GORILLAS— PITMAN 273 



to observe in detail the procedure. It is, however, noteworthy that 

 rhe chimpanzees had arrived in that particular gi'oup of trees on the 

 forested hill side about 2 p. m., and never moved out of them till 

 after 8.30 the next morning. 



The weird community howling indulged in almost immediately 

 they had arrived, and kept up at varying intervals until the troop 

 left next day, and even then heard intermittently for some time far 

 away in a distant valley, is indescribable. Grunts, croaks, groans, 

 barks, yells, piteous wails, uneartlily shrieks, are a medley which tend 

 to make the strangest discord one is ever likely to hear. The reason 

 thereof is obscure, and why on earth when one starts the whole lot 

 have to join in to produce the revolting chorus also requires explana- 

 tion. Normally, chimpanzees are most vocal early and late, but this 

 was an exceptionally noisy troop, either singing praises lustily to 

 some particularly succulent food they had clianced upon, or simply 

 letting off steam from pure joie de vivre. Whatever the cause, 

 the effect was soul searing — and, if one had been close enough, 

 earsplitting. 



The howling was indulged in at about 20-minute intervals until 

 just after 3 :30, when it increased in frequency to once every 10 min- 

 utes. This was kept up till an hour after dark, until by 8 : 30 p. m. 

 the discord had practically ceased. A bout shortly after midnight 

 woke me up with a start, another outburst desecrated the early morn 

 at 3 : 15, and then an hour before dawn till an hour and a half after 

 the troop was once again really chatty. I can appreciate the neces- 

 sity of the hideous riot occasionally in the night. The chimpanzees 

 most certainly know it is voluminous, and, if frightened probably 

 hope not only to terrify nocturnal prowlers, but also to comfort each 

 other. Actually, I imagine, it serves to inform every prowler within 

 earshot exactly where the troop is located. 



One sometimes gets a parallel in the porters' camp when one is out 

 in the blue. If the weather is fine, camp, of course, there is none, the 

 porters sleeping in the open with guard fires around. A porter has 

 a nightmare or gets a sudden fright, and utters a yell, and in a mo- 

 ment the whole lot are yelping loudly like a pack of hounds in full 

 cry. No one attempts to move, they just lie and make as much racket 

 as possible. It is immaterial whether elephant, rhinoceros, hippo- 

 potamus, buffalo, lion, or hyena are about, no one moves until the 

 alarm has subsided. Then there is a buzz of conversation, followed 

 by a roar of laughter, as the dreamer is discovered. Or, as once hap- 

 pened, a hyena had trodden on a sleeper, who had wakened to see a 

 pair of glowing eyes almost touching his face — after that the excited 

 chatter did not subside so easily. And I suspect it is the same with 

 the chimpanzees. If one happens to yell in the night, whatever the 



