66 APES AND MONKEYS 



a revolver, ammunition, and a few useful tools, such as 

 hammer, saw, pliers, files, and a heavy bush-knife, com- 

 pleted my stock. The tin plates served for cooking ves- 

 sels and also for table use, instead of dishes, which are 

 heavier and more fragile. 



With this equipment I sailed from Xew York on the 

 9th of July, 1892, via England, to the port of Gaboon, 

 the site of the colonial government on the French Congo. 

 This place is within a few miles of the equator, and near 

 the borders of the country in which the gorilla lives. I 

 arrived there on the 19th of October of that year, and 

 after a delay of some weeks in that locality I set out to 

 find the object of my search. 



Leaving that place, I went up the Ogowe River about 

 two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles, and thence 

 through the lake region on the south side of it. After 

 some weeks of travel and inquiry, I arrived on the south 

 side of Lake Ferrari Yaz, in the territory of the Xkami 

 tribe. The lake is about thirty miles long, by ten or 

 twelve miles wide, and is interspersed with a few islands 

 of various sizes, covered with a dense growth of tropical 

 vegetation. The country about the lake is mostly low and 

 marshy, traversed by creeks, lagoons, and rivers. Most of 

 the land is covered by a deep and dreary jungle, intersected 

 at intervals by small, sandy plains, covered with a thin 

 growth of Ions:, touo;h grass. 



It is difficult to convey in words an adequate idea of 

 what the jungle reallv is. To those who have never seen 

 one it is almost impossible to describe it. But in order 

 that you may have some conception of the place in which 



