u 



THE APES AND MONKEYS. 



Koppenfels' H. von Koppenfels killed his first Go- 

 Oorilla rilla Christmas, 1874. He had taken 

 Hunts. hi s position near an Iba tree, whose 

 fruit is very much liked by that animal. " I had 

 waited in vain for about an hour. Night was com- 

 ing on ; the Mosquitoes began to annoy me and I 

 was just going to quit, when I heard the sound of 

 breaking twigs near the Iba tree. Peeping from be- 

 hind my tree, I saw a whole family of Gorillas, consist- 

 ing of the parents and two children. Taking human 

 growth as the standard, these latter might have been 

 six years old and one year old, respectively. The 

 solicitude of the mother for the baby was touching, 

 while the father seemingly cared for nothing but the 

 gratification of his own appetite. The best fruit 

 within reach seemed to have been consumed, for the 

 ferr.^tj-r limbed up the tree and shook it, to make the 

 ripe berries^-fall to the ground. 



" At this tin ,ne the male, his mouth still full, started 

 for the river floY* ring near, evidently to get a drink. 

 I did not take my't/ves off him, for the stories of 

 Du Chaillu and the fairy --tales of the natives had 

 combined to throw me into a f '„ state of great agitation, 

 when I first caught sight of the-, animals. But this 

 gave wav to a sudden calm, when th't.- Gorilla, on his 

 way to the river, seemed to grow distr -rustf ul and 

 turning round, made for the tree that concealed 

 me. It was too late— I kept track of his t-very 

 movement, and had my gun in readiness. A fc- w 

 moments sufficed to take aim and shoot. Before*, 

 the smoke cleared away I had put another cartridge 

 in my gun, anticipating an attack. My black com- 

 panion stood trembling behind me, another gun in 

 hand The expected attack did not occur. The 

 male Gorilla had fallen on his face, dead. The 

 young ones, giving one scream, fled into the thicket; 

 the mother jumped down from a considerable height 

 and followed them. I was so excited that I forgot 

 to shoot her. So my hunting luck had, at the same 

 time that the Christmas candles were being lighted 

 in Germany, given me, too, a magnificent present." 

 Not long after this Koppenfels shot, at a chance 

 meeting, the strongest Gorilla it ever was his good 

 fortune to kill Accompanied by his servants he 

 had followed a narrow trail in the woods. "Sud- 

 denly the Galloa nearest me screamed : ' Take care, 

 master, a large Gorilla ! ' and the cowards threw 

 down the things they were carrying and took to their 

 heels. I started at the cry, and just then a terrible 

 growl coming from the side attracted my notice, 

 and I saw barely fifteen paces away a gigantic mass 

 standing erect. It was the largest Gorilla I had ever 

 seen and the only one which ever stood awaiting me. 

 If he had profited by my confusion, I would have 

 been lost. I did not wait, though, to see how long 

 our staring at each other might last. As I lifted my 

 gun his roaring took on more of a barking sound ; he 

 beat his chest quicker, the shaggy hair on his head 

 raised itself with a vibrating motion, and it seemed 

 that my terrible opponent was going to attack me. 

 If I had retreated in time, I am fully convinced 

 that the Gorilla would not have approached me, 

 but such was not my intention. Mastering my agi- 

 tation, I took a steady aim at his heart, and pulled 

 the trigger. The animaljumped high up, and spread- 

 ing his arms, fell on his'face. He had seized in fall- 

 ing, a liana, two inches in circumference, and so pow- 

 erful was his grasp that he tore it down along with 

 dry and green branches from the tree. His weight 

 seemed to be about four hundred pounds, and he was 

 six feet high." 



H. von Koppenfels' plain, unvarnished tales, based 

 as they are on personal experience, give us a more 

 correct idea of this curious inhabitant of the forests, 

 and do away with a great deal of the terror with 

 which he has inspired us. To use the words of R. 

 Burton : " He is only a poor devil of a Monkey, and 

 not a fiendish freak of the imagination — half man, 

 half beast." 



The Gorilla The attempt to import young Gorillas 

 in to Europe had always been unsuccess- 



Captwity. f u i i until the members of the German 

 Loango exploring party tried it. Falkenstein, their 

 physician and zoologist, by a lucky chance got hold 

 of a young Gorilla, that was studied first in Africa 

 and then in the Berlin Aquarium. 



Director Hermes mentions the growth and further 

 development of this Gorilla at great length in a lec- 

 ture delivered at the meeting of German natural- 

 ists and physicians in Hamburg : " The Aquarium 

 of Berlin has always set great value on the posses- 

 sion of Anthropomorphous Apes. During the last 

 few years it has been able to procure specimens of 

 all of the four species — the Gibbon, Chimpanzee, 

 the Orang-utan and the Gorilla. In this way I had 

 the best of opportunities to study them in captivity 

 and compare them with each other. 



"The chief among all the Anthropomorpha is the 

 Gorilla. It seems as if he was born with a patent of 

 nobility among Apes. Our Gorilla, about two years 

 old, is nearly twenty-eight inches high. His body 

 I s " covered with gray, silky hair, the head alone hav- 

 in lT- a reddish color. His thick-set, robust shape, his 

 muscu, lar arms, his smooth, shining black face with 

 well-shap* ed earS) his large, black, clever eyes — all 

 strike one i as exceedingly human. If his nose was 

 not so broam he would look like a Negro boy. 

 What serves to., heighten this impression is his awk- 

 wardness ; all b,j s movements seem those of an un- 

 gainly boy rathen tha n an Ape. When he sits there 

 like a Chinese pa»^ 0( j a , his gaze directed upon the 

 spectators, and sud<. den i y with a bright nod claps h i s 

 hands, he has conqu-.. ered a u hea rts at a stroke. He 

 likes company, make,, s a difference between young 

 and old, male and fern ale _ He ; s kind to httle chil . 

 dren, likes to kiss then^ and al]ows them liberties, 

 without taking advanta i(Te of his super i or strength. 

 Older children he does not treat so well( a i t h OU gh 

 he likes to play with thern^ to race around ta bl es and 

 chairs which he frequenhj upse t s , playfully slaps 

 their faces sometimes, an d also thinks not hing of 

 trying his teeth on their le^ s He is fond of i ad j eSl 

 likes to sit in their laps a, nd hug them< or sit still> 

 with his head on their Shoulders. He also likes 

 to play in the common but conducts him- 



self there as an unconditioi- ial autocrat Even the 

 Chimpanzee has to obey h\\ rn< though the Gorilla 

 treats him more as an eqi jal selecting him as 

 his only playfellow and somek imes best0 wing rather 

 rough caresses on him, while j aVS no attention 

 to the smaller fry. Som«*, mes he gets hold of 

 the Chimpanzee and rol> lS on the floor with h im. 

 If the Chimpanzee ef. capeS) the Gorilla falls to 

 the floor, on his > iands> like an awkward boy. 

 His gait resemble s that D f the Chimpanzee : they 

 both walk on t^g so i es of their feet, supporting 

 themselves or the back o{ the hands. But the 

 Gorilla turn' his toes out more, and holds his 

 head highe rj producing the impression that he 

 belong to a be tter class of society. When he is 

 in good lum0 r — which is nearly always the case 

 — he st lcks ou t his red tongue, which in that 



