HANNO'S WILD MEN. 257 



era, one Hanno is reported to have sailed from Carthage, 

 through the Pillars of Hercules, on a voyage of exploration 

 along the coast of Africa. In the record of this voyage 

 there occurs the following passage : — " Passing the Streams 

 of Fire, we came to a bay called the Horn of the South. 

 In the recess there was an island like the iirst, having a 

 lake, and in this there was another island full of wild 

 men. But much the greater part of them were women, 

 with hairy bodies, whom the interpreters called ' Gorillas.' 

 But pursuing them, we were not able to take the men ; 

 they all escaped, being able to clhnb the precipices; 

 and defended themselves with pieces of rock. But 

 three women, who bit and scratched those who led them, 

 were not willing to follow. However, having killed them, 

 we flayed them, and conveyed the skins to Carthage; 

 for we did not sail any further, as provisions began to 

 fail.'^* 



The " wild men " of the ancient navigator were doubt- 

 less identical with the great anthropoid ape lately re-dis- 

 covered, to which, in allusion to the old story, the name 

 of Gorilla has been given. The region in question is a 

 richly wooded country, extending about a thousand miles 

 alono' the coast from the Gulf of Guinea southward ; and 

 as the gorilla is not found beyond these limits, so w^e may 

 pretty conclusively infer that the extreme point of Hanno 

 was somewhere in this region. 



This great ape makes the nearest approach of any brute- 

 animal to the human form ; it is fully equal to man in 



* Penplus. 

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