Explorations and adventures in Equatorial Africa; with accounts of the manners and customs of the people and of the chace of the gorilla, crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus and other animals. (Second edition.)

Preface

. The singular region of Equatorial Africa, the interior of which it was my fortune to be the first to explore, and of whose people and strange animal and vegetable productions I give some account in the following pages, is remarkable chiefly for its fauna, which is, in many respects, not only extraordinary, but peculiar. In this comparatively narrow belt, extending on either side of the equator, is found that monstrous and ferocious ape, the gorilla. Here, too, and here only, is the home of the very remarkable nest-building ape, the Troglodytes calvus, the nshiego mbouve' of the natives ; of the hitherto unknown kooloo-kamba, another ape, no less remarkable than the T. calvus, and of the chimpanzee. North, south, and east of this region, .the. lion lords it in the forests and the desert : only in this tract he is not found.

Thus it will be seen that this region formed a peculiarly rich field for an ardent naturalist. Game is not found in such plenty as on the vast plains of Southern Africa ; there is less butchering ; but, if the larder is not so well supplied, the half starved explorer experiences many happy days, when the discovery of a hitherto unknown animal rewards him for all his toils, dangers, and sufferings. Not only does the fauna of this region contain a very unusual number of species peculiar to itself, but even some of those animals which it has in common with the regions to the north and south seemed to me varieties. Thus, I feel almost certain, that the elephant of this region is a variety, distinct in several particulars from his South African brother. Doubtless the peculiar formation of the country causes this exceptional condition.

Instead of the vast, thinly-wooded and arid -.< a PEEFACE. or sparsely-watered plains of Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa, the explorer finds here a region very mountainous, and so densely wooded, that the whole country may be described as an impenetrable jungle, through which man pushes on only by hewing his way with the axe. These forests, which have been resting probably for ages in their gloomy solitude, seem un favourable even to the rapid increase of the beasts who are their chief denizens. There are no real herds of game ; nor have the people of this region yet attained that primitive step in the upward march of civilization, the possession of beasts of burden. Neither horses nor cattle are known here : man, or woman rather, is the only beast of burden. The river system of this region seems to me well adapted for the prosecution of commercial enterprise.

LTntil I explored them, the rivers known to Europeans and Americans as the Nazareth, Mexias, and Fernand Vaz, were supposed to be three distinct streams ; but the reader will perceive, by refer ence to the accompanying map, that they are connected with each other. The Mexias and Nazareth are only outlets of the Ogobai River, which also throws a portion of its waters into the Fernand Vaz, chiefly through the Npoulounay. Thus these three rivers are, in fact, mouths of the Ogobai ; and they form, with the intervening lowlands (which are evidently alluvial deposits), an extensive and very complicated network of creeks, swamps, and dense forests, which I propose to call the delta of the Ogobai. This delta is bounded on the north by the Nazareth, which enters the sea in lat. 0° 41' S. and long. 9° 3' E., and on the south by the Fernand Vaz, which falls into the sea in lat. 1° 17' S., and long. 5° 58' E. The mouth of tho Mexias lies between, in lat. 0° 56' S., and long. 8° 47' E. I have not given in the narrative any account of my exploration of this labyrinth, because it was extremely barren of incidents interesting to the reader.

It was a most tedious undertaking, and resulted only in the knowledge that this large tract is entirely uninhabited by human beings ; that in the rainy

PREFACE.

. V season, when the rivers and their divergent creeks are swollen, the whole country is overflowed ; and that the land is covered with immense forests of palm, there being found none of the customary mangrove-swamps. Land and water are tenanted only by wild beasts, venomous reptiles, and intolerable swarms of musquitoes. The entrance of the Fernand Vaz, which is one of the keys to this region, is rendered intricate by shifting sand-bars and a very crooked channel, which, however, carries from fifteen to twenty feet of water at all times. It, as well as the Mexias, throws a tremendous quantity of fresh water into the ocean during the rainy season. So vast is this supply, and so rapid the current, that, though the mouths of these streams are but half-a-mile wide, the body of fresh water launched from each, during the rains, forces its separate way through the ocean for at least four or five miles before it becomes absorbed ; and I have known times when the tide had no effect at all upon the vast column of water pushing seaward.

