1905.] >rAinrALS of souruF.RX cameijooxs. 67 



animals, one more peeuliaiity about the nature of the forest rany 

 be mentioned hei-e, and tliat is the way in which th6 coloui-ing of 

 certain animals is adapted to make them invisible or inconspicuous 

 in it. It is a matter of common observation by all who practice 

 shooting in this forest, that the dark skin of the naked native 

 men is better fitted to make them inconspicuous than any sort of 

 clothing a white man may wear. The dark colouring of many 

 animals doubtless has the same eftect. But an acquaintance with 

 the forest shows also the moi-e remarkable fact that animals with 

 spots or patterns of dark and bright colours, like Leopards, Monitor 

 Lizards, Snakes, &c., are perfectly adapted to escape observation 

 so long as they are motionless ; for the dark and sombre ground- 

 colour, formed by the dead leaves on the ground and the black 

 stems of trees, is dotted with innumerable bright spots. In i^ainy 

 weather the light glistens from the wet leaves, both above and 

 below ; and in fair weather the sunshine, where it gets tlirough 

 the foliage at all, makes bright flecks on the dai-k ground and 

 trees. Then there are other bits of brightness : sometimes golden- 

 yellow flowers grow right out of the black tree-trunks, yellow 

 fungi deck the decaying logs, yellow withered leaves may at all 

 seasons be seen among the black aiid brown ones on the ground. 

 Some trees have sap of an intense yellow colour that flows out 

 and makes yellow streaks or blotches below every cut or insect- 

 puncture in the black bark. 



Another thing must often sei've to make the i-ed wild hog 

 inconspicuous ; that is, the red colour of the soil. I have seen 

 bare places on the ground, as in a path, or where a tree has 

 fallen tearing up the soil with its roots, where the Red River- Hog 

 might lie and not be noticed because it was of the same colour as 

 the ground, and in some of such places hogs had actually recently 

 lain. 



The Gorilla {Gorilla). 



Gorillas generally keep to the depths of the forest. When tliey 

 come into the outlying clearings of human settlements, it is 

 because they are attracted by some fruit or succulent plant. The 

 commonest attraction is the fruit of a tall cane-like endogen 

 (^Amomuni sp.) growing thickly on abandoned garden-land. At 

 one very small isolated village the people told me that they often 

 both saw and heard Gorillas, which actually sometimes came and 

 broke down the plantain-stalks behind the village, to eat the 

 tender heart. At that village there were only two or three men, 

 and they had no guns. 



Usually Gorillas are very wary when they approach human 

 dwellings. Once I spent several days, with a native guide, 

 tramping about in old clea,rings overgrown with "mejom" (the 

 cane-like plant above-mentioned), looking for Gorillas. We saw 

 many tracks, showing the imprint both of tlie soles of the hind 

 hands or feet and of the backs of the fingei-s of the front ; we 

 sav/ also many hulls of the fruits of "mejom," and shoots toi'u 



