Litchfield enquirer., 1875-02-25
THE soKos ATH DE. ErvrosFoNE's eoRH11LAs. <

In his Last Journals Dr. Livingstone, while in camp, makes somewhat extend cd entry to give the following interesting account of the sokos which he saw and heard of :-
 Four gorrillas, or sokos, were killed yesterday, August 24th, 1869; an extensive gTass-burning forced them out of then usual hai1nk coming on the plain, tl1ey were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand on the head ,as if to steady the body. When seen thus, the soko is an ungainly beast. The most sentimen- tai young lady would not call him a ''dear," but bandy legged, pot bellied, low looking villain, without particle of the gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the antelopes, are graceful, and it is pleasant to seq them, either at rest or in motion; the natives also are we'll made, 1.-the and comedy to behold; but the soko, if large, would do well to stand for Q picture of the devil. He takes away my appetite by his disgusting beastuality of appearance. His light yellow face shows of his ugly whiskers and faint apol- Ogy for beard; the forehead, villainous-, ly low, with high ears, is we'll in the back ground of the great dog mouth; the teeth are slightly human, but the canines show the beast by their large development. The hands, or rather fingers, are like those of tine natives. The flesh of the feet is yellow, and the eagerness with which the Manyuema devnur it leaves the impression that eating sokos was the first stage by which they arrived at being can ibals: they say the flesh is delicious. The soko is represented by some to be extreme ly knowing, successfully stalking men and women while at their work kidnapping children and running up trees with them: he seems amused by the sight of the young native in his arms, but comes down when tempted by bunch of bananas, and, as he lifts that, drops the child: the young sOko in such case would cling close to the armpit of the elder One man was cutting out honey from a tree, and naked, when a soko suddenly appeared and caught him, and then let him go. Another man was huRting, and missed in his attempt to stab a soko: it siezed the spear and broke it, then grappled with the man, who called to his companions. ''Soko has caught me-" the soko bit of the ends of hia fingers and escaped unharmed. Both men are now alive at Bambarre.
 The soko is so cunning and has such sharp eyes, that no one can stalk him in front without being seen; hence, when shot, it Is always in the back; when sur rounded by men and nets, he is generally speared in the back too: otherwise he is not a very formidable beast: he is nothing as compared in power of damaging his assaiIant, to leopard or lion, but is more like a man unarmed, for it does not occur to him to use his canine teeth, which are long and formidable. Numbers of AhaRva dnxvu Ix,f ho hundred yards of our camp, and would be unknown but for giving tongue like fox hounds: this is their nearest approach to speech. A man hoeing was stalked by a soko and seized; he roared out, but the soko giggled and grinned, and left h1m as If he had done it in play. A child caught up by a soko is often abused by being pInched and scratched and let fall.
 The soko kills the leopard occasionally by seizing both paws and biting them so as to disable them; he then goes up a tree and groans over his wounds, and sometimes recovers, while the leopord dies; at other times both soko and leop- ard die. The lion kills him at once, and sometimes tears his limbs off, but does not eat him. The soko eats no flesh; small bananas are his daint1es, but not maize. His food consists of wild fruits, which abound: one, ,stafene, or Manyuema man. wa, is like large sweet sop but indifferent Tn taste and flesh. The soko brings forth at times twins. A very large soko was seen by Mohamad's s hunters sitting pick ing his naIls: they tried to stalk him but he vanished. Some Manyuema think that their buried dead rise as sokos, and one was killed with holes in his ears, as if he had been a man. He is very strong, and fears guns, but not spears he never catches women.
 Sokos collect together, and make a drumming noise, some say with hollow trees. then burst forth into loud yells, which are we'll initiated by the natives embryonic music. If man has no spear he goes away satisfied; but If wounded, he seizes the wrist, lops off the fingers. and spits them out, slaps the cheeks of his victim, and bites withour breaking the akin: he draws out the spear Out never uses it), and takes some leaves and stuffs them into his wound to staunch the blood: he does not wish an encounter with an armed man. He sees women do him no harm and never molests them: a man without spear is nearly safe from him. They beat hollow trees as drums with hands, s'and then scream as music to it:when men hear them, they go to the sokos, but sokOs never go to men with hostility. Manyuema say, "SOko is a man, and nothing bad in him."
 They live in communities of about ten, each having his own female: an intruder from another camp is beaten off with their fists and loud yells. If one tries to seize the female of another, he is caught on the ground, and all unite in boxing and bit tug the offender. A male often carries a child, especially if they are passing from one patch of forest to another over a gras- sy space: he then gives it to the mother.