THE GORILLA 7 



The Gorilla does not usually frequent the same parts of the forest as 

 its smaller relative, and it is much rarer ; indeed, it has hardly ever been 

 seen wild by Europeans. It also appears not to be very noisy, although 

 the male roars as well as beats his breast when enraged. Alliances 

 between the two great apes are said to occur at times, and it has been 

 suggested that one or two doubtful specimens, notably one " Mafuka," 

 a female exhibited in the Dresden Zoological Gardens in 1875, were 

 hybrids between the Gorilla and Chimpanzee ; and, considering that the 

 lower monkeys frequently produce hybrids in captivity, it would seem 

 that this is quite possible. 



The Gorilla is not only the most striking in appearance of all apes, 

 but it has been known longer than any other ; that is, if the " Gorillas " 

 described by Hanno the Carthaginian, in his voyage of discovery made 

 in 470 B.C., really were animals of this species. What he says is, that 

 in a bay called " The Horn of the South," on the West African Coast, 

 he found an island containing a lake, in which was yet another island 

 full of " hairy men and women," which his interpreters called Gorillas. 

 These creatures were very active, and defended themselves by throwing 

 stones ; three females were, however, captured, and, as they " refused 

 to go quietly," were killed, and their skins brought to Carthage, where 

 they were to be seen for centuries afterwards, for Pliny records that 

 Roman invaders saw two of them at Carthage in the temple of Astarte, 

 in 146 B.C. Doubt has been thrown on this account, and it has been 

 suggested that the animals in question were Baboons, who are well 

 known to defend themselves by stone-throwing. 



But, as a matter of fact, any of the more intelligent monkeys will 

 use missiles. Chimpanzees certainly do so in captivity; and the 

 ancients, who knew the tailless monkey of North Africa, the so-called 

 " Barbary Ape," quite well, were not likely to mistake the far less 

 human-looking Baboons for hairy people ; while this is just the sort of 

 mistake which is actually made by young children and primitive people 

 about anthropoid apes to-day. At the same time, it must be admitted 

 that Chimpanzees may be meant. 



The next recorder of the Gorilla was an English sailor, Andrew 



