OTHELLO AND OTHER GORILLAS 287 



Moses liked in common, and therefore they had no 

 occasion to quarrel ; but they never played together 

 or cultivated any friendly terms as the chimpanzees 

 did among themselves. This may have been due to 

 the gorilla, who was so exclusive in his demeanour 

 towards the chimpanzee as to forbid all attempts of 

 the latter to become intimate. The chimpanzee by 

 nature is more sociable and is fond of human society. 

 He imitates the actions of man in many things, and 

 quickly adapts himself to new conditions, while the 

 gorilla is selfish and retiring. He can seldom, if ever, 

 be reconciled to human society ; he does not imitate 

 man nor yield to the influences of civilised life. 



One special trait of the gorilla which I wish to 

 emphasise is that he is one of the most taciturn, if 

 not quite the most, of any member of the simian 

 family. This fact does not appear to confirm my 

 theory as to their high type of speech, but it is a fact 

 so far as I observed, although the natives say that 

 they are as loquacious as the chimpanzee. Among 

 the specimens that I have studied, both wild and in 

 captivity, I have never heard but four sounds that 

 differed from each other, and of these only two 

 could properly be defined as speech. I do not 

 include the screaming sound described in another 

 chapter. I have not been able so far to translate the 

 sounds that I have heard, and they cannot be spelled 

 with letters. There is one sound which Othello 

 often used. It was not a speech sound, but a kind of 

 whine, always coupled with a deep sigh. When left 

 alone for a time he became oppressed with solitude. 



