THE GORILLA AND OTHER APES. 



ABOUT twenty-five centuries ago, a voyager called Hanno is 

 said to have sailed from Carthage, between the Pillars of 

 Hercules that is, through the Straits of Gibraltar along 

 the shores of Africa. " Passing the Streams of Fire," says 

 the narrator, " we came to a bay called the Horn of the 

 South. In the recess there was an island, like the first, 

 having a lake, and in this there was another island full of 

 wild men. But much the greater part of them were women, 

 with hairy bodies, whom the interpreters called 'Gorillas.' 

 Pursuing them, we were not able to take the men ; 

 they all escaped, being able to climb the precipices; 

 and defended themselves with pieces of rock. But three 

 women, who bit and scratched those who led them, were 

 not willing to follow. However, having killed them, we 

 flayed them, and conveyed the skins to Carthage; for we 

 did not sail any further, as provisions began to fail."* 



In the opinion of many naturalists, the wild men of 

 this story were the anthropoid or manlike apes which are 

 now called gorillas, rediscovered recently by Du Chaillu. 

 The region inhabited by the gorillas is a well-wooded 

 country, " extending about a thousand miles from the Gulf 

 of Guinea southward," says Gosse ; " and as the gorilla is 

 not found beyond these limits, so we may pretty con- 

 clusively infer that the extreme point of Hanno was some- 



* Hanno's Periplus the voyage of Hanno, chief of the Cartha- 

 ginians, round the parts of Libya, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the 

 narrative of which he posted up in the Temple of Kronos. 



