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146 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v. 



I shall be glad of as a means of thanking Mr. 

 Young, whose kindness to the expedition through- 

 out has been very great. Among the skins is one 

 of a young crocodile, and it will be followed by 

 two more ycung ones preserved in spirit. I find 

 many things sadly injured from wet ; they lay at 

 Mozambique, having been left to take their chance 

 after they had gone out of my hands. I learn 

 from the owners that the vessel in which I ex- 

 pected the remainder of the specimens of 1862 

 and 1863 will be here in January or February.' 



The other specimens came from M. Du Chaillu. 

 The French hunter, on his first visit to England, 

 was severely if not rancorously attacked by cer- 

 tain persons in London, who refused to believe 

 the story of his travels, and even went so far as 

 to deny that he had ever seen a live gorilla. 

 Though Owen, Murchison, and most of the lead- 

 ing scientific men stood staunchly by him, it was 

 impossible that Du Chaillu, a young man and a 

 foreigner, should not feel their taunts keenly. As 

 the best means of proving his own veracity, he, 

 in 1864, returned to the Gaboon, and in due 

 course sent to England a fresh consignment of 

 dead gorillas and one living one, which only 

 survived a short time. 



In October 1864, Sir Roderick Murchison 

 wrote Professor Owen the following letter from 

 Torquay with regard to M. Du Chaillu: — 



' . . . I have had a charming letter from Du 



