Chap. TIL THE CARTHAGINIANS AND THE GORILLA. 59 



follow. We were obliged, therefore, to kill tliem, 

 and took their skins off, which skins were brought 

 to Carthage, for we did not navigate farther, pro- 

 visions becoming scarce." 



These statements appear to me, with the fresh 

 knowledge I have gained on the present expedition, 

 to agree very well with the supposition that the bold 

 Carthaginians reached the country near the mouth 

 of the Fernand A^az in their celebrated voyage, and 

 that the hairy men and women met with were males 

 and females of the Trolodytes gorilla. Even the name 

 " gorilla," given to the animal in the ' Periplus,' is 

 not very greatly different from its native name at 

 the present day, " ngina " or " ngilla," esj)ecially in 

 the indistinct way in which it is sometimes jDro- 

 nounced. I now think it far more likely that the 

 gorilla was the animal seen and not the chimpanzee, 

 which is generally less gregarious, and is not often 

 found near the sea-coast. As to the theory that 

 Hanno's hairy men and women were some species of 

 baboon, I think that very unlikely ; for why would 

 the Carthaginians haug the skins in the temple 

 of Juno on their return to Carthage, and preserve 

 them for so many generations, as related by Pliny, 

 if they were simply the skins of baboons, animals so 

 common in Africa that they could scarcely have been 

 considered as anything extraordinary by a nation of 

 traders and travellers like the Carthaginians. 



The gorilla is of migratory habits at some seasons 

 of the year. He is then not found in the districts 

 usually resorted to by him Avhen the berries, fruits, 

 and nuts are in season. 



