174 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



tude 28 east) the western limit of the known range of the Mountain 

 Gorillas. With a single exception, I attach no great importance to 

 this evidence. The exception refers to the four skulls from Bondo 

 on the Uelle River collected by Lemarinel in 1908. These furnish 

 us with definite proof for the existence of gorillas in the Djabbir 

 region as late as 1908. Except for these skulls no other tangible 

 evidence of gorillas in a forest belt of 650 [ = about 750] miles has 

 turned up." (Coolidge, 1936, p. 500.) Coolidge considers (p. 497) 

 that the affinities of the Bondo skulls are with the Coastal Gorilla, 

 but G. M. Allen (1939, p. 177) refers G. uellensis Schouteden, which 

 was based upon these skulls, to the synonymy of beringei. 



The Mountain Gorilla was first made known to science through a 

 specimen shot by Capt. Oscar von Beringe on Mount Sabinio about 

 1902 or 1903 (Matschie, 1903a, p. 253). 



In 1913 and 1914 seven specimens were obtained by E. Arrhenius 

 on the volcano Mikeno, Virunga Mountains. "According to Captain 

 E. Arrhenius the Gorillas are rather numerous .... They live in 

 bands consisting of 20-30 individuals .... 



"The natives hunt the Gorillas to obtain their skin which they 

 use for wrapping up their copper thread etc., or for revenging some 

 relative. Thus when a man from Sangana had been killed by a 

 Gorilla his family killed five Gorillas in revenge. The natives hunt 

 Gorillas with the aid of dogs. The dog bites the Gorilla and returns 

 to his master who waits for the Gorilla with the spear ready. He 

 throws the spear at the Gorilla and runs away. The dog repeats the 

 maneuvre, until the animal is killed. The natives do not eat the 

 meat of Gorillas, nor that of Chimpanzees." (Lonnberg, 1917, pp. 7, 

 17-18.) 



Barns (1922, pp. 81-88) encountered a band of Gorillas between 

 the volcanoes Mikeno and Karisimbi, and secured a specimen, which 

 his hungry native porters refused to eat. "This monster ape would 

 seem to have no enemies, failing man; and even man, the most 

 dreaded of all the animal world, holds little fear for the gorilla in 

 his inaccessible home" (p. 87) . 



"Its food consists, apart from bamboo shoots, entirely of herbage 

 docks, sorrels, hemlocks, etc. although honey may be part of the 

 menu. He does not grub for roots, neither does he eat fruit as a 

 general rule .... 



"Savage man, through superstition as much as anything else, 

 but also on account of the inaccessibility of the gorilla's mountain 

 home, has left this ape unmolested; we therefore find him and his 

 family habitually and fearlessly sleeping on the ground." (Barns, 

 1923, pp. 129-130.) 



"As regards longevity, gorillas, on account of their life free from 

 molestation, famine, or disease, and also judging by the worn teeth 



