I THE GORILLA. 71 



Bearing in mind what is known regarding the 

 Orang and the Gibbon, the statements of Dr. 

 Savage and Mr. Ford do not appear to me to be 

 justly open to criticism on a priori grounds. The 

 Gibbons, as we have seen, readily assume the erect 

 posture, but the Gorilla is far better fitted by its 

 organization for that attitude than are the Gib- 

 bons: if the laryngeal pouches of the Gibbons, as 

 is very likely, are important in giving volume 

 to a voice which can be heard for half a league, 

 the Gorilla, which has similar sacs, more largely 

 developed, and whose bulk is fivefold that of a 

 Gibbon, may well "be audible for twice that dis- 

 tance. If the Orang fights with its hands, the 

 Gibbons and Chimpanzees with the teeth, the 

 Gorilla may, probably enough, do either or both; 

 nor is there anything to be said against either 

 Chimpanzee or Gorilla building a nest, when it is 

 proved that the Orang-Utan habitually performs 

 that feat. 



With all this evidence, now ten to fifteen years 

 old, before the world, it is not a little surprising 

 that the assertions of a recent traveller, who, so 

 far as the Gorilla is concerned, really does very 

 little more than repeat, on his own authority, the 

 statements of Savage and of Ford, should have met 

 with so much and such bitter opposition. If sub- 

 traction be made of what was known before, the 

 sum and substance of what M. Du Chaillu has 

 affirmed as a matter of his own observation 



