266 FEOM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



where formerly "my^^guide said they were niimeroiis, there 

 was only one, probably owing to rubber-collectors having 

 been there. The okapi is killed occasionally by the natives 

 who spear or trap it. I ascertained that six altogether had 

 been killed by them at various times in this locality." 



Viewed in the light of the knowledge we have of the 

 okapi's habits, the wonderful striped markings, which are 

 confined to its legs and hindquarters, form an interesting 

 example of protective colouring. When the okapi leaves 

 the dense parts of the forest for its favourite haunts in the 

 swamps, it always keeps to the cover of the thick leaves, 

 and the only light that reaches it comes slanting through 

 the bare stems of the plants, or else is reflected up from 

 the water, and so the markings are wavy in form like 

 shadows thrown up from water in sunlight. 



It may not be amiss here to give a short history of the 

 way in which the okapi was discovered. Stanley, in his 

 book " In Darkest Africa," was the first to draw attention 

 to its existence in the following sentence : " The Wambutti 

 (the Congo dwarfs) knew a donkey and called it ' Atti.' 

 They say that they sometimes catch them in pits. What 

 they can find to eat is a wonder. They eat leaves." This 

 brief note was followed up by Sir Harry Johnston who in 

 1900, during his stay at Entebbe as Administrator of Uganda, 

 obtained from the Semliki Forest in the Congo Free State 

 some bandoliers made by the natives out of the striped 

 part of the animal's skin. These were forwarded to the 

 Zoological Society in London, and Dr. Sclater recognised in 

 them an unknown animal which he described as a zebra, 

 naming it Equus Johnstoni. In 1901 a Swedish ofl&cer, 



