THE GORILLA 41 



miles in a northerly direction between the former and the Cameruns, known as the 

 Sierra do Cristal. According to the medical missionary, Mr. H. A. Ford, already 

 alluded to, gorillas are most common in the Sierra do Cristal, and have also been found 

 a day's journey from the mouth of the Muni. During the years 1851 and 1852 

 numbers of gorillas, probably driven from the interior by want of food, were seen on 

 the coast of the Gabun district, several of which were killed; the specimens sent by 

 Captain Harris to London, and by Mr. Ford to Philadelphia being probably some of 

 these. Subsequently to 1852 they appear never to have been seen on the coast. 

 According to the report of the German Loango Expedition, already alluded to, 

 gorillas are very rare in the 1/oango district near the coast, but are met with in or 

 near the mountainous region further inland. Writing in 1859, Sir Richard Owen 

 gave the following account of gorilla-land in the district between the Gabun and 

 Muni (or Danger) rivers, which he appears to have derived from the narratives of 

 correspondents residing in these regions. He observes, ' ' The part where the gorilla 

 has been most frequently met with presents a succession of hill and dale, the 

 heights crowned with lofty trees, the valleys covered by coarse grass, with partial 

 scrub or scattered shrubs. Fruit trees of various kinds abound both on the hills and 

 in the valleys ; some that are crude and uncared for by the negroes are sought out 

 and eagerly eaten by the gorillas ; and as different kinds come to maturity at differ- 

 ent seasons, they afford the great denizens of the woods a successive and unfailing 

 supply of those indigenous fruits. ' ' The professor then goes on to mention the vari- 

 ous trees which have been identified among those which afford food to the gorillas. 

 Among these the most important appears to be the oil palm {Elais) , of which the 

 part eaten is the undeveloped spathe, known as the palm cabbage ; next we have the 

 so-called gray plum tree (Parinarium excelsum), bearing a gray somewhat insipid 

 fruit of the size of a large plum. Another is the papaw tree (Larica); two kinds of 

 wild plantains (Musa}; several sorts of Amomum, one of which produces the Mala- 

 quetta pepper a tree bearing a walnut-like fruit, of which the gorilla is said to 

 crack the shell with a stone, and which may be allied to the kind which produces 

 the kola-nut. Lastly, we have a tree which, at the time when Sir R. Owen wrote, 

 had not been identified, but which bears a fruit somewhat resembling a cherry. Ac- 

 cording to later accounts, gorillas will also visit the plantations of the natives, and 

 do much damage to them. 



In regard to the actual mode of life of the gorilla there is a great 

 dearth of authentic information. The old stories that these animals 

 would seize with their foot natives passing beneath the trees on which they dwelt 

 and drag them up, and likewise those to the effect that they gathered round the 

 deserted camp fires of the natives, as well as the legends that they drove off the 

 elephant with clubs, were disposed of once for all by Du Chaillu. Unfortunately, 

 however, we are equally unable to accept his own stories as to the male gorilla 

 coming on to the attack in an upright position, and beating its chest with its fists, 

 since, as we have already mentioned, Mr. Winwood Reade denies that Du Chaillu 

 ever saw a living, wild gorilla. This is supported by the circumstance that all the 

 skins of gorillas purchased by the British Museum from Du Chaillu show that 

 their owners were killed by a wound in the back from the weighted spears which 



