PAGE SHOOTING A LEOPARD _Frontispiece._ THE ROYAL CANOE 15 THE MANGA 25 THE MPANO 29 FELLING EBONY-TREES 31 BRINGING IN THE WOUNDED 43 WATCHING BIRDS AND MONKEYS 57 SHOOTING THE NEW ANTELOPE 66 QUERLAOUEN AND HIS IDOL 78 CAUGHT BY JACK 82 GORILLA SLEEPING 85 CATCHING THE OGOMBONS 90 BIT BY A SPIDER 99 DEATH OF THE BULL ELEPHANT 111 GUANIONIEN CARRYING OFF A MONDI 122 GAMBO'S FRIEND KILLED BY A GORILLA 133 BIDDING GOOD-BY TO QUENGUEZA 147 "CHALLY, CHALLY, DO NOT LET ME DIE" 155 THE SONGS TO ILOGO 163 GIVING BEADS TO QUERLAOUEN'S WIFE 173 GOING TO ASHIRA LAND 177 RECEPTION OF THE KING OF THE ASHIRAS 186 THE KENDO 189 DRINKING PLANTAIN BEER 193 ATTACK ON THE WILD BOARS 201 AN ASHIRA IDOL 202 CROSSING THE OVIGUI RIVER 222 THE ELEPHANT-TRAP 233 THE MUSIC-BOX 243 OKABI AND THE LEOPARD 252 MY HOUSEKEEPER 256 LOST IN THE JUNGLE. CHAPTER I. PAUL'S LETTER TO HIS YOUNG FRIENDS, IN WHICH HE PREPARES THEM FOR BEING "LOST IN THE JUNGLE." My dear Young Folks,--In the first book which I wrote for you, we traveled together through the Gorilla Country, and saw not only the gigantic apes, but also the cannibal tribes which eat men. In the second book we continued our hunting, and met leopards, elephants, hippopotami, wild boars, great serpents, etc., etc. We were stung and chased by the fierce Bashikouay ants, and plagued by flies. Last spring, your friend Paul, not satisfied with writing for young folks, took it into his head to lecture before them. When I mentioned the subject to my acquaintances, many of them laughed at the notion of my lecturing to you, and a few remarked, "This is another of your queer notions." I did not see it!!! I thought I would try. Thousands of young folks came to your friend Paul's lectures in Boston, Brooklyn, and New York; not only did my young friends come, but a great many old folks were also seen among them. The intelligent, eager faces of his young hearers, their sparkling eyes, spoke to him more eloquently than words could do, and told him that he had done well to go into the great jungle of Equatorial Africa, and that they liked to hear what he had done and what he had seen. When he asked the girls and boys of New York if he should write more books for them, the tremendous cheers and hurrahs they gave him in reply told him that he had better go to work.