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between nine and ten years of age, which, if true, brings them ex- 

 tremely near the human species, as the boy or girl of West Africa, 

 at thirteen or fourteen years old, is quite as much a man or womsin 

 as those of nineteen or twenty in our more northern clime. Tlieir 

 height, when full grown, is said to be between four and five feet : 

 indeed I was credibly informed, that a male Chimpanzee, which 

 had been shot in the neighbourhood and brought into Free Town, 

 measured four feet five inches in length, and was so heavy as to form 

 a very fair load for two men, who carried him on a pole between 

 them. The natives say that in their wild state their strength is 

 enormous, and that they have seen them snap boughs off the trees 

 ■with the greatest apparent ease, which the united strength of two 

 men could scarcely bend. The Chimpanzee is, without doubt, to 

 be found in all the countries from the banks of the Gambia in the 

 north, to the kingdom of Congo in the south, as the natives of all 

 the intermediate parts seem to be perfectly acquainted with them. 

 From my own experience I can state that the low shores of the Bul- 

 lom country, situated on the northern shores of the river Sierra 

 Leone, are infested by them in numbers quite equal to the commonest 

 species of monkey. I consider these animals to be gregarious, for 

 when visiting the rice farms of the Chief Dalla Mohammadoo, on 

 the Bullom shore, their cries plainly indicated the vicinity of a troop, 

 as the noise heard could not have been produced by less than eight 

 or ten of them. The natives also affirmed, that they always travel 

 in strong bodies, armed with sticks, which they use with much dex- 

 terity. They are exceedingly watchful, and the first one who discovers 

 the approach of a stranger utters a protracted cry, much resembling 

 that of a human being in the greatest distress. The first time I 

 heard it I was much startled ; the animal was apparently not more 

 than thirty paces distant, but had it been but five I could not have 

 seen it from the tangled nature of the jungle, and I certainly con- 

 ceived that such sounds could only have proceeded from a human 

 being who hoped to gain assistance by his cries from some terrible 

 and instant death. The native who was with me laid his hand upon 

 my shoulder, and pointing suspiciously to the bush, said, ' Massa, 

 Baboo live there,' and in a few minutes the wood appeared alive 

 with them, their cries resembling the barking of dogs. My gviide 

 informed me that the cry first heard was to inform the troop of my 

 approach, and that they would all immediately leave the trees or 

 any exalted situation that might expose them to view and seek the 

 bush ; he also showed evident fear, and entreated me not to proceed 

 any further in that direction. The plantations of bananas, pam- 

 paws, and plantains, which the natives usually intermix with their 

 rice, constituting the favourite food of the Chimpanzees, accounts 

 for their being so frequent in the neighbourhood of rice fields. The 

 difficulty of procuring live specimens of this genus arises principally, 

 I should say, from the superstitions of the natives concerning them, 

 who believe they possess the power of ' witching.' 



" There are authors who have, I believe, affirmed that some of the 

 natives on the western coast term these animals in their language 



