30 



GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



coming. Now the leaves begin to rustle. It is the 

 first cool breath of the day, but it is only the herald 

 of the furious wind that is rapidly advancing. The 

 tree-tops begin to sway. Now they are lashing each 

 other as if in anger ; the strong trees are bending 

 from the wind ; the lightning is so vivid that it is 

 blinding ; the thunder is terrific. One shaft after 

 another, the burning bolts are hurled through the 

 moaning forest. The roar of thunder is unceasing. 

 I hear the dull thud of a falling tree, while the 

 crackling boughs are falling all around me. The 

 rain is pouring in torrents, and all nature is in a 

 rage. Every bird and beast has sought a place of 

 refuge from the warring elements. No sign of life 

 is visible, no sound is audible, save the voice of the 

 storm. 



How unspeakably desolate the jungle is at such 

 an hour, no fancy can depict. How utterly helpless 

 a human being is against the wrath of nature, no 

 one can realise, except to live through such an hour 

 in such a place. 



On one occasion five large trees were blown down, 

 within a radius of two hundred yards of my cage, 

 and scores of limbs were broken off by the wind, 

 and scattered like straws. Some of them were six 

 or eight inches in diameter, and ten or twelve feet 

 long. One of them broke the corner off the bamboo 

 roof over my cage. The limb was broken off a 

 huge cotton-tree near by, and fell from a height of 

 about sixty feet. It was carried by the wind some 

 yards out of a vertical line as it fell, and just passed 



