Heiigl'uis " Rcise Nach Abessinien'' 157 



At one time the " Wobo " was described as precisely the same as 

 the " Abu Sothan " from the Dender ; at another time, again, as a 

 beast that hirks, sitting crouched up, and has hands hke men. 

 Also, it is reported that it is especially by night that it goes out to 

 prey, and is very fleet and nimble. May this not be some such 

 thing as an Ursus ? Also, Lefebvre in his voyage (p. 20) communi- 

 cates a notice on the Abyssinian " Wobo." (Sitzungberchle Akad. 

 Wissensch. Wien. 1866., vol. liv., p. 556). 



On referring to Lefebvre, we find the following notice of it by 

 St Hilaire, under the head of the bear : 



" The bear, although very rare in Africa, nevertheless exists there, as every- 

 where else, in the mountain forests ; but its presence has not yet been ascertained 

 in each of the principal locaUties of this great continent Thus, never until 

 this day has it been, so far as we know, brought from Abyssinia. No traveller 

 has ever seen it. Neither Bruce nor Salt indicates this genus of mammal in 

 their list of Abyssinian zoological names. 



"And, nevertheless, it is certain that it exists there. That animal has even 

 a special name in the language of the Abyssinians, who call it the ouobo. M. 

 Lefebvre even cites this fact, that the first time that the Abyssinians who 

 visited France saw a bear in our menageries they called out, ' it is the ouobo V 

 This proof may assuredly appear decisive, for this name is applied to no other 

 animal. There is thus no doubt about the existence of the bear in Abyssinia, and 

 if there is anything to be wondered at, it is certainly not its presence in that 

 country, for from the moment that it is met with in Syria it may readily be 

 admitted that it ought to be re-found on the east coast of Africa, and by conse- 

 quence in Abyssinia ; but its rareness is such, that no traveller who has run over 

 that country has spoken of it, nor ever heard it spoken of, with the exception 

 ofM. Lefebvre." 



The exclamation of the Abyssinian natives would indeed be 

 strong evidence were it not that we are told in the same breath 

 that it was so scarce that we should scarcely have expected that 

 they could ever have seen it before. One would like, too, to 

 know something about the interpretation of what they said ; for it 

 is plain that if the "ouobo" be a bear, it cannot be a yellow animal 

 with black stripes. There may be two unknown quantities here 

 confounded under one name — a bear and a tiger — but it is plain 

 that Heuglin's beast cannot be a bear, for he expressly says, 

 that although some authors have spoken of an Abyssinian bear, 

 he is satisfied that that is a mistake. What seems pretty well 

 vouched is, that there is a Felis larger than, or at any rate as 

 large as, a leopard, of a yellow colour, marked with black stripes. 

 May it not be the tiger itself? Heuglin no doubt says the stripes 

 were reported as longitudinally arranged ; but there are plenty of 



