The Brave African Huntress (12 page)

I stood before this entrance and I was thinking whether to enter the hole or to wait at the outside till when he would come out by himself. Of course I entered it when my mind told me to do so. I travelled to left and right of it but I did not see him. Although the darkness which was in a part of it gave me a doubtful mind that he was in there. At last when I did not see him, I sat down and I was waiting for him perhaps if he was in that darkness he would come out after a few minutes time.

Not knowing that he was not inside the hole at that time but he had gone to the river through the other entrance of the hole. After a while he came in back with his body which was still wet with water. Immediately I saw him I stood up, and I held my gun ready. And he too hardly entered the hole when he was preparing to jump upon me and after that to swallow the whole of me because he was then hungry badly.

When I noticed that he wanted to do so, I hastily shot him at head but this was only lessened his power and could not prevent him from coming to me. When he jumped upon me and before I could do anything again he had coiled round my body and within this moment he pushed me down. Having seen this, I did not attempt to fire at him or to beat him with the poisonous cudgel but I left myself to him. But as he could not swallow me because I had shot him at head, he was just rubbing me against the ground which was so swampy that I nearly sank into the mud before I fired at his throat.

Immediately the gun-shots hit his throat he sprang to a short distance and before he could do anything to me again, I ran to him and I began to beat him with the poisonous cudgel. All the blood which was gushing out from his body was so spilling upon me in large quantity that I was entirely wetted with it. As I was beating him with this cudgel and he did not die in
time, then I began to cut every part of his body with cutlass. This critical moment he became so wild that he was dashing to every part of the hole with the hope to hit me to death and it was so I was cutting him repeatedly. After a while we made this hole so rough that we did not know when we came out.

But after I wounded him very severely, and the blood which gushed out from his body was too excessive, then he fell down and he died. So it was like that I saw the end of this boa
constrictor
, the “snake of snakes”. And he was powerful and fearful as my father had told me before I left my town for this jungle.

After I killed him, I went back to his hole, I picked up my gun and the poisonous cudgel from the place on which they had scattered, and then I came out and I went back to my hole with gladness. When I returned to my hole, I put my gun, cutlass and the cudgel down, I went to the river and I washed the blood and the mud away from my body and after that I took all the refuses away from my hair. When I came back I ate some of the roasted snakes and after that I rested till the evening.

In the evening, I went out, I picked some fruits and I killed one small porcupine on my way coming back. I ate some of these fruits and some of this porcupine having roasted it. After that I closed the entrance of this hole before I slept so that a dangerous animal, etc., might not come in to me. But the following day, when I waited till the evening for these pigmies and they did not come to me. Perhaps they were still finding me about I could not say. So when it was midnight, I took my gun, hunting bag, cutlass, the poisonous cudgel and I put the “reflecting eyes” on my head and then I started to go to their new town which was in the crevice of the rock.

As I was going along the light of this “reflecting eyes” reflected to my front to the distance of about one mile. When I travelled near their town, I covered these “reflecting eyes” so
that these pigmies might not wake until I would travel to the centre of their town. Having travelled to the centre of their town, I first shot at one of them before I took away the cover of these “reflecting eyes”. When the powerful light of these “eyes” reflected to every part of their town suddenly, they rushed out from their houses with great confusion.

And as they were hustling here and there with
embarrassment
just to go out from there to the jungle, I ran to the road on which they would travel. I began to shoot them to death. After a while the rest went back to the town and I was following them and it was so I was shooting at them.

After a few minutes, when I did not see them again, I thought I had killed the whole of them. But not at all, it remained one of them who hid himself somewhere in the town. This one was the most dangerous and powerful of all. When it was daybreak and as I believed that no doubt I had killed the whole of them, I began to go round there. But to my fear there I saw that this one was coming to jump upon me. Having seen him coming like that I hastily squatted and he fell on my head. Without hesitation I stood upright and then I knocked his back against a rock with the hope that he would die at once. He became dizzy for a few seconds only instead. But when he sprang up with the hope to press me down, I dodged to my right and he fell on the ground. Before he stood up again I beat him with the cudgel. But as I was beating him with greediness so I did not know when I beat my left knee and then I fell down at the same moment. Before I could stand up he ran to me and he sat on my belly and then he was beating me on the face, etc. Of course when I struggled hardly for a few minutes I turned somersault. As he was now under my belly, so I pressed him hardly against the ground before I began to beat him with a piece of flat stone.

But when he felt much pain he kicked my belly with both
his feet and I sprang far away from him. And as I was just standing up he ran to me and he gave me several blows in the face and jaws. But as I was skipping to left and right and to front and back, just to defend myself and as he was trying to get me round with the hope that he was going to conquer me very soon. So I butted his belly with my head suddenly and without hesitation I carried the whole of him up and then I knocked him against the rock which was nearby. His head and back hit the rock so hard that he fainted at the same time. And he was still in this condition when I ran to my poisonous cudgel. I picked it up and I beat him to death at once.

After I rested for a few minutes I went round this town perhaps these pigmies were still remained alive, but when there was none of them who was alive then I took some of their yams and I came back to my hole at the same time with
gladness
. It was like that I killed the whole generation of these pigmies who had killed and detained several thousands of hunters who had come to hunt, etc., in this fearful jungle. Of course I never knew yet whether my four brothers, in respect of whom I came to this Jungle of the Pigmies, were alive or the pigmies had killed them.

I was so happy this day that I killed all the rest of these pigmies that the following day I killed a big bush-goat. After I washed my “shakabullah” gun, cutlass, and the poisonous cudgel as well. Then I gathered them together under a tree which was at the front of my hole and I soaked them with the blood of this bush-goat for they had helped me greatly to conquer my enemies, because “one who lives on band or drum must take care of leather.” So after I ate some of the flesh of this bush-goat I remained in this hole happily throughout this day. I did not go out to the jungle at all.

