12 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
world, and which, no white man before had hunted. My heart beat till I feared its loud pulsations 
would alarm the Gorilla, and my feelings were excited to a painful degree. By the tracks it was easy 
to know that there must have been several Gorillas in company. We prepared at once to follow them. 
The women were terrified, poor things, and we left them a good escort of two or three men to take 
care of them, and reassure them. Then the rest of us looked once more carefully at our guns, for the 
Gorilla gives you no time to re-load, and woe to him whom he attacks. We were armed to the teeth. 
My men were remarkably silent, as if they were going on an expedition of more than usual risk ; for 
the male Gorilla is literally long of the African forest. He and the crested lion of Mount Atlas are 
the two fiercest and strongest beasts of the continent. The lion of South Africa cannot compare with 
either for strength or courage. I knew that we were about to pit ourselves against an animal which 
even the leopard of these mountains fears, and which perhaps has driven the lion out of his territory ; 
for the king of beasts so numerous elsewhere in Africa is never met in the land of the Gorilla. We 
descended a hill, crossed a stream on a fallen log, and presently approached some huge boulders of 
granite. Alongside of one lay an immense dead tree, and about this we saw' many evidences of the 
very recent presence of the Gorillas. Our approach was very cautious : we were divided into parties. 
We were to surround the granite block, behind which the animals were supposed to be hiding, and 
suddenly I was startled by a strange discordant, half-human, devilish cry, and beheld four young 
Gorillas running toward the deep forests. We fired, but hit nothing. Then we rushed on in pursuit, 
but they knew the woods better than we. Once I caught a glimpse of one of the animals again, but 
an intervening tree spoiled my mark, and I did not fire, but ran till we were exhausted, but in vain, 
and the alert beasts made their escape.” As the hunters sat round their fire in the evening, before 
going to sleep, the adventure of the day was talked over, and of course some very tough yarns and 
stories were told about the Gorillas, most of which ought to have put this traveller on his guard, and 
impressed him that the greater part of the ferocity and the lion-like courage of the new' animal were 
derived from the imaginations of a very superstitious and not over-courageous race of men. They 
were great believers in witchcraft, and they believed that many men wdiose names they mentioned, 
and who are dead, had their spirits now dwelling in Gorillas. However, Du Chaillu, a few days 
afterwards, started on a hunt wdiich had a more satisfactory termination than the last. He and the 
rest got on the track of an old male, and suddenly as they w r ere creeping along in silence, which 
made a heavy breath seem loud and distinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremendous 
barking roar of the Gorilla* Then the underbush swayed rapidly just a-head, and presently before 
them stood an immense male. He had gone through the jungle on all-fours, but when he saw the 
party he erected himself and looked them boldly in the face. “ It stood about a dozen yards from 
us, and was a sight I think I never shall forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved four inches shorter), 
w'ith immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, -with fiercely glaring large deep gray eyes, 
and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to me like some nightmare vision ; there stood before 
us the king of the African forest. He was not afraid of us. He stood there and beat liis breast 
with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense bass drum, which is their mode of offering 
defiance ; sometimes giving vent to roar after roar. The roar of the Gorilla is the most singular 
and awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp bark like an angry dog, then 
glides into a deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the 
sky, for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it when I did not see the animal. Ilis 
eyes began to flash fiercely, for we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair 
wdiich stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his powerful fangs were 
shown as he again sent forth a tremendous roar. lie advanced a few steps, then stopped to utter 
that hideous roar again ; advanced again, and finally stopped when at the distance of about six yards 
from us, and then, just as he began another of his roars, beating liis breast with rage, we fired and 
killed him. With a groan which had something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, 
he fell forward on his face. The body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about 
in a struggling way, and then all was quiet ; death had done its work, and I had leisure to examine 
the huge body. It proved to be five feet eight inches high, and the muscular development of the arms 
and breast showed the immense strength it had possessed.” 
Du Chaillu once had a capital view of some Gorillas at their meal. News having come that 
