THE CHEMOSIT 
127 
up into the tree to dislodge them. Then they would make 
a flight of. as far as 150 yards. Their food seems to be entirely 
of leaves, but they chew it so thoroughly that it is hard 
to tell. 
THE CHEMOSIT 
By A. Blayney Percival 
Amongst the weird animals that have been reported from 
various parts of British East Africa is the chemosit or chimiset 
or Nandi bear. This animal was referred to by Mr. Hobley 
in his paper on £ Some Unidentified Beasts,’ where he quoted 
Mr. Geoffrey Williams’ account of it. 
I have heard of it from several people who have resided 
in the neighbourhood of the Nandi forests, as well as from 
the local natives. 
The stories vary to a very large extent, but the following 
points seem to agree. The animal is of fairly large size, it 
stands on its hind legs at times, is nocturnal, very fierce, kills 
man or animals. 
In most stories the resemblance to a monkey of sorts is 
very noticeable, but the fact that the animal is nocturnal, a 
point on which all native accounts agree, at once makes this 
impossible. 
There is only one account that I know of in which the 
animal has been killed, and that comes from the Maraquet 
district ; it is said that at one time one of these animals was 
so bad that great preparations were made to kill it, and at 
last it was killed by a party of men who put a dummy man 
in the doorway of a hut and sat inside and waited till the 
animal came and tried to take the dummy ; it was then shot 
with arrows. This is supposed to have happened fairly 
recently. 
Personally, I am quite in the dark about the beast, and 
am still a bit doubtful about its existence as a new animal. 
During my many years in Africa I have investigated so 
many stories of this sort and in the end found that the real 
