OTHER APES 



255 



docile as a lamb, and showed every sign of the most 

 intense fear. Mr. Bailey himself told me of the 

 dread both of his apes had for an elephant. Battel 

 was also wrong in the mode he described of the 

 mother carrying its young, and the apes using sticks 

 or clubs. 



The ape known as *'Mafuka," which was exhibited 

 in Dresden in 1875, ^'^^ brought from the 

 Loango coast, and it is possible that this is the ape 

 to which the native name pongo really belonged. 

 This specimen in many respects conforms to the 

 description of the ntyii given, but the idea suggested 

 by certain writers that Mafuka " was a cross 

 between the gorilla and chimpanzee is not, to my 

 mind, a tenable supposition. It would be difficult 

 to believe that two apes of different species in a wild 

 state would cross, but to believe that two that be- 

 longed to different genera would do so is even more 

 illogical. 



I may state here, however, again that some of 

 the Esyira people advance such a theory concerning 

 the ntyii, but the belief is not general, and those 

 best skilled in woodcraft regard them as distinct 

 species. 



To quote, in pidjin English, the exact version of 

 their relationship as it was given to me by my inter- 

 preter while in that country, may be of interest to the 

 reader. I may remark, by way of explaining the 

 nature of pidjin English, that it is a literal transla- 

 tion of the native mode of thought into English 

 words. The statement was : 



