1 50 Notes from the National Museum. [voUXXXH. 



most primitive of the races inhabiting the extreme northern 

 parts of Russia and Siberia within the Arctic Circle. They have 

 no fixed abodes, and wander over the frozen plains, or tundra, 

 that skirt the Arctic Ocean. During the summer they live 

 in little wigwam-like tents, covered with skin or birch bark, 

 that can easily be packed up and carried about. In winter 

 they dwell in huts half-buried in the ground. They support 

 themselves partly by fishing, but mainly by the produce of their 

 herds of reindeer, an animal which may be said to be every- 

 thing to the Samoyede. While alive it carries him about, and 

 he drinks its milk ; when dead he eats its flesh and uses its fur 

 for clothing and for covering his tents. 



The specimens were secured by the Museum from the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences in Petrograd in exchange for a collection 

 of Central Australian native objects. 



Another new exhibit of great interest is a specimen of the 

 very rare Okapi, from Central Africa. The first indication of 

 the existence of this animal was afforded by two bandoliers 

 secured by Sir Harry Johnston in 1900 from natives in the 

 forests bordering the Semliki River. The Semliki connects the 

 two lakes, Albert Edward Nyanza and Albert Nyanza. on the 

 north-east boundary "I the Congo Free State. These bandoliers 

 had been made from the skin of the flanks of some animal, the 

 wry characteristic black and white longitudinal striping oi 

 which naturally gave rise to the idea that it was a zebra, so 

 that it was described first of all under the name of Equus 

 johnstoni. In 1901 a complete specimen was secured and sent 

 to London. It showed the animal to be cloven-footed like 

 an antelope or giraffe, and so quite unlike a horse or zebra. 

 The striping is confined to the haunches and upper part oi the 

 fore and hind limb, not extending on to the body. The ears 

 are large, the neck moderately long, and the head and skull 

 distinctly giraffe-like, with a pair oi small horns in the male 

 distim tly suggestive of those oi the giraffe, to which it is 1 losely 

 allied, It has been placed in the family Giraffidae under the 

 name oi okapia johnstoni. Okapia is the native name given 

 to the animal by the Wambutti or Akka, the pigmy race thai 

 inhabits, jusi as the Okapi itself does, the dense equatorial 

 forests that border the Semliki and [turi Rivers in the north- 

 ■ part oi the Congo Stat.-, where man and beasl are safe 

 from the attacks oi light-loving, predatory animals. Natives 

 living in the more open pan- are very reluctani to penetrate 

 these equatorial forests, where heat, moisture, gloom, and 

 silence are perpetual, and heme it was thai the okapi remained 

 so long undiscovered. No other museum in the Empire excepl 

 the British Museum in London possesses a specimen oi this 

 rare and interesting animal. 



