THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



531 



ways tried to arouse her ; his heart seemed breaking by the ap- 

 pealing look he gave while he tugged at his dead mother's face 

 and nestled down beside her, until the hunters were fairly upon 

 him. Taking fright only when they attempted to seize him, he 

 fled to a large tree near by, 

 and nimbly ascended to its 

 topmost branches, roaring all 

 the while with savage fury. 

 The tree was too large to 

 climb, so, after much debating, 

 they cut it down and then 

 rushed upon the young gorilla 

 with a large cloth which they 

 dexterously threw over its head, 

 and thus secured it, but not 

 before one of the men had his 



finger bitten off, and another 

 o 



lost a piece of his leg. It 



proved to be a male, about 



three years old, and two feet six 



inches in height ; though so 



young, it was very strong and 



dreadfully pugnacious. 



During a captivity of 



several days, his anger 



only seemed to increase. 



He finally succeeded in 



forcing the bars of his 



cage apart and escaped 



into Du Chaillu's room. 



Here he was master of 



the situation for some time, no one being willing to measure 



strength with him. At length Du Chaillu thought of a happy 



expedient: a net was brought and fastened by the door so that 



he must become entangled in its meshes in passing out. The 



plan worked successfully, and the baby was again placed in his 



CAPTURE OF THE BABY GORILLA. 



