12 



THE APES AND MONKEYS. 



The Account Among the numerous accounts of the 

 of Gorilla, where truth seems to be plen- 



Du Chaillu. tifully mingled with exaggeration and 

 tales of natives, the descriptions of Du Chaillu have 

 in their time made a great deal of stir. I would 

 have used his works extensively, if they had not at 

 the first perusal aroused a feeling of distrust. I am 

 decidedly of the opinion that Du Chaillu's glowing 

 descriptions are a wonderful blending of truth and 

 fiction. Other travelers who have explored those 

 parts and entered into communication with the 

 natives have arrived at the same conclusion. Like 

 his predecessors, Du Chaillu bases his narrative on 

 hearsay, though he gives it the interest of a personal 

 experience. So I will give here only a few words of 

 Du Chaillu, in relation to a young Gorilla that came 

 into his possession, though his observations were 

 by no means confirmed by later and better ones : 



" On the fourth of May several young Negroes, 

 whom I had sent out for a hunt, brought home a 

 young, living Gorilla. I cannot do justice in words 

 to the emotions that overwhelmed me, when the lit- 

 tle monster was brought into the village. The Ape 

 was about two or three years old and twenty-four 

 inches high, but as ferocious and obstinate as any 

 full-grown brother of his might be. My hunters had 

 caught it in the country between Rembo and Cape 

 St. Catherine. According to their story, the hunters, 

 five of them, had been noiselessly creeping through 

 a wood near a settlement, when suddenly they heard 

 a growl, which they at once recognized as the call of 

 a young Gorilla for its mother, and they decided to 

 follow the sound. Their guns in their hands, the 

 brave fellows crept on towards a gloomy place in 

 the forest, thick with underbrush. They knew that 

 the mother must be near, and expected the dreaded 

 father to be not far away, but decided to try to get 

 the young Ape alive at any risk. As they ap- 

 proached a sight new even to them met their eyes. 

 The little one sat near its mother, plucking berries, 

 and the old one was eating of the same fruit. My 

 hunters got ready to fire immediately, and were 

 barely in time ; for the mother caught sight of them 

 when they were lifting their guns. Fortunately 

 they killed her with the first volley. The little one, 

 frightened by the report of the guns, ran towards its 

 mother, hugged her close and hid its face. The 

 hunters hurried forward, but it then left the mother, 

 ran to a small tree and climbing it with the greatest 

 agility sat down on one of the branches and roared 

 at its pursuerc. But the Negroes did not get scared, 

 nor were they afraid of being bitten by the furious 

 little beast. So they cut down the tree, and as it 

 fell they quickly threw a cloth over the head of the 

 little fellow, and in that way were able to master it. 

 Still the little Ape, who as far as age went was but a 

 young child, showed itself to be amazingly strong 

 and anything but good-natured ; so that the men 

 could not lead it, but had to put its head between 

 the prongs of a pitchfork, and thus force it to be 

 quiet. In this way he entered the village, and the 

 news spread like wild-fire. As the prisoner was be- 

 ing lifted out of the boat, in which it had come part 

 of the way, it roared and barked and stared wildly 

 around, as if it was assuring us that it would take 

 its revenge as soon as it could get a chance. I 

 saw that the fork had wounded its neck, and there- 

 fore ordered a cage to be prepared for it. In two 

 hours we had built it a strong cage of bamboo, in 

 which we could observe it in security. It was a 

 young male, independent enough to shift for him- 



self, endowed with extraordinary strength' for his. 

 age. His face and hands were black ; the eyes lay 

 not quite so deep in their sockets as with the older 

 ones ; the body was thinner ; the hair on the arms 

 longer. The hair of the eyebrows and of the arms 

 was of a reddish-brown color ; the upper lip was 

 covered with short hair, the lower one with a slight 

 beard ; light gray hair getting darker towards the 

 shoulders covered his neck and back. I never saw 

 so ill-natured an animal as this Ape. He raged at 

 everybody who approached him, bit at the bamboo- 

 palings, looked around with ferocious eyes and. 

 showed his viciousness and ill-nature at every op- 

 portunity." 



Later Lately our information about the Gorilla 

 Account of has been vastly increased. German ex- 



Gorillas. plorers, members of the Gussfeldt Loango- 

 expedition, have succeeded twice in capturing live 

 young Gorillas, in 1876 and 1883, and forwarded, 

 them to Europe, where, under the care of Director 

 Hermes, they lived long enough in the Berlin Aqua- 

 rium to enable scientists to settle a few complicated 

 questions. Furthermore Hugo von Koppenfels, a 

 passionate hunter, has made several voyages to the 

 Gaboon and Ogowe country within the last decade, 

 with a view of finding the Gorillas in their native 

 forests. So far Koppenfels has been the only Euro- 

 pean who can prove that he has observed Gorillas 

 in the wilderness and killed them. He confirms 

 many accounts that others have reported from hear- 

 say, and completes them from his own stock of ex- 

 perience : 



" As incredible as it may seem, I can affirm that 

 even of the hunting tribes, hardly a third have ever 

 met a Gorilla in the forests. The Gorilla — with the 

 exception of old, hypochondriac males — lives with 

 his family, and roams from place to place, as the 

 demand for food impels him. He spends the night 

 where he happens to be at the approach of darkness. 



" This means that he builds a new nest every even- 

 ing, and for this purpose selects strong young trees, 

 having a circumference not over twelve inches. The 

 nest is built somewhat like a Stork's, out of greem 

 twigs, in the embranchment of stronger boughs, at 

 a height of fifteen to eighteen feet. It is used by 

 the young ones, and if these still stand in need 

 of warmth, also by the mother, while the father 

 crouches down at the foot of the tree, his back 

 against the trunk, and in this way protects his fam- 

 ily from Leopards. In the dry season, when foodi 

 and water begin to fail him in the inner depth of 

 the woods, he makes raids on the plantations of the 

 natives, where he, Ape-like, causes troublesome dev- 

 astations. 



" If let a'one, the Gorilla does not attack Men, but 

 rather avoids them. If he is taken by surprise, he: 

 rises, utters a series of short half roaring, half grunt- 

 ing noises, that cannot be described ; beats his gigan- 

 tic chest with his huge fists and shows his teeth with' 

 an exceedingly ferocious expression on his face, 

 while the hair on his head and on the nape of his 

 neck stands vibratingly erect. An old Gorilla in a 

 rage is a sight to inspire terror. Yet, if one does not 

 irritate him and beats a cautious retreat before his 

 fury has reached its height, I do not think he would 

 attack anybody. But if one should have the mis- 

 fortune to wound him slightly, then I, who it is true 

 have not been in such a terrible plight, am positive 

 that he would turn on the hunter, who is lost if he 

 has not a second ball ready. Flight is impossible, as 

 is a defence with any weapon but fire-arms." 



