CHAPTER XLII 



In the Land of Gorillas and Pygmies 



MDU CHAILLU was a Frenchman who became a naturahzed 

 American. In the autumn of 1855 he left America for the 

 West Coast of Africa with the intention of remaining several 

 years in that country. He started from the settlements on the Gaboon 

 River, to explore a great tract of country lying between the seashore 

 and the ranges of mountains which were said to rise to great heights 

 along the central line of the continent. He was possessed of excep- 

 tional advantages for this purpose, as he had previously resided several 

 years on that coast, where his father had formerly possessed a factory ; 

 and he had a knowledge of sevei^al of the languages of the native 

 tribes on the coast. The first journey that he j^lanned was up the 

 Gaboon River into the land of the Fans, who were reputed to be a race 

 of warlike cannibals ; but Du Chaillu w as brave, and had always found 

 the natives well inclined to him, and, l)esides, to catch a sight of and 

 obtain the skin of a gorilla was worth encountering some risk and 

 danger. While waiting on the coast with the object of becoming 

 acclimatized, he studied the habits of native tribes, and perfected 

 himself in their languages; and he tells some curious stories of customs 

 prevailing among the Mpongwe, the principal tribe there. When a 

 king dies another is elected by the general vote, and the way in which 

 he is informed of his new dignity is as follows : he is surrounded by an 

 immense crowd of his future subjects, who set to work to treat him 

 in the most ouirageous manner— -they spit in his face, kick him, throw 

 filth at him, pound him with their fists, all the while lustily abusing 

 and cursing him, his father, his grandfather, his mother, his sisters, 

 and every one of his ancestors. It is as much as to say, "You are not 

 our king yet, and we'll make the most of our liberty by thrashing you 

 before yoi: have the power to thrash us !" After about half an hour, 

 this strange scene comes to an end ; he is taken to the house of the old 

 king, a silk hat (the symbol of royalty) is placed upon his head, he is 



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