266 PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE EXTERNAL CHARACTERS 



" The Pongos," he also writes, " are never taken alive, because they are so strong that 

 ten men cannot hold one of them," which is true of the Gorilla ; while the black 

 Engeco (the Enche-eko, or Nstiego, of the Mpongwe and Camma tribes of the present 

 day) would offer less resistance, through its smaller size and weaker structure. Very 

 significant of the accuracy of the report of the old African wanderer is the indication of 

 the difference of colour of the " Pongo " and " Engeco." In this narrative' is the first 

 notice of the Gorilla under the name of " Pongo." ' Hanno's Voyage^,' from which 

 Dr. Savage borrowed the name, too vaguely refers to some large hairy Ape for identifica- 

 tion of the species. But Cuvier acted in the true interests of science in excluding the 

 hearsay evidences on record prior to the publication of the ' R^gne Animal ' from that 

 trustworthy compendium of zoological facts. 



From present knowledge of the characters of the Gorilla, its position in the zoolo- 

 gical series may be deduced ; but the conclusions will bear some tincture of the mind 

 that so deals with such evidence, and consequently, as heretofore, those entitled to 

 offer an opinion may, for some time to come, be found to differ. 



I would first observe, although to most it may be superfluous, and to every com- 

 petent and candid naturalist it ought to be so, that characters of homology are not to 

 be confounded with those of zoology. For example, if, in the accepted zootomical 

 text-books^, every bone in the foot of Man is shown to be present in the hind hand of the 

 Monkey and in the hind fin of the Seal, the tyro in zoology is not to believe that the 



' Battel's narrative is contained in the compilation by Purchas, entitled ' Pilgrimages, or Relations of the 

 World,' &c., fol., 1625, pt. ii. p. 981. 



' The ' Periplus, or A'oyage of Hanno,' was translated by a learned and accomplished physician, Dr. Falconer 

 (8vo, 1"97). I am indebted to the venerable Bishop Maltby, eminent as a Greek scholar, for the following 

 translation of the passage supposed to allude to the species in question ; — " On the third day, having sailed from 

 thence, passing the streams of fire, 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.' But, pursuing 

 them, we were not able to take the men ; they all escaped, being able to climb the precipices, and defended them- 

 selves with pieces of rock. But three women (females), who bit and scratched those who led them, were not 

 vrilling 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." This encounter indicates, therefore, the southernmost 

 point on the west coast of Africa reached by the Carthaginian navigator. 



To the inquiry by Bishop Maltby, how far the newly discovered great Ape of Africa bore upon the question 

 of the authenticity of the ' Periplus,' I repUed : — "The size and form of the great Ape, now called ' Gorilla,' 

 would suggest to Hanno and his crew no other idea of its nature than that of a kind of human being ; but the 

 climbing-faculty, the hairy body, and skinning of the dead specimens strongly suggest that they were large 

 anthropoid or tailless Apes. The fact that such Apes, having the closest observed resemblance to the Negro, 

 being of human stature and with hairy bodies, do still exist on the west coast of Africa renders it highly pro- 

 bable that such were the creatures which Hanno saw, captured, and called ' GoruUai.' " 



^ Cuvier, ' Le9ons d' Anatomic Compare'e,' 8vo, 1805, tom. i. art. vii., "Des os du coude-pied, ou du tarse, 

 dans I'Homme et dans les Mammiferes"; ' Ossemens Fossiles,' 4to, 1825, tom. v. partie vii., " Squelettes des 

 Phoques," p. 226, &c. 



