18 THE GORILLA. 



in other large apes, but the object of so curious a disposition is not yet known. One reason 

 for this arrangement of the hair, may be that if their long hairs were to hang along the arm 

 and wrist, they would get into the hand, and interfere with the grasp, while by their reverted 

 growth such an embarrassment is removed. The color of the eye is dark brown, glowing with 

 a baleful emerald light, when the fierce passions are roused. 



It will be seen, on referring to the two engravings, which represent the skeleton of this 

 animal, and the living creature itself, that the paws of the four extremities are not precisely 

 alike in their development. On the two fore-paws, the fingers are enormous, the thumbs being 

 comparatively trifling in dimensions ; while the corresponding members of the hinder paws 

 are just reversed in their size. The figure of the Gorilla, opposite, marks these peculiarities 

 with great fidelity, and in the action of the creature shows the reason for the extraordinary 

 and gigantic thumbs of the hinder limbs. 



As to the size of a full grown Gorilla, accounts vary much. The specimen which is best 

 known in England is five feet six inches high, when placed erect. From shoulder to shoulder 

 it measures nearly three feet, while the body is only two feet four inches, measured from the 

 hip-joint. It is possible, however, that there may be much larger individuals. Independent, 

 however, of the impression made on the minds of the spectators by the sight of an infuriated 

 animal, it is a fact that the feeling of anger does dilate the form, whether of man or beast. 

 And as one effect of anger is to cause the hair to bristle up (as indeed is seen familiarly in 

 dogs, cats, and other animals), the ape while under the influence of that fiery rage to which 

 these animals are so subject, would in reality present a larger outline than if it were calmly 

 engaged in its usual pursuits. Six, or even seven feet of height* have been attributed to 

 these creatures. But it must be remembered that a wild, fierce animal always looks very 

 much larger when living and in motion, than when lying dead and still on the ground, or even 

 "set up" in a museum, with glass eyes, and straw-distended skin. Elephants of sixteen feet 

 high, have shrunk to eleven and ten feet under the application of the measuring rod, and it is 

 proverbial among anglers, that the fish which they do not catch, are finer and heavier than 

 those which they can subject to scales and foot-measure. So it is likely enough, that a wild 

 and savage Gorilla, with his fury -flashing eyes, his fierce gestures, and enormous arms, would 

 impress the mind of his opponent with an idea of a very much larger animal. It is not only 

 upon Gadshill that two men in buckram multiply unto eleven. 



But granting that the Gorilla does not attain to any much greater height than five feet, 

 even then it is an animal much to be dreaded as an enemy, and capable of doing vast mischief, 

 if so inclined. But it is a most merciful provision, and one that seems to be universal among 

 creatures of such a stamp, that in proportion as their bodily powers increase, their mental 

 powers degenerate. The larger apes are, in their period of childhood, so to speak, teachable 

 and tolerably docile ; while when they attain to years of maturity, the animal attributes 

 assume strength, gradually gain dominion over the mental, until at last the reasoning capaci- 

 ties seem to degenerate into a mere contracted cunning. 



It seems that this degeneration is intended to prevent the animal from passing beyond the 

 bounds to which it is confined, and by the very laws of its being to prevent it from using its 

 vast strength for bad purposes. The ape evidently does not know his strength, nor how terrible 

 an enemy he could be, if he only knew how to use the singular power and activity which he 

 possesses. These huge apes seem to live apart from each other, and not to band together in 

 large herds as do the baboons and other quadrumanous animals. If they were to unite, and to 

 understand the principle of combination, they could speedily depopulate any country that 

 was inhabited by men who were not possessed of fire-arms, and were unable to construct 

 defences. 



But, fortunately for those human beings who are within reach of these terrible animals, i 

 the adult ape is one of the most dull and stupid creatures imaginable : sulky, ferocious, and 

 given solely to its own animal appetites. 



Here is a sketch of one of the lowest and least developed of human beings, probably the 

 very lowest of the human race. This little man, who belongs to the same country as the Go- 

 rilla, hardly attains even to the same stature, and in muscular proportions is a very pigmy. 



