Someone Wishes to Speak to You (6 page)

In one of his books, he had been fascinated to read a letter dated April 24, 1847 written by a Dr Thomas S. Savage when he stayed at a mission house on the Gabon River, West Africa, while
en route
to the USA. He had written: ‘I have found the existence of an animal of an extraordinary character in this locality, which I have reason to believe is unknown to the naturalist. As yet, I have been unable to obtain more than a part of a skeleton.’ He also read how eight months later, a Captain George Wagstaff, master of a ship trading between West Africa and Bristol, obtained three skulls from the Gabon River which were presented to Samuel Stutchbury, Curator of the Museum of the British Institution for the Advancement of Science, Literature and the Arts. These skulls had formed the basis for the first descriptions of a member of the genus
Gorilla
, the western lowland gorilla
Gorilla g. gorilla
(Savage and Whyman, 1847), which were subsequently published by Richard Owen.

Mathew also had the opportunity to read Paul du Chaillu’s 1861 dramatic account of his first meeting with a gorilla in his book
Explorations & Adventures in Equatorial Africa
, in which he claimed to have been fortunate enough to be the first white man to see gorillas in Africa. How disparagingly du Chaillu had maligned the character of the gorilla species when he recorded: ‘I can vouch that no description can exceed the horror of its appearance, the ferocity of its attack, or the impish malignity of its nature’ – a ‘King Kong’ legacy that regrettably remained with the gorilla species for almost a further hundred years.

However, now that Mathew had experienced and so much relished the introverted company of members of the gorilla kingdom and had never much appreciated his exposure to the more bombastic extroverted characters of chimpanzees, he had enjoyed reading a 1896 account by a Dr A.E. Brehm, quoting von Hermes, which had highlighted: ‘GORILLA – it seems as if he was born with a patent of nobility among apes . . . In comparison to a Chimpanzee, holds its head higher, producing the impression that he belongs to a better class of society.’

Mathew had seen Lucienne on the majority of Sundays during his months of study at Kahuzi-Biega, when Tilli-Tilli and his Pygmy compatriots were given a day of leisure. On the Sundays that Lucienne had been unable to visit with his weekly supplies and to spend time with him, she had dispatched the provisions by taxi with a note to explain how she had very reluctantly stayed away to attend to her national park office responsibilities. On these occasions, Mathew had been surprised just how despondent he was made by her absence.

During Mathew’s time at Kahuzi-Biega, Deschryver had visited him at irregular intervals, although never giving him any advance notice of when he was going to appear. At times, he would follow their tracks into the forest and, when coming quite close to where they were, would either stand or crouch
and just watch them for a while unobserved, before deciding to make Mathew and the Pygmy guides aware of his presence. As soon as the gorillas saw Deschryver, they would respond to his soft rumbling noise of ‘Uh-uh-u’, the gorilla’s welcome, followed by his familiar ‘com-com’, ‘com-com’, ‘com-com’. Tilli-Tilli and the other two Pygmies would immediately become more relaxed now that their
Bwana Mkubra
had joined them. On each of these visits, Deschryver would stay to return to the park’s main entrance with them, and prior to returning to Bukavu would share some beers in front of Mathew’s hut and receive an update on the highlights of his observations. Although during these discussions Deschryver never mentioned how much he had been impressed by Mathew’s diligence and dedication to his field studies, and the comprehensiveness of his written recordings, he had conveyed such sentiments to Lucienne, for in all probability he was well aware that she would in turn pass them onto him.

With Lucienne’s almost weekly visit to Mathew, their relationship had developed into a deep friendship and mutual affection for each other, although their intimacy was confined to a quick hug and a kiss on both cheeks on both their meetings and farewells, and sometimes to holding hands when they walked through some of the more negotiable parts of the forest. But in spite of Mathew’s ever-increasing desire to be in Lucienne’s company, he had to keep reminding himself that as a consequence of their very different backgrounds and heritages, he was unable to see just how his strong emotional feelings and admiration for her could possibly lead to any sustainable long-term relationship.

