212 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
For one man one gorilla properly attended to is a full 
day’s work. If a man gets two or three specimens, 
he has to keep working night and day until he gets 
them done. 
This is one of the reasons why, although great num- 
bers of animals are shot in Africa, there is so compara- 
tively little scientific and taxidermical data about 
them. This day I was up about daybreak. I had 
an English breakfast, most of which had come from 
London with me—tea, toast, marmalade, and bacon. 
From then until dark I measured and skinned and 
preserved, and when night came I rolled into my 
blankets and slept the sleep of exhaustion. 
When daybreak came I was ready to start again. 
Had I felt certain of finding gorillas in that country 
as easily as I now know they can be found I might 
have waited a day. But I had come 15,000 miles 
to see gorillas and I couldn’t wait for the fulfillment 
of my hopes, nor did the ease of finding my first prize 
assure me that I was certain of getting the others I 
wanted. 
We set out in the same direction as on the previous 
hunt. In the woods on these mountain sides the 
ground growth is extremely thick, and as high up as 
we went there were no elephant or other paths. It 
was necessary to go through the woods. The natives’ 
method of travelling is to cut a trail as they proceed. 
They used a hooked knife of great effectiveness with 
which to cut the undergrowth. The stuff is thick 
enough to impede one’s progress, but far worse than 
that it is filled with nettles, so that unless it is cut 
