so 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
keep tlie cavity of the chest always vast, and certainly from their solidity and from the small space 
which exists between the successive ribs, great and unusual efforts of respiration are not very possible. 
So large is the cavity of the chest in the Gorilla, and so capacious are the lungs, that it is possibly 
not necessary for it to put itself out of breath, and to call extraordinary muscular exertion into play, 
during its uneventful life. 
Having thirteen ribs on either side, and each rib being attached to a separate bone of the spine, 
the Gorilla has therefore one more spine bone (vertebra) than man, and is all the more long-backed. 
Moreover, the breast-bone, which is on the front of the chest, is broader in the Gorilla than in man, 
and at least one-third longer, thus adding to the capacity of the cavity of the chest, making it of about 
500 cubic inches ; that of man being 330 cubic inches. 
The lungs and heart of the great Ape resemble those of man, and the great arteries are given off 
from the main blood-vessel in the same manner in both. 
The Gorillas appear to be great eaters, and to roam about, either in small bands or alone, seeking 
for their favourite food in the forest, and the plantations close by. Sometimes they seek the high 
plains and rough ground of the hills, especially where certain trees are found, and they invariably 
cling to the forests about water. They eat the cabbage of the palm nut tree, and partake of the papau, 
banana, and amomum fruits. Wild sugar-canes attract them, and they are especially fond of the 
succulent white parts of the pine-apple and its leaves. Some hard kinds of nuts are readily cracked 
with their huge teeth, which are also brought into use in tearing open the stems of juicy plants. 
All the examinations of the dead bodies of the Gorillas prove their diet to consist of such things, 
and the remains of berries, pine-apple leaves, and other vegetable matters were found, but not flesh or 
anything like it. This food is, however, not very nourishing, and it must be taken in large quantities 
and frequently. Hence the animal must not only have good climbing powers to get his food, but a large 
stomach and intestines to digest it rapidly. There is no doubt that the figure of the Gorilla testifies to 
its kind of food. The abdomen is very large, and sticks out when the animal is in the erect position ; 
its paunch is vast, and therefore the bones which support it below, or the haunch bones, are very wide. 
These haunch-bones form part of a girdle of bones which, in a skeleton, unites the legs to 
the spine, and which contains, in living animals, the bladder, part of the reproductive organs, and 
the unborn young. 
It is called the pelvis, or basin-shaped bone (being very unlike one); its upper edge is formed by 
the expanded haunch, or ilium bones (ilium, or gut, alluding to the support given by the bone to the 
bowels), and its lower one by the bones on which men and Gorillas sit, or the hip (the ischium, or hip- 
bone). In the Gorilla the pelvis is enormous, and the edge of the haunches is long, so as to give 
attachment to the muscles which enclose the vast digestive apparatus behind and at the side, but 
it does not form a graceful curve behind and below, for certain muscles which are of great use 
to man in maintaining the erect posture, and which straighten the thigh in the body, are weak 
in the great Ape. These muscles originate outside and below the top of the haunch, and when 
large and strong, equire a peculiar shape of bone : they form in man what does not exist in the 
Gorilla, and that in which the Hottentot Venus glories. But the Gorilla can sit just as well upon 
a pair of short and expanded hip-bones (ischial tuberosities, in the language of anatomists), and as 
he has no tail (the bones forming it in other Monkeys being diminished in number and united in 
a short process), he can do so for a considerable time with comfort. The sitting in the upright 
position is moderately easy to the Gorilla, and the older ones evidently often do so. They squat 
and rest their broad backs against a tree, and as this is a very constant and favourite position, 
they wear a good deal of their back hair off. 
The fate of a hunter is thus given by Du Chaillu, who pledges himself to three very debatable 
points : that the Gorilla meets its enemy erect ; stands and fights ; and kills by a blow across 
the abdomen: — “We set off towards a dark valley where Gam bo said we should find our 
prey. The Gorilla chooses the darkest, gloomiest forests, for its home is found on the edges of 
the clearings only when in search of plantains, sugar-canes, or pine-apples. Often they choose for 
their peculiar haunt a wood, so dark that even at midday one can scarce see ten yards. This 
makes it tlie more necessary to wait till the monstrous beast approaches near before shooting, in 
order that the first shot may be fatal. It does not often let the hunter reload. Our little party 
