GORILLAS 261 



I met one man on my last voyage who has lived on the 

 edge of the gorilla country forty-nine years, making frequent 

 journeys through the bush and along the water-courses in 

 the interest of trade. This man told me himself that in 

 all that time he had never seen a wild gorilla. 



I would cite Mr. James A. Deemin as an expert woods- 

 man and a cool, daring hunter. I have enjoyed several 

 hunts with him. He had traveled, traded, and hunted 

 through the gorilla country for more than thirteen years. 

 He told me that with two exceptions he had never seen a 

 wild gorilla. The first he ever saw was a young one, and 

 he once saw a school of them at a distance. On this latter 

 occasion he was in a canoe and under the cover of the 

 bushes along the side of a river. Unobserved he came near 

 them. 



Another man, whose name I am at liberty to mention, is 

 Mr. J. H. Drake of Liverpool. By those who know him 

 Mr. Drake has never been suspected of lacking courage 

 in the hunt or of being given to romance. Yet in many 

 years on the coast he saw but one school of these apes, and 

 that was the same one that Mr. Deemin saw when the two 

 men were traveling together. Others could be cited who 

 testify that it is a rare thing for the most expert woodsman 

 ever to see one of these creatures, and many of the stories 

 told by the casual traveler cannot be received at par. I 

 do not mean to impeach the veracity of others, but the 

 temptation to romance is too great for some people to 

 resist. While we cannot prove the negative by direct 

 evidence, we must be permitted to doubt whether or not 

 these apes are so frequently met in the jungle as they are 



