600 MAMMALIA. 



and inherent viciousness of the young monsters. They remained 

 huddled up in the farthest corner of their cage, and when 

 any one approached them they sprang at him. This ferocious 

 mood, however, did not exclude the manifestation of a large 

 amount of cunning. When, tamed by hunger, they took their 

 food, they would stare at their master full in the face, to attract 

 his attention ; then "they would advance a foot, and grasp his 

 leg with the intention of throwing him down. In approaching 

 them the greatest precautions had to be adopted. 



Captivity at last so sours the natural savageness of the Gorilla 

 that it soon refuses all subsistence, and dies irtdtliout showing any 

 apparent disease. The adult GoriUas are altogether untamable ; 

 M. du Chaillu does not believe that it will ever be possible to cap- 

 ture one without killing it, for the adult Chimpanzee, which is 

 much less iferocious than the Gorilla, has never been taken alive. 

 The only exception that can be admitted is where the animal has 

 been so dangerously wounded as to be unable to offer serious 

 resistance. 



The young Gorilla is of a jet-black colour. The skin is naked 

 on the face, the palms of the hands, and the chest. The hair of a 

 full-grown Gorilla is iron-grey. 



Each hair is streaked in a circular manner with alternate bands 

 of black and grej^, which give it a greyish appearance. On the 

 arms the hair is darker and longer ; it sometimes exceeds two 

 inches in length. The head is garnished with a cro-rni of reddish, 

 short hair, which descends to the neck. The hair of the female 

 is black with a red tint ; it is not streaked like that of the male ; 

 neither has the female the red-coloured crown until she is aged. 

 The eyes of the Gorilla are deeply buried beneath very prominent 

 superciliary arches, a disposition which gives the face a very 

 sinister aspect. Its jaws are enormous, and furnished with large 

 canine teeth. 



The neck of this animal is so short that its head appears to be 

 buried between its shoidders. The forehead is very retreating. 

 The ears are very small, and nearly on a line with the eyes. The 

 nose is very flat, but a little more salient than in the other 

 Monkeys. The chest and shoulders are extremely wide. The 

 abdomen is verjr round and prominent. The great leno-th of the 

 arms and shortness of the legs is one of the characters which most 



