WHO COMES HERE? 



ENSE are the forests of the African Continent. The trees stand so closely- 

 together as to give their branches but limited room to grow, while vines 

 of every kind twist around the trunks, and stretching across from one to 

 the other, wrap everything in a matted network of entangled foliage. Through 

 such obstacles man is only able to advance with difficulty, and even the animals 

 that dwell in the seclusion of these primeval woods do not find them easy to 

 traverse. But in the deep recesses of the thickets, where the rays of a tropical 

 sun rarely penetrate, amid the deadly miasma that is so fatal to the European, the 

 huge Gorilla with his family is accustomed to take up his abode. Largest of all 

 known Apes, his appearance is repulsive in the extreme. The enormous head, 

 joined to the huge body by a thick, short neck, the immensely lengthened arms, 

 and the feeble, crooked legs, together with a countenance in which the lowest 

 animal passions are forcibly portrayed, unite in forming a creature of the most 

 outrd and forbidding appearance. But little is known of the habits of this animal 

 as yet ; and although many stories are told of its ferocity and untameable disposi- 

 tion, and it is said that the natives are afraid to enter the woods where it 

 is numerous, yet we cannot but believe it will prove as harmless in character as 

 the other large Apes are known to be. It feeds upon roots and different 

 vegetables that it easily finds growing wild in its native woods ; and whenever 

 molested endeavours by all the means in its power to escape from its pursuers, only 



