Chapter 3 Chapter 1 Silence in Africa: Senegal.Gambia.Ivory Coast (1978) II

★Animal-poor national park Arrive at Foxtogo.The shuttle bus of Abishan︱Nigerian Railway Company was four hours late, and a small red car came to pick us up.We originally planned to drive by ourselves without a guide, but the car was rented by a travel agency for us. The driver is obviously the owner of the car. He didn't want to lose the car to others and decided to monitor his property. At midnight, the four of us crowded into a small car and set off fifty miles east on dirt roads to Como National Park in the northeast of the country.At the moment my fever was so high that I didn't pay much attention to the village of Malink, and in the afternoon I didn't notice the bumps caused by a flat tire and forced us to stop; I stood on the side of the dirt road, like victims of a catastrophe.When we arrived at the National Park, the other spare tire flattened, forcing us to hire a National Park Lodge car for our research work.That night, the national park mechanic patched the two flat tires for us, but the other two were flat by dawn.

I don't have many memories of Como National Park this day.It is a vast land covering more than 2.8 million acres. The Bona Wildlife Nature Reserve was established in 1958. In 1968, the eighth year after the independence of Ivory Coast, It is planned as a national park.I was nearly blinded by a terrible headache, but I was slightly relieved to see a dozen waterbucks and eland, and three hippos in the Como River that flows south into the Abidjan territory.As for elephants or buffaloes, or even their dung, there is no sign of them.The travel agency manager who lived in the city had warned us about Como's lion, which had attacked a travel agency employee.Later I went south to Marahauer National Park and met a moth entomologist who claimed to have seen a lion and a leopard in the Komo River, and of course buffalo and eland (perhaps some Baffon duiker and eland, where the cunning buffalo often evade us).Undoubtedly, we did not take a good look at this national park, except for the chimpanzee and the large spinhorn, which is said to be found in Niokorokaba. The large mammals are all here.Yet by the standards of that national park (which is considered one of the poorer ones in East Africa or Botswana), its fauna are apparently few, and birds are as rare as large mammals, and tourists obviously Also less.

Aware of the decline of wildlife throughout the Ivory Coast, the authorities passed a law in 1974 prohibiting the shooting of any kind of wild animal, but the Lobi people who live in the northern part of the national park ignored the law. .They have also successfully resisted the entry of Islam and Christianity.When the rainy season comes and the trails are too muddy to walk, they move their villages into the national park, building square huts and growing sweet potatoes and maize.They always hunt too many animals.Jacob had heard that there was a branch of savages from Shangfuta who would be offended if their ancient traditions were disturbed. A few years ago, Como's director had been warned by some friends that he was under threat. They said these The Lobi will take his life.It is conceivable that if there is any indication that the ethnic groups that have disappeared without a trace are able to survive in this vast and well-watered national park, the director of the park, that is, Andre.Mr. Dupuai's former assistant was helpless against poaching.When we went to meet the director, we found out that he lived outside the village, in a place called Bona.He told us not to expect anything from the vistas of Como National Park, or any national park in West Africa at all.

Zoologists predict that wild West African ungulates are always not as common as those in East and South Africa, not in quantity, but even in species. If there was a black rhino here, it has disappeared a long time ago. Gazelle and The same is true for zebras, for reasons that are not entirely clear.West Africa does not have the astonishing variety of antelope as do the south and east banks of the Nile.The poor soil is often complained about, but on this fragile continent of Africa, tropical red soil with poor soil quality can be seen almost everywhere, including the vast hunting grasslands in East Africa that can support a large number of animals. Perhaps the ecological imbalance is the reason There are relatively simple reasons that can be used to explain this phenomenon, but the land is still considered to be sufficiently rich.It is also the human settlement in the south of the desert. West Africa is more densely populated than East Africa. Humans have been here for a longer time. They are engaged in hunting, setting traps, burning forests and farming, opening up pastures and digging water sources, so that the barren soil is eroded and depleted. .And West Africa has far fewer animals today than it did fifty years ago, when white man's tools and weapons were widely used, but the decay of the land happened centuries ago.

★No room for animals It is now inferred that the entire vast West African country was not in the tropical rainforest area in the early years, but the valley plain on the savannah, just like the Senegal River and the Niger River (this is also from speculation), both of which can grow maize and sorghum.All the way from the prairie to the east to Chad Lake (Chad Lake), they are all occupied by a large population and skilled farmers and fishermen for at least two thousand years.Since these coastal areas, dense forests and savannahs are also the best places for wildlife, it is not surprising that there is no wildlife here today.

The persecution of the Muslim world and the Arab slave trade caused the peoples of the steppes to flee to the forests, and they used the land to grow the same tropical crops, as the Bantu-speaking peoples in Niger and Cameroon cut to the southeast The crops grown in the Congo Basin were not the cassava, corn and sweet potatoes brought by the Portuguese colonists, but the sweet potatoes, taro and bananas that were brought from South Asia to the coast of East Africa as early as the first century BC.The barren steppe was soon occupied by other peoples, such as the nomadic Folai, the Malink, and the great Voltaic of the Niger, who were forced to Migrate south.

