Without stopping, however, we continued our progress, and by noon we reached a brook called Diamvonoo, one of the gallery streams, of which the banks were enclosed by dwellings. Here we halted close to the huts of the superintendent of the place.
NIAM-NIAM HAMLET ON THE DIAMVONOO.
TOKENS OF CANNIBALISM.
The Niam-niam residences seem never to fail in having some posts which the natives erect for the purpose of displaying, in proof of their bravery, whatever trophies of success they have gained either in hunting or in war. To this practice, as established on the Diamvonoo, my osteological collection is indebted for some considerable additions. Attached to the projections of these memorial posts were skulls of antelopes of many a species, skulls of little monkeys and of great baboons, skulls of wild boars and of chimpanzees, and I must not hesitate to add, skulls of men! These were in some cases quite entire, whilst in others they were mere fragments. They were fastened to the erections like the presents on a Christmas-tree, but instead of being gifts for children, they were treasures for the comparative anatomist. Too decisive to be misunderstood were the evidences of the propensity to cannibalism which met our astonished gaze. Close to the huts, amongst the pile of refuse, were human bones, which bore the unquestionable tokens of having been subjected to the hatchet or the knife; and all around upon the branches of the neighbouring trees were hanging human feet and hands more than half shrivelled into a skeleton condition, but being as yet only partially dry, and imperfectly sheltered by the leaves, they polluted the atmosphere with a revolting and intolerable stench. The prospect was not inviting, and the asylum offered to travellers was far from tempting; but we did not suffer ourselves to be discouraged, and made up our minds to be as comfortable as we could in our little huts.
Without loss of time I betook myself naturally to the chase for trophies, Mohammed entering with so much zeal into my pursuit after the skulls of some of the chimpanzees, that he clambered up one of the votive pillars. This drew upon us the eyes of the astonished natives, and their amazement seemed to be especially directed to the circumstance of our taking so much trouble into our own hands. “You have plenty of slaves,” they said, “you are chieftains and have authority; how is it that you are not ashamed to work for yourselves in the way you do?” This, probably, was spoken in derision, or probably in a measure as a reproach to us for appropriating what did not belong to us. However, I put on the air of munificence, and set matters all right by a prodigal distribution of copper rings.
Taking into account the large number of skulls of chimpanzees, more or less perfect, which I saw in the hamlets on the Diamvonoo, I am sure that I am quite justified in my impression that this spot must be one of the centres from which these creatures circulate their kind. Upon the Western African coasts the prevalence of the chimpanzee breed is very considerable, extending from the Gambia down to Benguela. But in the interior, on the other hand, the haunt of the chimpanzee hitherto has been supposed to be limited to the country of the Niam-niam. Previous to my arrival the Khartoom people had been the means of securing some defective skins, which were sent to various museums, and these were quite sufficient to confirm the fact of the existence of chimpanzees in that quarter. But so great was the variety in age and kind, so marked the difference in these beasts according as they came from one district or another, that a whole series, it appeared, of varying species had to be distinguished and arranged by means of material which was totally inadequate for scientific classification. Nearly all the specimens at hand were those of very young animals, and no mammal is known which as it grows older is subject to more decided changes in its external appearance than the anthropomorphic ape.
I am not speaking of Du Chaillu’s gorilla. This largest of all apes is sufficiently known, and its specific stability is no longer a matter of doubt. Its range, however, is apparently very limited, as hitherto it has only been found in the delta of the Ogowai.
TROGLODYTES NIGER.