where the iron was shaped into hammers, axes,
war-hatchets, spears, knives, swords, wire, iron
balls with spikes, leglets, armlets, and iron
beads, &c. The art of the blacksmith is of a high
standard in these forests, considering the loneliness
of the inhabitants. The people have much
traditional lore, and it appears from the immunity
which they have enjoyed in these dismal
retreats that from one generation to another
something has been communicated and learned,
showing that even the jungle man is a progressive
and an improvable animal.
On the 17th of November we crossed several
lofty hilly ridges, separated by appallingly
gloomy ravines, through which several clear
streams flowed westward, and after a march of
eleven miles north-westerly through the dank,
dripping forests, arrived at Kamp.unzu, in the
district of Uvinza, where dwell the true aborigines
of the forest country.
Kampunzu village is about five hundred yards
in length, formed of one street thirty feet wide,
flanked on each side by a straight, symmetrical,
and low block of houses, gable-roofed. Several
small villages in the neighbourhood are of the
same pattern.
The most singular feature of Kampunzu village
were two rows of skulls ten feet apart, running
along the entire length of the village, imbedded
about two inches deep in the ground, the “ cererNov.
17, 1*76-1 “ SOKO” SKULLS. 18 3
L Kampunzu. J
bral hemispheres” uppermost, bleached, and
glistening white from weather. The skulls were
186 in number in this one village. To me they
appeared to be human, though many had an
extraordinary projection of the posterior lobes,
others of the parietal bones, and the frontal
bones were unusually low and retreating; yet
the sutures and the general aspect of the greatest
number of them were so similar to what I believed
to be human, that it was almost with an
indifferent air that I asked my chiefs and Arabs
what these skulls were. They replied, “ sokos”
—chimpanzees (?).
“ Sokos from the forest?”
“ Certainly,” they all replied.
“Bring the chief of Kampunzu to me immediately,”
I said, much interested now because of
the wonderful reports of them that Livingstone
had given me, as also the natives of Manyema.
The chief of Kampunzu— a tall, strongly built
man of about thirty-five years of age— appeared,
and I asked,
“My friend, what are those things with which
you adorn the street of your village?”
He replied, “Nyama” (meat).
“Nyama! Nyama of what?”
“Nyama of the forest.”
“Of the forest! What kind of thing is this
Nyama of the forest?”
“ It is about the size of this boy,” pointing