GORILLA. 



43 



to the report of the German Loango Expedition, already alluded to, gorillas are 

 \vry rare in the Loango district near the coast, but are met with in or near the 

 mountainous region further inland. Writing in 1859, Sir Richard Owen gave the 

 following account of gorilla-land in the district between the Gabun and Muni (or 

 Danger) river, which he appears to have derived from the narratives of corre- 

 spondents residing in these regions. He observes, " The part where the gorilla has 

 been most frequently met with presents a succession of hill and dale, the heights 

 crowned with lofty trees, the valleys covered by coarse grass, with partial scrub or 

 scattered shrubs. Fruit trees of various kinds abound both on the hills and in the 

 valleys ; some that are crude and uncared for by the negroes are sought out and 

 eagerly eaten by the gorillas ; and as different kinds come to maturity at different 

 seasons, they afford the great denizens of the woods a successive and unfailing 

 supply of these indigenous fruits." The professor then goes on to mention the 

 various trees which have been identified among those which afford food to the 

 gorillas. Among these the most important appears to be the oil-palm (Elais), of 

 which the part eaten is the undeveloped spathe, known as the palm-cabbage ; next we 

 have the so-called grey plum-tree (Parinarium excelsum), bearing a grey, somewhat 

 insipid fruit of the size of a large plum. Another is the papaw tree (Larica) ; two 

 kinds of wild plantains (Musa) ; several sorts of Amomum, one of which produces 

 the Malaquetta pepper a tree bearing a walnut-like fruit, of which the gorilla is 

 said to crack the shell with a stone, and which may be allied to the kind which 

 produces the kola-nut. Lastly, we have a tree which, at the time when Sir R. 

 Owen wrote, had not been identified, but which bears a fruit somewhat resembling 

 a cherry. According to later accounts, gorillas will also visit the plantations of the 

 natives, and do much damage to them. 



Mode of Life ^ n re ^ ar( ^ * ^ e ac tual mode of life of the gorilla there is a great 



dearth of authentic information. The old stories that these animals 

 would seize with their foot natives passing beneath the trees on which they dwelt 

 and drag them up, and likewise those to the effect that they gathered round the- 

 deserted camp-fires of the natives, as well as the legends that they drove off the 

 elephant with clubs, were disposed of once for all by Du Chaillu. Unfortunately, 

 however, we are equally unable to accept his own stories as to the male gorilla 

 coming on to the attack in an upright position, and beating its chest with its fists, 

 since, as we have already mentioned, Mr. Winwood Reade denies that Du Chaillu 

 ever saw a living, wild gorilla. This is supported by the circumstance that all the 

 skins of gorillas purchased by the British Museum from Du Chaillu show that 

 their owners were killed by a wound in the back from the weighted spears which 

 the natives are accustomed to suspend in the paths of these animals. The 

 members of the German Loango Expedition frankly confess that they never saw 

 a living, wild gorilla, although they brought home a young one which had been 

 captured by some native hunters ; neither did Winwood Reade himself ever come 

 across these creatures in their native wilds. A later German traveller, Herr von 

 Koppenfels, appears, however, to have been more fortunate, and states that he once 

 observed a male and female with their two young quietly feeding. 



From this account, and also from the natives, we know that gorillas habitually 



