OTHELLO AND OTHER GORILLAS 235 



that it deeply impressed me, and being alone with 

 him in the silence of the dreary forest at the time 

 of his demise, gave the scene a touch of sadness 

 that impressed me with a deeper sense of its reality ; 

 and Moses watched the dying ape as if he knew 

 what it meant. He showed no signs of regret, but 

 his manner was such as to suggest that he knew it 

 was a trying hour. 



Othello died just before sunset, but for a long 

 time prior to this he was unconscious. The only 

 movements made by him were spasmodic actions of 

 the muscles caused by pain. The fixed and vacant 

 stare of his eyes in this last hour was so like those 

 of man in the hour of dissolution, that no one could 

 look upon the scene and fail to realise the solemn 

 fact that this was death. The next day I dissected 

 him, and prepared the skin and skeleton to bring 

 home with me. They are now, with Moses and 

 others, in the Museum of the University of Toronto; 

 and if the taxidermist who mounts the skin of Othello 

 poses him like most of the craft do — in the attitude 

 of dancing a fandango and the corners of his mouth 

 forming obtuse angles — I will have that man executed 

 if I have to bribe the court. 



When I first secured this ape and brought him to 

 my home in the bush, he was placed on the ground 

 a few feet from my cage, and near him was laid 

 some bananas and sugar-cane for Moses, who had 

 not yet seen the stranger. The gorilla was in a 

 box with one side open, so that he could easily be 

 seen. My purpose was to see how each one would 



