THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



541 



hunts 



off, on all fours, shrieki.-^ with fear. They are difficult to ap- 

 proach, as their hearings acute, and they lose no time in making 

 their escape, while the nature of the ground makes it hard for 

 the hunter to follow. The adult animal is also shy, and T have 

 hunted all day at times without coming upon them, when I felt 

 sure they were carefully avoiding me. When, however, at last 

 fortune favors the hunter, and 

 he comes accidentally or by 

 good management upon his 

 prey, he need not fear its run- 

 ning away. In all 

 and encounters with 

 mal, I never knew 

 male to run off. When I 

 prised a pair of gorillas, 

 male was gen- 

 erally sitting on 

 a rock or 

 against a tree, 

 in some darkest! 

 corner of the 

 jungle where 

 the brightest 

 s un left its 

 traces only in a 

 dim and gloomy 

 twilight. The 

 female was 

 mostly feeding 



near by ; and it is singular that she almost always gave the 

 alarm by running off, with loud and sudden cries or shrieks. 

 Then the male, sitting for a moment with a savage frown on his 

 face, slowly rises to his feet, and, looking with glowing and ma- 

 lign eyes at the intruders, begins to beat his breast, and, lifting 

 up his round head, utters his frightful roar. This begins with 

 several sharp barks, like an enraged or mad dog, whereupon 



THE GORILLA STRIKING THE HUNTER. 



