Produced by Peter Vachuska, Chuck Greif, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net The Land of the Long Night [Illustration: Your Friend, Paul Du Chaillu] The Land of the Long Night By Paul Du Chaillu Author of "The Viking Age," "Ivar the Viking," "The Land of the Midnight Sun," "Exploration in Equatorial Africa," etc. _Illustrated by M. J. Burns_ New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1901 _Copyright, 1899,_ BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. _TO_ _EX-CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES P. DALY_ _As I write this dedication, dear Judge Daly, a flood of recollections comes over me of unbroken friendship and great kindness on your part and that of your wife, whose memory I venerate and cherish. This friendship has never faltered for a moment, but has grown stronger and stronger as the years have rolled by. Fortunate is the man who wins for himself two such friends! I have never ceased to remember the warm interest you and your noble-hearted wife took from the first in my explorations in Africa. I can only give you in return love and devotion for all the kindness I have experienced at your hands._ _Your devoted friend,_ _PAUL DU CHAILLU._ _September 1, 1899._ Introduction MY DEAR YOUNG FOLKS: Friend Paul has led many of you into the great Equatorial Forest of Africa. We met there many strange and wild tribes of men, and lived among cannibals and dwarfs or pygmies. We hunted together, and killed many elephants, fierce gorillas, leopards, huge crocodiles, hippopotami, buffalos, antelopes, strange-looking monkeys, wonderful chimpanzees of different varieties,--some of them white, others yellow or black,--and many other kinds of animals. In this book I am going to take you to a very different part of the world. I am going to lead you towards the far North, to "The Land of the Long Night,"--a land where during a part of the year the sun is not seen, for it does not rise above the horizon, and in some parts of the country does not show itself for sixty-seven days, during which time the moon, stars, and the aurora borealis take its place. "The Land of the Long Night" is a land of darkness, of snow, of wind, and at times of intense cold; and we shall have a long journey before us, and shall have to change horses and vehicles at many post stations, and at those places we shall get meals and lodgings.