HABITAT OF GORILLA 21 5 



the Ogowe ; but I repeat that there is no tangible proof 

 that they were ever found north of the Gaboon. With due 

 respect to Sir Richard Owen and other writers who have 

 never been in that country, I insist that they are mistaken. 

 It is true that one of the tribes living north of the Gaboon 

 has a name for this animal ; but it does not follow that 

 the ape lives in that country. The Orungu tribe has a 

 name for lion, but there is not such a beast within two 

 hundred miles of their country. Not one of that tribe 

 ever saw a lion. 



A number of specimens of gorillas have been secured at 

 Gaboon, but they have been brought there from far away. 

 It is the chief town of the colony, and there are more white 

 men there than elsewhere to buy them. It is not possible 

 for a stranger to ascertain what part of the country a 

 specimen is brought from. The native hunter will not tell 

 the truth, lest some one else should find the game and thus 

 deprive him of its capture and sale. I saw a specimen at 

 Cameroon, and was told it had been captured in that valley, 

 fifty miles from the coast ; but I hunted up its history and 

 found with absolute certainty that it was captured near 

 Mayumba, two hundred miles south of Gaboon. 



Even with the greatest care in hunting up the history of 

 a specimen, one may fail, and often does fail, in tracing it to 

 its true source ; but every one, so far, that I have followed 

 up has been brought from somewhere within the limits I 

 have laid down. Contrary to the statement of some 

 authorities that these apes ". have never been seen on the 

 coast since 1852," I assert that by far the greatest number 

 of them are found near the coast. I do not mean to say 



