ZOOLOGY 



379 



or ass — animals so partial to treeless, grassy plains — in the depths of the 

 mightiest forest of the world seemed to me so strange that I determined 

 to make further inquiries on the subject whenever fate should lead me in 

 the direction of the great Congo Forest. Fate was very kind to me in the 

 matter. In the first place, soon after arriving in Uganda my intervention 

 was necessary to prevent a too-enterprising German carrying off bv force 

 a troop of Congo Dwarfs to perform at the Paris Exhibition. These little 

 men had been kidnapped on Congo Free State territory. The Belgian 



233. FEMALE OF UGANDA FIVE-HORNED GIRAFFE (THE FEMALE HAS ONLY THREE HORNS 



authorities very properly objected, and as the German impresario had fled 

 with his Dwarfs to British territory, they asked me to rescue the little 

 men from his clutches and send them back to their homes. This was done, 

 and in so doing, and in leading them back to the forests where they 

 dwelt, I obtained much information from them on the subject of the 

 horse-like animal which they called the " okapi." * They described this 

 creature as being like a zebra, but having the upper part of its body a dark 

 brown. The feet, however, they said, had more than one hoof. 



* As a matter of fact, the Dwarfs ]nonounced the word "o'api,'' but the Ing 

 black tribes of the forest called the creature " okapi." 



