Elephant Song - Smith Wilbur - Страница 75
- Предыдущая
- 75/140
- Следующая
They did, a profile on Victor, on President Omeru and they gave me an honourable mention. That was it. What is happening in Ubomo? You promised to brief me. You said it was a microcosm of emerging Africa.
Explain that. Ubomo has got all the major problems common to every other African state: tribalism, population explosion, poverty, illiteracy. And now that President Omeru has gone and that swine Taffari has taken over, it's got itself another set of problems, such as one-party tyranny, a president for life, foreign exploitation and corruption and incipient civil war. Sounds like the perfect society.
Let's start with tribalism in Ubomo. Tell me about it. Tribalism, the single greatest curse of Africa! Kelly took a bite of underdone porterhouse and for a moment closed her eyes in ecstasy. Heaven, she whispered. Bliss! All right, tribalism in Ubomo. There are six tribes but only two really count for anything. The Uhali are the most numerous, almost three out of four million. Traditionally they are an agrarian and lakeside people, tillers of the soil and fishermen. They are gentle, industrious people. Yet for centuries they have been enslaved and in the thrall of the much smaller tribe, the Hita.
The Hita are fierce, aristocratic people closely related to the Masai and Samburu of Kenya and Tanzania. They are pastoralists and warriors.
They live with and for their cattle, and despise the rest of humanity, including us Europeans, I may add, as inferior animals. They are beautiful people, tall and willowy. Any Hita moram under six foot three is considered a midget. Their women arc magnificent with regal Nilotic faces; they would grace the catwalk at any Paris fashion show.
Yet they are a cruel, arrogant and brutal people. You are taking sides.
You are as much a tribalist as any of them, Kelly, Daniel accused.
Live long enough in Africa, as you know, Danny, and you come to be like them, a tribalist. Kelly shook her head ruefully. But in this case, it's justified. Before the British pulled out of Ubomo back in 1969, they held a Westminster-style election and, of course, the Uhali by weight of numbers, took power and Victor Omeru became president. He was a good president.
I'm not suggesting he was a saint, but he was as good as any other ruler in Africa, and a damned sight better than most. He tried to accommodate all his people, all the tribes, but the Hita were too proud and bloody-minded. As natural warriors and killers they gradually took over the army and, of course, the outcome was inevitable. Ephrem Taffari is now despot, tyrant and president for life. A million Hita totally dominate a majority of three million other tribes including the Uhali and my beloved little Bambuti. Tell me about your Bambuti, the "people of the tall trees", Daniel invited, and she smiled with pleasure. Oh, Danny, you know the title of my book! Not only do I know it, but I've actually read it.
More than once. Three times in fact, the last time a week ago. He grinned at her. At the risk of sounding jejune, he teased her with her own phrase, I'm a fan. Yech! Bonny spoke for the first time in fifteen minutes. Excuse me while I throw up. Daniel had almost forgotten her existence, and now he reached out to take her freckled hand that lay on the table cloth beside him. Bonny pulled it away before he could touch it and placed it in her lap. I'd like some more wine, if anybody is interested, she pouted.
Daniel dutifully refilled her glass while Kelly concentrated tactfully on the last morsels of her steak.
At last Daniel broke the awkward silence. We were talking about the Bambuti. Tell me about them.
Kelly looked up at him again, but did not answer immediately. She seemed to be struggling with a difficult decision.
Daniel waited. Look here, Kelly said at last. You want to know about the Bambuti. All right, what would you say if instead of talking about them I actually took you into the forest and showed you?
How would you like to film them in their natural surroundings?
I could show you things that nobody else has ever filmed, sights that very few Westerners have ever seen. I'd jump at the chance, Kelly.
Hell, I can't think of anything I'd like more, but isn't there just one little problem? President Taffari hates your guts and will hang you from the highest tree the moment you put one foot across the border.
Kelly laughed. He was beginning really to enjoy the sound of her laughter. It had a delicious purring quality that made him feel good and want to laugh in sympathy. He's not much into hanging, is our boy Ephrem. He has other little tricks he prefers. So, how would you manage the guided tour of Ubomo without Taffari's blessing? She was still smiling. I've lived in the forest for almost five years.
Taffari's authority ends where the tall trees begin. I have many friends. Taffari has many enemies. How will I contact you?
Daniel insisted. You won't have to. I'll contact you. Tell me, Kelly, why are you risking your life to be back?
What work is so important that you must do it without a field grant, without any kind of support, and under the threat of arrest, and possible death?
She stared at him. "That's an amazingly stupid question.
There is enough work in the forests to keep me going for a lifetime.
Amongst other things, I'm doing work on the physiology of the Bambuti. I have been studying the dwarfism of the pygmies, attempting to determine the cause of their stunted growth. Of course, I'm not the first to do this type of research, but I think I've come up with a new angle. Up until now everybody has concentrated on the growth hormone .
. She broke off and smiled. I won't bore you with the details, but I believe it's the hormone receptors that are lacking. Oh, we aren't bored. Bonny made no effort to veil her sarcasm. We're fascinated.
Do you plan to give the pygmies an injection and turn them all into giants like the Hita? Kelly refused to be annoyed. The small stature of the Bambuti is a benevolent mutation. It makes them ideally suited for life in the rain forests. I don't understand, Daniel encouraged her.
Explain how being small is a benefit. Okay, you asked for it.
Firstly, there is heat dissipation.
Being so tiny they can shed the heat that builds up in the humid windless atmosphere beneath the forest canopy. Then again, their size makes them agile and nimble in the dense tropical growth. You will be astonished to see how the Bambuti move through the forest. The Egyptians and the early explorers truly believed that they had the power of invisibility. They can simply vanish before your eyes. Her own lovely eyes shone with enthusiasm and affection as she talked about these people whom she had made her own.
Daniel ordered dessert and coffee, and Kelly had still not exhausted the subject. The other area of my research is even more important than growth hormones and receptors. The Bambuti have a marvelous knowledge of plants and their properties, particularly medicinal properties. I estimate that there are well over half a million different species of plants growing in the rain forests, hundreds of them with already proven properties beneficial to man. I believe that the cure for most of our ills and diseases might be locked up in those plants, a cure for cancer, and for AIDS. I've had promising indications in all those directions.
Science fiction, Bonny scoffed, and filled her mouth with chocolate ice cream. Do shut up, Bonny, Daniel snapped at her. This is fascinating.
How advanced is your research? Kelly pulled a face. Not as far as I'd like. I have the old women of the Barnbuti helping me gather the leaves and barks and roots. They describe their properties and I try to catalogue and test them and isolate the active ingredient, but my laboratory is a thatched hut, and I am fresh out of money and friends.
- Предыдущая
- 75/140
- Следующая
