220 
A Specimen Day 
(g°ga3he) at sunset, besides “snacks” all through 
the day when they can find material. They are 
good huntsmen, who fear neither the elephant 
(nyok), the hippopotamus (nyok d madzim), fre¬ 
quent in the rivers of the interior, the crocodile, 
nor the gorilla (njf). It is generally asserted—and 
the unfortunate Douville re-echoed the assertion— 
that the river-horse and the crocodile will not live 
together; the reason is, simply, that upon the 
seaboard, where these animals were first observed, 
the crocodile prefers the fresh water of the river, 
the hippopotamus the brackish water at its mouth. 
In the interior, of course, they dwell together in 
amity, because there is nothing for them to quarrel 
about. 
The banana, planted with a careless hand, sup¬ 
plies the staff of life, besides thatch, fuel, and fibre 
for nets and lines : when they want cereals, maize, 
holcus, and panicum will grow almost spontane¬ 
ously. The various palm-trees give building 
materials, oil, wine, and other requisites too nu¬ 
merous to mention. The “ five products of the 
cow” are ignored, as in the western hemisphere of 
yore : one of the most useful, however, is produced 
by the Nje or Njeve, a towering butyraceous tree, 
differing from that which bears the Shea butter¬ 
nut. Its produce is sun-dried, toasted over a fire, 
pounded and pressed in a bag between two boards, 
when it is ready for use. The bush, cut at the 
