REJECTED AND RECOVERED. 279 



a skull, and subsequently a second skull, aud a part of the 

 skeleton, of a large Ape, which, on being forwarded to Dr. Savage 

 of Boston, were ascertained to belong to an animal specifically 

 distinct from the Chimpanzee, and considerably larger in size. 

 At length, therefore, all doubt as to the actual existence of such 

 a monster was set at rest : the rejected species was autho- 

 ritatively re-introduced ; and it was forthwith announced to the 

 world as the Gorilla (Troglodytes gor-illa\ and largest and most 

 powerful of the Apes, the first and foremost member of the 

 Monkey tribe. 



The name which Dr. Savage bestowed upon the animal is 

 explained by the passage at the head of this chapter from the 

 " Periplus " of Hanno, one of the most curious fragments of anti- 

 quity which has come down to our own time. The original, of 

 which only a Greek translation is extant, was written in Punic 

 by Hanno, and is the narrative of a voyage he made, by the order 

 of the Carthaginian Senate, along the African coast, for the 

 purpose of establishing Lybo-Phcenician colonies. This voyage 

 is generally supposed to have been made in the sixth century 

 before Christ, although nothing certain is known, either as to the 

 date of the voyage or the person of the voyager ; but whoever 

 Hanno was, and whenever he made his voyage, that he really 

 discovered the " wild men " of which he speaks, there can be 

 no reasonable doubt ; and although up to the time when the 

 existence of the second gi'eat Ape of Western Africa was clearly 

 demonstrated, it had been customary to regard the Chimpanzee 

 as the animal referred to, Dr. Savage seems to have had no 

 doubt that his newly-recovered monster was the species really 

 concerned; and hence he gave it the name by which it is 

 mentioned in the narrative of the Carthaginian navigator. 



In modern times the earliest and most trustworthy of the 

 travellers who make mention of the great Apes of Western 

 Africa is Andrew Battel, and he distinctly specifies two different 

 kinds, the Pongo and the Eugeco. Battel was a sailor who was 

 taken prisoner by the Portuguese in 1589, and lived many years 

 in Congo, where it would seem the animals were well known. 

 " The Pongo," he says, " is in all proportions like a man, for he 

 is very tall, and hath a man's face, hollow-eyed, with long haires 

 upon his brows. His body is full of haire, but not very thicke 

 and it is of a dunnish colour. He diflereth not from man but in 



