36 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



gorilla, sniffing the air and rolling his angry eyes in 

 every direction. 



It was my first sight of this curious and terrible 

 animal, — the main cause of my journey and explorations. 

 You would have said that he scented the danger, for 

 his eyes searched the leafy screen behind which we were 

 crouching with a singularly ferocious glance that clearly 

 showed he did not for an instant mistake the direction 

 from which his enemy was coming. 



The old chief, used as he was to this sight, took it 

 coolly enough ; but a profound astonishment, coupled 

 with a certain kind of terror, literally transfixed me 

 to the spot. I did not expect to see an animal of 

 such terrible proportions and ferocity, and it was one 

 of the rarest experiences of my long life of travel 

 and adventure to find the reality far exceed my wildest 

 imagination. 



Erect, his head thrust forward, beating his chest with 

 his long arms, he gave three mighty roars, in which that 

 tone peculiar to wild beasts was curiously mingled with a 

 human cry that might have come from one of our own 

 throats. Then he uttered a series of growls, deep and 

 heavy, louder at first, running down the scale, and dimin- 

 ishing in volume like a clap of thunder rolling away in 

 the distance. 



Suddenly the shrill note of a paroquet sounded near 

 us. The gorilla stopped short in astonishment. Instinc- 

 tively I raised my head to see on which branch this daring 



