ky. Livingstone gives an animated sketch of a soko
hunt.]

_24th August, 1870._--Four gorillas or sokos were killed yesterday: an
extensive grass-burning forced them out of their usual haunt, and coming
on the plain they were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand
on the head, as if to steady the body. When seen thus, the soko is an
ungainly beast. The most sentimental young lady would not call him a
"dear," but a bandy-legged, pot-bellied, low-looking villain, without a
particle of the gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the
antelopes, are graceful, and it is pleasant to see them, either at rest
or in motion: the natives also are well made, lithe and comely to
behold, but the soko, if large, would do well to stand for a picture of
the Devil.

He takes away my appetite by his disgusting bestiality of appearance.
His light-yellow face shows off his ugly whiskers, and faint apology for
a beard; the forehead villainously low, with high ears, is well in the
back-ground of the great dog-mouth; the teeth are slightly human, but
the canines show the beast by their large development. The hands, or
rather the fingers, are like those of the natives. The flesh of the feet
is yellow, and the eagerness with which the Manyuema devour it leaves
the impression that eating sokos was the first stage by which they
arrived at being cannibals; they say the flesh is delicious. The soko is
represented by some to be extremely knowing, successfully stalking men
and women while at their work, kidnapping children, and running up trees
with them--he seems to be amused by the sight of the young native in his
arms, but comes down when tempted by a bunch of bananas, and as he lifts
that, drops the child: the young soko in such a case would cling closely
to the armpit of the elder. One man was cutting out honey from a tree,
and naked, when a soko suddenly appeared and caught him, then let him
go: another man was hunting, and missed in his attempt to stab a soko:
it seized the spear and broke it, then grappled with the man, who called
to his companions, "Soko has caught me," the soko bit off the ends of
his fingers and escaped unharmed. Both men are now alive at Bambarre.

The soko is so cunning, and has such sharp eyes, that no one can stalk
him in front without being seen, hence, when shot, it is always in the
back; when surrounded by men and nets, he is generally speared in the
back too, otherwise he is not a very formidable beas