There I met a Mr. Bushnel, an American missionary from the Gaboon River, on the western coast of Africa.

The markets most frequented by the English and American separate traders lay on the great middle stretches of the coastSierra Leone, the Grain Coast (Liberia), the Ivory, Gold and Slave Coasts, the Oil Rivers as the Niger Delta was then called, Cameroon, Gaboon and Loango.

" The "kingdom of Gaboon," which straddled the equator, was the worst reputed of all.

From this it would appear that most of the so-called Gaboons must have been in reality Pygmies caught in the inland equatorial forests, for Bosman, who traded among the Gaboons, merely inveighed against their garrulity, their indecision, their gullibility and their fondness for strong drink, while as to their physique he observed: "they are mostly large, robust well shaped men."

From this it would appear that most of the so-called Gaboons must have been in reality Pygmies caught in the inland equatorial forests, for Bosman, who traded among the Gaboons, merely inveighed against their garrulity, their indecision, their gullibility and their fondness for strong drink, while as to their physique he observed: "they are mostly large, robust well shaped men."

Regarding the Mpongwe of the Gaboon, Burton says: "Polygamy is, of course, the order of the day; it is a necessity to the men, and even the women disdain to marry a 'one-wifer.'"

The Mpongwe of the Gaboon River send out their wiveswith a club if necessaryto earn the wages of shame (Campiègne, 192).

FANS, an aboriginal tribe dwelling between the Gaboon and Ogoway Rivers, in western equatorial Africa; are brave and intelligent, and of good physique, but are addicted to cannibalism.