This open meadow of small, scattered trees is able to withstand the annual drought and fires, and from eastern Senegal to the northern plains of the Republic of Congo, this single landscape, with essentially the same vegetation, Not only the Niokolokoba and Kemo National Parks, but even the Mole Reserve in northern Ghana and its derived wildlife parks, including Ari, Panjali, and W National Park near the junction of Shangfuta, There are also many national parks in the Benning area and Cameroon in Central Africa, which also present the same landscape.These areas have been dominated by humans for thousands of years, and other wetlands will face the same fate and be controlled by humans, so there is not much hope for the wildlife status of any national park in West Africa. It will not be much different from Cuomo here.Although there are protected areas and even some formalized animal introduction programs, a few reports indicate that this is not the case.As early as 1934, an ecological observer pointed out in his West African travel book: If someone had told me in advance that I would travel more than 7,000 miles, I might not see any living wild animals larger than antelopes. I must be very surprised. 【Geoffrey.Geoffery Gorer, Author's Note of African Dance (published in 1934)] These countries are not like Kenya and Tanzania, where people have a similar love for wild animals. However, these countries have no reason to protect the remaining wild animals, let alone restore those that have disappeared.

Aside from Senegal, data on West African wildlife are also very scarce, reflecting official attitudes, although a full survey in Nigeria in 1962 confirmed people's worst fears about the region.Except for the large open land in the south of the Sahara Desert, including Mauritius, Mali, and Niger, Nigeria is the largest country in West Africa. Because it is adjacent to Cameroon in Central Africa, the people and weapons used there are not common and wild The water sources of the animals remain, so perhaps it can be expected that the local conditions will be better than those of the small countries to the west.However, according to this report, the last black rhinos in Nigeria were extinct in 1935 or 1945, no one is sure when; Many species of antelope have also disappeared, and the remaining larger mammals, even the jackal, are almost threatened with extinction, as are large reptiles and large birds.Of the thirty-two species of ungulates there, nine are extinct, and others are also threatened with extinction or are severely depleted, with the exception of the South African antelope and a few species of duiker.Outside this unique Yankari Wildlife Sanctuary, there is a vast land of about 800 square miles northwest of the Benue River. It is said that the number of animals there is increasing. It is quite unusual for a tourist to Nigeria to see only a handful of primates (only possibly).The author's report in 1962 after a 5,000-mile drive mentioned more than a dozen baboons, three lemurs, and two monkeys of unknown species.Bird populations are equally scarce.Although Nigeria has the only ornithological society in West Africa, Nigeria's national bird, the beautiful crested heron, is as rare as America's national bird, the vulture.Nigerians are constantly reminded that their country is the most densely populated country in Africa, so they leave no room for wildlife. [Consultation Report on Wildlife and National Parks in Nigeria, published in 1962, by G. A．Petridus Author's Note]

The main threats to East African wildlife are habitat loss due to large-scale settlement, land use, and overgrazing.And in West Africa, where hunting is allowed in countries like Nigeria, people hunt any kind of animal, regardless of rarity, sex or age (often at night and in large groups), coupled with the prevalence of iron Making traps and traps, and setting fires around so that animals can kill each other can cause even more serious injuries.Of the seventeen species of taxidermy collected in recent years by Monsicur Brandt, sixteen had previously suffered cruel bullet wounds; it is estimated that some four million shotguns were used in remote countryside, Used to catch so-called bushmeat.In these populous and impoverished villages, wild animals hunted always accounted for a large amount of protein-deficient daily meals.Therefore, what the locals call nama is the animal in the local Hausa language, which means the so-called meat (obviously, this word has been preserved in the migration from Nigeria and Cameroon to the southeast and into Central Africa. , Bantu-speaking settlers, and the Swahili spoken there speaks of the word nyama, which means hunting).

The situation in Ghana is similar.The passage of the Wildlife Conservation Act there dates back to 1901, but as late as 1953, game conservation was entrusted to the larvae control department, which functions to The habitats of rivers and river courses are used to eliminate larvae flies. [Note to the author of the IUCN report published in 1970] Since independence in 1975, people’s concern for wild animals has increased day by day. In the hearts of the older generation of Ghanaians, wild animals are regarded as their culture and spirituality. part of the inheritance.The starting point of this concept comes from people's belief that if wild animals become extinct, they will never be able to return to their original lushness to attract tourists.Ghana's only appreciable game reserve so far is in Umol, just across the border from Como National Park.In 1967, the country established the Game and Wildlife Department, but here, as in Nigeria, there is still a lack of public education and enforcement of legislation to preserve wild animals, two things that have been ignored.In Ghana, anything that moves is considered a source of nourishment, even animals that were protected by traditional taboos in the past.Porcupines and baboons are still the most common sources of bushmeat in remote areas, but most other animals, including pit vipers and civet cats, are also eaten if found.However, vine rats and large rats, commonly known as lawn mowers, have become the most feared wild animals in the capital Accra (because of the disappearance of natural enemies).

