Meantime, Damagondai had presented me to his eldest son, Okabi, who resided in the village of Shimbouvenegani. Okabi arranged a nice little place for me, with branches of trees, and made a kind of bed for me. He then gave me his two wives to take care of me, and to cook for me.
I had a very agreeable time in hunting while I was with Shimbouvenegani. It was during my stay there that I discovered the _nshiego mbouvé_, of which I will speak by-and-by.
We also had a great crocodile hunt, which pleased the people very much, as they are extravagantly fond of the meat. Now and then during my travels, for lack of something better, I have been obliged to eat crocodiles. I have tried it in all sorts of ways--steaks, stews, boiled, and broth; but I must say I was never fond of it.
They killed more or fewer crocodiles every day at this village; but the negroes were so lazy that they were glad to have me go and save them the trouble. Moreover, the crocodile has not much meat on him; so that, though some were killed every day, the village was never sufficiently supplied.
We went in canoes. These canoes on the Anengue are of very singular construction. They are quite flat-bottomed, and of very light draught; many of them are about fifty feet long, with a breadth of not more than two feet, and a depth of ten to twelve inches. They are made of a single tree. They are ticklish craft. The oarsmen stand up and use paddles seven feet long, with which they can propel one of these canoes at a very good rate. They are, of course, easily capsized, the gunwale being but a very few inches above the water; but they do not often tip over. What surprised me most was the way in which the negro paddlers stood up at their work all day without tiring.
The negroes on the Anengue hunt the crocodile both with guns and with a kind of harpoon. The vulnerable part of the animal is near the joints of his forelegs; and there they endeavour to wound it. Though so many are killed they do not decrease in numbers, nor, strange to say, do they seem to grow more wary. They were to be seen everywhere during the dry season; when the rainy season comes they disappear.
As we started out, we saw them swimming in all directions, and lying on the mud banks sunning themselves. They took no notice of our canoe at all. As we were to shoot them we were obliged to look for our prizes on the shore, for if killed in the water they sink and are lost. Presently we saw one immense fellow extended on the bank among some reeds. We approached cautiously. I took good aim and knocked him over. He struggled hard to get to the water, but his strength gave out ere he could reach it, and to our great joy he expired. We could not think of taking his body into our canoe, for he was nearly twenty feet long.