Above Monwe, for about thirty miles, the Fernand Vaz, which here takes the name of Rembo, flows through a country so flat that in the rainy season its banks are overflowed for many miles, and in parts scarce a foot of dry land is in sight. Further up, the country becomes hilly, and the upper parts of the Rembo and Ovenga rivers flow between steep banks, and through a decidedly mountainous region. But even here the magnificent mountains are divided by plains or broad valleys, which are overflowed during the season of rains. On the return of the dry season, these overflows leave great quantities of decayed or decaying matter, which, though enriching the ground, also cause fevers. But the fevers of the interior are not so frequent nor so dangerous as those caused by the mixed salt and fresh water vegetation of the seashore ; and when this region becomes settled, the mountains will afford a convenient sanitarium for white men. Leaving the Fernand Vaz, which, though partly fed by the a2 VI

PREFACE.

. Ogobai, is an independent stream, having its source in the Ashankolo Mountains, we come to the Ogobai, probably one of the largest rivers of Western Equatorial Africa. The Ogobai is formed by the junction of two considerable streams of the interior — the Rembo Ngouyai and the Rembo Okanda. The first I partly explored ; of the Rembo Okanda I know only by report of the natives, who state that it is much larger than the Ngouyai, and that its navigation is in some places partly ob structed by vast rocky boulders, which, scattered about the hill sides and on the higher plains of the interior, form a very remarkable and peculiar feature of the landscape. The banks of the Ogobai, so far as I have explored them, are in many parts subject to annual overflow. The Rembo Ngouyai is a large stream, flowing through a mountainous and splemlidly wooded country, and is the most magnificent river I saw in Africa.

It has numerous smaller feeders. Its navigation is unfortunately interrupted by the great Eugenie or Samba Nagoshi Fall ; but it is quite possible for steamers to reach this fall from the sea ; and the upper portion, above the fall, is navigable for the largest class of river-steamers during the greater part of the year, and flows through a region the tropical magnificence of which is quite unrivalled, and which abounds in many precious woods, while it is also well calculated for a rich agricultural country. I could not help longing heartily for the day to come, when this glorious stream will be alive with the splash of paddlewheels, and its banks lined with trading and missionary posts. Ebony, bar-wood, and India-rubber, palm-oil, beeswax, and ivory, are the natural products of this region, so far as my limited opportunities allowed me to ascer tain.

But any tropical crop will grow in this virgin soil ; and it needs only the cunning hand and brain of the white man to render this whole tract a great producing country. My little knowledge of geology, and the impossibility of carrying heavy specimens, prevented me from making useful observations on the geological structure of this region. I can

PREFACE.

. VII only say that micaceous schist, talcose shale, and quartz, are found abundantly in the mountains, together with conglomerates and various sandstones, while a red sandstone seems most to abound in the Ashira country. Iron is plentiful ; the ore, which is rich, is found cropping out of the ground in many parts. Copper I did not meet with, though it is brought by the Loando negroes from the southern interior to the seashore, where it is purchased by Europeans. The mountain-range which I explored on my last journey, and which is laid down on the map as far as my extreme point, or terminus, seems to me, beyond doubt, to be part of a great chain extending nearly across the continent without ever leaving the line of the equator more than two degrees. Not only were the appearances such, as far as I was able to penetrate, but all accounts of the natives and of their slaves tend to make this certain.

Some of the slaves of the Apingi are brought from a distance to the eastward which they counted as twenty days' journey ; and they invariably protested that the mountains in sight from their present home continue in an uninterrupted chain far beyond their own country — in fact, as far as they knew. Judging, therefore, from my own examination, and from the most careful inquiries among people of the far interior, I think there is good reason to believe that an important mountain-range divides the continent of Africa nearly along the line of the equator, starting on the west from the range which runs along the coast north and south, and ending in the east, probably, in the country south of the mountains of Abyssinia, or perhaps terminating abruptly to the north of the Lake Tanganyika of Captains Burton and Speke.

In the northern slope of this great range originate, probably, many of the feeders of the Niger, Lake Tchad, and the Nile ; while of the streams rising in the southern slope, it is probable that some join their waters to the Rembo Okanda, the Rembo Ngouyai, and the Congo, and others flow south into the Zambesi,

PREFACE.

