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The National Geographic Magazine 



of questions hurled at him; consequently 

 nobody believed him, except Harper and 

 Brothers in the United States and the 

 Royal Geographical Society in England, 

 both of whom valiantly and vigorously 

 defended his truthfulness. 



In 1 863-' 65 Du Chaillu made a second 

 journey of exploration to Africa, the 

 narrative of which appeared in 1867 as 

 "A Journey through Ashango Land." 

 This time he discovered the pygmies of 

 the Dark Forest, but his descriptions of 

 the little people were likewise received 

 with incredulity. With this journey 

 his explorations in Africa ended. 



Gradually each of Du Chaillu' s dis- 

 coveries was confirmed by later ex- 

 plorers — by Schweinfiirth, Stanley, Sir 

 Harry Johnston, and others. Many 

 years ago they were all verified ; but 

 the name Du Chaillu none the less still 

 remains to most Americans that of a ro- 

 mance. In a certain sense Du Chaillu 

 is himself responsible for this feeling, 

 for all his descriptions are so vivid and 

 are so thrillingly told that the reader 

 feels he is reading a work of pure inven- 

 tion, rather than a narrative of actual 

 experience. 



His famous description of the first 

 gorilla shot by a white man is worth 

 quoting : 



"Suddenly, as we were yet creeping 

 along, in a silence which made a heavy 

 breath seem loud and distinct, the woods 

 were at once filled with the tremendous 

 barking loar of the gorilla. 



' ' Then the underbrush swayed rapidly 

 just ahead, and presently before us stood 

 an immense male gorilla. He had gone 

 through the jungle on his all-fours ; but 

 when he saw our party he erected him- 

 self and looked us boldly in the face. 

 He stood about a dozen yards from us, 

 and was a sight I thirk I shall never 

 forget. Nearl}' six feet high (he proved 

 four inches shorter) , with immense body, 

 huge chest, and great muscular arms, 

 with fiercely- glaring, large, deep gray 

 eyes, and a hellish expression of face, 



which seemed to me like some night- 

 mare vision : thus stood before us this 

 king of the African forest. 



' ' He was not afraid of us. He stood 

 there, and beat his breast with his huge 

 fists till it resounded like an immense 

 bass-drum, which is their mode of offer- 

 ing defiance ; meantime giving vent to 

 roar after roar. 



' ' The roar of the gorilla is the most 

 singular and awful noise heard in these 

 African woods. It begins with a sharp 

 bark, like an angry dog: then glides 

 into a deep bass roll, which literally 

 and closely resembles the roll of distant 

 thunder along the sky, for which I have 

 sometimes been tempted to take it where 

 I did not see the animal. So deep is it 

 that it seems to proceed less from the 

 mouth and throat than from the deep 

 chest and vast paunch. 



" His eyes began to flash fiercer fire 

 as we stood, motionless on the defensive, 

 and the crest of short hair which stands 

 on his forehead began to twitch rapidly 

 up and down, while his powerful fangs 

 were shown as he again sent forth a 

 thunderous roar. And now truly he 

 reminded me of nothing but some hell- 

 ish dream creature — a being of that 

 hideous order, half-man, half beast — 

 which we find pictured by old artists in 

 some representations of the infernal re- 

 gions. He advanced a few steps, then 

 stopped to utter that hideous roar again; 

 advanced again, and finally stopped 

 when at a distance of about six yards 

 from us. And here, just as he began 

 another of his roars, beating his breast 

 in rage, we fired and killed him." 



In later years Du Chaillu traveled ex- 

 tensively in Sweden, Norway, Lapland, 

 Finland, and other countries. He was 

 the originator of the phrases " Land of 

 the Midnight Sun " and " Land of the 

 Long Night." In 1889 he published 

 ' ' The Viking Age, ' ' his most ambitious 

 work, the result of many years of spe- 

 cial research. He published his first 

 book for young people in 1868, called 



