Ngoloko

Ngoloko is a supernatural being of the crypto-hominid form, described as a one-eyed male demon or jinn that lives in the bush, feeding on blood and honey, the former which he draws from victims by cutting their throats with a long middle finger, as well as buffalo milk and meat, which it herds.

The Ngoloko


"Of the devils who live in solitary places, the two chief are the Ngoloko and the Komazi. The Ngoloko is a male demon, with one eye and two hands, of which one arm is very long, and the other very short. On the middle finger is an enormous nail, with which he kills people by clutching the throat. He has one leg like a man and the other like a donkey, while his ears are also like a donkey's. He lives in the bush, feeds on blood and honey, and has female buffaloes as wives. The Ngoloko sometimes assumes the form of a man, and if he meets anyone asks and gives the news, and then seizes his victim all unawares."



"'Originally the Ngoloko was a good spirit, and lived with all the others in friendliness and happiness; but one day it did something wrong, so it was chased away and taken up to heaven. After a time it was driven down again by shooting-stars, and appeared on earth as a Milhoi, to be shunned by all. That is why the creature lives an isolated life away in the forests and mangrove swamps, and is comparatively seldom met with. When it lies down it sweeps a place clean, it feeds on honey and drinks blood, herds the buffaloes and drinks their milk, or kills them and eats them as it thinks fit. It smells worse than a lion, and any one who has skinned the latter is not likely to forget what that is like. It will change its form so as to enable it to approach its victim, and will speak any language under the sun.' 'I saw that he kept one arm hidden behind his back, and that the hand of the other terminated in a great hook. He was clothed, and had a gourd slung close under an arm. His hair was of a reddish-yellow colour and fell back from his head in a wild tangle as far as his waist. His own colour was that of an ordinary man (a native). His face was that of a human being, but broad. He had a large thumb on each foot.' (1) The animal is a biped. (2) The print had been made by a pad and not by a hoof, except that, at the point, a deep and sharp hole demonstrated the presence of a large nail or single claw. (3) A thumb - mark of considerable dimensions was a special feature; there was no trace of toes, except in one case, where very slight indentations by such seemed to have been made. (4) A heel was observed; but the weight of the animal was usually cast forward on to the main portion of the foot and thumb. (5) Its weight was judged to be at least twice that of an average man, and probably more. (6) A certain part of the spoor showed the animal to be walking very slowly; there the stride measured eighteen inches from tip of the toe of one foot to the heel of the other. It had also taken several gambols at one place, and crossed his legs when doing so. When travelling at what I should imagine to be a jog-trot, the stride measured eight feet; two strides were found to be nine feet; whilst a considerably greater distance, it is presumed, could be covered when at top speed or jumping. 'It was a male, about eight feet in height, and in breadth just about the same as two ordinary men standing together. He was covered with a great mass of long, thick, grey hair. It was especially long over the head and upper portions of the body, a single hair being quite a yard in length. He was built like a man, but he was no child of Adam. He had but one finger and one thumb on his hand, the former terminating in a single hooked claw 2 or 3 inches long. The foot possessed a very large prehensile thumb and three toes, one ending, as in the hand, in a great claw. The face was hairless, displaying a dark skin. Nose very prominent and with two nostrils. The mouth was small, but larger than a man's; and the teeth were big. His ears resembled those of an elephant, and were each about the size of my two hands fully extended when holding the wrists together. The cheek bones were prominent. Forehead low and retreating, like a leopard's. Chin likewise, I did not notice the colour of the eyes, which were big. The eyelashes joined on to the hair round about the face; I did not look at them particularly. The smell was awful, and about ten times as strong as a he-goat.' We may conclude, then, that the Ngoloko or Milhoi is probably a variety of gorilla or chimpanzee, but more of a pure biped than either, that it is about eight feet in height, and has a mass of grey hair which is especially long about the head and upper body, elephantine ears, a retreating forehead and chin, large eyes, a single claw — 2 to 3 inches long — on hands and feet, as well as a prehensile thumb, also on both hands and feet, of remarkable size and strength. Such is the Ngoloko as we can fairly reasonably picture him — a carnivorous denizen of the forest and man grove swamps — a big and hideous brute, which one would, if alone and unarmed, have no particular ambition to meet."