THE GOEILLA. 11 



" The ordinary cry of a Gorilla is of a plaintive character, but in 

 rage it is a sharp, hoarse bark, not unlike the roar of the tiger. Owing 

 to the negro propensity for exaggeration, I at first heard some very re- 

 markable stories about the ferocity of the Gorilla, but when I ques- 

 tioned the real hunters, I found them, as far as I could judge, like 

 most courageous men, modest, and rather taciturn than garrulous. 

 Their accounts of the ape's ferocity scarcely bear out those afforded 

 by Drs. Savage and Ford. They deny that the Gorilla ever attacks 

 man without provocation. * Leave Njina alone,' they say, ' and Njina 

 leave you alone.' But when the Gorilla, surprised while feeding or 

 asleep, is suddenly brought to bay, he goes round in a kind of half 

 circle, keeping his eyes fixed on the man, and uttering a complaining, 

 uneasy cry. If the hunter shoots at him, and the gun misses fire, or 

 if the ape is wounded, he will sometimes run away ; sometimes, how- 

 ever, he will charge, with his fierce look, his lowered lip, his hair fall- 

 ing on his brow. He does not, however, appear to be very agile, for 

 the hunters frequently escape from him. 



" His charge is made on all-fours : he seizes the offensive object, and, 

 dragging it into his mouth, bites it. The story of his crushing a mus- 

 ket-barrel between his teeth is general, and a French officer told me 

 that a gun was exhibited at the French settlements in the Gaboon, 

 twisted 'comme une papillote.' This, however, is not very wonderful, 

 for the cheap Birmingham guns, with barrels made of ' sham-dam-skelp ' 

 iron, which are sold to the natives, might easily be bent and twisted by 

 a strong-jawed animal. I heard a great deal about men being killed 

 by Gorillas, but wherever I went I found that the story retreated to 

 tradition. That a man might be killed by a Gorilla I do not affect to 

 doubt for a moment, but that a man has not been killed by one within 

 the memory of the living I can most firmly assert. 



" I once saw a man who had been wounded by a Gorilla. It was 

 Etia, the Mchaga hunter, who piloted me in the forests of Ngumbi. 

 His left hand was completely crippled, and the marks of teeth were 

 visible on the wrist. I asked him to show me exactly how the Gorilla 

 attacked him. I was to be the hunter, he the Gorilla. I pretended to 

 shoot at him. He rushed toward me on all-fours, and, seizing ray 

 wrist with one of his hands, dragged it to his mouth, bit it, and then 

 made off. So, he said, the Njina had done to him. It is by these sim- 

 ple tests that one can best arrive at truth among the negroes. That 

 which I can attest from my own personal experience in my unsuccess- 

 ful attempts to shoot a Gorilla is as follows : I have seen the nests of 

 the Gorillas, as I have described them ; I cannot say positively whether 

 they are used as beds, or only as lying-in couches. I have repeatedly 

 seen the tracks of the Gorillas, and could tell by the tracks that the 

 Gorilla goes habitually on all-fours." 



