86 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



" Then I caccept with pleasure." 



"Although I wanted you to go with me very much, 

 still I should not have urged the trip upon you, except 

 that I knew you were always glad to add to your knowl- 

 edge of monkeys, and that the country through which 

 this river flows is filled with them in great variety. 

 Two days' sail from here is a forest densely grown with 

 palm and tulip trees festooned with flowering vines, 

 where they love to resort ; so much so, indeed, that it is 

 called the Forest of the Monkeys." 



" My dear host," I said, "my only anxiety is, when do 

 we start ? " 



" To-morrow, at daybreak." 



I summoned my faithful Thursday and told him to 

 get everything ready ; for although a short visit to one 

 of his rubber depots was all that my friend had planned, 

 still any journey in Africa means considerable prepara- 

 tion. One must have arms and ammunition, a pocket 

 pharmacopoeia, — to preserve at once the health and the 

 skins of game, — and a lot of smaller things that only 

 an old traveller remembers to get beforehand. Long 

 before daylight I was astir, looking over my servant's 

 preparations, and seeing my goods and chattels stowed 

 on board the " Jenny," — an able little launch, named 

 after my host's charming daughter. The first two days 

 taught us her comforts, as we steamed between the rather 

 monotonous banks, lined w^ith their luxuriant vegetation, 

 and alive with water-rats, vipers, and adders. The trees 



