Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-07-02
0Qortester AaiIp Spp.
Correspondence of the New York Tribune.
RARE ANIMALS IN AFRICA.

a.
GABooN RIVER, April 81, 1859.
Having been for these last four years hunt
ing in the immense wilds of w stern Central
Africa, and having had many tinus the oppor
tunity of hunting after that most Formidable
animal, the TrogLodytes Gorilla, or African
Ngina, Ngila, or Ngia, and having met with
many and killed few, have tried to study
TO the best of my abilities, its habits, mode Of
living, and other peculiarities And without
pride may count myself as the first white
man who has seen alive, met, and killed. this
wild animal; and l have sent off lately the
largest and best preserved specimen in Ameri.
ca or Europe. More than two wears ago T
sent perfect specimens of adult Gorilla females
to Philadelphia; and six months ago sent to
the same Academy the specimen of the largest
Gorilla ever seen. No bigger one can be pos
slbly found or killed. its size was great OBJ
ject of wonder to the natives. This animal
belongs in some degree to the Ourang- Outang
Chimpanzee family, but is far more formidable
than any of them. Below is the measurement
OF two sent to Philadelphia One male meas
ured, from the extremity of one arm to the
other, seven feet and four inches: his hight
was six feet and half; the circumference of
his big toe was five inches and a half The
other measured, from the extremity of one arm
to the other, nine feet and four inches his
circumference of his toe six inches aud half
You may judge by these measurements of the
immense size of these animals The laws of
the Ngina are immensely powerful, especially
IN the male, the head of which is also defended
by crest, rising gradually from the forehead
up. This popularity makes it quite different
from the skull of a man. The hair il
short, and is of reddish-brown color. the
hair OF the body in the female is black. have
Killed one OF which the lower part of the back
was OF reddish brown also. Among the
males the hair is shorter, graysh and thin in
the middle of the back; many have LONG
black hair on the arms; the face, hands and
feet, are intensely black; the eyes are gray.
Ihe muscular power of their arms and the
size OF their fingers indiFfss a pfudrgr0iis
force. have seen tree three or four inches
IN diameter broken by them Their arms are
much longer III proportion than their legs. but
the bones OF the latter are much stronger and
thicker; and the capacity of the chest shows
also the immense power of the animal. The
skeleton OF man is very slim and delicate in
comparison. The intensely exaggerated fea-
lures OF the face, its large and deep eye-bas,
give to the animal, especially to tine male,
an expression of savage ferocity seen. /
think, in no other animal. From the i'm
mense canine teeth by which the Jaws of
the male are defended, one would naturally
suppose that the force of the animal Law prn-
clpally In Its Jaws, and that its principal means
OF defense was there. But this is a mistake
the prodigious strength of the monster lies
more in his hands and feet which he uses in
discriminatory. One of my hunters. who
wounded male, paid for his temerity with his
life; the animal seized him with one hand
TOOK hold OF his abdomen, and tore the flesh
and lntestlnes with the other, and with his
teeth riobt &C. II Al.
have succeeded i'll getting, at different times.
nye young Goriilas, captured after the killing
OF the mother. l observed that when they
wanted to bite me they used to take hold of
me flrst with their feet | have never been
able to tame any of them, or to accustom them
to eat anything but wild nuts and berries of
the forest. In this particular the Gorilla is
quite unlike the Chimpanzee, which is easily
rom OF. JurII1s wrrfrrr
Though one would naturafl ,-,as sen0ers The
the canine teeth of the ngina, that he some
times lives on meat, must say that never
met in the stomach of any specimen anything
else than vegetable matter, such as nuts wild
berries, and fruits, and leaves. Although
skeletons of this animal have been sent to Eu-
rope or America, have seen but very incor-
rect and exaggerated accounts concerning it.
The too confiding ship captains or others have
been too apt to take for granted the stories re-
lated to them by the natives of the coast con-
corning this really wonderful animal, which is
to them an object Of great terror. In their SUI
perstitious fears, the natives Of the interior say
that bad men are changed sometimes into ngi-
mas. The one who killed my hunter was said
to be a ngina that had been a man first, and
no gun could kill him.
| have,met with the gorilla, or ngina or ngi-
IL, or ngia, as it is inditferently called, along
the waters of the Muui river, as far as the ST.
ezra del Crystal Mountains how much furth-
er north or east they are found cannot tell 1t
is found also on the head waters of the Gaboon
river, and in the undulating prairies and wood
lands Of the interior between Gaboon and Cape
Lopez. VI have found it also up the Fernando
Way river, in the mountainous regions of that
river, and up the Nazareth in the Kong Noun
tains, and in all the surrounding hilly conn
tries and were it not that had found the GO
rilla very abundant in fiat prairie and woody
country back of the Gamma county, | should
say that It lives only in billy or mo5ir,t;iiifeettii
regions. In the Gamma county, where pine
apples are very abundant, they feed on the
white portions of the leaves, which they pluck
out of the pine apple plant.
AT certain seasons they live in pairs, but l
have most frequently seen them in troops of
fve-four females and one male. l have new
er seen more than five together. The old
The Gorilla is very shy, and when met sew
eraI together | have never seen them face
man. 1t is then exceedingly difficult to APP
proach them; the least noise generally disturbs
them in their retreat They sometimes inhab-
it the forests near the towns, and come during
the still hours Of early morning to eat the
plantains and sugar cane planted by the ma
tives. The Gorilla is to be dreaded only when
the male is surprised with the female, or when
he is looking for her; but the most to be feared
above all is the old and lonely male, which,
when disturbed in his solitude, offers you bat
tie whenever he meets you. While in the
Ashira country was hunting with the best
Ashira hunter, Gambo by name, and we were
following the tracks of one, which seemed to
avoid us. When he finally got tired of being
pursued he made stand for us, and while we
were crawling through the forest, he startled
us by the most formidable cry had ever
heard, resembling in some measure the bark
ing of dog. Often have heard Nginas hree
miles off, roaring like lions. This old inhabi-
tant of the forest eyed us and squatted down,
and, uttering frighttul roass, quite enough to
brighten anybody, beat his bare chest several
times with his powerful hands, then advanced
few steps and repeated the same motions. 1t
was moment of life or death with. us. We
aimed at him and shot him dead-I shooting
him right through the heart, and Gambo
through the neck. When wounded the male
Ngina pursues the hunter and kills him, and
the natives of the interior say that in his wild
rage he will then break the gun and twist the
barrel as if it were lead. From the strength
of the animal, can easily believe this.
Unlike the Chimpanzee, the Goras never
build or construct nests they sleep on the
ground. The old males never sleep on tree.
The natives have told me that sometimes the
famaips sloan On the hra nphns nf traps while