Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-08-18
evidently looked upon as his own do

main. When I arrived he took pos
session of me, and on my leaving
two days afterward the white official
persuaded me to let him accompany
me. But, unfortunately. he was all
ing at the time and the long marches
proved too much for him. Later,
in the same part Of my journey,
noticed one day a large chimpanzee
continually appearing and disappear
Ing in the thick underground along
my route. My gun bearer was most
anxious to shoot him. but I would
not allow it. All that day we never
lost sight of him for long, and when
I came to start next morning from
the village in which I had camped
I learned from the natives that he
had been hanging about all night.
The next day he reappeared again,
and although I made a very long
march. when I was sitting over my
evening meal in the veranda Of a
native hut, I saw the old chap In the
plantations. A violent tornado came
on, and without the smallest hesita-
ton he approached the other end Of
the veranda and took shelter, watch
ing me suspiciously the whole time.
At first I could not make the
smallest movement without his dart
ing away, only to return a few mo-
ments later, however, when he found
that no harm was intended. With
the help Of bananas and bread and
marmalade I gradually won his con-
fidence, and although he vanished
when I started to retire for the night,
I was awakened some hours later
by a terrible disturbance. and run
ming from my tent in front Of which
I had dined, found that he had over
turned the table, and in his alarm
was busy smashing everything break
able in my baggage. I found him
leaping about in a chaotic wreck OF
broken crockery and overturned pro-
visions, hurting anything from my
field glasses to bananas at the crowd
Of alarmed natives which was
clustered about the entrance Of the
hut. With the utmost difficulty, and
with the cost Of a serious bite In
the hand to one of my boys. I sue
ceeded in capturing him: took him
into my tent and gradually pacified
him.
From that moment old Zokomoto
was my inseparable companion, and
in vain tried in various state sta
tions at which I touched subsequent
ly, shutting him up in my room when
I went out. 1t was all to no purpose.
He would always discover a means
of escape and would invariably find
me. He had no regard for persons,
and would with equanimity Invade
the mess kitchen or the private office
of the provincial governor, as the
case might be. If I tried to leave
him even for a few moments he
would howl and cry like baby.
At night he slept In a chair In my
tent, and II my boy forgot to put
him a rug he would open my mos
quito nets and steal one of my
blankets, close the nets again and re-
tire. In a comparatively few days he
had learned to sit up at the table. to
drink out Of a cup, to shake hands,
and to obey almost any ordinary in
structions which 1 gave him, even
though they were expressed In vari-
Gus forms. He did everything, In
fact, except talk; his nearest ap-
proach to this was the extraordinarily
Iexpressive intonation which he used
when I had occasion to reprove him
or refuse to let him sit on my knee
| or come with me; 1t might well
have been a human being arguing
out the matter in a foreign tongue,
The poor old chap fell Ill with
eczema when I was on my way down
country, and I left him with a doc
tor, who most kindly undertook to
treat him, but, alas! on the steamer
on which he was subsequently sent
down to meet me at the coast 1t was
necessary for him to be closely con-
fined and there was no one to look
after him properly. He pined and
fell Ill of this unaccustomed neg
lect, and only survived reaching
Leopoldsville by a day or two. In
a country where intercourse with
ones fellows is limited, and the mo-
notonous loneliness Of ones life
strikes deeply into the soul, the
Friendship of Kokomoto. his devotion
and his personal affection were things
to be priced highly. He was my
companion and friend and I feel that
owe him a deep debt of gratitude
for his almost human companion
ship.-Lord Mountmorres, in London
Globe.