42 APES AND MONKEYS. 



the tips ; while on the neck and shoulders it tends to become lighter at the tips. 

 A dark grey colour seems to characterise the tips of the hairs over the greater 

 portion of the body and the upper parts of the limbs ; but below the tips these 

 hairs have a dark brown ring, beneath which they again become lighter. On the 

 lower parts of the limbs and hands the hairs are darker at their tips, where they 

 vary from brown to black ; but in some individuals these portions of the limbs 

 may be covered, like the trunk, with a mixture of grey and brown hairs. 



External The hair consists of an outer coat of long stiff bristles, and of a 



Covering. shorter inner coat of fine short curly hairs, approximating to a woolly 

 nature. The moderately long hair on the crown of the head is very stiff, and can 

 be erected when the animal is enraged. Although the front and sides of the chin 

 have but a short covering of hair, its under portion has a distinct beard or ruff. 

 By far the longest hair on the upper part of the body is that growing on the 

 shoulders, and hanging down thence on to the back and upper part of the arms. The 

 length of this hair is, however, somewhat exceeded by that growing on the thighs. 

 On the chest and the rest of the under parts the hair is much shorter ; that on the 

 chest generally taking an upward and outward direction. The woolly under-hair 

 is not very thick, and has no tendency to mat together. The long hair of the 

 shoulders, back, and thighs communicates a generally shaggy appearance to the 

 gorilla, although this is much less marked than in the orang. 



The female gorilla, as we have already mentioned, is much 

 smaller than the male, and does not generally exceed some four and 

 a half feet in height. The whole build is, moreover, relatively weaker, the tusks 

 are but slightly developed, and the skull is proportionately smaller and more 

 rounded, without the huge bony arches over the eyes. It appears, moreover, that 

 in the adult female the bridge of the nose is relatively shorter than in the male, 

 while the cheeks are wider, and the upper lip longer than is usually the case in the 

 latter. The general appearance of the female gorilla is, therefore, considerably less 

 ferocious and repulsive than that of her lord and master. 



Having now made our readers acquainted with the chief characters of the 

 gorilla, we proceed firstly to notice the districts and nature of the country it in- 

 habits, and then to say something as to its mode of life. 



Geographical The geographical range of the gorilla is very much more re- 



Distribution, stricted than is that of the chimpanzee, being limited to that district 

 of Western Equatorial Africa, lying between 2 north latitude and 5 south latitude, 

 and apparently not extending further into the interior than 16 east longitude. This 

 hot and miasmatous region includes the mouths of the rivers Ogavai, Gabun, and Muni, 

 and also the range of mountains running for about a hundred miles in a northerly 

 direction between the former and the Cameruns, known as the Sierra do Cristal. 

 According to the medical missionary, Mr. H. A. Ford, already alluded to, gorillas 

 are most common in the Sierra do Cristal, and have also been found a day's journey 

 from the mouth of the Muni. During the years 1851 and 1852 numbers of gorillas, 

 probably driven from the interior by want of food, were seen on the coast of the 

 Gabun district, several of which were killed ; the specimens sent by Captain Harris 

 to London, and by Mr. Ford to Philadelphia being probably some of these. Subse- 

 quently to 1852 they appear never to have been seen on the coast. According 



