CHAPTER XXIII.

THE GREAT CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST.

Professor Drummond’s statements respecting Africa--Dimensions of the great forest--Vegetation--Insect life--Description of the trees, &c.--Tribes and their food--The primæval forest--The bush proper--The clearings: wonders of vegetable life--The queer feeling of loneliness--A forest tempest--Tropical vegetation along the banks of the Aruwimi--Wasps’ nests--The forest typical of human life--A few secrets of the woods--Game in the forest--Reasons why we did not hunt the animals--Birds--The Simian tribe--Reptiles and insects--The small bees and the beetles--The “jigger”--Night disturbances by falling trees, &c.--The Chimpanzee--The rainiest zone of the earth--The Ituri or Upper Aruwimi--The different tribes and their languages--Their features and customs--Their complexion--Conversation with some captives at Engweddé--The Wambutti dwarfs: their dwellings and mode of living--The Batwa dwarfs--Life in the forest villages--Two Egyptians captured by the dwarfs at Fort Bodo--The poisons used for the arrows--Our treatment for wounds by the arrows--The wild fruits of the forest--Domestic animals--Ailments of the Madis and Zanzibaris--The Congo Railway and the forest products 73