July i r, 1885 
THE GRAPHIC 
43 
stay of sixteen months in West Africa I can only remember six occa¬ 
sions on which I actually beheld these animals in a state of nature. 
On the other hand, I had scarcely left the East Coast to journey 
towards Kilima-njaro than monkeys showed themselves abundantly 
in the wilds. 
The first to attract my attention were the baboons, probably the 
Species known as the yellow baboon. They were generally found on 
the outskirts of native plantations, where they almost subsisted on 
the maize and other food-stuffs stolen from the gardens of their more 
highly-developed fellow-primates. In the inhabited region of 
Kilima-njaro, generally known as the country of Chaga, baboons 
were strangely abundant. They were generally in flocks of fourteen 
to twenty, of all ages, and both sexes. They were so little molested 
by the natives that they showed small fear of man, and, instead of 
running away, would often stop to look at me about twenty yards 
off, and the old males would show their teeth and grunt. I have 
frequently seen the natives driving them from the plantations, as 
they might a troop of naughty boys, and the baboons retreating with 
swollen cheek-pouches, often dragging after them a portion of the 
spoil. On one occasion, in a river-bed at the foot of Kilima-njaro, 
my Indian servant, ordinarily a very plucky boy, met a troop of 
baboons, who, instead of fleeing up into the trees, came running 
towards him in a very menacing manner, and he was so 
frightened at their aspect that he took to his heels. The 
baboons followed, and, but that the 
boy forded the shallow stream, and 
put the water between him and his 
pursuers, he might have had an awk¬ 
ward contest. I killed a baboon 
once in Chaga, one of a troop who 
were rifling a maize plantation, and 
its companions, instead of running 
away, Surrounded the corpse and 
Snarled at me. As I had fired off 
both barrels of my gun, and had no 
more ammunition, I went back to my 
settlement to fetch some of my fol¬ 
lowers, and upon the approach of 
several men the baboons ran off. 
We picked up the dead one and 
carried it back. It was a female, 
and apparently young and tender. 
Out of curiosity I had its flesh 
cooked the next clay and ate it, 
hoping in this lawful way to form 
some idea of the practice of canni¬ 
balism ; I can only say that the 
succulence and quality of this crea¬ 
ture’s flesh were quite unexception¬ 
able. I have noticed this with most 
of the species of Old-World monkey I 
have as yet tasted. During my four 
months’ stay in Mandara’s country I 
ate the common Cercopithecus pygery- 
thrus constantly, and found it made 
a very toothsome stew. The most 
remarkable monkey in all this region 
is probably the Colobus, which apparently offers a new variety or 
sub-species in the country round Kilima-njaro, remarkable., for 
having an entirely white heavily- 
plumed tail. The common species, 
with a black tail tipped with white, I 
have shot in the forested plains near 
the coast. The Colobus monkey is 
almost the only one that quite avoids 
the neighbourhood of man ; the others 
generally frequent the vicinity of 
native plantations, and doubtless 
profit by the abundance of cultivated 
food. I never observed any Galago 
(a lemuroid animal) in this district, 
nor do the natives speak of one, 
although it is a genus well represented 
in other parts of Africa. 
Bats are by no means common or 
often seen. I saw some fruit-bats once 
in the forest hanging to a sycamore 
fig-tree. No member of the group of 
Insectivora came under my notice. 
The Carnivora in this country of big 
game are, of course, well represented. 
The lion is very abundant and very 
bold ; but the leopard is more feared 
by the natives than his larger ally. 
While stopping in Mandara’s country, 
two of that chief’s subjects were killed 
by leopards, one of them close to the 
frequented village-green. The leopard 
ascends the mountain up to about 
8,000 ft., scarcely higher. I shot one 
of these creatures in the valley of a 
stream in broad daylight. I think 
it had been sleeping by the water, and was suddenly awakened by 
my near approach, and too dazed to fly immediately. The most 
common dog is the side-striped jackal. There is a wild dog found 
on Kilima-njaro which barks loudly. It is quite nocturnal, and I 
have never been able to shoot it; but from its appearance in 
bright moonlight it looks somewhat like the Abyssinian dog. 
The natives know it by a different name than that applied to 
the jackal. 
Hyrenas are very common, and both species, striped and 
spotted, are present; but the striped hyaena more affects the 
hills, while the spotted kind inhabits the plains. The 
spotted hyaena is a much more predatory animal here 
than one generally imagines. Not only does it steal 
sheep and calves from the herds, but it even 
carries off children, and will often attack 
wounded or weakly men. I once sent a 
sick man back to the coast a short distance by himself, 
and he was severely bitten at night by the hyaenas. He 
succeeded, however, in beating them off, and recovered • 
from his wounds. 
