ON THE TRAIL. 171 
sroes. [am very fond of the subdued and grateful acid _ 
of this fruit. The kind that grows on the sandy prairies 
of the sea-shore is not fit to eat. Many and many times 
I would have starved in the forest without the tonda. 
We were not mistaken, for we found everywhere go- 
rilla marks, and now and then we could see the huge 
foot-prints of some old monster, which probably would 
have come and offered us battle if he had been near at 
hand; at other places we saw where they had seated 
themselves and been eating the tonda. At another place 
near a little stream we discovered that a female gorilla 
and her baby had been drinking, for I could see the tiny 
feet of the little one. 
“There must be gorillas not far off,” whispered Ma- 
laouen into my ears, and at the same time he looked care- 
fully athis gun. Querlaouen and Gambo gavea chuckle, 
and looked at Malaouen and at me. We all listened in 
silence ; we were then in one of the thickest and densest 
parts of the forest; all was apparently still, but the quick 
ear of Malaouen had detected something, had heard a 
noise, and he wanted to know the cause of it. f 
We were so excited that our breathing was loud and 
- distinctly audible. We were all close together and did 
not move. We at once cocked our guns, for we heard 
the moving of branches just ahead of us, when lo! the 
- forest resounded with the terrific roar of the gorilla which 
made the very earth fairly shake under our feet. As 
soon as the gorilla saw us he stood up, and beat his chest 
with his powerful hands until it resounded like an im- 
mense bass drum. His intensely black face was some- 
thing horrid to behold ; his sunken deep gray eyes look- 
ed like the eyes of a demon, and he opened his mouth 
