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Thomas Savage is the fact, that the natives in the Gaboon country at the present day, apply to the Chimpanzee a name "Enche-eko" which is obviously identical with the "Engeko" of Battell; a discovery which has been confirmed by all later inquirers.
"Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said to be similar in its arrangement to that of the 'Enche-eko'; with age it becomes grey, which fact has given rise to the report that both animals are seen of different colours.
"'Head'. The prominent features of the head are, the great width and elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large, and said to be like those of the Enche-eko, a bright hazel; nose broad and flat, slightly elevated towards the root; the muzzle broad, and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked, and of a dark brown, approaching to black.
The Mpongwe appellation for its new congener is 'Enge-ena', prolonging the sound of the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second. "The habitat of the 'Enge-ena' is the interior of lower Guinea, whilst that of the 'Enche-eko' is nearer the sea-board.
"HEAD. The prominent features of the head are, the great width and elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large, and said to be like those of the Enche-eko, a bright hazel; nose broad and flat, slightly elevated towards the root; the muzzle broad, and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked, and of a dark brown, approaching to black.
The Mpongwe appellation for its new congener is 'Enge-ena', prolonging the sound of the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second. "The habitat of the 'Enge-ena' is the interior of lower Guinea, whilst that of the 'Enche-eko' is nearer the sea-board.
The justice of this conclusion, indeed, is beyond doubt for not only does the 'Enge-ena' agree with Battell's "greater monster" in its hollow eyes, its great stature, and its dun or iron-grey colour, but the only other man-like Ape which inhabits these latitudes the Chimpanzee is at once identified, by its smaller size, as the "lesser monster," and is excluded from any possibility of being the 'Pongo, by the fact that it is black and not dun, to say nothing of the important circumstance already mentioned that it still retains the name of 'Engeko, or "Enche-eko," by which Battell knew it.
"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption of the word 'Mpongwe', the name of the tribe on the banks of the Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name for the Chimpanzee is 'Enche-eko', as near as it can be Anglicized, from which the common term 'Jocko' probably comes.
"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption of the word 'Mpongwe', the name of the tribe on the banks of the Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name for the Chimpanzee is 'Enche-eko', as near as it can be Anglicized, from which the common term 'Jocko' probably comes.
The justice of this conclusion, indeed, is beyond doubt for not only does the 'Enge-ena' agree with Battell's "greater monster" in its hollow eyes, its great stature, and its dun or iron-grey colour, but the only other man-like Ape which inhabits these latitudes the Chimpanzee is at once identified, by its smaller size, as the "lesser monster," and is excluded from any possibility of being the 'Pongo, by the fact that it is black and not dun, to say nothing of the important circumstance already mentioned that it still retains the name of 'Engeko, or "Enche-eko," by which Battell knew it.
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