THE GOKILLA. 501 



afterwards came into his possession, was immediately set at 

 liberty and proclaimed the prince of hunters. 



M. Du Chaillu's description of his first encounter with an 

 adult gorilla, shows that this distinction was by no means un- 

 merited, and that it requires all the coolness and determination 

 of an accomplished sportsman to face an animal of such ap- 

 palling ferocity and power. ' The under-bush swayed rapidly 

 just ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male 

 gorilla. He had gone through the jungle on his all-fours, but 

 when he saw our party he erected himself, and looked us boldly 

 in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a 

 sight I think I shall never forget. Nearly six feet high (he 

 proved four inches shorter), with immense body, huge chest, 

 and great muscular arms, with fiercely glaring, large deep- 

 grey eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to 

 me like some night-mare vision ; thus stood before us the 

 king of the African forest. He was not afraid of us. He 

 stood there and beat his breast with his huge fists, till it re- 

 sounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their mode of 

 offering defiance, meantime giving vent to roar after roar. 

 The roar of the gorilla is the most singular and awful noise 

 heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp bark 

 like an angrj^ dog, then glides into a deep bass roll which 

 literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along 

 the sky, for which I have been sometimes tempted to take it 

 when I did not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to 

 proceed less from the mouth and throat than from the deep 

 chest and vast paunch. His eyes began to flash deeper fire as 

 we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair 

 which stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and 

 down, while his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent 

 forth a thunderous roar. 



' And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish 

 dream-creature ; a being of that hideous order, half-man, half- 

 beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some representa- 

 tions of the infernal regions. He advanced a few steps, then 

 stopped to utter that hideous roar again, advanced again, and 

 finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. 

 And here, just as he began another of his roars, beating his breast 

 in rage, we fired and killed him. With a groan which had 



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