The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-08 00:00:00

MY FIRST. GORILtA.

We started early, and pushed for the most dense and im-
penetrable part of the forest, in hopes to find the very home
of the beast I so much wished to shoot. Hour after hour
we travelled, and yet no signs of gorilla. Only the ever-
lasting little chattering monkeys—and not many of these—
and occasionally birds. In fast, the forests of this part of
Africa—as the reader his seen by this time—are not so full
of life as in some other puts of the south.
Suddenly Miengai uttered a little cluck with his tongue,
which is the native's way of showing that something is
stirrinz, and that a sharp look-out is necessary. And pro •
sently I noticed, a-head of us seemingly, a noise as of some
one breaking down branches or twigs of trees.
This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and
satisfied looks of the men. They looked once more carefully
at their guns, to see if by any chance the pc wder had fallen
out of the pans ; I also examined mine, to make sure that
all was right ; and then we. marched on cautiously.
The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches con-
tinued. We walked with the greatest care, making no noise
at all. The countenances of the men showed that they
thought themselves engaged in a very serious undertalTo.g.;
but we pushed on, until finally we thought we saw through
the ti.ick woods the moving of the branches and small trees
which the groat beast was tearing down, probably to get
from them the berries and fruits he lives on.
Soddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in to silenCs

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 underbrush swayed rapidly just ahoad, and
presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He had
gone through the jungle on his all-fours; but when he saw
our party he erected himself and looked. us boldly in the
face. He stood about a dozon yards from us, and was a sight
I think I shall never forget. Nearly six foot high (he
proved four inches shorter), with immenso body, huge chest,
and great muscular arms, with fiercely-glaring large deep
grey eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed
to mo like some nightmare vision : thus stood before us the
king of the African forest.
He was not afraid of us. lie stood there, and beat his
breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense
bass- drum, which is their mode of offering defiance ; mean-
time 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, and 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 where I did not see the animal. So:deep is it that it
seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat than from
the deep chest and vast paunch.
His eyes began to flash fiercer as wo stood motionless on
the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on
his forehead began to tvdtch rapidly up and down, while
his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a
thunderous roar. And Low truly ho reminded me of no-
thing but some hellish dream creature—a being of that
hideous order, half-man, half-beast, which we find pictured
by old artists in some representations of the infernal regions.
Ho advanced a few steps—then stopped to utter that hide-
ous roar again—advanced again, and finally stopped when
at a distance of about six ye.rds from us. And here, just as
he began ono of his roars, beating his breast in 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 straggling 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 what immense strength it had possessed.
The chase of the gorilla is one of considerable
danger—not that he attacks man; for although a
determined and ferocious antagonist when brought
to close quarters, he will if possible avoid the con-
test—he does not wantonly commence hostilities,
but when hard pressed or surprised he confronts
his enemy and gives the hunter ample time
to fire, but if his gun miss fire the case is desperate.
Tho power of the gorilla is so immense that it
" Needs but a buffet and no more,
His foe lies senseless in his gore."
But it does not seem to follow up its adventage ;
once his antagonist is prostrated it leaves him but
generally in a dying condition. M. du Chaillu
tells us with a blow its arm can break a man's
skull, and that with its strong claw like-hand it
can rip a man open, One of the author's hunters
lost his life in this manner. The gorilla seems to
be untameable. M. du Chaillu succeeded in obtain-
ing one alive about three years old, but it was as
savage as any old one could have been, and pos-
sessed such strength that four men had difficulty
in holding it. Ile was unable to preserve it, how-
ever, and it died after a short captivity. In his
concluding remarks on the gorilla, the author ob-
serves :

I am sorry to be the dispeller of such agreeable delu-
sions ; but the gorilla does not lurk in trees by the roadside,
and drag up unsuspicious passers-by in its claws, and choke
them to death in its vice-like paws ; it does not attack the
elephant and beat him to death with sticks; it does
not carry off women from the native villages ; it does not
build itself a house of leaves and twigs in the forest-trees,
and sit on the roof as has been confidently reported of it.
It is not gregarious even, and the numerous stories of its
attacking in great numbers have not a grain of truth in
them. It lives in the loneliest and darkest portions of the
dense African jungle, preferring deep-wooded valleys, and
also rugged heights. The high plains, also, whose surface
is strewn with immense boulders, seem to be favourite
haunts. Water occurs everywhere in this part of Africa;
but I have noticed the gorilla is always found very near to
a plentiful supply. It is a restless and nomadic beast,
wandering from place to place, and scarce over found
for two days together in the same neighbourhood.
In fact, this restlessness is caused by the struggle it has to
find its favourite food. The gorilla, although it has such
immense canine teeth, and though its vast strength doubt-
less fits it to kill almost every animal which frequents the
forest, is strictly gregarious. Its vast paunch, which pro-
trudes before it when it stands upright, proves it to be a
great feeder; and, indeed, its great frame and enormous
muscular development could not be supported on little
food. It is not true that it lives much, or at all, on trees. I
found them almost always on the ground, although they
often climb the trees to pick up berries or nuts; but after
eating they return to the ground. . . It is fond of the
wild sugar. cane ; especially fond of the white ribs of the
pine-apple leaf ; and it eats besides certain berries which
grow close to the ground ; the pith of some trees, and a kind
of nut with a very hard shell. This shell is so hard that it
requires a strong blow of a heavy hammer to break it; and
hero is probably one purpose of that enormous strength of
jaw which long seemed to me thrown away on a non-carni-
vorous animal, and which is sufficiently evidenced by the
manner in which the barrel of the musket of one of my un-
fortunate hunters was flattened by an enraged gorilla.

