Birds of Fernando Po. 337 



Hard work and the continual wearing of wet clothes 

 soon began to tell upon us. My collector was the first to be 

 threatened with fever, and I was reluctantly compelled to 

 hurry down to Bakaki, where he fell ill. On my return, the 

 Boobies could not disguise their satisfaction at the failure of 

 my plans, and more palm-wine than ever was drank that 

 night. Beyond the cultivation of their yams, these natives 

 think of nothing else except to gather palm-wine — or " topi/' 

 as they call it — and palm-oil, which they exchange with the 

 white traders for rum and tobacco. As regularly as clock- 

 work the village is deserted towards the evening, and 

 families troop down with calabashes to the palm-trees to 

 gather the precious wine. To keep a Boobie away from his 

 palm-wine for a single day is to make him a wretched man. 

 After a halt of two days, my collector, although weak, was 

 well enough to travel, and we accordingly pushed on to 

 Bilelipi, where I determined to attempt the ascent of the 

 mountain once more. By the large bribe of a keg of gun- 

 powder, two hunters were at length induced to agree to guide 

 us up to the top of the hill. Much talk ensued, and the other 

 Boobie-folk did all they could to hinder these two men from 

 going, saying that if they did so evil would befall them. 



The Boobie is an excellent hunter. Armed with a long. 

 dane-gun and cutlass, he seeks the wooded hills, cutting out 

 his track as he goes. The game is plentiful and nothing 

 comes amiss to him : tree-squirrels (Sciurinae) — including 

 the flying squirrel {Anomalurus fraseri) — small antelopes 

 (of which there are at least two kinds, one, Cepha/ophus 

 ogilbyi, a red species, and the other, C. melanorheus, a mouse- 

 coloured animal), and, the most prized of all, the tree- 

 dassie {Dendrohyrax dor salts) form his quarry. Livin^ in 

 the tops of the palms or in the leafy portions of forest trees, 

 the last-named animal looks exceedingly comical, as it runs, 

 in wild-pig fashion, along the broad branches from one thick 

 retreat to another. The Boobies are quick to discover its 

 home. Every likely tree is scanned and the least shaking of 

 the leafy top seldom escapes their keen sight. While one 

 stays below the tree with cutlass and dane-gun and a couple of 



SER. VIII. — VOL. III. z 



