24 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



avenge their murder. The traders' own personal safety 

 demands that the white man's life shall not be at the 

 mercy of every black devil who covets his arms or his 

 blanket. 



I had no desire to solve any knotty questions of physi- 

 cal geography, nor to cross the continent from sea to sea. 

 My wishes were much more modest, namely, — to collect 

 specimens of all the varieties of apes in the country, es- 

 pecially of the gorilla, shooting them myself. 



The evening of the very day of our departure, when we 

 had pitched our camp in a little negro village, where the 

 chiefs had placed huts at our disposal, I told Thursday 

 my plan of hunting the " man-eater." He seemed a trifle 

 astonished, but casting a glance at my rifle, Avhich carries 

 an explosive ball whose terrible effect he had seen that 

 very afternoon on a hare that I had literally torn to 

 pieces, he replied that nothing was easier, and that he 

 would giiide me to their favorite haunts. 



The chiefs of the village were seated in a circle around 

 us, and when my guide explained my project to them they 

 all began to jabber and gesticulate at a tremendous rate. 

 At my request, Thursday translated with great volubility 

 a series of adventures with this curious animal so remark- 

 able that only a negro imagination could invent such 

 tales. For instance, they believe that the " man-eater " 

 is not always an animal like other apes, but that he 

 is possessed by the spirit of some native who, for his 

 evil ways, is condemned to return to this world in the 



