530 WILD ANIMALS. 



kinds of wild fruit of whidi he is very fond. He is always found 

 in the wildest, darkest, and most secluded parts of the forest, 

 and greatly dislikes the presence of man. When aroused he is 

 brave, and fights with great fury. He is so feared that but very 

 few men have the nerve to hunt him, especially as it is necessary 

 to let him come within a few (twelve is the rule) feet before firing, 

 owing to the darkness of the jungle. The man who shot this one 

 was looked upon with wonder and admiration by all the people, 

 every one of whom believed he was powerful fetich, or he could 

 not have killed him. The entrails were given to some Pangwes 

 (cannibals, the Fans of Du Chaillu, and the Niam Niam of 

 Schweinfurth), who esteemed them a great delicacy, and the 

 universal opinion here is that I sent him to America for the white 

 man to eat. They were greatly disgusted with my wasting so much 

 good rum on him, when they would have liked to have poured it 

 down their throats so well. The gorilla is a rare animal even in 

 that part of the country where he makes his home, and oppor- 

 tunities to obtain specimens occur but seldom. Old males, as 

 this one, live alone, while as many as two families are seldom at 

 least seen together. Many wonderful stories of them are told by 

 the natives, but as one never knows how much to believe of 



native stories, I will not repeat them here It may be 



interesting to note that the people here look upon them as entirely 

 distinct from themselves, yet they call them men, ' wild men,' and 

 ' furrent men.' 



" The gorilla cannot make a fire, does not build a house or 

 shelter, and does not fight with weapons except such as nature 

 gives him in his own body. He will seize the gun or spear of 

 his adversary and break it, but will not attempt to use it in his 

 own defence. It is almost practically impossible to keep the 

 gorilla for any length of time in captivity. He becomes dejected 

 and morose, and either starves himself or else dies, apparently of 

 a broken heart. Traders and others occasionally get young ones 

 — I had one myself — but they do not seem happy as do chim- 

 panzees and other apes, and they all die in the course of a few 

 weeks." 



Again referring to Du Chaillu's description, the gorilla is a 



