206 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
up and up—crawling and scrambling, the guides 
cutting a way through the dense growth of greenery, 
beating down and cursing the nettles which were 
everywhere. On and on up to the crest of the ridge 
and then up along the “hogback”’ until we were five 
hundred feet above camp—then at a level along the 
western slope. I earnestly hoped they. would go no 
higher; it was grilling work. We were overlooking 
another chasm with a still higher ridge on the far side. 
We stopped occasionally to scan the opposite side. 
It was deathly still—there was rarely the slightest 
breeze. Someone heard a sound across the nullah— 
very slight—but the guides were suspicious. We 
went on, stopping now and then to look and listen. 
The youngest guide, a boy of fourteen, perhaps, 
pointed to a spot where he had seen a movement of 
the vegetation. We watched closely for five minutes, 
then a great black head slowly appeared above the 
green—rather indistinct, but there could be no doubt 
as to what it was. 
It was my first glimpse of a wild gorilla. It has 
left an everlasting impression, for it was so totally dif- 
ferent from anything I had expected. In a solid 
wall of vivid green a great scraggly black head rose 
slowly into view where it remained motionless for 
perhaps a half minute, giving me time to view it with 
field glasses so that I was able to make out the fea- 
tures. I was actually seeing a live wild gorilla. 
At the end of a long journey I was face to face with 
the creature I sought. I took the gun with slight 
intention of chancing a shot at that distance unless 
