118 To Sdnga - Tdnga and Back . 
whilst gibecieres and ammunition-bags of grass- 
cloth hung from their shoulders. There were also 
two boys with native axes, small iron triangles, 
whose points passed through knob-sticks; these 
were to fell the trees in which our game might 
take refuge, and possibly they might have done so 
in a week. A few minutes with this party con¬ 
vinced me that I was wilfully wasting time ; they 
would not separate, and they talked so loud that 
game would be startled a mile off. I proposed that 
they should station me in a likely place, form a 
circle, and drive up what was in it—they were far 
above acting beaters after that fashion. So we 
dismissed them and dispersed about the bush. 
My factotum shot a fine Mboko ( Siurus ebo- 
rivorus ), 2 ft. 2 in. total length : the people de¬ 
clare that this squirrel gnaws ivory, whence its 
name. I had heard of it in East and Central 
Africa, but the tale appeared fabulous : here it is 
very common, half a dozen will be seen during the 
day; it has great vitality, and it will escape after 
severe wounds. The bushmen also brought a 
Shoke ( Colubus Sat anas), a small black monkey, 
remarkably large limbed: the little unfortunate 
was timid, but not vicious; it worried itself to 
death on the next day. They also showed me * 
the head of the Nji'wo antelope, which M. du 
Chaillu (chap, xii.) describes as “ a singular ani¬ 
mal of the size of a donkey, with shorter legs, no 
