260 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1936 



were carried out, for when in January 1934, Mr. R. Akroyd, who con- 

 ducted a British Museum expedition for the purpose of collecting 

 botanical material for the gorilla group to be erected in the Natural 

 History Museum at South Kensington, turned up at my old camp, 

 he was regarded with open distrust by the local inhabitants and was 

 never aware of the existence of any Wambutte, although their loca- 

 tion was almost in sight of his tent. He did see a small gorilla band 

 on an elevated hillslope, opposite to and high above his camp. La- 

 boriously he struggled to the point where it had been observed, but 

 all he found were a few lumps of chewed fiber which had been expec- 

 torated by the feeding apes. 



The pygmies are an essential concomitant to successful gorilla ob- 

 servation, and without their assistance to the stranger the great 

 anthropoids can enjoy to the full the protection they so thoroughly 

 deserve. Protection, pygmies, and the local Bachiga suggest a few 

 remarks on the subject of ferocity. 



First, in order that I may not be accused of undue bias from the 

 point of view of the protection of one of Uganda's rarest and most 

 interesting mammals, I will quote the unsolicited testimonial of a 

 prospector who regarded the gorillas as quite harmless. He says : 



I have been prospecting in the impenetrable forest (Kayonsa-Kigezi) and I 

 thought that you might find the following experiences with gorillas of some 

 Interest. 



My work has at times taken me into places where they were in residence. 

 I have found them very peaceful, and it is possible to get within 20 feet of them. 



I have only been attacked once, by an old male, but he was not a savage 

 brute. He was first attacked by my dog and his sole aim was to catch the dog, 

 otherwise it could have easily caught and killed my "boy." 



The gorilla "beds" are built from 5 to 20 feet high in the trees, each bed from 

 approximately 10 feet to 10 yards apart. The "beds" consist of bent-over 

 branches, with a superficial extent 3 feet by 2 feet approximately. 



As far as I know they travel about in bands of about six to eight. They do 

 not make much noise, but just grunt. I maintain that unless provoked they 

 are docile. 



I have seen about SO during a long period while prospecting in the impenetrable 

 forest. The gorillas sometimes raid the nearby shamhas (gardens), but I have 

 never heard of them attacking the natives, and the natives leave them alone 

 except to chase them away from their property. 



This frank statement exposes definitely the fallacy of exceptional 

 ferocity, a state of affairs it was believed existed and which was 

 based on second-hand information. In my imagination the Kayonsa 

 gorilla was an unapproachable brute, wickedly tempered from con- 

 stant conflict with the local natives, whose crops it habitually raided, 

 a creature whose company was better avoided than sought. No one 

 of reasonable intelligence could claim that according to circumstances 

 the gorilla is not exceedingly dangerous and ferocious. 



