428 MEASUREMENTS OF SKELETON OF T. GORILLA. Inches. Width of the face, measured at the molar protuberances.................. 64 Depth of the eye-socket to the optic foramen 2급 Greatest length of the face, measured in a straight line from the summit of the orbital ridge to the lowest point of the chin................ Distance from the base of the nose to the top of the orbital ridge on the median line.......... 71 Distance from do. to the outer angle of do......... Distance on the median line from the middle incisor of the upper 71 14 Distance from the posterior margin of that opening to the lateral termination of the occipital crest.. Distance on the median line, measured from the middle incisor of the upper jaw across the spinal opening to the outer point of the occipital crest. Transverse diameter of the base of the skull from the mastoid protuberances........... Length of the occipital crest on its summit Greatest height of this crest, measured perpendicularly from the surface of the skull..... Length of the median crest on the top of the skull.. Distance from the summit of the orbital ridge to the point of junction of the crests on the occiput...... (Measured from the highest points of the orbital ridge and the occip- Lateral diameter of the space beneath the zygomatic arches... 124 6 11 1 5 7 11 2 21 Length of Spinal Column. Length of the cervical vertebræ .... 42 66 from first dorsal vertebra to extremity of the sacrum .................................. 211 261 Total length of spine.......... Measurements of Thorax. Add for shrinkage of the intervertebral cartilages (nearly one sixth of total length) Length of the fourth rib, measured from the spine of its vertebra to 41 31 66 of cartilage of the sixth rib to its ensiform articulation (dried).. 47 Pelvis. Greatest breadth of pelvis, from crests of the iliac bones........ Length measured from coracoid process to the inferior extremity of the scapula. 14 61 51 51 12. MEASUREMENTS OF SKELETON OF T. GORILLA. 429 Inches. Circumference of the head of the humerus.............. Greatest diameter of the glenoid cavity....... 81 2 18 Circumference of the humerus in the middle of its shaft......... 66 at the distal articulation, measured around the condyles Length of radius (fore-arm).. 41 9 13 Direct length of ulna......... 15 Length measured on its outward curvature......... 151 Lower Extremities. Length of femur, measured from the round ligament to the lateral margin of tibial articulation. 13 Length measured from summit of the great tuberosity to the lateral margin of tibial articulation....... 144 Length from the round ligament to the superior margin of patella..... 121 61 4급 Greatest circumference of the femur around the two tuberosities........ Length of bones of middle toe from os cuneiformi to extremity of the Greatest length of tibia (perpendicular).. Length of fibula from knee to ankle...... Greatest length of os calcis........ Greatest length of foot, measured on top from tibia to extremity of middle toe.......... 113 10 The Foot. 88 73 toe......... 61 Length of great toe from do........... 41 Greatest length of sole of the foot, measured from posterior extremity of os calcis, in a straight line, to the extremity of the middle toe.... Do. measured in the arch of the foot from do......... The Hand. Length of the hand, from the carpal bones to the extremity of the mid 9 91 The following comparative measurements of the pelvis in the various apes are given in inches and hundredths: 430 THE BAKALAI TRIBE. CHAPTER XXII. The Bakalai.-Extent of Region in which they are met.-Qualities.-Reasons for Intermixture of Tribes.-The Bakalai are Rovers.-Fear of Death.-Old People abandoned.-Treachery.-Case of Retaliation.-Women-palavers.-Arbitration. -A fetich Palaver.-Appearance of the Bakalai.-Property.-Duties of a Wife. -Restrictions on Marriage.-Slaves.-Costume.-Grass-cloth.-Hunters.-Fishing. Great Traders.-Diseases.-Leprosy.-Music. BEFORE resuming the narrative, I think it well to give the reader some account of the Bakalai, the people among whom I had spent now so many months in hunting and exploration. They are one of the most numerous, widely extended, and important tribes I met in Equatorial Africa. From the Muni on the north to the Fernand Vaz on the south, and from the seashore to the Apingi country, I met settlements of Bakalai. To the north they approach the sea-shore, and live on the rivers; but, as I made my way south, I found that they receded from the ocean, and were met farther inland. Their settlements are widely scattered, and they are often found living in independent towns in regions chiefly occupied by other tribes. How far they reach inland I can not tell. To the Ashira they were known as neighbors, and even the Apingi pointed eastward toward the unknown centre of the continent when I inquired for Bakalai. On the Rembo they are so entirely inland people that they did not know much even of the management of canoes. Between the Gaboon and Corisco some of them live on the banks of the rivers, as I have said, and are extraordinary boatmen; but, wherever they are, they are great hunters and traders, and treacherous warriors. The tribes of western Africa are curiously intermixed, as the reader will have seen ere this from the accounts of my wanderings among them. This happens because the most enterprising are always striving to get possession of the rivers, which are the only highways of the country. From these they drive away the weaker tribes, or rather portions of tribes, as on the Ikoi some Bakalai had to desert their towns, where they drove a brisk THEIR ROVING PROPENSITY. 