. and into the great lake basin, or chain of lakes of Eastern and Central Africa; tending to corroborate the theory saga ciously laid down by that eminent geographer Sir Roderick Murchison, as far back as 1852, and afterwards confirmed by the great Livingstone.* To this mountain-range, so far as I have followed it and ascertained its existence, I propose that the native name Nkoomoo nabouali, be given, from the splendid peak which I discovered, and which forms the western point of the range. I think it probable that the impenetrable forests of this mountain-range and its savage inhabitants together put a stop to the victorious southward course of the Mohammedan conquest. South of the equator, at any rate, they have never penetrated. Of the eight years during which I have visited this region of Africa, the present volume contains the record of only the last four — 1856, '57, '58, and '59 — which alone were devoted to a systematic exploration of the interior.

The first four years were chiefly devoted to commercial pursuits in which I was engaged conjointly with my father. Thus when I started as a traveller, I had the very great advantages of tolerably thorough acclima tion, and a knowledge of the languages and habits of the seashore tribes, which proved of infinite service to me among the tribes of the interior, with whom I was in every case able to hold con verse, if not by word of mouth, at least by a native interpreter with whose language I was familiar. A brief summary of the results of my four years' travel will perhaps interest the reader. I travelled— always on foot, and unaccompanied by other white men — about 8000 miles. I shot, stuffed, and brought home over 2000 birds, of which more than 60 are new species, and I killed upwards of 1000 quadrupeds, of which 200 were stuffed and brought home, with more than 80 skeletons.

Not less than 20 of these quadrupeds are species hitherto unknown to science. I suffered fifty attacks of the * See ' Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' vol. xxii., 1852 Pre sident's Address, and Livingstone's ' Missionary Travels,' p. 500.

PREFACE.

. IX African fever, taking, to cure myself, more than fourteen ounces of quinine. Of famine, long-continued exposures to the heavy tropical rains, and attacks of ferocious ants and venomous flies, it is not worth while to speak. My two most severe and trying tasks were the transportation of my numerous specimens to the seashore, and the keeping of a daily journal, both of which involved more painful care than I hke even to think of. The volume now respectfully presented to the public has been written out from my faithfully-kept journals. I have striven only to give a very plain account of a region which is yet virgin ground to the missionary and the trader — those twin pioneers of civilization — and which affords a fertile field for the operations of both. Before closing, it is my duty as well as pleasure to acknowledge gratefully very many kindnesses received from the officers and members of the Boston Society of Natural History, whose cheerfully-given aid greatly lightened for me the tedious task of cataloguing my large collection of specimens of Natural History.

Also I owe especial thanks to my friend, Dr. Jeffries Wyman, the eminent Professor of Comparative Anatomy in Harvard University, for much valuable assistance ; to Dr. S. Kneeland, the able corresponding secretary of the Boston Society of Natural History ; to the Geographical and Statistical Society of New York, and to the American Ethnological Society ; and lastly to the many friends whose kind memories were proof against my long absence in Africa, and whose welcome on my return lent additional force to my gratitude to that God who so mercifully watched over and preserved me in my wanderings. I should not do justice to my own feelings if I did not also acknowledge the many proofs of kindness that have been bestowed upon me since my arrival in good old England ; especially the hearty welcome I have received from various learned Societies, par ticularly the Royal Geographical Society, who, in order to show how much interest they take in zoological researches, as corro- X PREFACE, r borative illustrations of geography, have allowed the use of their rooms for the exhibition of my collection, in order that the public may view some of the specimens brought home by me from Africa.

The long and tedious labour of preparing this book for the press leaves me with the conviction, that it is much easier to hunt gorillas than to write about them — to explore new countries than to describe them. During the twenty months which I have passed in the process of writing out my journals since my return to the United States, I have often wished myself back in my African wilds. I can only hope that the reader, when he closes the book, will not think this labour wasted ; and 'with this hope I bid him a friendly farewell. London, April 30th, 1861. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Purpose of my Explorations — Facilities — >1V4-.ure of the Country to he explored — The Gahoon — The Mpongwe People — Their Jealousy of Travellers — Trade Peculiarities — Missionaries — Baraka — Manner in which the Missionaries teach — A Day's Work on the Station .. .. Page 1

Chapter II

The Gaboon People — Mysterious Disappearance of African Tribes — Mpongwe Villages — Houses, how built — A Mpongwe Interior — Costume — An African Trader — Monopolies — The Commission Business among the Negroes — "Trust" — Extensive System of Credit — Native Jealousy — A Day with an African Trader — Time of no value — Mpongwe Coastingtrade — Their Vessels — Products of the Gaboon — The Ivory-trade . . 7 CHAPTEE III. Some Causes of the Decrease of the Mpongwe — Restrictions as to Intermarriage — Last Days of King Glass — Public Opinion on the Gaboon — Mourning for a King — " Making " a new King — Character of the Mpongwe — An African Gentleman — Food — Agriculture . . . . 17

