84 APES AND MONKEYS 



weight bends the leaves, and they fall from their lofty 

 place, striking with a sharp, popping sound the big leaves 

 far below them. The hours fly by ; but in the stillness of 

 early morning is heard a most unearthly scream. It is the 

 voice of a king gorilla. He makes every leaf in the forest 

 tremble with the sound of his piercing shrieks. 



Thus another night is erased from the calendar of time 

 and another da}" begins. The dawn awakes to life the 

 teeming forest, and all its denizens again go forth to join 

 the universal chase for food. 



All of the incidents here cited are true in every detail, 

 but they did not occur every dav, nor did all of them occur 

 on the same dav, as might be inferred from the manner in 

 which they are related. But this recital gives a fair idea of 

 the daily routine in the bosom of the great forest, although 

 this is a mere glimpse of the scenes of life in the jungle. 

 Bv going out for a da}" or two at a time, hunting on the 

 plains a few miles away, I often relieved the monotony. 

 My menu was occasionally varied by a mess of parrot soup, 

 a piece of goat, fish, or porcupine ; but the general aver- 

 age of it was about as has been described. 



