PAUL DU CHAILLU'S STORY 



and rice farms. It is seldom that more than one or two nests 

 are seen upon the same tree or in the same neighbourhood, 

 for, unlike the monkeys, these apes associate in pairs or family 

 parties of two adults and from two to four young ones, rather 

 than in gangs. Occasionally, however, four or five pairs are 

 known to take up their quarters at no great distance apart, 

 and sometimes they assemble in rather large bands which 

 go on excursions together. 



According to Paul Du Chaillu, the Anthropopithecus 

 calvus, a near relation of Anthropopithecus niger which 

 inhabits the same districts, makes a still more elaborate 

 shelter, as you may see from the picture in that traveller's 

 book on Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa. 

 He states that these animals make their nest about fifteen or 

 twenty feet from the ground on a tree which stands a little 

 apart from others and which has no limbs below the one on 

 which the nest is placed probably in order that they may 

 be safe at night from beasts, serpents, and falling branches. 

 They build only in the loneliest parts of the forest, and are 

 so shy that they are seldom seen even by the negroes. 

 Du Chaillu was informed by the natives that the male and 

 female together collect the leafy branches and strong creepers 

 of which the nests are made. The branches are tied to the 

 tree in the middle of the structure by means of pieces of 

 wild vine and creepers, and are so arranged that they form a 

 thick, leafy roof which is rounded at the top so as to make a 

 shelter capable of keeping out the rain, like an umbrella. 

 Under this roof the animal is said to rest on a projecting 

 bough, with its arm about the trunk. The male and female 

 do not occupy the same tree, but have nests not far apart. 

 When the leaves become so dry that the roof is no longer 

 watertight, or when he has eaten all the berries in the 

 neighbourhood, the owner builds a new shelter in another 



90 



