244 
In the Heart of Africa 
The station is prettily situated on a hill above the banks 
of the Ituri, which flows very broad and strong at this point, 
but is not very deep; and we could enjoy a beautiful view of 
it from the barasa of the mess-hut. As we were able to see not 
only across the river, but also had an uninterrupted view over a 
considerable portion of the forest, we felt we could breathe 
freely again. 
After a halt of three days at this pleasant little station, we 
started off again for Avakubi, in a southerly direction from the 
river. 
Animal life revealed itself more abundantly as we proceeded. 
In the proximity of Mawambi there is a species of dwarf antelope 
which appears to be very plentiful. They are caught in gins and 
traps by the natives, and brought in to the station alive but 
cruelly bound, where they make a valuable addition to the menu. 
We hoped to have been able to bring one or two of these charm¬ 
ing creatures back to Europe with us alive. At first I let them 
run about freely in my room at Mawambi, and they soon gained 
such confidence that I could feed them. Unfortunately, these 
exceedingly delicate beasties, of which we obtained five, 
succumbed in spite of the most attentive care. Two baboons 
bagged by Wiese formed a remarkable capture, remarkable on 
account of their being met with at two hundred kilometres in the 
interior, for it had always been assumed that the margins of the 
forest, with the natives’ fields, to the fruits of which they are 
very partial, formed their particular reserves and hunting 
grounds. At one camp we got a young long-tailed monkey from 
the Wangwana, an attractive creature, with dark fur and a white 
triangular spot on the nose. She was perfectly tame, but nothing 
on the dining table was safe with her. Owing to her amazing 
Semitic-like physiognomy she was called Rebecca. At Avakubi 
we procured a husband for her, and we saw there a young chim¬ 
panzee, who looked like a patriarch, and patiently permitted all 
kinds of pranks to be played with him. 
The feathered inhabitants of the forest are far less in evidence 
than one would be inclined to believe, as the height of the trees 