Among the various new species of animals dis-
covered by M. du Chaillu one of the most remark-
able is the Nshiego Mbouve, or nest-building ape.
It has no hair on ita head, and wigs not having been
introduced into their country as yet, it builds a sort
of umbrella or shelter up some high tree, and sleeps
under the shade thereof; like the gorilla, this
species is not gregarious, but roams about in couples,
the male taking up his abode in one tree and the
female in another. The author thus describes his
first introduction :

THE NEST-BUILDING APE.

-I saw many of these nests after this, and may as well say
here that they are generally built about 15 or 20 feet from
the ground, and invariably on a tree which stands a little
apart from others, and which has no limbs below the ono
on which the nest is placed. I have seen them at the height
of 50 feet, but very seldom. This choice is probably made
that they may be safe at night from beasts, serpents, and
falling ;limbs. They build only in the loneliest pints of
the forest, and are very shy and seldom seen even by the
negroes.
Okabi, who was an old and intelligent hunter, was able
to tell me that the male and female together gather the
material for their nests. This material consists of leafy
branches with which to make the roof, and vines to tie these
branches to the tree. The tying is done so neatly, and the
roof is so well constructed, that until I saw the nshiego ac-
tually occupying his habitation, I could scarce persuade
myself that human hands had not built it. It throws off
rain perfectly, being neatly rounded at the top for that pur-
pose.
The material being collected, the male goes up and builds
the nest, while the female brings him the branches and
vines. The male and female do not occupy the same nest,
but have nests not far apart.
From all I have observed, I judge that the nshiego is
not gregarious. The nests are never found in companies ;
and I have seen oven quite solitary nests occupied by very
old nshiego mbouve, whose silvery hair and worn teeth at-
tested their great age. They seemed hermits who had re-
tired from the nshiego world.
They live on wild berries, and build their houses where
they find these. When they have consumed all that a par-
ticular spot affords, they remove and build new houses, so
that a nest is not inhabited for more than eight or ten days.
We travelled with great caution, not to alarm our prey,
and a hope that, singling out a shelter and waiting till dark,
we should find it occupied. In this hope we were not dis-
appointed. Lying pito still in our concealment (which tried
my patience sorely), we at last, just at dusk, heard the loud
peculiar " Hew I hew I hew 1" which is Ihe call of the male
to his mate. 'We waited till it was quite dark, and then I
saw what I had so longed all the weary afternoon to see. A
nshiego was sitting in his nest. His feet rested on the lower
branch ; his head reached quite into the little dome of a
roof, and his arm was clasped firmly about the tree trunk.
This is their way of sleeping.
After gazing till I was tired through the gloom at my
poor sleeping victim, two of us fired, and the unfortunate
beast fell at our feet without a struggle or even a groan.
On a later occasion he succeeded in capturing a
young Nshiego. It was the only ape which ho was
able to tame, and which lived for any time. Poor
Tommy became quite domesticated, and his death
was much lamented, not only by the ardent hunter
himself, but by the negroes, who are a very affec-
tionate and kindly-disposed race, notwithstanding
their cruelty when under the influence of super-
stition :

For some hours after we started we saw nothing but old
tracks of different wild beasts, and I began to think that
Anguilai's ogana had been too sanguine. Finally, towards
12 o'clock, when we were crossing a kind of high table
land, we heard the cry of a young animal, which we all re-
cognised to be a nshiego mbouve. Then all my troubles at
once wont away out of mind, and I nolonger felt either
sick or hungry.
'e crawled through the bush as silently as possible, still
hearing the babylike cry. At last, coming out into a little
cleared space, we saw something running along the ground
towards the spot where we stood concealed. When it came
nearer we saw it was a female nshiego mbouve, running on
all-fours, with a young sone clinging to her breasts. She
was eagerly eating some berries, and with one arm sup-
ported her little one,
Querlaouen, who had the fairest chance,:fired, and brought
her down. Sho dropped without a struggle. The poor little
one cried " How I hew I hew !" and clung to the dead body,
sucking the breasts, burying its head there in its alarm at
the report of the gun.
We hurried up in great glee to secure our capture. I can-
not tell my surprise when I saw that the nshiego baby's face
was pure white—very white indeed—pallid, but as white
as a white child's.
I looked at the mother, but found her black as root in
the face. The little one was about a foot in height. One
of the men threw a cloth over its head and secured it till
we could make it fast with a rope; for, though it was
quite young, it could walk. The old one was of the bald-
headed kind, of which I had secured the first known speci-
mens some months before.
I immediately ordered a return to the camp, which we
reached towards evening. The little nshiego had been all
this time separated from its dead mother, and now, when it
was put near her body, a roost touching scene ensued. The
little fellow ran instantly to her, but, touching her on the
face and breast, saw evidently that some groat change had
happened. For a few minutes ho caressed her, as though
trying to coax her back to life. Then ho seemed to lose all
hope. His little eyes became very sad, and he broke out
in a long plaintive wail, " Oeee ! ooee 1 oeee I" which
made my heart ache for him. He looked quite forlorn, a 8
though he really felt his forsaken lot. Tha whole
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and quite'lllll3
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