-
relied hunting rife carrying a steel
pointed ball of two and half ounces.
My men hurried away and left me
alone.
six hours sat on that backless
stool. with my rife on my knees, look
Ing and listening. had blacked my
face and hands with charcoal, for
= leopard's eye is sharp, and j was
afraid he would see my white skin
through the darkness.
There were plenty of noises round
me. Now and then elephants trumpet