238 ANTHROPOID APES. 



SO dense that it is difficult to get at them. Here 

 the pisang plantain rises from the soil. The power- 

 ful stems, thickly overgrown with wild pepper, bear 

 branches from which hang long streams of bearded 

 moss, and also a parasitic growth of that remark- 

 able fern to which Schweinfurth gave the name of 

 elephant's ear. The large tun-shaped structures of 

 the tree-termites are found on the higher branches; 

 Other stems, rotten and decayed, serve as supports 

 for the colossal streamers of Mucuna urens, and form 

 bowers overhung with impenetrable festoons, which 

 are as large as houses, in which perpetual darkness 

 reigns.* 



When the chimpanzee goes on all fours, he 

 generally supports himself on the backs of his closed 

 fingers rather than on the palm of the hand, and he 

 goes sometimes on the soles of his feet, sometimes 

 on the closed toes. His gait also is weak and 

 vacillating, and he can stand upright on his feet for 

 a still shorter time than the gorilla. At the same 

 time he seeks support for his hands, or clasps them 

 above his head, which is a little thrown back, in 

 order to maintain his balance. 



These animals send forth loud cries, which echo 

 plaintively through the great tropical forests. 

 Pechuel-Losche says that the horrible wails, the 

 furious shrieks and howls, which may be heard 

 morning and evening, and often in the night, make 

 these creatures truly hateful to travellers. " Since 

 they are really accomplished in the art of bringing 



* Schweinfurth, Im Berzen von Afrika, p. 335 : New edition, 

 Leipzig, 1878. 



