CHAPTER V. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, HABITS IN A STATE OF 

 NATURE, AND NATIVE NAMES OF ANTHROPOIDS. 



The gorilla inhabits the forests of West Africa, 

 between lat. 2°N. and 5° S., and long. 6° and 16° E. 

 They are most widely diffused in the northern part 

 of this territory, on the rivers Og5we, Gaboon, and 

 Danger. Ford asserts that these apes are chiefly 

 found in the chain of mountains which extends for 

 about a hundred miles from the coast of Guinea, 

 between the Camaroon and Angola, and which is 

 known as the Serra do Cristal. They have also been 

 found at the source of the Danger (Muni, Mooney). 

 In Ford's time, about 1851, he saw them half a day's 

 journey from the mouth of that river. In the years 

 1851 and 1852 gorillas were seen in large numbers 

 on the sea-coast, probably driven thither from the 

 interior by a scarcity of food. At that time four or 

 five specimens were obtained in the course of a few 

 months. After this they again completely dis- 

 appeared from the neighbourhood of the coast, so 

 that an American merchant captain offered 6000 



