258 THE TEBKIBLE. 



stature, but immensely more broad and muscular ; while 

 its strength is colossal. Though exclusively a fruit-eater, 

 it is described as always manifesting an enraged enmity 

 towards man ; and no negro, even if furnished with fire- 

 arms, will willingly enter into conflict with an adult male 

 gorilla. He is said to be more than a match for the lion. 



The rivalry between the mighty ape and the elephant 

 is curious, and leads to somewhat comic results. The old 

 male is always armed with a stout stick when on the 

 scout, and knows how to use it. The elephant has no 

 intentional evil thoughts towards the gorilla, but unfor- 

 tunately they love the same sorts of fruit. When the 

 ape sees the elephant busy with his trunk among the 

 twigs, he instantly regards it as an infraction of the laws 

 of property ; and, dropping quietly down to the bough, he 

 suddenly brings his club smartly down on the sensitive 

 finger of the elephant's proboscis, and drives off the alarmed 

 animal trumpeting shrilly with rage and pain. 



There must be something so wild and unearthly in the 

 appearance of one of these apes, so demon-like in hideous- 

 ness, in the solemn recesses of the dark primeval forest, 

 that I might have told its story in the preceding chapter. 

 The terrors with which it is invested are, however, more 

 than imaginary. The young athletic negroes, in their 

 ivory hunts, well know the prowess of the gorilla. He 

 does not, like the lion, sullenly retreat on seeing them, 

 but swings himself rapidly down to the lower branches, 

 courting the conflict, and clutches at the foremost of his 

 enemies. The hideous aspect of his visage, his -green eyes 