The situation on the west coast of Ivory Coast is not much better.A wildlife conservation survey in West Africa conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1970 found that neither Liberia nor Lion Rock had national parks or wildlife sanctuaries at the time.Originally, the entire territory of Lion Rock Country was covered by virgin rainforest, but at that time less than 4% remained (the country's Gola Forest (Gola Forest) is the only hope for animal conservation), but the authorities still condone unlimited wild animals. Hunting, even allowing foreigners to come in and hunt.Liberia retains more forest (21%), but the local situation is the same, but the reason for the extinction of animals is infectious diseases; especially for elephants, there are no restrictions on what to do with them, so that elephants in danger of extinction.Export permits are not required for the export of ivory, hides, and dried animal carcasses, while live animal exports, especially young chimpanzees whose mothers have been killed, may cost as little as twenty-five cents to apply for an export permit.In the past, permits to set traps had to be applied for, but for some reason, that permit was revoked, either because no one interfered, or because there were not many cage spaces left. Across the coast, logging and burning of tropical rainforests has resulted in a massive loss of wildlife.However, countries that extend north from the coastal areas to the Seychelles desert can still retain a small number of animals that are more common on the prairie. Therefore, Benning claims to have two very important national parks: W Park has more than 200 square miles. Panjali Park is about half the size of the former, and its landforms include grasslands, terminalia forests and dense forests, and there are three wildlife sanctuaries adjacent to these national parks, which can do a little bit to control illegal hunting. Power.There are also three national parks located across the northern border, one in Niger and two in Shangfuta.Theoretically, because of the protection of Benning and Cameroon in the grassland area of ​​Nigeria, the animal population can increase further, even though Nigeria was one of the signatories of the African Parliament’s Declaration on Nature and Natural Resources Conservation (in 1968 in the capital Albania). Ji Er signed), and has passed commendable wildlife legislation, but the country has never educated the public, and the public has a wrong concept of laws, thinking that laws are not enforceable.As a result, this rich country leaves little room for wild animals.It is a country that is considered by both black and even white Africans to be the most violent and complex of emerging African states, and one must wonder whether the two reasons are really unrelated. ★Saint Novo’s Celebration After all four tires blew out we had lost faith in the car and lost one car so we lost the opportunity to watch the morning game drive.Dr. Persia decided to leave Como National Park as soon as possible.After the tire was repaired, we headed west again across the Bandama River, which flows down to the sea in the Dharahou district.Over the open country after crossing the Foxgau, the fifth tire was also flattened within twenty-four hours, and to repair it the driver Sauli broke the towline, making it impossible to move the car.There was a car going to Guo Heguo twenty miles away, and Sao Li gave him a ride. Two hours later, he didn't come back, so Adimon stopped a car going in the same direction, and passed An hour later, he came back in a taxi.We drove directly to Guo Heguo's travel agency, intending to complain about the car's performance.But the Malink gentleman at the travel agency, Thor.Mr. Bassamano, who blamed everything on poor Sauley, swore and sternly that Sauley would pay, and made no apology for our inconvenience.Bassamano sees himself as the real victim.He also had a driver named Mamadu, and his car was in excellent condition, but