26 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
NOTICE. 
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No. 1, Vol. 4. Yearly subscriptions only received. 
Specimen copies can be sent post free on receipt 
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ing their Magazine should communicate at once 
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JOHN D. HAMLYN, 
221, St. George's Street, London Docks, E 1 , 
London. 
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ing articles and reminiscences, as well as items of 
news and reports of sport from all parts of the 
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requested to communicate at once with the Editor. 
They will in future receive the Magazine through 
the Office of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son, 
Strand, W.C. 
OUR GORILLA. 
With the greatest satisfaction we announce 
the arrival in this country of a young male Gorilla, 
probably about three years old, which was brought 
by a French Officer from Cape Lopez in the 
Gaboon and is now in our possession. His per- 
fect condition, playful ways, docile temper and 
complete confidence in humanity bear the strong- 
est possible testimony to the kindness and atten- 
tion he received from his former owner and from 
all on board. Although full of independence of 
character, he allows .himself to be handled and 
nursed, and when released from his cage roams 
about the room with a general air of happiness 
and content probably never before exhibited by a 
newly imported Gorilla. As a rule these apes 
display from the first moment of capture a morose- 
ness and sullenness of demeanour which have 
given rise to the belief in the hopeless intracta- 
bility of their tempers and in the impossibility of 
winning their confidence by any kindnesses that 
can be lavished upon them. 
To say that he is in perfect health conveys, 
however, a very imperfect notion of his condition. 
He is a lusty little fellow with a back like a board 
and limbs to match; and his quadrupedal strut, 
with the limbs stiffened and head raised, has about 
it an" indescribable swagger quite comical to be- 
hold. Every movement is suggestive of the nas- 
cent muscular vigour which will develop under 
favourable conditions into the herculean strength 
of the adult. But when contemplating the benign 
expression of his face, it is as difficult to believe 
that it may assume the bestial ferocity ofi aspect 
of the full grown male as it is to believe that his 
temper and character may undergo a comparable 
change. At the present time his jet black com- 
plexion, swollen nostrils, rounded head, small ears 
and large dark eyes impart to his countenance a 
striking likeness to a Congo negro, and dispose 
at once of the claim of the Chimpanzee to be re- 
garded as the most human in aspect of all the 
anthropoid apes. In the breadth of the hands and 
the feet and the shortness of the arms the Gorilla 
is also more human than the Chimpanzee, and is 
further distinguished by being covered with a coat 
of short sleek hair, brown everywhere except for 
a white patch where the suppressed tail once grew 
— a coat quite unlike the long shaggy clothing ob- 
servable in the other African ape. 
Even the negroes, it is said, are compelled to 
confess to the closeness of the likeness between 
themselves and a Gorilla; but when told that they 
are the descendants of that ape appositely retort 
by triumphantly pointing to the prrie face of the 
Chimpanzee as irrefutable evidence of the descent 
of the white man from that stock. 
Now a word about Gorillas in captivity. They 
have been at once the hope and despair of animal 
dealers and menagerie owners. With two notable 
exceptions mentioned below, the history of all at- 
tempts to keep them alive a reasonable length of 
time has been a long record of disheartening fail- 
ure. In the London Zoo they have lived from a 
few weeks to six months. Berlin claims a year 
as the longest period- Hagenbeck, the; successful 
dealer and showman of Hamburg, who considered 
himself facile princeps where wild animals are con- 
cerned, was determined to show the world that he 
could succeed where others had failed; but after 
spending jQ&OQ in one season on these apes, he, 
too, was compelled to admit defeat and abandoned 
the enterprise, a sadder and a wiser and withal a 
poorer man. 
The two exceptions referred to above are sup- 
plied by the historic female Gorilla which died in 
1904 after living seven years in the zoological gar- 
dens at Breslau, and by the young female which 
a few years ago was exhibited in the Dublin zoo. 
This specimen, purchased from Cross in January, 
1914, repaid the great care bestowed upon her 
by Dr. B. B. Ferrar, the Superintendent, by liv- 
ing three years and four monthsi, ultimately dying 
when nearly five years old from inflammation of 
part of the large intestine. From the interesting 
account of her life published by Dr. G. H. Car- 
penter in the "Irish Naturalist" for August, 1917, 
it appears that she was perfectly docile and never 
attempted to hurt anyone. She was fed on bread, 
milk, fruit of all kinds, green stuff such as lettuce 
