King Mombo [Illustration: “_These ... inquired if we wanted to barter for ivory with them_”] King Mombo By Paul Du Chaillu Author of “The World of the Great Forest,” “The Viking Age,” “The Land of the Long Night,” “Ivar the Viking,” “The Land of the Midnight Sun,” “Explorations in Equatorial Africa,” “Stories of the Gorilla Country,” “Wild Life under the Equator,” “Lost in the Jungle,” “My Apingi Kingdom,” “The Country of the Dwarfs,” etc., etc. _Illustrated by Victor Perard_ London John Murray 1902 Copyright, 1902, by Charles Scribner’s Sons, for the United States of America. Printed at The University Press, John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. _TO_ _SOLOMON SOLIS COHEN, M.D._ _Philadelphia_ _MY DEAR SOLIS,—Looking back through the vista of years, and remembering your solicitude when I came to you broken in health, and the care, professional and other, through which your affection and skill restored me to health and permitted the resumption of my literary labors, my heart overflows. I take great pleasure in dedicating this volume to you as a partial evidence of the gratitude and brotherly affection of_ _Ever your firm friend_, _PAUL DU CHAILLU_. _New York, June 19, 1901._ Contents CHAPTER I PAGE I leave New York for Africa—Narrow quarters on the schooner—Our cargo—Out of sight of land—The sea and all that therein is—A storm brewing 1 CHAPTER II A storm at sea—A tempest-tossed little bird—Fine weather again—Fight between a swordfish and a whale 10 CHAPTER III The Sargasso Sea—The northeast trade-winds—Dolphins and bonitas—New stars come into view 17 CHAPTER IV The “Doldrums”—Fierce heat of the sun—Strong local currents—The southwest trade-winds—Huge sharks all around us 22 CHAPTER V Crossing the equator—The southeast trade-winds—The equatorial current—The Gulf Stream—Struck by a tornado—Land in sight—Africa at last—The great forest 28 CHAPTER VI