IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES 
383 
friendly, but there is no mistaking the fact of their being cannibals. 
The men are tall and finely made; they go about almost naked, wearing 
only the skin of a wild cat or tiger round their middle. Their teeth 
are filed to a point, and are sometimes blackened besides, and this 
gives them a peculiarly ferocious look. They wear their hair in long 
thin plaits, and hang all sorts of “fetishes”—monkeys’ fingers and 
tails, human hair, skin, teeth and bones, claws and skulls of birds, and 
bits of metal—round their necks. Although they were very well dis¬ 
posed, and constantly sent the white man presents, he would never 
accept cooked food from them, for fear it had been dressed in one of 
the vessels in which they prepare their horrible human repasts. 
Although these people possess only spears, they are very clever 
in killing elephants. Their plan is to choose a likely place, and then 
gathering a number of the thick cords of the trailing vines, fasten 
these together between the trees until a long network is made, and 
their object then is to drive a frightened elephant towards the spot 
When he is caught in the nets, there is no escape; the more he tries 
to tear the vines, the more he is entangled in their meshes; and then 
the natives hurl their spears at him till he is covered with them, looking 
like a huge porcupine, and soon expires from loss of blood. But this 
sport is dangerous, and men are often killed by the infuriated beasts. 
Du Chaillu several times tried to rear and tame the young of the 
gorilla and other apes, but in each case the little thing died. Joe, a 
young male gorilla hardly three years old, was a most savage and 
morose little brute. He rushed savagely at any one who approached 
him, and on one occasion, when he had escaped, it required four men 
to hold him when he was caught at last. Even with Du Chaillu, who 
used to feed him, he was vicious and treacherous. He would come 
readily to eat out of his master’s hand, and while fixing his eyes upon 
his face in a seemingly innocent way, would suddenly dart out his foot 
to lay hold of Du Chaillu’s leg, and several times he tore large pieces 
from the part of the pantaloons which he had seized. A young female 
gorilla afterwards caught was equally fierce, and the natives were all 
glad when the troublesome little creature died; but a young nshiego 
mbouve that was afterwards secured soon became very friendly and 
amiable; by the time he died, “Tommy,” as he was called, had become 
