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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



JOSEPHINE BREAKFASTING WITH AN OFFICER 



This baby chimpanzee was the pet of the expedition. She was quite tame, and romped 

 with the camp's chickens, dogs, goats, and a kitten. She liked to eat with a spoon and cried 

 like a baby if left alone. 



This "pleasant voyage" was a grueling 

 business. We were baked alive during 

 the day, and tormented at night by all the 

 flying pests of the Congo — mosquitoes, 

 flying beetles, flying ants, and their in- 

 numerable relatives. We camped ashore 

 every night and always made an effort to 

 get our evening meal over before dark- 

 ness set in, for the candles attracted such 

 hordes of flying things that eating was 

 impossible. A plate of soup, a few min- 

 utes after being placed on the table, be- 

 came a seething mass of floundering 

 insect life. 



Farther down the river we encountered 

 deeper water and under such conditions 

 managed to cover 20 miles in a day. 



We proceeded under the power of na- 

 tive crews, who swung their long paddles 

 to a chant which, although pleasing to 

 the ear for a while, became extremely 

 monotonous after a few days, because the 

 melody never varied. The native pad- 

 dler who can paddle without chanting 



has yet to be found ; it seems part and 

 parcel of his business. 



Luxuriant trees, high grass, waving 

 ferns, and stately palms fringed the river 

 banks for miles at a stretch, breaking oc- 

 casionally to reveal acres and acres of 

 rolling prairie, the feeding ground for 

 herds of eland, roan, and numerous va- 

 rieties of buck. Here, also, were to be 

 found elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, and 

 buffaloes in large numbers ; they would 

 stand and watch us curiously as we passed, 

 scattering and disappearing as soon as a 

 shot was fired. 



CURIOUS RIVER CITIZENS 



Stretches of the river were simply 

 alive with crocodiles — enormous crea- 

 tures, most of them. Some lay along the 

 shore, on the hot sand, sunning them- 

 selves, while others floated lazily near the 

 surface, their ugly snouts showing just 

 a few inches above the water. They 

 were difficult targets for our rifles, but 