Bassamano, belching, said his biggest regret was not being able to accompany us in person.The impatient and cynical fellow had just had his lunch and was sitting at his desk for an after-dinner nap.His sly eyes cannot arouse our trust, and his mouth like an interrogation prisoner contains a huge Coke, and every time he speaks, the bright orange Coke rolls around, like The tongue of a hangman.Later, Mamadu told us that the holy Bassamano still owed him four days' wages from last January. Guo Heguo is the cultural center of the Senofou people. Before leaving, we visited the local market.There are all kinds of masks, statues, oil paintings on rough linen lacquered with yellow and black paint, antique bronze anklets and bangles, ivory carvings, wooden boxes, beads and various imported trinkets for sale, through Senegalese Internet hawkers, they almost control the entire antique trade in Ivory Coast.Some of the woodwork is old, some is brand new, and on another street we saw carvers hard at work on antiques that were really my grandpa's.The growing tourist trade has replaced the conventions of traditional culture. Most of the carved goods are of poor quality rather than weight. After waxing, the finished products shine, but this only shows that the traditional shape is gradually fading. The Sannofo people, like the Lobi people, are also offshoots of the Voltek people from the north. They call themselves the Sienamana people (Sienamana).Like other West Africans, they were forced by Arab slave traders to move south to the edge of the forest, and continued to settle there because of the expansion of the Sahara Desert.The territory of the San Nuofu was originally wider, extending from Odienne to Kong and Katiola, and later because of the Malinke (also known as the North Mande), Or commonly known as the Mandingo (Mandingo)) invasion, forced to squeeze here from the east and west, while the Malinks were also persecuted by the Arabs and moved south.As early as the seventeenth century, some Malinks converted to Islam, and in the nineteenth century, they were ruled by a famous autocratic king, Samory.After that, almost the entire inland area was under the ravages and control of Shamori, including Mali, Niger, Shangfuta, northern Ivory Coast and Lion Rock.It was not until the French army from Senegal that they captured Chamori and took over his vast empire.The Malinks, like the Boers, are widespread in West Africa, as far north as Timbuktu and west as far as Casamence in Senegal.In the Ancient East of Foxdus (the city was founded in the nineteenth century by the Sannofo people driven from the north and the west by King Khon), they were called traders, or traders, They were originally fighters by nature, but they turned into business masters.The continued oppression of the Malinks has allowed the Sannofo to live together in large communities.Such communities may be caused by their rich cultural resources, replacing the original landscape of typical grassland villages full of garbage.In this vast country one may still see a few birds, such as grouse, partridge, magpie, and a certain flying eagle. Now is the season of festivals and celebrations. The festival will start before the first heavy rain. Most of the dancers' folk performances are just to excite the tourists, and deviate from the meaning of farming or harvest, and sometimes even take Money paid them off to perform the ritual dances that are only seen at the Inauguration; but the Saint-Novo dance, performed by the villagers of the neighboring village, was joyous and had a kind of ecstasy I have not seen elsewhere of spontaneity. The Ngoren dance is performed under a huge kapok tree in the garden square, with a campfire in the garden, which attracts small, fast-moving bats.In the first stage of the spiritual enlightenment ceremony, the performing group was villagers from Ndala Village, with no more than fifteen people, including six young girls and a group of musicians. A whip-rope leader from