64 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



giraffe is best left alone, the more so that, being harmless 

 in regard to all man's works, the arguments sometimes 

 used to advocate the destruction of other species do not 

 apply in his case. 



THE OKAPI. This remarkable anifnal, the nearest 

 living relative of the giraffe, exists only in the dense 

 forests of the Congo. Its existence was unknown to 

 science until the beginning of the present century, but 

 within the last few years a good many specimens have 

 been secured. It is probably fairly numerous within its 

 area ; but owing to the denseness of the jungle it affects, 

 and its shy and solitary habits, is almost unapproachable 

 by white hunters. Some description of its habits are 

 related in the late Capt. Boyd Alexander's " From the 

 Niger to the Nile." 



CHAPTER VIII 

 THE BUFFALO 



THE AFRICAN BUFFALO. Although there are very marked 

 outward differences between the large Cape Buffalo and 

 the small Congo variety, the latter the so-called bush 

 cow which retains its red colour through life, is said to 

 be but a less specialized type of its larger cousin, which, 

 of the same reddish colour in its earlier days, becomes 

 black when mature, and thus both are believed to form 

 merely local varieties of the same animal. Generally 

 speaking, the buffaloes of west and north-west Equatoria 

 resemble the Congo form, while those of the east, north- 

 east, and central regions are like the typical variety of 

 the south. 



The last-named portions of Africa were, until a few 

 years ago, densely stocked with the animals wherever 



