"The young Pongo hangeth on his mother's belly with his hands fast
clasped about her, so that when the countrie people kill any of the
females they take the young one, which hangeth fast upon his mother.

"When they die among themselves, they cover the dead with great heaps of
boughs and wood, which is commonly found in the forest."*

[footnote] *Purchas' marginal note, p. 982:--"The Pongo a
giant ape. He told me in conference with him, that one of
these pongoes tooke a negro boy of his which lived a moneth
with them. For they hurt not those which they surprise at
unawares, except they look on them; which he avoyded. He
said their highth was like a man's, but their bignesse
twice as great. I saw the negro boy. What the other
monster should be he hath forgotten to relate; and these
papers came to my hand since his death, which, otherwise,
in my often conferences, I might have learned. Perhaps he
meaneth the Pigmy Pongo killers mentioned."

It does not appear difficult to identify the exact region of which
Battell speaks. Longo is doubtless the name of the place usually
spelled Loango on our maps. Mayombe still lies some nineteen leagues
northward from Loango, along the coast; and Cilongo or Kilonga,
Manikesocke, and Motimbas are yet registered by geographers. The Cape
Negro of Battell, however, cannot be the modern Cape Negro in 16
degrees S., since Loango itself is in 4 degrees S. latitude. On the
other hand, the "great river called Banna" corresponds very well with
the "Camma" and "Fernand Vas," of modern geographers, which form a great
delta on this part of the African coast.