16 THE GORILLA. 



which stands OD his forehead began to twitch rapidly 

 up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as 

 he sent forth a thunderous roar; and now truly he 

 reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream-crea- 

 ture, a being of that hideous order half man, half 

 beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some 

 representations 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 something terribly human 

 in it, and yet was full of brutishness, he fell forward 

 on his face. The body shook convulsively for a few 

 minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, 

 then all was quiet." 



The body measured five feet eight inches high. 



Another day, when out hunting, M. du Chaillu heard 

 a loud rumbling noise, which he took for thunder. 

 Foreseeing a storm, he hastened to seek shelter under 

 some ebony bushes, but he soon perceived that this 

 supposed rolling of thunder was nothing else than the 

 voice of a male gorilla calling the female, who an in- 

 stant afterwards replied by a more feeble roar. The 

 echo of this terrible voice resounded from mountain to 

 mountain, and the forest seemed to tremble. 



