242 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
I am certain that these Central African gorillas 
have practically abandoned arboreal habits. Whether 
the gorillas of the lower country of the west coast 
have done so likewise I do not know from personal 
observation. Du Chaillu reported that they did not 
climb for food nor did they make their nests in trees 
in that region. 
It has been so commonly reported, however, that 
the Century Dictionary states that “gorillas make a 
sleeping place like a hammock connecting the thickly 
leafed part of a tree by means of the long, tough, 
slender stems of parasitic plants, and line it with the 
broad dried fronds of palms or with long grass. This 
hammock-like abode is constructed at different heights 
from ten to forty feet from the ground.” 
I cannot help believing that this report arises from 
a confysion with the chimpanzee habits. The chim- 
panzee is not strong enough to fight a leopard. Con- 
sequently, he has to sleep out of reach of this foe. The 
gorilla, on the other hand, has no foe but man. No 
flesh-eating animal in his territory is large enough to 
harm him. The gorilla is a vegetarian, so he kills 
no animals for food, and he has not progressed 
sufficiently along the paths of man to enjoy killing 
as a sport. He lives in amity with the elephants, 
buffalo, and all the wild creatures of his neighbour- 
hood, and in the Mikeno region the natives drive their 
cattle into the gorilla’s mountains in the dry season 
of the year without molestation. 
Altogether, then, as the gorilla has no enemies, he 
has no need to fashion himself a bed out of harm’s 
