able birds of prey, also, were tearing away at it, or seated on
the surrounding trees devouring the pieces they had carried off, while
several hyenas, already gorged, crept sulkily away, doubting whether
they should attack us or not. The spectacle was almost ghastly, and it
showed how soon a mountain of flesh might disappear in that region.
Chickango was greatly disappointed, as not a particle of flesh which he
could touch remained, while, of course, we regretted the loss of the
valuable tusks. On our way back, we caught sight of a number of
beautiful little monkeys skipping about in the trees. Chickango called
them oshingui. They were the smallest I ever saw. Below the trees
where they had their abode ran a small stream; and Chickango told me
they were very fond of water, and were never found at a distance from
it. On the same trees, and playing with them, were numerous birds,
called monkey-birds from their apparent attachment to those creatures.
We saw another very beautiful little bird, with an extremely long
flowing tail of pure milk-white. It had a crest on its head of a
greenish black, and its breast was of the same colour, while lower down
the feathers were of an ashy brown. Snow-white feathers on the back
rose up, like those of the birds of paradise, to which it had a strong
resemblance. Soon after this I saw some creatures on the ground, and
catching hold of one of them, I found that it was an enormous ant of a
greenish white colour, with a head of a reddish black. The fangs were
so powerful that when I put my fingers to them, they literally tore a
piece of flesh out.

"Why, these creatures would eat us all up, if we were to encounter them
as we did those the other day," I remarked.

"No fear, massa," answered Timbo. "Dey no come in same way. Dey no go
into house, no climb tree, and only just a few hundred or t'ousand march
together."

It was satisfactory to hear this, for really I felt that should an army
invade us, we might have more reason to dread them than the blacks
themselves. I was not sorry to miss the elephant flesh, for I had not
forgotten the tough morsels we had placed between our teeth when
presented to us by the friendly blacks soon after we landed.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

OUR ADVENTURES ON THE RIVER.

Our first canoe had been ready to launch for some days, and we were
eager to try it. We had, however, to cut a road through the brushwood
down to the river's bank before we could