Aya (who later performed a whip dance and walked barefoot over campfires); The xylophone is made by resting strips of hardwood on top of a split calabash gourd.The weird bala wind and the sound of the flute start, driving the drums, filling the night with wild music; the melody of the flute is beautiful, deep, high-pitched and unrestrained, like the sigh of an invisible stream in the forest, or like It's music played for the Charm of the Forest.Fortunately, no one here uses wind instruments made of ivory horns; one can only imagine the sound of balafons and ivory horns in concert halls. Everyone is holding a broom in their hands, and there is a fringe of bird tail feathers on their backs. These children are dancing back and forth, like a bird making a pose, with quick and brisk movements, showing the jumping of birds when they are courting. And gestures, suddenly stop and raise their heads, flap their wings, spread their wings, and sometimes jump.This dance is a graceful and provocative ritual that evokes the ancient and deep legends of the land.Before the firelight faded into darkness, the little girls bent their knees forward and touched each guest's shoulder with their brooms, teasingly teasingly, but impersonally and not deliberately. ★Exquisite art of small villages In the land of the San Novo people, we stopped at remote grassland villages, which were very tidy and quiet compared with large towns.In the village of Owasamon, there are small stone stoves, shining bronze dried gourd ladles, long wooden ladles and wooden mortars, all placed on the swept ground, as if they are carefully crafted ancient works of art.The older women were busy picking peanuts, a large bucket was ready, and the younger women lifted the mortar and poured the peanuts into the bucket.A baby dozed off in a wooden trough with flies in his eyes.A black hound with a vine ring around its neck was protecting the baby, and the cornered beast walked away quietly.The villagers here are neither friendly nor hostile, they just avoid seeing us, they wait for us to leave. The thatched huts here are built with hay and mud walls, most of them are square, and a round corn storage room is attached to one side of the house pile.The haunted house is located next to a grove of trees nearby.Adimon said that if someone breaks into the spirit house without authorization, he will be killed, if not by the spirit, he will be killed by the mob.Even in the mangrove forest area, the highlands of kapok trees raised on the low woodlands are all alienated from the prairie, so they are full of spiritual power and are also regarded as the land of the Holy Spirit. In a small shady spot at the back of the village a blacksmith was forging the blades of his tools.There was a child standing under a standing crankcase blowing the wind and fanning a fire of charcoal, the most exquisite work of art I have ever seen in Ivory Coast, yet the blacksmith was indifferent to that artifact.He said he would be happy to sell the item, but it was the property of his brother, who had gone out to Guo Heguo.Adimon's response to this object was equally lukewarm, evidently showing some disdain for our interest in these ancient objects, the houses of the dead and dusty faces.After all, this young man is a new and new human being in Africa, who only worships and admires the craftsmanship of the Western world, so he frowned to express his dissatisfaction. West of the village of Owasamon, the red-dirt road enters a newly developed land, separated from the road by large black rocks, granite out of the ancient continent of Africa.We met an old hunter with a shotgun in his hand; a Niger woman who sold medicine and saw a lonely red monkey near the road.Traveling through the hundreds of miles of gravel roads in this land, we never again encountered half a baboon, nor did we see half an Abyssinian terrestrial hornbill, although that is the most common animal in Senegal.The turkey-sized hornbill is revered by the San