It had been during Mathew’s attempt to reconcile the complexities of his emotional turmoil regarding Lucienne that he reminded himself how his professor at Scaife University would have dealt with such sentiments. In his analysis of this type of scenario, he had highlighted how mankind was merely an evolutionary self-domesticated animal – a mammal, an
ape, a social anthropoid ape, a human anthropoid in which the difference between male and female stemmed from a past, when the man hunted and the woman gathered. Also, how his professor had reflected that falling in love was mysteriously cerebral and highly selective, with sexual interactions being merely a genetic joint venture resulting from a degree of self-assurance and the priority for the male to perpetuate his genes. While Mathew reflected on his professor’s dispassionate scientific approach to such a state of mind, he attempted to pull himself together and be more realistic as to any future long-term involvement with the person he had now considered that he had fallen in love with.

It had been during their many discussions about primate behaviour that Lucienne had mentioned to Mathew that through her desire to increase her knowledge and, in particular, to learn as much as possible about the comparative psychology of anthropoids, she would very much like to embark on a university degree course. With this in mind, she had asked Mathew whether his mentor Dr W.C. Osman Hill would be willing to help her gain a place at Emory University and to undertake some behavioural research work with the gorilla colony at the Yerkes Primate Research Center. Although contrary to Mathew’s intended attempt to try to distance himself from Lucienne, the thought of having her in Atlanta during his final months of writing up his dissertation appealed to him greatly. He promised to write to his professor and to do as much as possible to promote her cause. At the same time, he suggested that she should tell Deschryver and ask him to write a letter of recommendation and reference on her behalf, which would be sure to carry a great deal of weight with Emory University’s Board of Admission.

During Mathew’s final ten days at the Hotel Metropole, prior to his departure from Bukavu, he found that his intention to separate his life from Lucienne had totally failed and he was therefore to be seen in her company almost on a daily
basis. Deschryver had written an excellent supportive ‘To Whom It May Concern’ to add to Mathew’s letter to Osman Hill, requesting his help with Lucienne’s application. As Mathew was anxious to receive his professor’s reaction prior to his departure from Zaire, the correspondence was cabled to Osman Hill with the original top copies sent by airmail.

Now that Mathew had completed his field studies he had been able to get to know Deschryver on a more informal basis; although he had seemed to be rather reserved and outwardly self-effacing, the more he got to know him, the more relaxed and outgoing he became.

Deschryver’s home was situated high up above the township, with a spectacular view of Lake Kivu in the distance. The house, with its spacious veranda, was surrounded by well-manicured lawns, studded at intervals by impressive beds of the scarlet-flowered, purple-leafed, hybrid cannas, which were shaded from the heat of the midday sun by small groups of acacia trees. On several occasions they had talked here into the early hours of the morning about the constant political upheavals that had occurred in this eastern region of Zaire since the Congo’s independence from the Belgians, twelve years previously. Also about the increased human pressures that were currently being exerted on one of the eastern lowland gorillas most important remaining sanctuaries at Kahuzi-Biega. Mathew had concluded from his many conversations with him that if it had not been for Deschryver’s personal drive, dedication and hard work during the last seven years, it would have been unlikely that the national park would have been established, thereby giving the eastern lowland gorillas who lived there the opportunity to survive.

Prior to his departure from Bukavu, Mathew was anxious to take up Dr Peter Kunkel’s invitation for Lucienne and him to have dinner at his home near the IRSAC headquarters. Also, to have the opportunity to thank the botanists and the staff of the institute’s pathology laboratory for the painstakingly
detailed analysis they had carried out, all of which had established some important new data about the gorilla’s varied diet and aspects of their digestive systems.

After Mathew and Lucienne had spent almost two hours at the research institute thanking all those involved, they followed Dr Kunkel’s VW Kombi several kilometres over a winding, rough earth road to his home at Tshibati, a sizeable white-painted villa with a courtyard at its rear. A large well-kept lawn to the front of the house sloped downhill with a view to some of the institute buildings. However, in the far distance was the dramatic backdrop of the magnificent mountains of the rift valley, with the sparkling waters of Lake Kivu nestled comfortably between them.

