extent upon that quaestio, then vexata, the "Gorilla Book." Even
before my trip the ethnological part appeared to me trustworthy,
and, if not original, at any rate borrowed from the best sources.
My journey assured me, from the specimen narrowly scrutinized,
that both country and people are on the whole correctly
described. The dates, however, are all in confusion: in the
preface to the second edition, "October, 1859," became "October,
1858," and we are told that the excursions were transposed for
the simple purpose of taking the reader from north to south. As
in the case of most African travels, when instruments are not
used, the distances must be reduced: in chapter xii. the Shekyani
villages are placed sixty miles due east of Sanga-Tanga; whereas
the map shows twenty. Mr. W. Wimvood Reade declares that the
Apingi country, the ultima Thule of the explorer, is distant from
Ngumbi "four foot-days' journey;" as MM. de Compiegne and Marche
have shown, the tribe in question extends far and wide. Others
have asserted that seventy-five miles formed the maximum
distance. But many of M. du Chaillu's disputed distances have
been proved tolerably correct by MM. Serval and Griffon du
Bellay, who were sent by the French government in 1862 to survey
the Ogobe. A second French expedition followed shortly
afterwards, under the charge of MM. Labigot and Touchard; and
finally that of 1873, like all preceding it, failed to find any
serious deviation from fact.

The German exploring expedition (July 25, 1873) confirms the
existence of M. du Chaillu's dwarfs, the Obongo tribe, scoffed at
in England because they dwell close to a fierce people of
Patagonian proportions. The Germans report that they are called
"Babongo," "Vambuta," and more commonly "Bari," or "Bali;" they