Ch^^p. hi. modification of opinioxs. 57 



added, unless wounded. I have also satisfied myself 

 that the gorilla is more gregarious tlian I formerly 

 considered it to be ; at least it is now clear that, at 

 certain times of the year, it goes in bands more 

 numerous than those i saw in my former journey. 

 Then I never saw more than five together. I 

 have mj'self seen, on my present expedition, two 

 of tliese bands of gorillas, numbering eight or ten, 

 and ha\-e had authentic accounts from the natives of 

 other similar bands. It is true that, when gorillas 

 become aged, they seem to be more solitary, and to 

 live in pairs, or, as in the case of old males, quite 

 alone. I have been assm^ed by the negroes that 

 solitary and aged gorillas are sometimes seen almost 

 white ; the hair becomes grizzled with age, and I 

 have no doubt that the statement of their becoming 

 occasionally wdiite with extreme old age is quite 

 correct. 



After reconsidering the whole subject, I am com- 

 pelled also to state that I think it highly probable 

 that gorillas, and not chimpanzees, as I was formerly 

 inclined to think, were the animals seen and captured 

 by the Carthaginians under Hanno, as related in the 

 ' Periplus.' Many circumstances combine in favour 

 of this conclusion. One of the results of my late 

 journey has been to prove that gorillas are nowhere 

 more common than on the tract of land between the 

 bend of the Fernand Vaz and the sea-shore ; and, as 

 this land is chiefly of alluvial formation, and the 

 bed of the river constantly shifting, it is extremely 

 probable that there were islands here in the time of 

 Hanno. The southerly part of the land is rather 

 G 



