A YOUNG SOKO. 615 



As he extended his acquaintance with the Manyuema, he felt 

 more and more that their great want was national life. The 

 isolation of their little village communities was an unmitigated 

 evil. The Arabs whom he met as he journeyed all seemed 

 anxious to appear kind, and added to his store such little com- 

 forts as they had. Out of the supplies which he had received, 

 Livingstone carefully refunded all that he had received from 

 them during the days of his dependence. Katomba presented 

 him with a young soko, which had been caught when its mother 

 was killed. The account the doctor gives of this little creature, 

 written while she was in their company, is exceedingly interest- 

 ing. He says : 



"She sits eighteen inches high, has fine long black hair all 

 over, which was pretty so long as it was kept in order by her 

 dam. She is the least mischievous of all the monkey tribe I 

 have seen, and seems to know that in me she has a friend, and 

 sits quietly on the mat beside me. In walking, the first thing 

 observed is that she does not tread on the palms of her hands, 

 but on the backs of the second line of bones of the hands : in 

 doing this the nails do not touch the ground, nor do the 

 knuckles ; she uses the arms thus supported crutch-fashion, and 

 hitches herself along between them ; occasionally one hand is 

 put down before the other, and alternates with the feet, or she 

 walks upright and holds up a hand to any one to carry her. If 

 refused, she turns her face down, and makes grimaces of the 

 most bitter human weeping, wringing her hands, and sometimes 

 adding a fourth hand or foot to make the appeal more touching. 

 Grass or leaves she draws around her to make a nest, and re- 

 sents any one meddling with her property. She is a most 

 friendly little beast, and came up to me at once, making her 

 chirrup of welcome, smelling my clothes and holding out her 

 hand to be shaken. When she was bound, she began to untie 

 the cord with fingers and thumbs in quite a systematic way, and 

 on being interfered with by a man, looked daggers, and scream- 

 ing tried to beat him with her hands. She was afraid of his 

 stick and faced him, putting her back to me as a friend. She 

 holds out her hand for people to take her up and carry her, 

 quite like a spoiled child ; then bursts into a passionate cry, 

 somewhat like that of a kite, aud wrings her hands quite natu- 



