Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-08-03
THE GORILLA.


NAL which is said to be most closely allied
in structure to the human form of any o
the brute creation.
The gorilla is of the average hight o
man, five feet six inches; his brain case il
low and narrow, and, as the fore part o
the skull is high, and there is very prom
inent ridge above the eyes. the top of th'
head is perfectly fat, and the brow with it
thick integument, forms 'scowling pent
house over the eyes Couple with this ;
deep lead-colored skin, much wrinkled. ;
prominent jaw with the canine teeth (iI
the males of huge size, receding chin
and we have an exaggeratiOn of the loves
and most forbidding type of human physi
ognomy The neck is short; the head pokeS
forward. The relative proportions of the
body and limbs are nearer those of man
yet they are of more mgainly aspect than
in any other of the brute kind. Long
shapeless arms, thick and muscular, with
scarce any diminution ofsize deserving the
name of wrist (for at the smallest they arc
fourteen inches round, while a strong man S
wrist is not above eight;) wide, thick
hand, the palm long, and the fingers short,
swollen and equity looking; capacious chest;
broad shoulders; legs also thick and shape
less, destitute of calf, and very muscular,
yet short; hand-like foot with thumb
to it, ''of huge dimensions and portentous
power of grasp" No wonder the lion
skulks before his monster, and even the
elephant is baffied by his malicious cum
ming, activity and strength. The teeth
indicate vegetable diet, but the repast is
sometimes varied with eggs, or a brood of
young birds The chief reason of his en-
nifty to the elephant appears to be, not
that it ever Intentionally Injuries him, but
merely, that it shares his taste for certain
favorite fruits. And when, from his
watch-tOwer in the upper branches of tree,
he perceives the elephant helping himself to
these delicacies, he steals along the bough,
and, striking its sensitive proboscis vio-
lent blow with the club with which he is
almost always armed, drives off the start
led giant, trumpeting shrilly with rage
and pain.
Towards the negroes the gorilla seems
to cherish an implacable hatred; he attacks
them quite unprovoked If a party of
blacks approach unconsciously within range
of tree haunted by one of these wood
demons-swinging rapidly down to the low
er branches, he clutches. with his thumbed
foot, at the nearest of them; his green eyes
flash with rage, his hair stands on end,
and the skin above the eyes, drawn rapidly
up and down, gives him a fendish scowl
Sometimes, during their excursions in
quest of ivory, in those gloomy foress, the
natives viii first discover the proximity of
a gorilla by the sudden mysterious disap-
pearance of one Of their companions. The
brute. angling for him with his horrible
foot, dropping from tree. while his strong
arms grasp it firmly, stretches down his
huge hind hand, seizes the hapless wretch
by the throat, draws him up into the
boughs, and, as soon as his struggles have
ceased, drops him down, strangled corpse.
A tree is the gorilla's sleeping place by
night, his pleasant abode by day, and his
castle of defence. From that coigne of
vantage he awaits his foe, should the latter
be hardy or foolhardy enough to pursue
No full grown gorilla has ever been taken
alive. A bold negro, the leader of an ele-
phant-hunting expedition, was offered
hundred dollars for live gorilla. IF you
gave me the weight of yonder hill in gold,
| could not 60 it." he said. |
Nevertheless, he has his good qualities
in domestic point of view: he is an amia-
bic and exemplary husband and father,
watching over his young family with affec-
tiOnate solicitude, and exerting in their de-
fense his utmost strength and ferocity.-
The mothers show that devotion to their
young in times of danger, which is the
most universal of instincts.
The Gorilla constructs himself a snug
out of the long, tough, slender
stems of parasitic plants, and lines it with
The broad dried fronds of palms, or with
ong grass-a sort of bed surely not to be
iespised, swung in the leafy branches of
ree. By day, he sits on bough, leaning
his back against the trunk owing to which
labit elderly gorillas become rather bald in
hose regions.