Civets and genets are very common ; so also are one 
or two species of ichneumon, I noticed no kind of weasel, 
ratel, or badger. 
Kilima-njaro [PT. Brucei) between 7,000 and 11,000 feet. It livgs 
entirely in the trees, which it climbs with the facility of a squirrel. 
It is much sought after by the W'a-Chaga for its warm, 
furry skin, which is made into cloaks. 
The elephant inhabits Kilima-njaro up to a great 
height. I have seen two females and a young 
one at an altitude of 15,000 feet, crossing a 
stream valley, and mounting the opposite 
bank with the agility of goats. As 
I have also met with this crea¬ 
ture in the Chella Mountains 
of Angola, where he climbs 
to 8,000 feet, in fact, as high 
as he can go, I am convinced 
he can easily adapt himself 
to a mountain life. 
Round the base of Kilima-njaro the rhinoceros 
is very abundant ; and in Lake Jipe hippopo¬ 
tami are found. The zebra (Equus Chapmani) 
is present in incredible quantities in the plains 
round Kilima-njaro. In fact, the vast herds of 
The orycteropus, or Cape ant-bear, is common on the NEOTRAGUS KIRK!I varied game which pasture on the level country 
plains, to judge by his many huge burrows ; but I have never seen between the snow mountains and the coast remind one of the 
him, and only identify him from natives’ descriptions. tales of Gordon Cumming. 
Among the more noticeable Rumi- 
natia are the buffalo ( Bitbalus Coffer) 
the giraffe (very abundant), the eland, 
the kudu, the bushback ( Tragelaphits 
sylvaticus), the sable antelope ( Hippo- 
tragus niger), the pallah, one or two 
gazelles, gnus, hartebeests, blessboks, 
and many small species of Neotragus 
and a Cephalophus. The kudu pene¬ 
trates up the mountain to a height of 
14,000 feet, in company with the 
buffalo, attracted possibly by the 
sweet perennial pasture. A Neotragus 
and a Cephalophus are also found at 
high altitudes. I give here a drawing 
of a head of the little Neotragus 
antelope (possibly TV. Kirkii) found on 
Kilima-njaro. As you may see it has 
the nose nearly developed into a 
trunk, a tendency which is very 
common, after all, among mammals, 
and which reaches its utmost develop¬ 
ment with the elephant. 
In the plains round Kilima-njaro 
the red hartebeest ( Alcephalus Cokci) 
is found in myriads. This creature by 
the colour of its coat and its strange 
shape assimilates marvellously with 
the huge red ant-hills (habitations of 
the white termites) which abound in 
the districts favoured by the harte¬ 
beests. When you are out stalking it 
is really most difficult and puzzling 
sometimes to know which is hartebeest and ant-hill ; for the long 
grass hiding the antelope’s legs leaves merely a red humped mass 
which, until it moves, may well be 
a mound of red earth. The uncon¬ 
scious mimicry is rendered the more 
ludicrously exact sometimes by the 
sharply-pointed flag-like leaves of a 
kind of lily which frequently crown 
the summit of the ant-hill or grow at 
its base, thus suggesting the horns of 
an antelope, either with the head 
erect, or browsing low down. 
Among the passerine birds of 
Kilima-njaro I have brought back six 
that are new to science. Three of 
these are sun-birds, one is a flycatcher, 
and the remaining two are chats. 
The sun-birds are found very high up 
the mountain, in that resembling the 
humming-birds which frequent the 
Andes near to the snow-line. They 
hover round the long tubular flowers 
of certain labiate plants, and on being 
captured it will be noticed that the 
feathers of the brow are thickly 
covered with pollen, so that in these 
regions sun-birds share with insects 
the means of fertilising flowers. 
The bird mentioned in the pre¬ 
ceding Supplement as being found at 
a height of 14,000 feet, the highest 
dweller, except the occasional 
apssing ravens or kites, is Pina- 
rochroa hypopodia , a kind of stone- 
chat. 
Other passerine birds of note are a lovely oriole ( Oriolus notatus ), 
which frequents the forests of the lower slopes, and the great white- 
THE GAME COUNTRY 
Among the Rodentia there were few that came under my notice. 
A species of Graphiurus (probably G. capcnsis ) is found in the 
THE RED HARTEBEEST—ANTELOI’ES AND ANT-HILLS 
forests of Kilima-njaro. The porcupine is fairly common, and a 
small black rat infests the natives’ houses. A hvrax is found no 
