216 THE STORY OF THE WAPI. 



Rewrenzori range and heard from natives of the existence in the forest of 

 a large quadruped, neither antelope nor zebra, and as large as a horse. 



It is to this region that Sir Harry Johnston, High Commissioner of 

 Uganda, traveled in the autumn of 1900 in order to explore the confines of 

 his protectorate before returning home. Sir Harry is an ardent naturalist, 

 a really great collector, an observer, and an artist. Many a new bird, beast 

 and plant from Kilimanjaro, Nyassaland and Uganda do men of science owe 

 to him. On the present occasion he was eager to obtain new things and was 

 well equipped for the purpose and well provided with men. He has sent 

 rich collections to the Natural History Museum as a result of this journey. 

 He was especially anxious to see and if possible secure the enigmatical 

 quadruped which I had reported to exist in these forests. 



It must be borne in mind that the larger quadrupeds live in the open 

 prairie or frequent only the borders of the African forests, and, further, 

 that few of the natives excepting the peculiar dwarfs, the Akkas, penetrate 

 far into the gloomy depths of these vast tree-grown regions. Sir Harry 

 himself traveled for a week in the dark, steamy recesses of this equatorial 

 forest. He describes the sense of mystery and oppression with which the 

 solemn gloom, the choking heat, and strange silence filled him as well-nigh 

 overpowering. It is not to be wondered at that the blacks avoid these 

 primeval fastnesses. 



It is among the trunks of these forests trees, whose foliage is densely 

 woven overhead so as to exclude the light of day, that the strange animial 

 of which Sir Harry was in search lives, coming here and there to "clear- 

 ings" due to the decay and fall of the trees, in order to feed on the foliage. 



It might well be that this dark vapor-laden forest had persisted from 

 remote geologic ages, and that strange animals, survivors of pliocene and 

 miocene times, still harbored there unknown to man, unchanged, cut off 

 from the struggles of the outer world. 



Sir Harry failed to get a sight of the animal, but he obtained from na- 

 tives two bands made from its skin, and learned that the animal was called 

 by them "okapi." The pieces of skin had the hair preserved, and this was 

 colored very dark brown and white in alternate bands, like the pelt of a 

 zebra. They were sent home and were considered by Dr. P. L. Sclater, the 

 secretary of the Zoological Society of London, to indicate a new kind of 

 zebra, to which he gave the name Equus Johnstoni. 



At a station of the Congo Free State, not far from the Semliki River, 

 Sir Harry Johnston met the officer in charge, a Mr. Ericsson. This gentle- 



