I THE GORILLA 69 



and measured four feet four inches round the 

 chest. This writer describes so minutely and 

 graphically the onslaught of the Gorilla though 

 he does not for a moment pretend to have wit- 

 nessed the scene that I am tempted to give this 

 part of his paper in full, for comparison with other 

 narratives : 



" He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though 

 he approaches his antagonist in a stooping posture. 



"Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or 

 scents a man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, pre- 

 pares for an attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry 

 he utters resembles a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to 

 the cry of the Chimpanzee, when irritated, but vastly louder. It 

 is said to be .audible at a great distance. His preparation 

 consists in attending the females and young ones, by whom he 

 is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He, however, soon 

 returns, with his crest erect and projecting forward, his nostrils 

 dilated, and his under-lip thrown down, at the same time 

 uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to 

 terrify his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a 

 well-directed shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antago- 

 nist with the palm of his hands, or seizing him with a grasp 

 from which there is no escape, he dashes him upon the ground, 

 and lacerates him with his tusks; 



" He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel 



between his teeth This animal's savage nature 



is very well shown by the implacable desperation of a young 

 one that was brought here. It was taken very young, and kept 

 four months, and many means were used to tame it ; but it was 

 incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it died." 



Mr. Ford discredits the house -building and 

 elephant-driving stories, and says that no well- 