The following morning, I put my hunting bag, gun, and cutlass on the shoulder. I held the poisonous cudgel and after I kept this wonderful “reflecting eyes” in a corner of this hole, then I began to go round this jungle, just to make sure that there was no more dangerous creature in it. And I was killing all the wild animals which I was meeting on the way. It was so I killed the whole of them. It was even hardly to see any of those harmless animals, as antelopes, etc., this time. After that I came back to my hole.

But one morning, when I was looking about for edible fruits I came across a number of those hunters whom I had saved out of the pigmies’ custody. When they first saw me they wanted to run away, because they thought that I was one of the pigmies. But when I waved hand to them not to run away, they stood quietly with great fear in one spot. When I travelled to them I explained to them that I was the very huntress who had saved them out of the custody the other day. They were so wondered and happy when they heard this from me that they embraced me and then took me to where the rest of them hid.

When I counted the whole of them they were more than four hundred. They told me that abundant of them had returned to their respective towns immediately they came out from the custody, but they remained in the jungle as they could
not trace out the right way on which they could travel back to their own town. When they explained to me like that with gladness, then I told them the name of my town and the name of my father and I asked from them whether anyone of them knew my father or mother. I gave them this description so that I might know whether my four brothers were with them or not. But to my surprise I hardly described myself like that when my four brothers ran to me and they embraced me and I did so as well.

I explained to them further that I had fought with the whole powerful creatures and I had killed the whole pigmies of this jungle. I told them as well that I had been to the “Bachelors’ Town”, in which I became a queen. After these explanations, I told the whole of them to follow me back to my hole. So
everyone
of them took his blongings and they followed me at once.

We built a number of temporary booths at the front of my hole. They were living inside them while I was living inside this hole as their leader. But when I believed that it would be easier for us to travel by river than by land because everyone of them was too weak to trek a long distance. So the following day, after we took breakfast, we began to cut down mighty trees which we were going to carve into canoes. Although it took us several weeks before we made sufficient canoes because we had no other instruments except my cutlass. After we constructed sufficient canoes and pushed them to the bank of the river, then I began to kill animals like deers, antelopes, bush-goats, etc. We were eating their flesh while I was putting their skins in the sun to dry. Within two weeks I killed more than one thousand animals. When we were unable to finish their flesh as before, then we roasted them with fire while their skins were hung in the sun to be dried. Of course these people and my four brothers never knew yet what I was going to do with these skins.

When I believed that I had got sufficient skins and roasted meat, then with the help of these men I dug plenty of gold dust, silver, copper, brass, antimony, etc., etc., etc., because all these precious metals were very common in this jungle. After that we put them in one of the canoes. But when we were ready to leave this jungle in the following morning. The whole of us were going about in this jungle, we were fetching for the edible fruits which we would be eating together with the roasted meat along the way to my town. After a while we came to a curious fruit-tree. It was so curious that we did not know the name of it. Each of its fruits was as small as a chocolate and a part of it was as creamy and cold as ice. Having tasted it, it was as sweet as a chocolate and that part of it was just as ice-cream. So for this reason we plucked uncountable of them and we put them in one of the canoes as well.

We woke up very early in the morning, I gave each of the skins to each of these men to wear it, because everyone of them was already naked and it would be a great shame to them if they appear to the town in this shameful condition. After each of them wore the skin and we ate to our satisfaction, then we went to the river. After I nailed the “reflecting eyes” on the front of the canoe on which I was going to sit. For we were going to use this “reflecting eyes” as our lamp.

This “reflecting eyes” as I called it, was the head of the fearful animal which had sixteen long and sharp horns and which I had fought with and killed long ago. After it was dead its eyes which were in its skull did not die but both were still reflecting very powerfully like a powerful light. Having nailed this wonderful skull or “reflecting eyes” on the front of the canoe then we pushed the whole of the canoes on the river. My own canoe was at the front while the rest were at back, and a number of men who would be paddling it sat in it with me.

As this day was “The Day of Victory” which was Tuesday
and as we wanted to be in my town before coming Tuesday. So each of these men took one of these curious fruits and put it in his mouth. As they were eating them at a time they formed a kind of a song. They first shouted greatly with great joy just to show that they were leaving this jungle safely. And as they were singing this song they began to paddle the canoes along homeward as hastily as they could, because “hastily, hastily, hastily the sun is going back to its place of yesterday” their ambition was to reach the town within a few minutes. The song which they were singing along went thus—

As these cheerful men were paddling the canoes along the river it was so they were singing this song repeatedly and they were shouting with great joy whenever they remembered that they had already freed from the pigmies. Whenever we met another canoes on this river they would throw a lot of these fruits to the people who were inside them with joy. And this “reflecting eyes” were helping us too much whenever it was dark because it was so reflecting on the water that we did not miss our way till we reached my town after the sixth day that we were on the river.

Before we reached my town news had reached there that I had killed all the pigmies and that I was bringing a lot of hunters who had been detained by the pigmies, back to the town. And we hardly landed our canoes when the people ran to the canoes and embraced us with great joy.

Everyone was taken home by his family and my own family took my four brothers and I to the house as well. The following morning, a great merriment was performed throughout the town for our arrival.

After a few days I sold all the precious metals and I became a rich lady at once.

And that was the end of
ADEBISI
’s adventure of the Jungle of the Pigmies. Adebisi was one of the brave huntswomen of those days gone by. Those women of those days had endured great dangers as well as the men of those days had endured great dangers.