4C) HUNTING IN THE JUNdLE. 



aimed at and missed the female we should have had two 

 irorillas instead of one to ti^ht, and that there would 

 have certainly been a loss of life ; and that he could get 

 me a young gorilla imniediately . He failed to fulfil this 

 promise, however, for it is not at all easy to get one of 

 these young animals, whom the parents defend fiercely 

 with their lives. Chance, often more to be depended on 

 than the most persistent efforts, brought about my wish, 

 but long after this first hunt, which proved conclusively 

 that this species of gorilla builds a rude hut, and that the 

 male, when it shelters his offspring, sits like a sentinel 

 upon its roof to watch over his young. It also seemed 

 settled beyond a doubt, from what I was told and had 

 myself seen, that the gorilla attacks man without hesita- 

 tion at sight and without waiting to be wounded, while 

 the female attends entirely to the safety of her yoinig 

 without a thought of fighting. 



We camped a whole day here for me to preserve and 

 mount the gorilla's head. The natives divided the flesh 

 among themselves, broiling it over the hot coals and 

 eating it half raw. Try as I would, for I should have 

 been glad to learn the taste of this singular meat, I could 

 not overcome my repugnance to this half-human flesh. 

 The brain was not eaten, but carefully wrapped in banana 

 leaf and sent back to the medicine-men of the village, who 

 make from it, the old chief informed me, a magic oint- 

 ment of most marvellous virtue to protect from all evil, 

 especially from the evil influence of the man-eater. I 



