I tarried briefly in the province of Mayombe, which is all woods and groves, so overgrown that a man may travel twenty days in the shadow, without any sun or heat. Here they have great store of elephanto flesh, which they greatly esteem, and many kinds of wild beasts; and great store of fish. The woods are covered with baboomas, monkeys, apes, and parrots, that it will fear any man to travel in them alone. But the Jaqqas are not feared in this land, indeed are scarce known among them except as some sort of distant menace.
Here dwell two other kinds of monsters of which I had once heard from my dear friend Barbosa of blessed memory, that are apes, the pongo and the engeco. This pongo is in all proportions like a man, but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man; for he is very tall, and has a man’s face, hollow-eyed, with long hair upon his brows. His face and ears are without hair, and his hands also. His body is full of hair, but not very thick, and it is of a dunnish color. He differs not from a man but in his legs, for they have no calf. He goes always upon his legs, and carries his hands clasped upon the nape of his neck when he goes upon the ground. They sleep in the trees, and build shelters from the rain. They feed upon fruit they find in the woods and upon nuts, for they eat no kind of flesh. They cannot speak, and have no more understanding than a beast. I saw these creatures now and again, but always from a great distance, they being very shy.
The people of the country, when they travel in the woods, make fires when they sleep in the night. And in the morning, when they are gone, the pongos will come and sit about the fire till it goes out, for they have no understanding to lay the wood together. They go many together, and kill many Negroes that travel in the woods. Many times they fall upon the elephantos, which come to feed where they be, and so beat them with their clubbed fists and pieces of wood that they will run roaring away from them.
Those pongos are never taken alive, because they are so strong that ten men cannot hold one of them, but yet they take many of their young ones with poisoned arrows. The young pongo hangeth on to his mother’s belly, with his hands clasped fast about her, so that when the country people kill any of the females, they take the young one which hangeth fast to her. I did much desire to purchase a young pongo, that I might take it back to England with me as a curiosity to present it to King James, but I could not obtain one. This being a great pity, for I am sure no such monstrous ape has ever been seen in that land.
The engeco is much different, being smaller, to the height of a boy of twelve years, and covered with coarse dark hair. It walks upon its legs, that are bandy and have bright pink feet, and its face is most comic, like unto that of a mummer’s or buffoon’s. They also eat no flesh, or very little, and are said to be much quicker of wit than the pongo. Here also did I attempt to obtain this creature for England, and in the city of Mani Mayombe one was brought for me that was no more than a babe, and most piteous, being like a little very hairy human person, with sad eyes and a great ugly yawning mouth. I think the King would have made me a knight had I given him that creature, but I did not have the purchase of it, for it died of yearning for its mother soon after.
There is another lord to the eastward of the town of Mani Mayombe, which is called Mani Kesock, and he is eight days’ journey from Mayombe. Here I was with my two Negro boys to buy elephanto hairs and tails. And in a month I bought twenty thousand, which I later sold to the Portugals for thirty slaves, so that I was again a wealthy man. From this place I sent one of my Negro boys to the prince Mani Sette with a looking-glass. He did esteem it much, and sent me four elephanto teeth of great size by his own men, which did further increase my wealth.
To the northeast of Mani Kesock are a kind of little people called Matimbas, which are no bigger than boys of twelve years old, but are very sturdy, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in the woods with their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani Kesock, and bring all their elephanto teeth and tails to him. The women carry bows and arrows, as well as the men, and one of these will walk in the woods alone, and kill the pongos with their poisoned arrows.
Here ends my recitation of the wonders of this province, for I had now acquired such riches, by God’s grace, that I needed no more, and I did return to the coast, where in good time the Dutch traders did call for me and carry me back to São Paulo de Loanda. It had now become Anno 1607 and I was well ready to begin my passage at last back to England: as ready as I could be, though still I feared somewhat the entry into that placid sweet land out of this realm of nightmare. For I had not shaken free, in the inwardness of myself, of the grasp of this land. I dreamed sometimes still of Imbe Calandola, shouting and raging and marching to and fro with blood dripping from his jowls, and into my mind at untoward moments came images out of the death of Dona Teresa, and other such horrors, and now and again some loathly coccodrillo would drag its scaly huge form through my slumber’s repose. Yet I told me that if I waited for such matters to escape themselves from my mind before I set forth for home, I would dwell in this land to the end of my days. If one goes among devils, one must expect certain dregs of deviltry to crust the borders of one’s soul forever, said I to myself. And so I resolved to take me to England now that I had the funds for it, and complete my healing there. But as usual I was too hopeful of a happy outcome.
3
Nicolau Cabral indeed did not betray me, for he had turned the value of our trading mission into gold, and my share was waiting for me. That and the sale of my thirty slaves gave me such wealth as any man could desire, so the voyage that I had begun eighteen years previous had resulted, after many a turn and twisting, in the fortune I sought. And now for England!
I purposed to have shipped myself for Spain, and thence homewards, there now being peace between Spain and England. But for that I needed the writ of Governor Cerveira Pereira, and I went before him, saying, “You gave me license to go, and now it is my time to depart, and I would have the paper from you.”
This little man, who was so dark and gaunt, with a black beard that came to a point, did shuffle and shove the documents before him for long moments, making me no answer. Then at length he looked up to me where I stood uneasy, and said, “It may not be.”
“What, and you deny your word?”
This angered him. High color came into his face, and he rose, he being half my height, and cried out loudly at me, “I will let you go when I will let you go! But at this time you may not go, for you are needed.”
“God’s eyes, am I to hear that again? For close on twenty years you Portugals have needed me! Why am I so everlasting useful for you? Aye, and must I be a pilot again, or what? Shall I cut paths in the forest for you? Shall I caulk decks, and sweep away dust? In Jesu name, how can you ask more of me?” And I cried this forth, you may imagine, in no smooth flattering way, for I was bubbling with surprise and wrath and a fury that was close to a killing one.
“It is the Jaqqas that are once more upon Kambambe, almost,” said he, “and they must be driven back, and we know you are the match for them. So we are to begin the conquest, and you must aid us. I command you to go up to the wars, two days hence.”
God’s death, but I came close to striking him down!
Two days, and then I was to resume the wars? And they would take me out to do battle with the Jaqqas? Nay, nay, I would not, it was beyond all conceiving! In my long travail I had learned much philosophy of the Stoic kind, to be strong and all-withstanding, and bide my time and quietly pursue my purposes; but this was far too much, this went beyond the bounds, and there was no philosophy honeyed enough to help me swallow so prickly a lump.