Norfolk as a primitive animal and the most common subject of their carvings, and even with such a revered status, the bird cannot be protected . Odion is the stronghold of the Malink people. It is located in the lowlands in the northwest of the country, near the border between Guinea and the Republic of Mali. It is a high and open town.There is a white mosque in the town.There are not many animals left in the original woodland.At noon, the dust became brighter, and the harmatan foehn blew unhindered through the branches of the flame tree.From Odion, there is a trail leading north to Bamako in Niger, and south to the main road to Abidjan, passing through citrus, guava and cashew groves.Thin streams flowed down the sparsely vegetated hills, and the savannah gave way to tropical forests in the far south.In the distance, the gray-white trunk of a teak tree appeared at the front edge of a wall-like forest. Just at the edge of the forest were birds, which were large black hornbills, red-eyed pigeons, gray-headed dwarf-like kingfishers, elegant falcon, Gabar goshawk, cattle egret in different poses, tawny hawk.But we saw and heard no animals, only a group of twenty hunters, armed with old-fashioned guns, heading home empty-handed.Behind them, the smoke of a conflagration is rising, due to lack of social education, local hunters believe that wild animals are inexhaustible until they disappear completely, plus few people think about the relationship between wild animals and habitats. Relevance, so they don't stop hunting with fire. ★Sacred spirit house The village of Dan in Biankouma, not far from Gouessesso, is located on a naturally formed and continuous terraced terrain. There are clumps of bananas, papaya trees, cola trees and coffee trees (it is adjacent to Bianguma, and in 1898, Shamori, the leader of the Mengdingo tribe, was arrested by the French army here).The people here are different from the grassland tribes. The houses of the villagers are circular. The houses are very solid, with solid walls. The roof made of twigs is erected on the cylindrical house. His house was covered with tin.All the houses are decorated with large white kaolin slabs with red pictures and carvings.The pattern designs are made by some young tribal skill inheritors, and most of them depict the life conditions of hunting and fishing in the tribe that are about to be lost.In addition, there are three spirit houses scattered in this huge village; and obviously, they are divided into semicircles surrounded by palm trees, and there is a platform-style stone altar near the entrance.Outside one of the spirit houses, an old man who was ignored by everyone was sitting; the silence around him seemed very strange.According to Jacob, he was like a holy mask, and no one would see him enter the house or leave the haunted house; children who played nearby would be called away.No photography is allowed by anyone.While explaining all this, Jacob kept staring at the haunted house. Not long after, a man caught by a Persian camera came to greet him and asked why there were strangers lurking here.We quickly apologized and left.It was the power of the spirit house, said Jacob, that made the people of Dunn disregard the official decree and not move to New Bianguma, a treeless, muddy, and The gloomy and messy national residential area is built according to the bureaucratic system, completely ignoring the traditional customs of the local people. This really reminds people of the efficient official residences in the American Indian reservation.It's been a common sight in Ivory Coast for years: abandoned houses, empty of people. In the neighboring village to the south, a dance procession is marching down the road, led by a figure wearing a headdressed mask and holding a tall pillar; and several costumed figures are followed by a stomping and singing group villagers.Many of these Dann villagers were dressed in Mohammedan clothes, just like the Malinks did to the San Novo villagers