Chapter IV

Corisco the Beautiful — The Mbcngas — Missionary Stations — African Wake — Set out for the Muni — An Explorer's Outfit — Plan of Operations — Poor Debtor in Africa — Lynch Law — My Canoe — The Muni — Mangrove Swamps — Lost — King Day oko — Salutations 24

Chapter V

Dayoko — African Royalty — Foreign Relations and Diplomacy in the Interior — The Value of a Wife — Negotiations — The Dry Season — The Mbousha Tribe — A Wizard — A Fetich Trial and a Murder — Progress — Excitement of the Shekianis at my supposed Wealth — The Ntambounay — The Sierra del Crystal — Lost again — Approaches of Interior Village — Agricultural Operations — Famine CONTENTS.

Chapter VI

Hold of a Traveller on the Natives — Fruits — The Mbondemo — Their Towns — Houses — Morals of War — Condition of Women — Women as Bearers — The Hills — A Caravan — Mutiny — Rapids of the Ntambounay — Summit of the Sierra — Contemplations interrupted by a Serpent — The first Gorilla — Appearance in Motion — ■ Famine in the Camp — Native Stories of the Gorilla — Superstitious Notions about the Animal — Lifeiessness of the Forest — A Beetrai Page 48

Chapter VII

Famine — Encounter with the Fan — A Desperate Situation — Fright at my Appearance — A Fan Warrior — His Weapons — Fetiches — Women — I am closely examined — Gorilla-hunt — Signs of the Animal's Presence — Appearance of the Male — Roar — Conduct — My first Gorilla — Division of the Spoils — Superstitions — Wandering Bakalai — Mournful Songs — Their Fear of Night — Cooking — Fan Town — Cannibal Signs — Presented to his Cannibal Majesty — The King is scared at my Appearance — Description of his Majesty — Mbene's Glory — The King in his War-dress — Arms of the Fan — A. grand Dance — The Music . . , 65

Chapter VIII

- The grand Hunt — Fan Mode of capturing Elephants — A pitched Battle — Man killed by an Elephant — Grace before Meat among the Fan — The use of a Dead Hunter — Habits of the Elephant — Hanou, or Elephant-trap — Elephant Meat — Condition of Women — Marriage Ceremonies — A Fan Wedding — Musical Instrument — Corpse brought in to he eaten — Human Flesh prized — Stories of Fan Cannibalism — Encroachments Westward of the Fans — Their Origin — Colour — Tattooing — Trade — Iron-smelting — Fan Blacksmiths — Bellows and other Tools — Pottery — Agriculture — Food — Slavery — The Oshebo — Beyond — Superstitions — Sorcery — Charms — Idols 82

Chapter IX

The Return Trip — Climate of the Mountain Region — Native Courage — Mode of Warfare — Heavy Rains — On the Noya — Visits to Native Chiefs — Ezongo — Attempt at Black-mail — Alapay — The Mbicho Net-hunting — Bad Shooting of the Negroes — Attacked by the Bashikouay Ants — Toilet of the Mbicho — Superstition about the Moon Ivory of this District peculiar — Igouma — Fan of the Country — An immense Cavern — Crossing a Mangrove Swamp 98

Chapter X

Up the Moondah — Vexations of a Traveller in Africa — Mangrove Swamps — Mbicho Men run off — Bashikouay again — Missionary Station — The Bar-wood Trade — Manner of getting Bar-wood — The India-rubber Vine — How Rubber is gathered — Torturing a Woman — Adventure with a Wild Bull — Lying out for Game — Bullock and Leopard — Birds .. CONTENTS. XIII

CHAPTER XL

Creek Navigation — Nocturnal Habits of the Negroes — A Royal Farm — Beach-travel — Canoe-building — Ogoula-Limbai — A great Elephant-hunter — In the Surf — Shark River — Prairies — Sangatanga — King Bango — An Audience of Royalty — A Ball — ■ Barracoons — Unwelcome Guest — A Slaver in the Offing — Decline of the Slave-trade on this Coast — Idols Page 127

