96 BEASTS AND MEN 
of well-known animals, or else intentional fabrications. But 
such is not usually the case. Much more often, the informa- 
tion given by the natives will lead to the discovery of new 
species, if the instructions of the savages be properly carried 
out. For instance, the case of the discovery of the remains 
of the giant sloth in South America is famous, and all my 
readers will remember the excitement which was caused when 
the existence of the okapi was made known. Native reports 
are more reliable than is commonly supposed. 
Some years ago I received reports from two quite distinct 
sources of the existence of an immense and wholly unknown 
animal, said to inhabit the interior of Rhodesia. Almost iden- 
tical stories reached me, firstly, through one of my own 
travellers, and, secondly, through an English gentleman, who 
had been shooting big-game in Central Africa. The reports 
were thus quite independent of each other, and, as a matter 
of fact, the Englishman and my traveller had made their way 
into Rhodesia from opposite directions, the one from the north- 
east and the other from the south-west. The natives, it 
seemed, had told both my informants that in the depth of the 
great swamps there dwelt a huge monster, half elephant, half 
dragon. This, however, is not the only evidence for the ex- 
istence of the animal. It is now several decades ago since 
Menges, who is of course perfectly reliable, heard a precisely 
similar story from the negroes ; and, still more remarkable, on 
the walls of certain caverns in Central Africa there are to be 
found actual drawings of this strange creature. From what 
I have heard of the animal, it seems to me that it can only 
be some kind of dinosaur, seemingly akin to the brontosaurus. 
As the stories come from so many different sources, and all 
tend to substantiate each other, I am almost convinced that 
some such reptile must be still in existence. At great ex- 
pense, therefore, I sent out an expedition to find the monster, 
but unfortunately they were compelled to return home with- 
out having proved anything, either one way or the other. In 
the part of Africa where the animal is said to exist, there are 
