198 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



run up the trees with them, and have to be lured down by 

 bananas. When wounded the creature tries to staunch the 

 blood by stuffing leaves into the wound. It lives in commun- 

 ities of about ten, and is monogamous. The female produces 

 occasionally twins. As parents, they are very affectionate 

 towards their offspring, the father relieving the mother of the 

 burden of her young one in dangerous places. Their food 

 consists of wild fruits. At times the Sokos collect together 

 and drum with their fists on the trunks of hollow trees, and 

 accompany this performance with loud yells and screams." 



"According to the statements of the Niam-niam themselves," 



says Schweinfurth, " the chase of the Chimpanzee requires a 



party of twenty or thirty resolute hunters, who have to ascend 



the trees, which are some eighty feet high, and to clamber after 



the agile and crafty brutes until they can drive them into the 



snares prepared beforehand. Once entangled in a net the 



beasts are without much further difficulty killed by means of 



spears. However, in some cases, they will defend themselves 



savagely and with all the fury of despair. Driven by the hunter 



into a corner, they are said to wrest the lances from the men's 



hands and to make good use of them against the adversary. 



Nothing was more to be dreaded than being bitten by their 



tremendous fangs." The stories as to their carrying off young 



girls, and constructing nests are pure fabrications, according to 



Schweinfurth. Its name among the Niam-niam is "Ranya." 



" The life which the Ranya leads is very much like what is led 



by the Orang-Utan in Borneo, and is spent almost entirely in 



the trees, the woods on the river banks being the chief resort 



ot the animals. . . . Like the Gorillas, they are not found 



in herds, but either in pairs, or even quite alcne, and it is only 



the young which occasionally may be seen in groups." 



