DISTRIBUTION, HABITS, AND NATIVE NAMES. 227 



voured by gorillas. They show a special preference 

 for the following fruits : — First, those of the oil 

 palm (Elaeis gmneenis), of which they also devour 

 the developed, folded leaves, called the palm-cab- 

 bage; second, the grey plum tree (Farinarium 

 excelsum), which bears a mealy and insipid stone- 

 fruit ; third, the melon tree {Carica Papaya) ; fourth, 

 the pisang {Musa paradisiaea, Musa sapientvm); 

 fifth, two sorts of scitamines (Amomum granum fara- 

 disi s. Afzelii, Amomum malaguetta), the last of which, 

 according to Lindley, produces the malaguetta 

 pepper; sixth, Amomum grandiflorum ; seventh, 

 a tree bearing a walnut-like fruit, of which the 

 gorilla cracks the shell with a stone (this is pro- 

 bably one of the Sterculiacese, like the Kola-nut) ; 

 eighth, another tree with which we are not yet 

 botanieally acquainted, bearing a cherry-like fruit. 

 Du Chaillu asserts that these animals are also very 

 fond of sugar-cane and the wild pine-apple. Although 

 they live in places far from human habitations, yet 

 they rob the cane-plantations and the rice-fields of 

 the negroes in the harvest-time, and this is a fact 

 confirmed by Koppenfels. Savage reports that 

 gorillas also devour the bodies of animals killed in 

 hunting, and even human bodies, and this does not 

 sound improbable. Like most species of apes, the 

 gorilla preys upon the smaller mammals, upon birds 

 and their eggs, and upon reptiles. The gorillas 

 which have been kept in confinement at Berlin have 

 been quite omnivorous, and have displayed a special 

 taste for animal food. 

 In the little village of Ntondo, near the Kuilu, 



