268 



The Living Animals of the World 





fiiresst, tliat I dctcvmineil. if ever fate isliould lead me in that directi(jn, I would make 

 enqnivies. 



80011 aft(n' reaching' the Uganda Protectorate at the end of 1899, I came in contact with 

 a large party of dwarfs who had been kidnapped bv a too enterprising German impresario, who 

 had decided to show them at the Paris Exhibition. As the Belgians objected to this procedure, 

 I released the dwai-fs from their kidnapjier, and retained them with me for some nionths in 

 Uganda, until I was able personally to escort them back to their homes in the Congo Forest. 

 I had other reasons connected with my Government business for visiting the noi'th -western 

 part of the Congo P'ree State. As soon as I could make the dwarfs understand me by me.ms of 

 an interpreter. 1 fpiestioned them regarding the existence of this horse-like creature i;i their 

 forests. They at once understood what I meant ; and pointing to a zebra-skin and a live mule, 

 they informed me tliat the creature in question, which was called (Jkati, was like a. mule with 



zebra stripes on it. When I reached Fort; 

 jMbeni, in the Congo Free .State, on the west 

 bank of the river Semliki, I put questions 

 to the Belgian officers stationed there. 

 They all knew the okapi, at any rate, when 

 dead. As a li\ing animal they had none 

 of tlieni seen it, but their native soldiers 

 were in the habit of hunting the animal 

 in the forest and l^illing it with spears, 

 and th(^u bringing in tlie skin and the 

 flesh for use in the fort. t)ne of the 

 officers declared there was even then a 

 freshly ofitained skin lying about in the 

 precincts of the fort. On searching for 

 this, however, it was discovered that the 

 greater part of it had been thrown away, 

 only the gaudier portions having been cut 

 into stri[)s by the soldiers to be made into 

 bandoliers. These strips, together with 

 similar ones obtained from natives in the 

 foiest, I sent to England, to Dr. P. L. 

 Sclater, for his consideration. Furnished 

 by the Belgian officers with guides, and 

 taking with rae all the dwarfs whcnn 

 I had brought from Ug.uidi, I entered 

 the forest, and lemained there for som:> 

 days searching for the okapi. All this 

 time I was convinced that f was on the track of a species of horse; and therefore when the 

 natives showed the tracks of a cloven-footed animal like the eland, and told us these were 

 the foot-prints of the okapi. 1 disbelieved them, and imagined that we were merely following 

 a forest-eland. We never saw the okapi ; and as the life in the forest made the whole expedition 

 extremely ill. and my time was re(piired for ofticial work elsewhere. I was obliged to give up 

 this search. .Meantime, I had elicited from the natives, whom I questioned cfosely, that the 

 okajii was a creature without Innns or any means of offence, the size of a lar^e antelope or 

 mule, which inhabited only the densest parts of the forest, and generally went about in pairs 

 male and female. It lived chieHy on leaves. Tli,> 1,'elgian officers, seeing that I was di.sappointed 

 at not obtaining a complete skin, offered to use their best efforts to obtain one for me, and 

 send it on to Uganda after iny departure. 



'Jliis promise was eventually redeemed by ."\Ir. Karl Eriksson, a Swedish officer in the 

 Jielgian service. Mr. Eriksson sent me a complete skin and two skulls. The skin and the 





/•./A*^* 



MALE AND FEMALK (.ilKAFFES. 

 Giraffe?; are Nud to Le very a^ectionate aninial.s. 



