THE COMMON-SENSE VIEW 149 



until the morning sun has dissipated the mists of 

 the forest. The gorilla and chimpanzee seem to 

 mate for life. The former lives, as a rule, in 

 single families, each family consisting of a male 

 and a female and their children. During the day 

 this primitive family roams through the forests of 

 equatorial Africa in search of food. They live on 

 fruits and nuts and the tender shoots and leaves 

 of plants. They are especially fond of sugar-cane, 

 which they eat in small-boy fashion by chewing 

 and discarding the juiceless pulp. Among the 

 foods of the gorilla is a walnut-like nut which it 

 cracks with stones. As evening comes on, the 

 head of the family selects a sleeping-place for the 

 night. This is usually some low tree with a 

 dense growth at the top, and protected as much as 

 possible by higher trees from the chilly night 

 wind. Here, on a bed of broken branches and 

 leaves, the mother and little ones go to sleep, 

 while the father devotedly crouches at the foot of 

 the tree, with his back against the trunk to guard 

 his family from leopards and other nocturnal 

 cut-throats who eat apes (7). When the weather 

 is stormy, they cover themselves with broad 

 pandanus leaves to keep off the rain. Koppenfels 

 relates an incident of a gorilla family which makes 

 one think of things he sometimes sees among men. 

 The family consisted of the parents and two 

 children. It was meal-time. The head of the 

 family reposed majestically on the ground, while 

 the wife and children hustled for fruits for him 

 in a near-by tree. If they were not sufficiently 