Chapter XII

Set out for the Interior — Prairies — Odd Mistake — Hippopotami — Ngola — Negro Theology — Hunts — Torture of a Woman — Rum — The Shekiani — Appearance, Manners, and Customs — Polygamy — Marriage — Superstitions — _9os brachicheros — Camp in the Woods — African Humour — Solid Comfort — Hunting with a Leopard — Great Jollification — Superstition about the Leopard — Elephant-shooting — Meeting a Boa — Stalking the Wild Bull — Return to Sangatanga — I am accused of Sorcery — Idols — Bango's Treasures — Burial-ground of the Barracoons — Disgusting Sights — Status of Slaves in Africa — Oroungou Cemetery — An African Watering-place — Fetich Point 149

Chapter XIII

The " Camma Country " — Coast — Surf — Trade — The Caroline — A mixed Crew — A dusky Bride — A Squall — On her Beam-ends — Native Traders — Ranpano — Sangala Troubles ■ — Nearly a Fight — The City of Washington — Attempt at Assassination — The Camma People — Aniambia — River Navigation — Men refuse to advance — King Olenga- Yombi — A Dance — Fetich-houses — Spirit Worship — A mad Bull — Cheating the King — Live Gorilla brought in — How caught — Ferocity of the Animal — Joe escapes — Is re-captured — Habits and Peculiarities of Joe — Hippopotamus-shooting — Night-hunting — Hippopotamus-Meat — Habits of the Animal — Hide — Use of the Tusks — They capsize Boats — Peaceable if not attacked — Voice — Combative — Adventures with Hippopotami 186

Chapter XIV

The Anengue Lake — Canoes — River Scenery — Nature of the Country ■ — The Lagoons — Navigation — India-rubber Vines — Mercantile Products and Facilities — Porcupine-hunts — Quengueza, the great King — Change of Season — Variety in Animal Life — Birds of Passage — Fish — Bee-eater — Curious Habits of this Bird — Serpents — The Rivers in the Dry Season — The Lagoons in the Dry Season — Immense Numbers of Crocodiles — Damagondai — Witchcraft — A Curtain Lecture — Shimbouvenegani — An Olako — Royal Costume — Discover a new Ape — The Nshiego Mbouve, or Nest-Building Ape (Troglodytes Calvus) — How they Build — Habits — Food — Description of the first Specimen — A Crocodile-hunt — CONTENTS. Anengue Canoes — The Ogata — Turtle — How the Crocodile gets his Prey — A Fight looms up ahead — Oshoria backs down — People of the Anengue — Family Idols — Worship — Sickness — Bola Ivoga — African Festivals — A clear Case of Witchcraft — A Native Doctor — Exorcising a Witch— My Town is deserted — I am made a Chief — We get a second young Gorilla — I am poisoned with Arsenic — Trial of the Poisoner — Singular Effect of Arsenic Page 218

Chapter XV

Message and Hostage from Quengueza — Outfit — Makondai — Fame of Mr. Colt — Goumbi — Reception — Family Arrangements in Africa — Intermarriage — Driving out a Witch — Riches among the Camma — African Shams — A Sunday Lecture — Gorilla shot — The Poison Ordeal — Mboundou — Effects of the Poison — Native Gorilla Stories — Charms — Young Female Gorilla caught — Superstitious Belief — Trouble in the Royal Family — A Holy Place — Obindji's Town — A Royal Introduction — Houses — Decency in Obindji's Town — Surprise of the Negroes at my Appearance — Ordeal of the Ring boiled in Oil — Bashikouay — Kooloo-kamba — Another new Ape — Gouamba, or Hunger for Meat — Grace before Meat — A Day's Work in Africa — Checks — I am counted a Magician 247

Chapter XVI

Venomous Flies — Gorilla — Cutting Ebony — The Ebony-tree — Anguilai's Town — Superstitions — Severe Sickness — Kindness of the Native Women to me — Child murdered for Sorcery — New Cure for Sterility — Ivory-eaters — Manioc — Capture a young Nshiego Mbouve — Its Grief for its Mother — ■ Biography of Nshiego Tommy — Easily tamed — His Tricks — Habits — Love for Wine and Scotch Ale — His Death — Curious Colour — Famine — Njavi Oil — Gorillas — Evidence of their vast Strength — Guaniony — Return to Obindji's — Letters and Papers from Home — Astonishment of the Negroes at my Reading — The Ofoubou River — Starvation — Njali-Coody — The Njambai Festival — Woman's Rights among the Bakalai — -A Midnight Festival — A Mystery — An Attempt at Black-mail — Nature of the Njambai, or Guardian Spirit — Hunter killed by Gorilla — Native Superstitions — The Dry Season — Gouamba — The Eloway Fly — Huge Serpents — Enormous Gorilla killed — Curious Superstition about the Gorilla and a Pregnant Woman — Animals peculiar to this Region — Generosity of the Blacks — The Superstition of Roondah — Return 275