The dinner party guests included a number of the institute’s staff: the South African pathologist, Dr Kurt Jorgensen; the Rwandan botanist, Annette Sausman; and Patrice Daman. When Mathew had been told that Patrice was going to be one of the dinner guests, he had been quick to reassure Lucienne that his initial jealousy had been due to the enthusiastic attention his potential rival had shown her, but that as a result of their weekly meetings they had become good friends.

On learning about this friendship, Lucienne considered it prudent to inform Mathew that while he was undertaking his field research in Kahuzi-Biega, she had accepted an invitation from Patrice to have dinner with him at a small nightclub in Bukavu.

‘It started pleasantly enough,’ she explained, ‘but by halfway through the evening, he had drunk a lot of wine and he kept trying to touch me . . . It was getting very embarrassing. I shouldn’t say it, but what made the whole thing unbearable was that he absolutely reeked of garlic and was smoking Gitanes – the fumes were all over me – so I pretended to have a stomach bug and called a taxi to take me home as soon as possible!’

‘Well, friends or not, I’m very relieved to hear that you
didn’t enjoy your evening with Patrice . . . Long may he continue to eat excessive garlic, smoke Gitanes and touch his dinner guests inappropriately.’

‘He still wanted to come back to my flat and tuck me into bed,’ Lucienne gently teased, ‘but of course I didn’t let him. The next day, once Patrice had sobered up and carried out a post-mortem on his behaviour, he sent me a beautiful bunch of white lilies with the sweetest note of apology. All is forgiven, but I haven’t seen or spoken to him since.’

Despite Lucienne’s regrettable encounter with Patrice, the dinner party was a thoroughly amicable and enjoyable evening. Dr Kunkel was the perfect host; the conversation and the wine flowed freely and Mathew and Lucienne ended the evening feeling very glad to have made the acquaintance of the IRSAC scientists.

A week prior to Mathew’s departure from Bukavu, he received a response to the cable to Osman Hill.

‘Oh Mathew! I can’t believe it – it couldn’t be better. Not only is he going to help me get a place, but he’s giving me a chance to help with research that is so closely connected to my interest in anthropoids . . . and he’s going to pay me for the pleasure of doing it! This is a godsend, an unbelievable opportunity. I can’t thank you enough for making it happen.’ Lucienne could not stop herself from throwing her arms around Mathew’s neck and kissing his cheek in gratitude.

Lucienne’s overflowing enthusiasm and joy was obvious to everyone as she talked excitedly about her future in the USA, rushing to and fro in a concerted attempt to keep her mind on her office duties. On Lucienne’s insistence, Mathew cabled Osman Hill back immediately in appreciation of his help and to say on her behalf that she would love to help him with the research for his primate monograph.

Lucienne had arranged with Deschryver to take the last few days of Mathew’s time in Bukavu away from the office in order to be with him as much as possible. In particular, she wanted to talk about her forthcoming time in Atlanta for she well recognised that she would require help to settle into such a new and alien environment. Mathew had already told her that he would be first returning to the UK for four to five months to be with his parents in Yorkshire, and to take the opportunity to embark on the writing up of his dissertation in the peaceful surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales. His return to Atlanta could well be after she had arrived.

*    *    *

Lunches at the Bistro Zanzibar had been full of joyous harmony on the one hand, and a degree of apprehension on the other. During some gaps in their conversation they had both sensed a degree of trepidation; their separation was imminent and their future relationship was uncertain. On the Saturday evening they had decided to visit the typically African nightspot of Le Tropicana, where the soft lights, the enthusiastic beating of the drums, small tables lit by flickering candles, all added to the intimacy of the place. In the centre of the room, the bodies, arms and legs of those who had succumbed to the seductive beat of the drums swayed in total harmony.