4^0 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



and beads, with which he was very much pleased, 

 and in return gave me some fowls, eggs, plantains, 

 sweet potatoes, and yams, that proved very 

 . acceptable. 



Whilst I was talking to the king, some villagers 

 brought in a dead male chimpanzee, that had been 

 killed by a bullet passing from the back through 

 the abdomen. At first they said they had killed it 

 with sticks and stones, but upon the Bekelai 

 pointing out the gun-shot wound, they admitted 

 that they heard me fire, and afterwards, attracted 

 by a piteous moaning, they had found him dying 

 in a small prairie, at no great distance. Although 

 I felt convinced, from the nature of the wound, 

 that it was the one I had wounded, I gave them a 

 present "for finding it ; and, cutting off the head, I 

 told M'pogola to place it close to a nest of the 

 N'chounoo ants, who, in the course of a few hours, 

 picked the skull clean. 



The chimpanzee was an old one, the teeth being 

 very much worn, and the skin in many places 

 being destitute of hair. He stood about 4 feet 

 8 inches, was 46 inches round the chest, and 



