THE GORILLAS. 185 



Even now, for our best accounts, we are indebted to Dr. 

 Savage, who obtained most of his information from the natives, 

 whose language and character he understood so thoroughly 

 that he was able to extract from them, by carefully sifting their 

 statements, most accurate information free from exaggeration 

 and conjecture. 



The Gorillas live in small companies, or rather famiUes, 

 consisting of their young of different ages, along with the 

 father and mother. Like the Orang, the Gorilla is said to build 

 a sort of platform-nest or shelter to pass the night in, of sticks 

 or twigs laid crosswise on the branch of a strong tree, and within 

 about twenty feet from the ground. The male sits, it is said, on 

 guard below, the female and her family occupying the platform 

 above. "My informants," says Savage, "all agree in the 

 assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band." One 

 gets the mastery by killing or driving out the other males. 



Professor Hartmann writes : " The Gorillas roam [during the 

 daytime only] through the tracts of the forest, which surround 

 their temporary sleeping-places, in order to seek for food. In 

 walking they place the back of their closed fingers on the 

 ground, or, more rarely, support themselves on the flat palm, 

 while the flat soles of their feet are also in contact with the 

 ground. Their gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, 

 which is never upright as in Man, but bent forward, is somewhat 

 rolling, or from side to side. The arms being longer than those 

 of the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop so much in walking; hke 

 that animal it makes progression by thrusting its arms forward, 

 resting its hands on the ground, and then giving its body a 

 half-jumping, half-swinging motion between them. In this 

 act, it is said not to flex the fingers to rest on its knuckles, 

 like the Chimpanzee, but to extend them, making a fulcrum 