in the north, and they really converted some people in this village to Mohammedan.However, Muslim clothing is popular here and does not have religious significance.There are still spirit houses and masks, and the people here are still pantheists, including many who have embraced Islam or Christianity.Our Jacob.Adimon was a Christian, but he was a member of the Beti tribe of the Kru tribe, which originated from the Windward Coast and still maintains ancient religious traditions, and Jabb himself believed that his brother died of witchcraft.On the way back to Abidjan, Jacob graciously invited us to visit his mother's house; he said that his room had been kept, waiting for his return.But Jackbu has lost the strongest sense of family belonging among Africans; his village is not far from Abidjan if you take a cheap bus, but it has been eight years since he last went home. Jacob is generous and intelligent, but also arrogant and irritable.Being a tour guide for white people gave him a sense of superiority.We, two people who have been to Africa many times, are very displeased because we may know more about wild animals than him; he is like many young Africans in the city because of their ignorance about wild animals, so they are afraid and disdainful .His way of disguising it was whether we wanted to hear it or not, and he always delivered the message in a loud and husky voice, as if to say, this is my job, and I must do it.Two days later he was annoyed by our refusal to take an extra trip to see hippos at a lake far from Boundiali; It was possible for us to see hippos, although we often did, and other tourists might not, but he was not pleased by our refusal. Jacob insisted on eating with us at every meal, both because his tour guide license entitles him to do so and because he sees it as his responsibility.Yet when he appeared, he always sat morosely in his seat, ate with his fingers in a countryman's manner, and expressed resistance to European food; almost invariably, an expensive dinner was left untouched on the table by him. Instead, he would order a Coca-Cola, dip a large loaf of hard bread in the Coke to soften it, and eat it out of the cup with a fork.He was very tough with the wait staff and later he flew into a rage when the wait staff ignored him and dealt with us.He thinks he is better than Ma Ma.Mama didn't dine with us, and didn't stay in hotel rooms; Mama was silent and polite, and he was more displeased with our arrogant guide than we were.Jacob, who speaks German and English as well as French, expects Deutsche Airlines to hire him before long; we want to warn him that his attitude might get him in trouble.But he is too irritable and frivolous to accept such advice. He has skin color troubles, which is also a common problem of the new African generation.He envies white people and imitates them, but is ashamed of it, and because of this he has offensive thoughts about his dark skin, which makes him angry at both whites and blacks. And just like that, although we like him, he always makes us nervous.Driving along the way, he turned up the volume of Mamadu's radio to the maximum, and then sang the latest popular love songs loudly.He was an authority on love, and when it came to anything about Africa, he always brought up the subject.傑克布說：在非洲，我們總是說初戀是美好的 ★無意義的村落名字 渥布（Ｗｏｂｅ）、雅庫巴（Ｙａｃｏｕｂａ），和又稱為曼恩區的但恩村，都以製作面具著稱，數量甚至比聖諾福多，這裡的面具有一種尊貴而古典的風格，像貝殼般精緻輕巧，因此成為西方世界非洲藝術業餘收藏家的最愛。聖諾福和但恩村所製造的藝術是整個象牙海岸境內最獨特的，這並不教人感到奇怪（他們的舞蹈也同樣具有震撼力），因為這兩個地方的藝術是源自他們古老而深具張力的傳統文化；就像本寧偉大的藝術風格，但恩村文化在白人首次出現在迎風海岸之前，就已經十分先進。 這些面具既不是裝飾品，也不是一種美的探索，它們是祭神的神聖靈性的展現，只不過賦予人形，讓人們能夠認同。所謂的小面具是用來當作紀念物，而大面具則是用來庇護整個社會，例如挑選男巫師、主持正義、祈求豐年與和諧。在這些功能和其他功能中，附有圖騰的面具在某些權威而神祕的社會裡具有煽惑力，特別是豹（Ｇｏｒ）的圖案所表現出來的含意，也可作為一種懲戒。對付那些破壞大眾和諧的人，這種懲戒會用到一種以鱷魚膽汁製成的致命藥劑。一名巫師則負責控制這個神祕的組織，他能讓自己隱形或是幻化成一頭豹，因而受到人們尊崇，尤其是變成一頭豹，他受重視的程度可能更高，只不過如今真正的豹已經消失了。 像渥布和雅庫巴這樣的地名，是外界人士在白人探險家的詢問下所做出的困惑反應扭曲而成。在殖民者不耐的偉大傳統下，對這些部落沒有任何意義的文字，反而成為他們的名稱。所以在但恩的方言中，曼村的ｍａｎ原意為我不知道，最後竟變成這個區域這個大村鎮的地名；這裡是可樂子銷往馬利和塞內加爾的貿易中心，是馬利牛群向南運往今天的賴比瑞亞的轉運站。