specimens, which have been brought to England,
render them highly probable. One of the earliest,
and at the same time most sober of these accounts,
is that of Andrew Battel, an Englishman, who was
taken prisoner by the Portuguese in 1589, and
sent by them to Angola, where he spent many
years. In his narrative, published in "Purchas’s Pilgrims," says, "There are two kinds of monsters common to the woods of Angola: the largest
of them is called Pongo, in their language, and
the other Enjocko. The Pongo is, in all his proportions, like a man (except the legs, which have
no calves); but he is of gigantic height. The face,
hands, and ears of these animals are without hair;
their bodies are covered, but not very thickly,
with hair of a dunnish colour. When they walk
on the ground, it is upright, with the hands on the
nape of the neck. They sleep on trees, and make
a covering over their heads to shelter them from
the rain. They eat no flesh, but feed on nuts and
other fruits; nor have they any understanding
beyond instinct. When the people of the country
travel through the woods, they make fires in the
night, and in the morning; when they are gone,
the Pongos will come and sit round it till it goes
out, for they do not possess sagacity enough to lay
on more wood. ‘They go in bodies, and kill many
negroes, who travel in the woods. When elephants
happen to come and feed where they are, they
will fall on them, and so beat them with their
clubbed fists and sticks, that they are forced to
run away roaring. The grown Pongos are never
taken alive, owing to their strength, which is so
great that ten men cannot hold one of them. The
young hang upon their mother’s belly with their
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MONKEYS.
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