IN DARKEST AFRICA. 277 



scantily referred to, for there was no leisure to observe them. 

 Such as are mentioned are of the siluroid type. 



Of birds vast numbers were seen, but the density of the 

 forest protected them from capture. Parrots, parroquets, ibis, 

 touracos, sun-birds, swifts, finches, shrikes, whip-poor-wills, hoopoes, 

 owls, guinea fowls, black-birds, weavers, kingfishers, divers, fish- 

 eagles, kites, wagtails, herons, bee-eaters, pipits, sand-pipers, 

 cockatoos, horn-bills, jays, barbets, woodpeckers, pigeons, and 

 numerous small birds, are recorded. In the grass lands the 

 vulture was observed. 



The natives do not seem to turn their attention to the domes- 

 tication either of mammals or birds. Goats and pariah dogs, 

 however, were found with man. Only one cat was seen in cap- 

 tivity, and that was a wild one in a cage. 



The rivers abounded with bivalves, oysters, and clams, and 

 the heaps of shells seen at various places showed that the natives 

 understood the value of a molluscous diet. Slu^s and snails 

 occasionally formed part of the food of Stanley's starving men. 



Insect life, as may be supposed, is very prolific in the tropical 

 forest. Bees, wasps, whose graceful nests hung from the trees, 

 moths, butterflies, house-flies, tsetse, mosquitoes, gadfly, gnats, 

 beetles of enormous proportions, crickets, cicadse, and others, 

 were met with in swarms. At Fort Bodo especially, the red ants 

 were a great plague. " In long, thick, unbroken lines, guarded 

 by soldiers on either flank, they would descend the ditch and 

 ascend the opposite sides, over the parapets, through the inter- 

 stices of the poles, over the banquette, and down into the plaza of 

 the fort, some columns attacking the kitchen, others headquarters ; 

 and woe betide any unlucky naked foot treading upon a myriad. 

 Better a flogging with nettles, or cayenne over an excoriated body, 

 or a caustic bath for a ravenous itch, than these biting and 

 venomous thousands climbing up the limbs and body, burying 

 themselves in the hair of the head, and plunging their shiny, 

 horny mandibles into the flesh, creating painful pustules with 

 every bite." Some perverse and undisciplined tribes would drop 

 from the roof in such numbers that they had to be destroyed by 

 throwing hot glowing embers upon them. Fleas and other dis- 

 agreeable insects abounded in the vicinity of the native huts. 



