The _Soko_ observed by Livingstone in the Manuyema country would seem to be the common Chimpanzee. "According to Livingstone," to quote Mr. H. H. Johnston's note in his excellent "Life" of the great traveller, "these creatures often walk in an erect position, but steady their bodies by placing the hands on the back of the head. He represents this beast as being of great intelligence, and so cunning, that it is difficult to stalk him in front without being seen, and, therefore, when he is killed, it is usually from behind. The Manuyema people frequently string a number of nets round some enclosure in the forest and drive the _Sokos_ into them and spear them. Brought to bay like this, they will frequently turn on their assailants, and will snatch their spears from them, and break them, and perhaps also bite off the ends of the men's fingers. But, as a rule, the Soko is not ferocious. They are said to kidnap children and {198}run up the trees with them, and have to be lured down by bananas. When wounded the creature tries to staunch the blood by stuffing leaves into the wound. It lives in communities of about ten, and is monogamous. The female produces occasionally twins. As parents, they are very affectionate towards their offspring, the father relieving the mother of the burden of her young one in dangerous places. Their food consists of wild fruits. At times the _Sokos_ collect together and drum with their fists on the trunks of hollow trees, and accompany this performance with loud yells and screams." "According to the statements of the Niam-niam themselves," says Schweinfurth, "the chase of the Chimpanzee requires a party of twenty or thirty resolute hunters, who have to ascend the trees, which are some eighty feet high, and to clamber after the agile and crafty brutes until they can drive them into the snares prepared beforehand. Once entangled in a net the beasts are without much further difficulty killed by means of spears. However, in some cases, they will defend themselves savagely and with all the fury of despair. Driven by the hunter into a corner, they are said to wrest the lances from the men's hands and to make good use of them against the adversary. Nothing was more to be dreaded than being bitten by their tremendous fangs." The stories as to their carrying off young girls, and constructing nests are pure fabrications, according to Schweinfurth. Its name among the Niam-niam is "Ranya." "The life which the Ranya leads is very much like what is led by the Orang-Utan in Borneo, and is spent almost entirely in the trees, the woods on the river banks being the chief resort of the animals.... Like the Gorillas, they are not found in herds, but either in pairs, or even quite alone, and it is only the young which occasionally may be seen in groups." PLATE XLI. [Illustration: THE BALD CHIMPANZEE.] {199}II. THE BALD CHIMPANZEE. ANTHROPOPITHECUS CALVUS.