310 ox THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE OKAPI. [NoV. 14, 



many a time lieaixl it i-un away when lie passed such glades as 

 <lesci'ibed above. 



The Okapi is exti-emely wary aiid shy, and nocturnal in its habits. 

 It lives singly or perhaps in pairs, nevei- in herds. The negroes 

 know very little about it, and, as a i-ule, it is only the Wambutti- 

 dwarfs who ai-e able to kill it. These dwarfs are perhaps the 

 most perfect of all hunting tiibes and steal up near the animals, 

 slaying them with spears. 



How little the negi'oes (not counting the dwai-fs) know aljout 

 the Oliiapi, may be concluded from the following ridiculous tale told 

 and believed by them. They have observed that the Okapi is very 

 cleanly, and even during the i-ainy season, Avhen ahnost all other 

 animals are more or less dirty, its skin is just as clean as ever. The 

 negroes say then that the Okapi climbs up in the trees (!) to keep 

 itself clean and to avoid the dirty muddy soil. 



I have used the name Okapi as that is the one known to the 

 zoological world, and has become the nomen trivicde of this 

 interesting mammal. Lieutenant Eriksson infoi'ms me, however, 

 that it was only a mere chance that it happened so. Okapi (with 

 long-diuwn a) is only used by the Wainbobba tiibe for signifying 

 this animal. The Wambobba language is hardly spoken by more 

 than 300 persons, but it was Wambutti-dwarfs, living in hai-mony 

 with Wambobbas and speaking their language *, that brought the 

 first i-emains of the Okapi, hence the name. (The first complete 

 specimens were procured by anothei' ti-ibe of Wambuttis belonging 

 to Wabira negroes, which use anothei- name mentioned belo\^^) 

 But it is still worse, because the Avord " Okapi " means simply in 

 the Wambobba language '' donkey " or •' ass." Strictly speaking, 

 therefore, the latinised " Okwpia" which became the second a,nd 

 pei-manent scientific genei'ic name of this mammal, is not much 

 bettei' with i-egard to its original meaning than the fii'st generic 

 term " Equus" applied before anything b\it a piece of skin was 

 known. 



The name by which the Okapi is known in most of the Oongo 

 languages is " Dumba." 



I ain glad to be able to add that the Okapi is protected by law, 

 so that it is forbidden to kill it without special permission. 

 The Wambutti- dwarfs a,nd the leopards do not, however, respect 

 any laws, and thei-ein lies the danger for the existence of this 

 animal. 



Lieutenant Eriksson has also told me that in the gi-eat foi'est a. 

 kind of bla,ck wild hog is to be found, which may be the recently 

 described Hylochoirus meinertzhageni. 'I^hese hogs are called by 

 the negroes " n'gululje bibi," which means '' black hog," whilst 

 •'n'gulube" = hog is the name of the common Red River-Hog 

 [Potaiiiochoirus porcus). 



* The Wauil)uttis always use the lang-uage of those negro tribes with which they 

 live in symbiosis, and from which they obtain %'egetables for meat and honej' from 

 the forest. 



