446 IN THE LAND OK THE GORILLA. 



The troglodytes gorilla is the largest of apes, a full-grown male sometimes 

 reaching the height of six feet. It is found in the same geographical area as the 

 chimpanzee, but within narrower limits, on or near the Equator. Its skin is jel 

 black, but this is shown only on the face, chest and the palms of the paws, which 

 are devoid of the iron-gray hair that covers the rest of the body. 



The hair is two inches long, growing downward on the main arm and upward 

 on the fore-arm. The males always have their heads covered with short and 

 reddish-brown hair, the females not gaining this ornan.jntal cro'vn-piece until fully 

 grown. 



The hide is thick and tough, except under the arms and near the hips. Both 

 sexes have the breast bare, and some of the older ones have the hair worn off along 

 the spine from frequent sitting on the ground with their backs against the tree 

 trunks. 



The eyes are deeply sunken and restless, overhung by a bony ridge which gives 

 the face a most forbidding appearance and a perpetual scowl. The nose is more 

 prominent than in the chimpanzee or orang-outan. The mouth is enormous, the lips 

 large and of uniform thickness, and the chin short and receding. The canine teeth 

 in the male resemble tusks, and the ears, which are shaped like our own, are much 

 smaller than in the chimpanzee. 



The upper limbs seem disproportionately large, but this is due to the shortness 

 of the lower ones, which have no calves and increase in size from the knee to the 

 ankle. 



Strangely enough, the main arm of the gorilla is longer than the fore-arm, and the 

 thumb extends beyond the first joint of the forefinger, while in the chimpanzee and 

 ape it does not reach that joint. 



The hand is broad, thick, and with a long palm, the fingers short, tapering 

 quickly at the ends to the nails, which are about the size of our own. The back of 

 the hand is hairy to the finger divisions, the palm bare and callous, and the thumb 

 hardly as thick as the forefinger. 



The chimpanzee and other apes make less use of the sole of the foot in walking 

 than the gorilla, and the great toe of the gorilla is stronger than in those animals, 

 standing out like a large thumb from the rest of the foot. 



The gorilla is a strict vegetarian. He has a shuffling gait, never upright like 

 ours, but bent forward. His arms being longer than those of the chimpanzee, he 

 does not stoop as much in walking, but, like that creature, advances by pushing his 

 arms forward, resting the hands on the ground and then giving the body a motion 

 which is partly a jump and partly a swing. In doing this he does not bend his 

 fingers, but uses the hand as a fulcrum. 



If you should come upon the trail of c gorilla running on all fours, you would 

 not see any trace of the marks of the hind feet. Only the baP ">f the foot and the 

 great toe appear to touch, and the fingers of the fore-arm are ngnuy marked on the 

 earth. 



The power of the gorilla is prodigious. Those tremendous jaws can crush an 