On the Bony Structure of the Gorilla and other African Apes 363

Chapter XXII

The Bakalai — Extent of Region in which they are met with — Qualities — Reasons for Intermixture of Tribes — The Bakalai are Rovers — Fear of Death — Old People abandoned ■ — Treachery — Case of Retaliation — Women-palavers — Arbitration — A Fetich Palaver — Appearance of the Bakalai — Property — Duties of a Wife — Restrictions on Marriage — Slaves — Costume — Grass-cloth — Hunters — Fishing — Great Traders — Diseases — Leprosy — Music 383

Chapter XXIII

Departure for the Interior — Meeting of the People — Address of Ranpano — I am made a Makaga — Use of Quinine — A Sick Friend — Death in Goumbi — Sorcery, and how it is discovered — Great Excitement — Terrible Tragedy — The Victims — The Accusations — The Poison-cup — The Execution — Visit from Adouma — Sincerity of the Doctors (?) — Up the River — Manga-hunts — A Manga Doctor — Keeping a Creditor — Querlaouen — An African Tragedy — Fight on the River — Towards Ashira-land — The Ashira Plains — Splendid View 392

Chapter XXIV

We enter Ashira-land — Astonishment of the People at my Appearance — Their Fear of my Eyes — Grand Reception — Message and Presents from the Ashira King — Kendo — King Olenda — His Address to me — I am an Object of great Wonder — My Clock a Fetich — Features of the Plain — Villages — Houses — Agriculture — Appearance of the Ashira — Dress — Grass-cloth — Loom — Curious Custom of Young Women — Operation of Dyeing — Manner of Hairdressing — Peculiarities — Fears of the Slaves Condition of Women — Marriage — Splendid Waterfall — Mount Nchondo — A Superstition about it — A Case of Insanity — Ascent of Mount Andele — Meet a Nshiego Mbouve" — How it rests at Night — Attempt to ascend the Nkoomoo-nabouali — Gorilla killed — Difficulties of the Ascent — Starvation CONTENTS. XVI

Chapter XXV

The Ashira grow Jealous of my Projects — Set out for the Apingi Country — Olenda blesses us — The Passage of the Ovigui — Rude Bridge — Features of the Country — We meet Gorillas — The Roar of the Gorilla — His Walk — Great Strength — Meet the Apingi King — I fall into an Elephant-hole — Famine — Musquitoes — We see the Rembo Apingi River — -Reception among the Apingi — Address of the King — I am offered a Slave for my Supper — Wonder of the People at my Appearance — The mysterious Sapadi, a cloven-footed Race — My Clock is thought a guardian Spirit — I am asked to make a Mountain of Beads and Trade-goods — Fruitfulness of the Women — Appearance of the People — A Leopardtrap ■ — Invested with the Kendo — Palm-oil — Palm-wine — Drunkenness universal — Tattooing — Dress of the Women — Lack of Modesty — I am claimed as a Husband — Weaving of Grass-cloth — Property among the Apingi — The Apingi Loom — The Ndengui — Fetich to kill Leopards — War-belt Page 428

Chapter XXVI

Bible-reading — The Negroes are frightened and run away — The Ceremony of Bongo — Its Importance — Curious Phase of African Slavery — Preparations to ascend the River — Apingi Villages — Fetiches — Superstitions — ■ Spiders — Curious Manner of catching their Prey — New Animals — Capsized — Putrid Corpse in a Village — Curious Manner of Burial — Leave the River — The Region beyond — Return to Remandji's Town — Explore the Mountains — The Isogo — Beyond the Isogo — Ultima Thule — My Shoes worn out — Starvation — Great Suffering — Shoot a Gorilla — Illness — Home-sick — The Return to the Seashore — Etita : a very singular Disease — The Remedy — Heavy Rains — An Uncomfortable Night — Fierce Attack of Bashikouay Ants — Difference of Seasons — Arrival in Biagano — Close 448