June, 1931 



EVOLUTION 



Page five 



was not a large troop, perhaps only three or four, but there 

 was one big male among them, as we knew from the tremen- 

 dous power in the bark he had given. The pygmies were nerv- 

 ous, saying that he would rush at us. We had gone less than 

 three hundred yards from the stream and were still going 

 through dense underbrush when suddenly the rush material- 

 ized with a terrific roar and shriek. The pygmy that was 

 crouched down ahead of me, cutting the vegetation, sprang 



Courtesy American Museum of Natural History 



Pigmy Hunters, who helped Mr. Raven hunt the gorillas, 

 carrying spears and brush-hooks. 



back and raised his spear, while I stood ready to fire. But the 

 gorilla stopped short, and did not come into sight. We con- 

 tinued on the trail and in a short time he rushed at us again. 

 This time he was directly at our left, not ahead of us. Here 

 the forest was a little more open and we could see perhaps 

 ten or fifteen yards, but still he did not come within sight 

 though we could see the vegetation move. 



Finally we started up the slope. One pygmy went ahead of 

 me, holding in one hand his spear and in the other his little 

 sickle. He passed beneath a fallen tree and I had just stooped 

 under this tree when the gorilla, closer than any time before, 

 gave a terrific roar. I was afraid I was going to be caught 

 under the tree but I managed to step forward and raise my- 

 self. As I did so I could see the great bulk of the gorilla above 

 me and coming straight at me. I fired at his head as I might 

 have fired at a bird on the wing. The impact of the bullet 

 knocked him down and I wheeled to the pygmies, yelling at 

 them not to throw their spears. I feared they would spoil my 

 specimen. But they in turn shouted at me, "Shoot! shoot!" The 

 gorilla was not dead. When I looked around he was standing 

 up like a man; it was plain to see that he was stunned. I fired 

 again and he dropped lifeless exactly fifteen feet away. 



This animal was the most magnificent I had ever seen, 

 weighing 460 pounds. He was black and silver-gray, a power- 

 ful, courageous creature, determined to drive off intruders 

 from his domain. Upon closer examination I found this giant 

 primate as clean as could be. The long, shaggy hair on his 

 head and arms was as if combed only five minutes before. The 

 ^ilver-gray hair on his back was short and rather stiff. 



Then came the time for quick action, for the specimen must 

 be embalmed within a few hours. It must be got on to the trail, 

 the trail must be widened from a foot to ten feet up and down 

 steep mountains for about twelve miles. I sent a note to my 

 companions asking them to send more porters. While I ex- 

 amined the fallen gorilla, some of the pygmies were starting to 

 make a bed or framework of sapling on which to carry him. 



By afternoon we had the gorilla out on the trail where I 

 could embalm him. We then wrapped him in a large canvas 

 tarpaulin and made him more secure on the litter. I refused 

 to leave him at night for fear a leopard or other animal might 

 attempt to eat the flesh; so the natives made a little grass hut 

 for me right there on the trail. More porters arrived the fol- 

 lowing morning and I detailed several to go ahead to widen 

 the trail. The gorilla and litter together weighed more than 

 six hundred pounds. However, the natives started off chanting 

 and went along for some distance at fairly good speed. After 

 getting my paraphernalia packed in the loads I followed and 

 caught up with them as they were trying to get up a very 

 steep incline, where there was scarcely any foothold among the 

 rocks and mud. I had told them that we must reach camp by 

 nightfall, but it was soon evident that this would be impossible. 

 As a matter of fact, it took two and a half days, during which 

 there were severe electric storms that the natives claimed were 

 caused by my having killed the "king of the mountain for- 

 ests." They said the same thing happened when someone killed 

 a very large elephant. At night we simply had to sleep in the 

 forest in whatever shelter we could make of leaves and branches 

 but it was always wet and cold. 



Many of the natives ran away as soon as it got dark and I 

 never saw them again but as this was the main trail between 

 Lake Kivu and Nakalongi, there were natives passing along 

 at intervals, and some of these were persuaded to help carry 

 the gorilla. 



The second gorilla was secured only three hundred yards 

 from our main camp six days later. All members of the ex- 

 pedition took part in the various details of preservation of the 

 specimen. There was material to be preserved for histological 

 purposes, casts to be made of the hand, foot, and head, de- 

 tailed measurements to be taken, etc. When we considered 

 that the embalming fluid had penetrated the body thoroughly, 

 the animal was bandaged, wrapped in blankets, and sewed up 

 in burlap bags, these in turn coated with paraffin wax, and the 

 whole again rolled in heavy canvas tarpaulin. A litter was again 

 used to carry this specimen from our camp about four miles, 

 and it was then placed in a motor truck and taken to Uvira, 

 where it was shipped by steamer across Lake Tanganyika, 

 then by rail from Kigoma to the coast, and put on an ocean 

 steamer for America. 



Courtesy American Museum of Natural Hiteor 



Carrying the Gorilla to camp, twelve miles over mountain trail. 



