xxi WILD MAN OF THE GOLAMBEPO MOUNTAINS 211 



had bound him, and asked them to give him food, 

 a hut to sleep in, and to be kind to him, hoping 

 that tactful treatment might induce him to remain 

 comfortably among his fellows. I gave him clothes, 

 but after wearing them a few hours he discarded 

 them altogether and never wore them again. 

 During the week or so that he stayed with me, he 

 remained most of the time in the seclusion of his 

 hut, as if averse to mix with human beings, and 

 after going and seeing him a few times, I came to 

 the conclusion that his mind was beyond all hope 

 of return to the normal. Then, one morning, 

 when my boy wakened me, he told me that the 

 wild man had gone back to the pori. During the 

 night, when all were asleep, he had quietly slipped out 

 of our camp and returned to his retreat in the lonely 

 Golambepo Mountains. I never saw him again, 

 but every time I chance upon slaves in my travels, 

 it recalls to me the sad story of that poor maniac 

 wandering homeless through the trackless forests, 

 once a human being, now scarcely more than a 

 wild beast, a tragic example of ' man's inhumanity 

 to man.' 



p 2 



