Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/147

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FERNANDO-PO.
115

glades, and to the produce of stock-breeding are added the abundant supplies yielded by the fisheries of the surrounding waters. But the primitive fauna is very poor except in birds, insects, and worms, besides several species of venomous and harmless snakes. The only wild quadruped is a species of antelope, which has taken refuge on the uplands, and is now found only in the vicinity of the higher craters. Formerly three species of monkeys inhabited the woodlands, and

Fig. 44. — Fernando-Po.

most naturalists still think that these quadrumana were indigenous. But although their remains are found in the island, the animals may have been introduced from the continent.

Inhabitants.

According to an ancient tradition, Fernando-Po was formerly inhabited by a