HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
SOME NOTES ON SETTE CAMA. 
On account of pressure of space, the remain- 
der of this Article, with a description of the Water 
Elephant by the Fernan Faz native will be given 
in the September number of this Magazine,. 
GORILLA LAND IN SPANISH 
WEST AFRICA. 
By Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. 
Mr. Hamlyn has asked me to send him a 
short account of the "mysterious" river in Spanish 
West Africa. I think he is alluding to the River 
Muni which enters the sea a little to the north of 
Corisco JBay, and is in fact, the river of Spanish 
Guinea. 
Some years ago Mr. Hamlyn and I met on 
board a steamer going out to West Africa, and 
discussed the regions in Africa most likely to yield 
remarkable discoveries in the way of birds and 
mammals. Mr. Hamlyn or his agent subsequently 
made such discoveries. I had advised him to try 
Spanish Guinea, a region with which I became 
slightly acquainted on two former occasions on 
visiting West Africa. But the region is now 
scarcely to be called mysterious. It has been a 
good deal explored by Germans during the last 
five years, notably by Gunter Tessmann. 
Its chief interest to naturalists lies in its being 
a portion of Gorilla Land. Although not a large 
area, yet like Liberia very much farther to the 
west, it is one of those regions of forested Africa 
which are likely to< have a somewhat specialised 
fauna. It is in any case of remarkable interest to 
those who delight in remarkable beasts, birds, 
and reptiles. For the most part its fauna is akin 
to that of the Cameroons, yet I believe it has some 
things which are not found SO' far north as the 
Cameroons but are characteristic of the Gaboon 
and of Western Equatorial Congoland. But as a 
region in which gorillas are found quite close to 
the sea coast it attracts attention most notably; 
inasmuch as the explorer would not have to travel 
very far from his base to get into touch with the 
home life of the gorilla. It is thisi that we want 
most of all to' explore : what the Gorilla is like 
when he is at home, whether he builds anything 
in the shape of a house or shelter, whether he lives 
in pairs or in little troops, whether he is noisy or 
silent, what food he eats, and how he obtains it. 
Much farther to the cast Cirenfell, the mis- 
sionary explorer, was told by the natives that 
gorillas sometimes associated in small bands and 
hunted the leopard till it was worn out with 
fatigue and fell a prey to their hands and teeth. 
They were then said to bury the body until decom- 
position set in, when its flesh was easier, to masti- 
cate. It is only Grenfell, by-the-by, who has 
regarded the existence of the Gorilla to- the north 
of the main Congo in the forest region between 
the Congo and the Mubangi. Except for his 
records there is no news of any gorilla being 
found between the regions of West-central Africa 
(Gaboon, Muni River, and Cameroons) and East- 
central Africa — the regions to' the north-west and 
north of Lake Tanganyika. From this district 
comes the most interesting form of gorilla — Gorilla 
beringeri, which is slightly more like humanity 
than the gorilla of West Africa — as anyone may 
see by inspecting the large male specimen now 
set up in the British Museum of Natural History. 
But here ag'ain we know next to nothing of the 
gorilla's life when he is at home. 
I am sure Mr. Hamlyn is of my opinion that 
collectors of natural history are out nowadays not 
only to collect specimens but information as to 
the life habits of interesting wild creatures, and 
I am sure that he will direct his efforts personally 
as much as possible to this end. 
[On 17th July, I wrote to Sir Harry Johnston 
asking for a short article on the mysterious 
river in Spanish West Africa. 
At the time I met Sir Harry Johnston he ex- 
plained that it had never been explored as 
regards the birds and mammals. He strongly 
advised me to make a collecting trip in that 
region. There were some extraordinary spiders, 
reptiles and monkeys there, also a rare speci- 
men of the gorilla. At that time I was bound 
for the French Congo and unfortunately since 
then no opportunity has occurred to allow me 
to visit that wild region. I certainly spent a day 
at the mouth of that river on a clearing known 
as Coco Beach, and found a rare Chevoritan 
which I landed alive. Whilst thanking Sir 
Harry Johnston for his very interesting article, 
I sincerely trust to receive later on another and 
longer account of this primitive region. — John 
D. Hamlyn.] 
CHATHAM'S GREAT ELEPHANT. 
Digging up a Monster Fossil. 
An almost entire fossil elephant of enormous 
size is now being excavated in the grounds of the 
Royal School of Military Engineering at Upnor, 
near Chatham. It was discovered during some 
trenching work in gravel some time before, the 
war begfan. 
