The Basenji University

104 Basenjis in Africa

Kinte Cloth

This is a sampling of books with some information about Basenjis in their native habitat. These old books are the ones that help us learn how the Basenji originally lived in Africa and how the breed was used in hunting.

Allan, Doug, 1962, Facing Danger in the Last Wilderness, Rolton House, 214 pages.

          Facing Danger in the Last Wilderness     Fabulous Congo     African Giatn: The Story of a Journey     

Ash, Edward C., 1927, Dogs: Their History and Development, E. Benn, Limited, 778 pages.

Bellotti, Felice, 1954, Fabulous Congo, Andrew Dakers. Ltd., 22 pages, translated from Italian, digitised. 

Cloete, Stuart, 1955, The African Giant: The Story of a Journey, Houghton Mifflin, 400 pages, digitised.         

Denis, Michalea, 1955, Leopard in My Lap, Messner, 252 pages, digitised.

          Leoaprd in My Lap      Children of the Forest      The Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa

Duffy, Kevin, 1984, Children of the Forest: Africa's Mbuti Pygmies, Dodd, Mead, 177 pages. Unfortunately only a small mention of dogs.

Epstein, Hellmut and Mason, Ian Lauder, 1971, The Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa, Volume 1, Africana Pub. Corp., (illustrated and revised), 719 pages, digitised.

de Bylandt Henri comte, 1905, Dogs of All Nations, Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner & Company, reference to Terrier du Congo Belge.

Fiennes, Richard and Fiennes, Alice, 1970,The Natural History of Dogs, American Museum of Natural History by the Natural History Press, 237 pages.

Gaisseau,Pierre-Dominique, 1954, The Sacred Forest: Magic and Secret Rites in French Guinea, Knopf, 247 pages, translated from French.

          The Sacred Forest     Congo Kitabu     Pygmy Kitabu    The Genius of Dogs

Hallet, Jean-Pierre, 1964, Congo Kitabu, Random House, 436 pages, digitised.

Hallet, Jean-Pierre and Pelle, Alex, 1973, Pygmy Kitabu, Random House, 496 pages, digitised.

Hare, Brian and Woods, Vanessa, 2013, The Genius of Dogs, Dutton Adult, (Penguin Group), 384 pages. In an interesting book of new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets, one chapter offers a glimpse of the travels of a group of basenji fanciers to obtain new basenji foundation stock from Africa.

Hausman, Gerald, 2001, Dogs of Myth: Tales from Around the World, Scholastic, 83 pages.

          Dog of Myth: Tales from Around the World      Land and Peoples of the Kasai     Mboka: A Cong Memoir  Adventures in West Africa   Mboka: A Cong Memoir

Hilton-Simpson, Melville W., 1910, Land and Peoples of the Kasai, first published Royal Geographical Society, London, reissued many times and digitised.

Ingersoll, Ernest, 1958, Explorers Journal, Volumes 36-39, "A Basenji from the Ituri, Manusript from Walter Philo", Explorers Club. Walter Philo was an early American Basenji fancier.

Kenney, Lona B., 1972, Mboka: a Congo Memoir,Crown Publisher, 264 pages, digitised, cover title is Mboka, The Way of Life in a Congo Village.

Kingsley, Mary, 1897, Travels in West Africa, Republished 1997 by Adventure Library and in 2002 by National Geographic; Reprint Edition, 320 pages. She went exploring in 1893 visiting the Fan tribe (supposed cannibals) on the Rembwe River and describes the beautiful nets the Fans made in which they catch little tiny gazelles called Ncheri, men and women together with their trained dogs which have a bells hung around their necks driving the little deer into nets

Leach, Maria, 1961, God Had A Dog, Rutgers University Press, 544 pages, digitised. Includes a legend of the Nyanga people of the Belgian Congo with the dog as fire bringer.

Leakey, Louis B, 1969, Animals of East Africa,National Geographic Society, 199 pages, juvenile non-fiction.

Leighton, Robert, 1907, The New Book of the Dog, Forgotten Books (Classic Reprint Series), 624 pages, references to Congo Terrier.

Menzel, Rudolfine , 1960, Pariahunde, A. Ziemsen, 84 pages.

Myers, Rev. J. B., 1895, The Congo for Christ: the Story of the Congo Mission, S.W. Partridge & Co., 163 pages.

         Congo for Christ     Among Congo Pigmies              

Nolen, Barbara, Editor, 1967, Africa is People, Dutton, 270 pages.

Quamman, David, 1988, The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, Anchor Books, 302 pages. A brief mention "From the Congo jungle comes an ancient domestic dog breed known as the basenji that also, bless its very soul, ... Basenjis were highly valued for their discretion by the Pygmies, who used them for hunting antelope in the Ituri forest."

Riddle, Maxwell, 1987, Dogs Through History, Denlinger's Publishers, 192 pages, digitised. Google found 5 references to Basenji.

Schebesta, Paul, 1932, Among Congo Pigmies, Hutchinson, 287 pages, 4 editions published between 1932 and 1977 in German and English. There is My Pygmy and Negro Hosts that may be the same book reissued.

               Im Herzen von Afrika     Im Herzen von Afrika     The Forest People

Schweinfurth, Georg, 1878, Im Herzen von Afrika, F. A. Brockhaus, 518 pages, Oxford University, The Heart of Africa, translated from German, Oxford Press, digitised.

Trefflich, Henry and Kendrick, Baynard, 1954, They Never Talk Back, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 246 pages. Google found 3 references to Basenji in this book. Reprinted by Cornell Univeristy in 2009.

Trefflich, Henry and Anthony, Edward, 1967, Jungle for Sale, Hawthorne Books, 283 pages. Trefflich was the importer of foundation Basenjis Kindu and Kasenyi and there is a section on them as well as his collections in Africa.

Turnbull, Colin M., 1961, The Forest People, Chatto & Windus, London.295 pages, reissued many times.

            Infini Congo    African Beginnings     African Beginnings Title     Efe Pygmies

Turconi, Angelo, 2010, Infini Congo, Silvana, 399 pages, in Italian. There are two very handsome photos of Basenjis in their home settings.

Vlahos, Olivia, 1967, African Beginnings, Viking Press, 286 pages.

Wheeler, William F, 2000, Efe Pygmies: Archers of the African Rain Forest, Rizzoli, 192 pages.


Copyright the Basenji Club of America 2010                                                   CLICK to return to Books to Find

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