APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



are much smaller, and the ridges above the eyes are not noticeable, a feature common also to the 

 young. 



Timid, superstitious natives and credulous or untrustworthy travelers have left still wrapped 

 in mystery many of the habits of this mighty ape, whose fever-stricken, forest-clad haunts render 

 investigation always difficult, often impossible. Many tales of its ferocity and strength are 

 obviously untrue, but we think that too much has been disbelieved. That a huge arm descends 

 from a tree, draws up and chokes the wayfarer, must be false, for intelligent natives have con- 

 fessed to knowing no instance of the gorilla attacking man. That it vanquishes the leopard is 

 probable ; that it has driven the lion from its haunts requires proof. Nor can we accept tales of 

 the carrying off of Negro women ; and the defeat of the elephants, too, must be considered a 

 fiction. 



But we must believe that this ape, if provoked or wounded, is a terrible foe, capable of rip- 

 ping open a man with one stroke of its paw, or of cracking the skull of a hunter as easily as a 

 squirrel cracks a nut. There is a tale of a tribe that kept an enormous gorilla as executioner, 

 which tore its victims to pieces, until an Englishman, doomed to meet it, noticing a large swell- 

 ing near its ribs, killed it with a heavy blow or two on the weak spot. 



Gorillas live mainly in the trees on whose fruit they subsist ; they construct a shelter in the 

 lower boughs for the family, and as a lying-in place for the female. The male is said to sleep 

 below, with his back against the tree a favourite attitude with both sexes to keep off leopards. 

 On the ground it moves on all-fours, with a curious swinging action, caused by putting its hands 

 with fingers extended on the ground, and bringing its body forward by a half-jump. Having a 

 heel, it can stand better than other apes ; but this attitude is not common, and Du Chaillu appears 

 to have been mistaken when he de- 

 scribes the gorilla as attacking upright. 



In captivity only immature speci- 

 mens have been seen Barnum's great 

 ape being one of the larger forms of 

 chimpanzee. Accounts vary as to the 

 temper of the gorilla, some describing 

 it as untamable, while others say it 

 is docile and playful when young. 

 There is a wonderful tale that a 

 gorilla over 6 feet high was captured 

 near Tanganyika, but nothing more 

 has reached us about it. 



When enraged, a gorilla beats its 

 breast, as the writer was informed by 

 a keeper, who thus confirmed Du 

 Chaillu's account. Its usual voice is 

 a grunt, which, when the animal is 

 excited, becomes a roar. 



THE ORANG-UTAN 



This great red ape was mentioned 

 by Linnaeus in 1766, and at the begin- 

 ning of the last century a specimen 

 living in the Prince of Orange's col- 

 lection was described by Vosmaer. 



There are three varieties of the 

 ORANG, called by the Dyaks Ml AS- 



B) firmiishn of Htrr Omlaujf] 



A MALE GORILLA 



[Hamburg 



This photograph of the largest gorilla known -was taken immediately after death 

 by Herr Paschen at Yaunde, and gives an excellent idea of the size of these ani- 

 mals as compared ivitA Negroes. The animal "weighed 400 Ibs, 