如今它仍然是象牙海岸西部重要的交易中心，有廣大而喧鬧的非洲市集、雙層的倉庫，泥濘的街道上，散發出豐富的氣息和亮麗的色彩。這個村鎮位在神祕鄉野間，有著高聳蒼翠的樹林和花木，周邊被十八座海拔四千呎的山丘所包圍。這山丘中最令人振奮的是一座名叫牙齒（Ｔｏｏｔｈ）的神山，山頂是險峻巨大的花崗岩塊，在雲霧中神祕地忽現忽隱。山中的雲林是此地製作面具和舞蹈所模擬幻想的對象，是豹或豹神的森林，充滿瀑布和跨越山區湍流如蛛網般的橋梁，橋梁以數哩長的藤蔓製造而成，這些藤蔓能攀爬到樹木上最高最細的樹枝上，最神奇的是，這些橋梁能在一夜之間串連起來，而按照傳說，這些橋梁能承載五十噸的重物。叢林裡的動物，依照古老的起源，都具有相當大的神力，如今這些動物幾乎已經消失殆盡。 ★矮黑人 在難得晴朗的日子裡，從山頂最遠可以看到尼姆巴山（Ｍｏｕｎｔ Ｎｉｍｂａ），那座山就在三個國家（象牙海岸、利比亞和幾內亞）的交界，海拔六千零六十九呎，是西非最高的山脈。利用叢林巴士，也就是一種被喚作大溪地和鮑伯．狄倫【Ｂｏｂ Ｄｙｌａｎ，美國鄉村搖滾歌手譯注】的小型廉價巴士，我希望能夠利用它從曼村直接翻越利比亞境內尼姆巴山的山脊，加入我朋友正在當地進行的一項鳥類學術調查旅行，但是阿必尚旅行社的人，還有曼村當局都表示這趟旅程是不可能的事，過了但恩村之後就沒有可以通行的道路，而但恩村也被艱險的河川和難以穿越的森林所阻隔，沒有路通到更遠的地方。他們說不行，行不通，我必須再回頭向東及南行，回到阿必尚搭乘國際航空班機到賴比瑞亞海岸的門羅維亞【Ｍｏｎｒｏｖｉａ，賴比瑞亞首都譯注】，然後才能順利深入內陸，前往尼姆巴。換句話說，一個距離我所站的地方不到一百哩的地點，我必須旅行一千哩才能到達。我後來才發現，惡人海岸是最佳的旅行終點，因為三個月以前，一條連結尼姆巴山和通往曼村主要道路的新道路已經開通；我不但不必浪費六天的時間，而且或許可以及時到達（後來真的來不及），只要花三個小時就可以到達目的地。 就這樣我們從曼村再度向南前進，一路前往馬拉豪爾國家公園；這裡是卡果族（Ｇａｇｏｕ）人的區域。這些少數的森林居民有時被形容是長紅髮人種（經證實，從但恩部落和更南方而來的克魯人，最初從西方來到這個森林區時，曾迫使這些矮小而毛茸茸的原住民遷移；而對偏遠西北方的洛比人來說，這些人被稱作郭圖瓦人（Ｋｏｕｔｏｗａ））。西方權威學者把卡果族歸類為矮黑人，而不是侏儒人，這是一種矛盾，因為侏儒人被視為矮黑人的一種，儘管在形態學上有明顯的差異，包括黃皮膚和濃密的體毛。學者甚至主張矮小的布希曼人（Ｂｕｓｈｍａｎ）和侏儒人是十分接近的，這兩個族群都因為受到比他們更強大的族群的壓迫，因而適應了邊緣地帶的自然環境。 至少有一種可能，那就是學界所沒有描述的矮人（ｌｉｔｔｌｅ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ），至今仍然存在。傑出的動物標本收藏家查爾斯．科狄爾（Ｃｈａｒｌｅｓ Ｃｏｒｄｉｅｒ，他的著作受重視的程度不亞於另一位權威學者喬治．夏勒（Ｇｅｏｒｇｅ Ｓｃｈａｌｌｅｒ）），他深受上剛果地區的雙足動物類人猿田野調查的證據影響，出版了一份相關主題的論文報告。早期（一九四七年），一位勒多斯教授（ｐｒｏｆｅｓｓｏｒ Ａ．ＬｅＤｏｕｘ），當時是阿必尚郊外艾狄歐波多姆學院動物學部門的主管，他證實了許多近代有關紅毛矮種人猿頗具說服力的報告，包括同一年在卡伐麗（Ｃａｖａｌｌｙ）和莎珊卓（Ｓａｓｓａｎｄｒａ）河之間廣大的森林中，一隻類人猿被有名的獵象人登克爾射殺。其實非洲人所說的ａｇｏｇｗｅ，被認為是一種小型的人猿，在整個熱帶非洲森林區，即象牙海岸到坦尚尼亞，都有過發現報告。一名比利時動物學家作了一項大膽的假設：雖然這些矮小的長毛人與動物學家或人類學家所知，沒有什麼不一致，不過他們的特徵，卻更符合化石學家所說的更新世靈長類動物，這種動物一直生存在南非，距今不到五十萬年，當時非洲所有的物種都已經成形。【修佛曼斯（Ｂ．Ｈｅｕｖｅｍａｎｓ），《未知的二足動物人類》，羅馬：吉努思，一九六三年作者注】 ★注定的滅絕 象牙海岸的人向我們保證，在馬拉豪爾可以看到原封不動的叢林，但是這個占地兩萬五千英畝的國家公園是由草地和丘陵所組成，只有一些小山丘上散布著森林。在深邃的森林中，我們觀察到許多不同種屬極壯觀的蝴蝶；白頸的項圈猴，是一種瘦小體呈灰色、頭頂長紅毛的猴子。牠們懶散地盤坐在森林前緣一棵樹的樹枝上，伴隨著其他體型較小的近親東非小猴。我們站在一座山丘頂上，俯瞰開闊的原野，碰到一名鱗翅類學家，他正在研究一種法令禁止捕捉的飛蛾，他很興奮地聲稱那天早晨看到了大羚羊和水牛，但是那天我們沿著小徑走到傍晚，也沒有看到半隻水牛或羚羊的影子，甚至也沒有看見人們預測在馬拉豪爾經常可見到的大象排遺。最恰當的說法就是，西非這些國家有太多的森林保護區，人們無法全然否認大型動物的存在，也沒有人提出任何負面的看法；怎麼可以因為沒有看到這些動物，就說牠們不存在呢？ 那天晚上，我們停留在雅摩索柯羅（Ｙａｍｏｕｓｓｏｕｋｒｏ），住在該國總統非利克斯．侯布飛︱柏格尼（Ｆｅｌｉｘ Ｈｏｕｐｈｏｕｅｔ︱Ｂｏｉｇｎｙ）家鄉的一個小村落，他在那裡擁有一塊咖啡田和一家工廠，也有一座巨石打造的現代化宮殿，可以俯視被稱為聖鱷之湖（我們沒有看到鱷魚或其他神聖的東西）的人工湖。這整個村子就被那宏偉建築的工程所吞沒，大部分建築空盪盪的，有一些虛矯誇耀的裝飾，用了許多類似魚形的裝飾，是一間華而不實的旅館，這一切可以和艾佛麗飯店的潟湖相媲美。整座建築相當於一條花數百萬元打造的凱旋大道，卻丟在這個滿是紅土蟻丘和矮叢林的破落鄉野中。就像其他新興的非洲國家，象牙海岸的少數特權獲得龐大的財富，而其他的人事物雖得到他們領袖的拯救，至今卻依然停滯在殖民時代的狀態。 復活節那個禮拜天，我們沿著大道（Ｇｒａｎｄ Ｒｏｕｔｅ）回到阿必尚，那條路主要是為了悼念沿路發生的可怕車禍而建；某個夜裡曾發生迎頭撞擊的車禍事故，至今仍然原因不明，而更早還有一輛拖著尾車的貨車，直直地栽進叢林裡。和塞內加爾一樣，這條新建的雙線道路對新手駕駛來說實在過窄，他們大多數和馬馬都一樣，年輕而缺乏經驗，他們全都因為反應時間不足，再加上喜歡像玩命般超速，又缺乏警覺性而容易肇事。我們在可怕的事故邊緣度過一個晴朗的復活節早晨。然後在繁茂的咖啡樹、油棕樹、橡膠樹和鳳梨農園間，轉向南方行駛，和那些滿載著森林巨木的貨車爭道。在阿哈米（Ａｊａｍｅ），景觀變得像假日洗衣店吊掛著的一條盡是補丁的被單，那是來自上伏塔的窮人大舉南移，失望地想找份工作，而為這富足的象牙海岸製造的一種景觀。在班科（Ｂａｎｃｏ），我們經過一座森林保護區，根據傑克布的說法，那裡已經沒有半隻動物。 傑克布在我們這個團體就像個天生的觀光客。因為要回家了，所以他穿上從曼村買來全新的回教康祖長袍；在我們的旅程中，他買了許多紀念品，其中一樣是羚羊燈籠，是達羅奧工廠鑄模拋光，大量生產的東西。在他的觀念裡，鄉下來的古老面具、雕刻和叫作阿瓦爾的玩具，對於新生代的非洲來說是沒有用的；顯然那些東西對他而言，就像野生動物一樣，同樣讓他覺得不自在和不屑。相反地，馬馬都買了一個木製的傳統鳥形玩具，外頭包了乾樹皮，那是來自尼日的作品，他把它掛在鏡子上當裝飾，不過那天他對這件美麗的東西失去興趣，當它掉了下來，他很不悅地把它丟到一旁，或許是因為他嫉妒傑克布買的那件亮麗的東西，也可能是因為傑克布把原本應該給他回程費用的錢都花光了。在接近海濱時，傑克布把他那一堆行李卸下，他在那裡一如往常犯錯，向我們遊說，那裡的旅館有很多空房間；他的主要目的就是要我們住在他住家附近。當我們要多付額外的錢給馬馬都時，他並沒有背叛傑克布，他拒絕我們的幫助，直到我們答應不會讓奸詐的傑克布找他老闆的麻煩為止。儘管如此，傑克布的自私和不擇手段，反倒得到善意的回報。 可憐的馬馬都，可憐的傑克布。當不得不回艾佛麗飯店時，我們感到十分沮喪。一時之間，讓我們蒙受打擊的是因為回象牙海岸數百哩的陸路旅程中，在國家公園外唯一能看到的動物，只有在從邦狄亞里往西的公路上的一隻孤單的猴子。而我們最關切的野生哺乳動物，在這整個國家中，只有阿必尚市區公園裡的水果蝙蝠。而其他情況可能比較好的國家也沒有什麼可以學習。 這天一大清早，行經前往大拉侯區的公路時，傑克布說：在阿必尚，我們想關切大象，只需搭乘飛往大拉侯區的飛機，就可以從空中俯瞰牠們。馬馬都起初非常感動，而此刻他卻為他的同胞所營造出來的那種偉大氣氛而感到厭煩。不過傑克布意識到，我們之所以感到憂傷，是來自象牙海岸野生動物的消失；在所有保留區裡，許多代表政府決心與宣誓的標示牌被丟棄在一旁；以及西非野生動物注定的滅絕仍在持續中。在曼村市集的那一排排三腳鐵製陷阱、走在公路那一班班獵戶、供應叢林肉的鄉下餐館、那些繫上藤圈的獵犬，仲裁者的缺乏，很快就會摧毀此地剩餘的動物。隨之而來的是，在這些人口過剩的國家，蛋白質缺乏的情形會將愈加嚴重，因此，整個西非原生動物的嚴重消失，也會更加惡化。更深一層的理由是，白種人祝福者喜歡空談高論的保護無價的傳承，在他們的土地上為時已晚。動物是部落的圖騰和守護神，也是絕大多數象牙海岸人所認定的，是唯一真神派遣到眾多生靈中的信差，用來與肉眼所不能看到的那個世界聯絡，與宇宙平衡息息相關。如今動物消失，或者說如此稀少，在日常生活中，牠們已不具真實性。即使像傑克布．阿迪蒙這樣的城市男孩，在過去八年中沒有回到他的貝提族人身邊，只以艾佛麗飯店為傲，漠視叢林，但此時他或許也開始感到不安。也因為如此，他才會用無奈的語調說：在阿必尚，我們想關切大象，只需搭乘飛往大拉侯區的飛機，就可以從空中俯瞰牠們。