Introduction 



the Lower Congo, and thence to England by an ocean- 

 going steamer. 



Not much of the country crossed was absolutely new to 

 geography, to the white man's knowledge in the twentieth 

 century. The only portions probably not hitherto traversed 

 by the white man were tracks between Lakes Kivu and 

 Edward, and portions of the route — or divagations from the 

 route — between Avakubi (on the Ituri River) and the main 

 Congo at Stanleyville. But the whole journey was made 

 full of novelty by the actions of the author and his wife. 

 They have probably discovered many new species and even 

 genera of insects through their industry in collecting and 

 preserving ; they have thrown considerable light on the sub- 

 species or even distinct species of elephant inhabiting the 

 eastern half of the Belgian Congo right up to the vicinity 

 of Lake Albert ; they have obtained a fine specimen of the 

 largest known species of gorilla (originally discovered by 

 Mr. Oscar Beringer) to the north of Lake Kivu and perhaps 

 within the watershed of Tanganyika ; possibly within that 

 of the Nile. 



Mr. Beringer's magnificent specimen, which I believe is 

 the one exhibited at the British Museum (Natural History), 

 was obtained in the opening years of the twentieth century, 

 not long after the writer of this introductory chapter had 

 returned to England from the Uganda Protectorate and 

 from a visit to the adjoining region of the Belgian Congo. 

 Mr. Bams's gorilla, obtained from the same district and at an 

 altitude of ten thousand feet, is perhaps a httle lower in 

 stature, but clearly belongs to this new species, the Eastern 

 gorilla. Gorilla hcringcri ; distinct from the gorilla of West 

 Central Africa (Luango, Gaboon, Cameroons and Ja River) 



xxi c 



