DISTRIBUTION, HABITS, AND NATIVE NAMES. 235 



which was injured in the region of the arms, pro- 

 bably iu this way. But such a duel generally ends 

 in the death of the hunter. 



Pechuel-Losche talked with two Loango hunters 

 who had killed gorillas. They stated that they had 

 not gone in search of the dreaded animals, but that 

 they chanced to encounter them in the forest. 

 Only if they met a solitary animal did they venture 

 to creep close to it and shoot it, and then they 

 escaped as quickly as possible in order t» be safe 

 from the fury of any of its companions which might 

 be lingering near. After several hours they would 

 return in a larger company to carry off their prey. 

 In Loango the flesh of these animals was not eaten ; 

 but, according to Ford and Savage, it was cooked 

 by the negroes, in the Gaboon territory, and con- 

 stituted one of their favourite dainties. 



Up to this time Europeans have been rarely 

 successful in killing gorillas. Du Chaillu asserts 

 that he has been one of the luckiest, but this 

 assertion has been disputed by others. Fruitless 

 attempts were made by VVinwood Reade, de Com- 

 piegne, Buchholz, Lenz, and de Brazza. In the 

 letters quoted above from Koppenfels to Bastian, he 

 mentions that he had already, up to March, 1874, 

 four gorillas. In the number of the Gartenlaube shot 

 which we have mentioned above, he describes some 

 of his hunting adventures, and goes into details 

 scarcely adapted for the readers of such a joublica- 

 tion. On December 24, 1874, Koppenfels, accom- 

 panied by a young Galloa, was on the shores of Lake 

 Eliva, observing a gorilla family, consisting of the 



