484 COMBAT BETWEEN MAN AND THE GORILLA. 



couple of adults together, the male and the female ; sometimes an 

 aged male wanders about alone. Of the young, as many as five will 

 occasionally be found in company. It is a difficult matter to 

 approach them, for their hearing is very keen, and when alarmed 

 they immediately take to flight, while the nature of the ground 

 embarrasses the hunter in his pursuit. 



Every hunter who understands his metier will reserve his fire, 

 when chasing the Gorilla, until the last moment. Whether the 

 furious beast takes the report for a threatening defiance, or from some 

 other unknown cause, if the hunter fires and misses, the Gorilla 

 immediately pounces upon him, and no one can withstand the force 

 of his attack. A single blow of his enormous foot, armed as it is with 

 most formidable claws, eviscerates a man, smashes in his chest, or 

 batters his skull. Negroes in a like situation have been seen, reduced 

 to despair by terror, to turn upon the Gorilla and aim at him their 

 discharged musket ; but they have not even the time to level an 

 inoffensive blow ; the arm of their antagonist falls upon them with all 

 its weight, shattering at once both arm and gun. I know of no 

 animal whose attack is so fatal to man, for the reason that he dares 

 to confront him face to face, with his arms for weapons of offence, 

 exactly like a boxer, with the exception that he has the advantage of 

 longer arms, and a vigour far surpassing that of any athlete who has 

 ever claimed the suffrages, of the ring. Fortunately, the Gorilla dies 

 as easily as a man. A blow in the chest, if well-directed, immedi- 

 ately lays him low. He falls forward on his face, his arms widely 

 extended, and heaving with his last breath a frightful dying cry, 

 half roar, half wail, which though a signal of safety for the hunter, 

 nevertheless resounds painfully in his ear, like the supreme utter- 

 ance of human agony.* 



The negroes of the Gaboon are generally very partial to the flesh 



of the Gorilla, as well as to that of the other great apes, although it 



is, in sooth, of a leathery character. This partiality need not surprise 



us on the part of a race which too frequently indulge in a horrible 



* Du Chaillu, " Travels and Adventures in Equatorial Africa." 



