I THE PONGO 7 



doubtless the name of the place usually spelled 

 Loango on our maps. Mayombe still lies some 

 nineteen leagues northward from Loango, along 

 the coast ; and Cilongo or Kilonga, Manikesocke, 

 and Motimbas are yet registered by geographers. 

 The Cape Negro of Battell, however, cannot be 

 the modern Cape Negro in 16 S., since Loango 

 itself is in 4 S. latitude. On the other hand, the 

 " great river called Banna " corresponds very well 

 with the " Gamma " and " Fernand Vas," of 

 modern geographers, which form a great delta on 

 this part of the African coast. 



Now this " Gamma " country is situated about 

 a degree and a-half south of the Equator, while a 

 few miles to the north of the line lies the Gaboon, 

 and a degree or so north of that, the Money River 

 both well known to modern naturalists as 

 localities where the largest of man-like Apes has 

 been obtained. Moreover, at the present day, the 

 word Engeco, or N'schego, is applied by the 

 natives of these regions to the smaller of the two 

 great Apes which inhabit them ; so that there can 

 be no rational doubt that Andrew Battell spoke 

 of that which he knew of his own knowledge, or, 

 at any rate, by immediate report from the natives 

 of Western Africa. The "Engeco," however, is 

 that " other monster " whose nature Battell 

 "forgot to relate," while the name "Pongo" 

 applied to the animal whose characters and habits 

 are so fully and carefully described seems to 



