ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1(309 



him a cannibal, also trapped the Okapi in well- 

 concealed snares and pitfalls, and the Pygmy 

 would gladly exchange the product of his chase 

 for vegetables. These negroes were capable of 

 artistic appreciation and used the quaintly 

 striped portions of the hide with its white, 

 brown and purplish-black markings for adorn- 

 ment, especially belts. So highly were they 

 prized that in some regions to sit upon a skin 

 or wear portions of it became the privilege of 

 chieftains and their families. In fact its value, 

 as a means of gaining the favor of important 

 chiefs, increased so considerably in districts be- 

 yond its range that the hide of each limb was 

 eagerly accepted as the price for a woman. 

 Tales of the Okapi are so interwoven with mys- 

 ticism that to those wearing portions of it. the 

 many marvelous qualities of the Okapi were 

 willingly credited, especially its cunning in 

 eluding enemies and the power of retaliating 

 upon those who slaughtered it without due cere- 

 mony. Had not whole villages been wiped out 

 by the spirit of the "O-api" when a reckless 

 hunter had failed to take proper precautions? 

 Let but the head of the dying Okapi touch the 

 ground and earth receives the curse that may 

 annihilate the negligent one. his near relatives. 

 and even any one stepping thereafter in the 

 tracks it had left the day it perished. The 

 Medje never dare kill outright those caught in 

 traps, but make elaborate arrangements so that 

 the head of the Okapi, during its last moments, 

 will rest upon a cushion of leaves or branches. 

 Its elusiveness works on the imagination of the 

 native and intensifies the mystery surrounding 

 it. Should an Okapi by any chance suddenly 

 bolt out of the bushes, an uninitiated Okapi 

 hunter returns home at once, for this is a warn- 

 ing not to proceed. Marvelous stories about the 

 Okapi provide welcome entertainment for the 

 family circle and friends long after the dying 

 embers have ceased to offer protection against 

 the chill humidity of the night. 



Okapi are caught by various methods in use 

 over the greater part of Africa, but are of such 

 a nervous temperament that they invariably kill 

 themselves, and I am certain that only calves 

 can be taken alive. Strong nets, in sections. 

 are hung loosely from the trees, barring the 

 trails of the Okapi whose whereabouts are pre- 

 viously known to the hunters. So rapidh are 

 they driven towards the nets by small dogs with 

 wooden clappers and followed by men shouting 

 at the top of their lungs that they usually try 

 to break through. But the net instantly falls. 

 completely entangling them, when they are 

 quickly dispatched by natives in ambush. This. 

 however, calls for hundreds of drivers and only 



powerful chiefs can afford to catch big game in 

 this manner. Pitfalls ten feet long, eight feet 

 deep, but less than three feet wide near the sur- 

 face also claim many victims. The smooth sides 

 form a wedge-shaped hole in which the captive's 

 body is suspended, and sometimes spikes, pro- 

 jecting from the bottom, pierce the body and 

 cause sudden death. These pits are treacher- 

 ously covered with sticks and leaves, a perfect 

 imitation of the trail in which they are usually 

 dug. 



The third method requires far more skill and 

 a greater knowledge of habits, but is more in 

 use with professional Okapi hunters. Aposho, 

 an old Medje trapper who used this method, had 

 to his credit at least a hundred Okapi, boasting 

 that he had killed at least two or three every 

 year, even from his boyhood, and in later years, 

 when meat became scarcer, as many as ten. I 

 finally gained his confidence and repeatedly as- 

 sisted in setting his traps. He and his friend 

 Bope had divided the region between them. Each 

 had some thirty or forty traps, which were vis- 

 ited about once in four days. He was considered 

 by the others a great medicine man endowed 

 with the power to direct Okapi to his traps. On 

 finding a suitable spot, he carefully investi- 

 gated, poking his knife into the trail to find a 

 foundation for the snare. To make doubly sure 

 he consulted his instrument of augury, and if 

 the auspices were favorable he and his helpers 

 were busy for the next hour. A circular hole 

 about a foot wide and eight inches deep was 

 dug in the ground and by that time the upper 

 branches had been stripped from a strong, flex- 

 ible sapling, to the top of which a thirty- to 

 forty-foot strand of rattan about three-fourths 

 of an inch thick was fastened. A specially pre- 

 pared and consecrated noose was tied above the 

 bulging root of the rattan. The combined ef- 

 fort of three men was needed to pull the rattan 

 down to the release actuating the crossbar, upon 

 which narrow pieces of bark were so arranged 

 that pressure at any point released the noose. 

 Thus an Okapi stepping within the fatal circle 

 was usually caught by the ankle, and. hobbling 

 on three legs, could not move far. So skillfully 

 are these traps set that it takes an astute ob- 

 server to discover them. Before leaving, Aposho 

 hummed his imprecations and all joined him in 

 yelling .and dancing. All traces of their pres- 

 ence were effaced for a distance of several hun- 

 dred yards. The places selected for these traps 

 are narrow trails walled in by heavy vegetation 

 by which the Okapi regularly goes down across: 

 the swamp to the crystal clear brook. On first 

 hearing of this method I thought I might see 

 one alive, hut luck was against me and I only 



