16 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
islands are marked in the map published in my work 
called ‘‘ Explorations in Equatorial <A frica.”) 
One part of Nengue Ngozo is tolerably high, the other 
partislow and swampy. It is covered with a great for- 
est; some of the trees are very large and tall, and the 
foliage of the palm-trees is very beautiful. 
The Island is but a few miles in circumference. 
The people of this Island are safe from wild beasts, as 
there are no leopards to carry them away or kill their 
goats, no elephants to destroy their plantations, and no 
gorillas to roam about and frighten them. The cries of 
the chimpanzee are not heard, the wild buffalo is not to 
be seen, the graceful antelopes and gazelles are unknown, 
and the chatter of monkeys does not fall upon the ear 
of the people or resound strangely in the woods. But 
all these roam at leisure on the main-land, where the 
villages of the warlike Shekiani and Bakalai people are 
scattered over the great, wild forest. 
As I looked upon the water I could see the majestic 
pelican chasing the fishes, and the gulls flying in great 
numbers through the air, their shrill cries sounding 
‘strangely in the midst of the grand solitude by which I 
was surrounded. _ 
Cranes and other birds were walking to and fro on 
the beach in search of their food. How quiet, silent and 
sly they were as they stepped from place to place look- 
ing for their prey; and, when they saw it, how quickly 
their long beaks dipped into the water to seize it! 
It was a very warm day when I Janded on Nengue 
Negozo. The rays of the sun were powerful, and there « 
was not a ripple on the water. It was so hot that my 
men had not even strength to paddle. Our sail, made 
