336 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
registering the rebound, as do the insect-eating bats. I have on 
several occasions seen the latter at dusk about to fly through 
some gap in foliage or dash through the branches of a bush over- 
hanging a stream where they were used to going every night, but 
where I had now set fine invisible nets. In each case the bat 
detected the net at once, although flying fast towards it, and had 
plenty of time to turn and easily avoid the object. That is not to 
say that they never get caught, for I have from time to time 
caught odd specimens, but I feel sure that in each case curiosity 
was the bat’s undoing. On the only occasion that I happened to be 
sitting near a net at dusk when one was caught, it had already 
demonstrated that it knew perfectly well that the net blocked its 
path along a deep waterworn gully, but it then gave the net a 
flick with one wing just as it turned. It had probably done this 
before to feel the nature of the obstruction when confronted with 
the strong webs of the Epeira spiders, but such action with a sensi- 
tive flue net is fatal. A wing-hook caught a thread and swung 
the bat off-balance sufficiently to bring its body against the net, 
and the resulting efforts to take off ended in helpless entangle- 
ment. 
I was frequently coming across illustrations of the way in which 
Christianity has become linked with pagan customs. 
My cook was not on good terms with the houseboy and wanted 
him replaced by one of his own friends. So the cook told me the 
houseboy was a thief and that he had entered a plantation worker’s 
hut and had stolen ten shillings. I disbelieved the whole story and 
asked what evidence he had. He replied that the headman—a 
Christian and a friend of the cook—had put the houseboy to the 
test by “dropping the Bible.” Further inquiry brought to light the 
details of this “trial.” 
The headman held out his hands palms upwards, on which 
rested the Bible. After an appeal to the Almighty the hands were 
tilted one way or the other according to the will of God, and if 
the Bible fell to the left the man was guilty, and if to the right he 
was innocent. When I laughed at this, the cook became quite con- 
cerned and asked if I did not believe in the Bible! 
It was at Mamfe that I linked up with the greatest and most 
