THE MAl^^-LIKE APES. 



63 



giving the body a half jumping half swinging motion 

 between them. In this act it is said not to flex the lin- 

 gers, as does the Chim- 

 panzee, resting on its 

 knuckles, but to extend 

 them, making a fulcrum 

 of the hand. When it 

 assumes the walking pos- 

 ture, to which it is said 

 to be much inclined, it 

 balances its huge body 

 by flexing its arms up- 



1 Fig. 11. — Gorilla walking (after Wolff.) 



They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the. 

 Chimpanzees : the females generally exceed the other sex 

 in number. My informants all agree in the assertion that 

 but one adult male is seen in a band ; that when the 

 young males grow up, a contest takes place for mastery, 

 and the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, 

 establishes himself as the head of the community." 



Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas 

 carrying off women and vanquishing elephants, and then 

 adds — 



" Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar 

 to those of the Chimpanzee, consisting simply" of a few 

 sticks and leafy branches, supported by the crotches and 

 limbs of trees : they afford no shelter, and are occupied 

 only at night. 



" They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offensive 

 in their habits, never running from man, as does the Chim- 

 panzee. They are objects of terror to the natives, and are 

 never encountered by them except on the defensive. The 

 few that have been captured were killed by elephant- 



