THE GORILLA 519 



flat, with a retiring forehead, and a prominent bony ridge over 

 the eye-brows, the mouth is wide, the ears large, the nose flat, 

 and the face of a blackish-brown colour. 



From this short notice it will be seen at once that friend 

 Chim has not the least claim to beauty, but yet he is far from 

 equalling the hideous deformity of the Grorilla, whom M. DuChaillu 

 has so prominently introduced to public notice. This savage 

 animal, which is covered with black hair like the chimpanzee, 

 and resembles it in the proportion of its body and limbs, though 

 its form is much more robust, unites a most ferocious and un- 

 daunted temper with an herculean bodily strength, and is said to 

 hold undisputed dominion of the hill-forests in the interior of 

 Lower Gruinea, forcing even the panther to ignominioiis flight. 



To kill a gorilla is considered by the negroes as a most cou- 

 rageous exploit; and Dr. Savage, an American missionary on the 

 coast of Guinea, who, in a memoir published at Boston in the 

 year 1847, was the first to point out the generic differences be- 

 tween this formidable ape and the chimpanzee, tells us that a 

 slave having shot a male and female gorilla, whose skeletons 

 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, which entirely agrees with the accounts given to 

 Dr. Savage by the natives of the mode of attack of this mon- 

 strous creature, 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 appalling 

 ferocity and power. 



" The under-bush swayed rapidly just a-head, 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 resounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their 



