236 After Big Game in Central Africa 



of custom. The leopard strikes such terror to their 

 hearts, that if a man sees one it is quite sufficient to 

 retard a whole expedition. I have had experience of 

 this when travelling through the country. 



In short, the equatorial forest contains relatively 

 little game, which stops altogether on boundaries 

 near open countries. The elephant, itself, which 

 needs daily a considerable quantity of straw or grass, 

 cannot inhabit forest ; it walks about in it, but only to 

 get out of it soon afterwards. The Congo territory 

 is well stocked with them. 



On the other hand, the forest is the home of an 

 infinite variety of quadrumana ; one may say, indeed, 

 that the Congo is the native country of the monkey, 

 all the species of Africa, from the small marmoset 

 to the gigantic gorilla, are represented. In certain 

 regions, every imaginable variety of hair and colour, 

 all the various species of monkeys you see in the 

 monkey-houses of zoological gardens, are met with on 

 a day's march through the forest. Some flee as soon 

 as they see you ; others, bolder and more confident in 

 the tree-tops, quietly look down as you pass and 

 scratch themselves ; entire troops walking about on 

 the ground climb to the topmost branches of the 

 trees upon your approach, while others, which are 

 already there, madly fling themselves into the air 

 and slide down the lianas to the ground, so as the 

 easier to escape. 1 



Out of twenty monkeys which the 303 brought 



1 Several times I saw wild-boars and wart-hogs in the forest, but 

 was unable to fire at them, because of the density of the vegetation. 