431 trade, because of the jealous rage of other villages of the same tribe who were stronger, and determined to have the trade in their own hands. There is nowhere in this region any ownership in land, so that any family of any tribe has a right to settle on any unoccupied territory, and if there is a dispute it is settled by the strong arm. But one of the peculiar traits of the Bakalai, which distinguishes them from other tribes with whom they are intermixed, is their roving character. They never stay long in one place. A Bakalai village is scarce built-often the plantations have not borne fruit the first time-when they feel impelled to move. Then every thing is abandoned; they gather up what few stores of provisions they may have, and start off, often for great distances, to make with infinite pains a new settlement; which will be abandoned in turn sometimes after a few months; though sometimes they remain a year or two, and even more, in the same place. Thus, on the head-waters of the Gaboon and its tributaries, the favorable position for trade obliges them to remain in the same neighborhood. But even there they shift from one place to another, distant only a mile or two from each other. Many things contribute to this roving tendency, but first of all is their great fear of death. They dread to see a dead person. Their sick, unless they have good and near friends, are often driven out of the village to die in loneliness in the forest. I have twice seen old men thus driven out, nor could I persuade any one to give shelter or comfort to these friendless wretches. Once an old man, poor and naked, lean as death himself, and barely able to walk, hobbled into a Bakalai village where I was staying. Seeing me, the poor old fellow came to beg some tobacco-their most cherished solace. I asked him where he was going. "I don't know." "Where are you from?" He mentioned a village a few miles off. "Have you no friends there?" "None." "No son, no daughter, no brother, no sister?" "None." "You are sick?" "They drove me away for that." 432 REMOVAL OF VILLAGES. "What will you do?" "Die." A few women came up to him and gave him water and a little food. But the men saw death in his eyes. They drove him away. He went sadly, as though knowing and submitting to his fate. A few days after his poor lean body was found in the wood. His troubles were ended. When a man dies in a Bakalai village the stability of that settlement has received a violent shock. If a second dies, then the people at once move away. They think the place bewitched; they fancy death, dreaded death, stalking in their midst. A doctor is called, who goes through his incantations, and some poor wretch is condemned to drink the mboundou. Often several friendless creatures are accused and condemned in a breath, and murdered in cold blood. Then the village is broken up; the people set out again upon their wanderings, and fix upon some lonely spot for new plantations and a new home. It is as though they were all their lives vainly fleeing from the dread face of death. This, indeed, is the refrain of all their sad songs, the burden of every fear. Having little else to lose, they seem to dread, more than any other people I ever saw, the loss of life. And no wonder; for after death is to them nothing. "Death is the end." "Now we live; by-and-by we shall die; then we shall be no more." "He is gone; we shall never see him more; we shall never shake his hand again; we shall never hear him laugh again." This is the dolorous burden of their evening and morning songs. And yet, by a strange contradiction, they are extravagantly superstitious. Believing that there is no life beyond this, they yet fancy a ghost or spirit in every moving tree or bush after night, and in the twilight hour are sometimes overpowered with an undefinable dread, which makes them fear to come even outside their huts. Another cause of fear is their treacherous and quarrelsome disposition. They are constantly quarreling with their neighbors. I have already explained the singular ideas they have of retaliation. Once I was in a village, when, on a sudden, I heard great wailing among the women. I found that two women had been killed by some persons unseen, while they were standing in |