AT CLOSE QUARTERS. 285 



It was not long after this first sight of the Gorilla that the 

 traveller secured his first trophy as the Gorilla Slayer. They 

 came upon the animal in a dense part of the forest, where it was 

 tearing down the branches to get at the fruit and berries ; and 

 while they were creeping along in perfect silence, suddenly the 

 woods were filled with a tremendous barking roar : 



" Then the underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently 

 before us stood an immense male Gorilla. He had gone through 

 the jungle on his all-fours ; but when he saw our party, he erected 

 himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood about a 

 dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think I shall never 

 forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved four inches shorter), 

 with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with 

 fiercely-glaring large deep gray eyes, and a hellish expression of 

 face, which seemed to me like some nightmare vision, thus 

 stood before us this king of the African forest. 



" He was not afraid of us. He stood there and beat his breast 

 with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense brass 

 drum, which is their mode of offering defiance, meantime giving 

 vent to roar after roar. 



" The roar of the Gorilla is the most singular and awful noise 

 heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp bark, like 

 an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally 

 and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, 

 for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it where I did 

 not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less 

 from the mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast 

 paunch. 



" His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless on 

 the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on his 

 forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his power- 

 ful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunderous roar. 

 And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish 

 dream creature a being of that hideous order, half-man half- 

 beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some representa- 

 tions of the infernal regions. He advanced a few steps then 

 stopped to utter that hideous roar again advanced again, and 

 finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. 

 And here, just as he began another of his roars, beating his 

 breast in rage, we fired, and killed him. 



