GORILLA SCREAMING 239 



year, but it is most frequent and violent during February 

 and March. 



This wild screaming is sometimes accompanied by a 

 peculiar beating sound. It has been vaguely and variously 

 described by travelers, and currently believed to be made 

 by the animal beating with his hands upon his breast ; but 

 that is not the fact. The sound cannot be made by that 

 means. The quality of the sound shows that such cannot 

 be the means employed. I have several times heard this 

 beating and have paid marked attention to its character. 

 At a great distance it would be difficult to determine its 

 exact quality. 



On one occasion, while passing the night in a native 

 town, I was aroused from sleep by a gorilla screaming and 

 beating within a few hundred yards of the village. I drew 

 on my boots, took my rifle, and cautiously crossed the 

 open ground between the village and the forest. This 

 brought me within about two hundred yards of the animal. 

 The moon was faintly shining, but I could not see the 

 beast, and I had no desire to approach nearer at such a 

 time. I distinctly heard every stroke. I believe the 

 sound was made by beating upon a log or piece of dead 

 wood. He was beating with both hands. The alternating 

 strokes were made with great rapidity. The order of the 

 strokes was not unlike that produced by the natives in 

 beating their drums, except that in this instance each hand 

 made the same number of strokes, and the strokes were in 

 a constant series, rising and falling from very soft to very 

 loud, and vice versa. A number of these runs followed 

 one another during the time the voice continued. Between 



