New-York daily tribune., 1859-06-29
HUNTING RARE ANIMALS IN AFRICA.


m the ;mmeuse wilds Of Western Central Africa,
end having had many times the opportunity Of hunt
pe after that most formidable ANIMAL the TrogiS-
S~es Gorilla, or African Ngna, Ngila, or
Neis, and having met with many and killed
few, j have tried to study, to the best
Of my abilities, its habits, mode OF hviag,
and other peculiarities. And without PRIDE
may count my,elf as the first white man who has
seen ahye. met and killed this wild animal; and
have sent of lately the largest and best preserved
specimen in America or Europe. More than two
years ago, sent perfect specimens OF adult Gorilla
females 70 Philadelphia; and siI months ago sent
70 the same Academy the specimen of the largest
Gorilla ever SEEN No bigger one can be possibly
found or killed; it's size was great object of won
der 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 10 the measurement of two sent to Phadel
phia: One male measured 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 half The other
measured, from the extremity of one arm to the
ether, nine feet and four inches; his hight was
almost seven feet and half, and the circumference
Of his toe ak inches and half You may Judge
by these measurements of the immense size Of
these animals. The jaws of the Ngns are i'm
nensey powerful, especially in the male, the head
Of which is also defended by crest rising gradu.
ally from the forehead up. This peculiarly makes
Il quite different from the skull of man. The
hair is short, and 10 of readish.brown color; the
hsir 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
il 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. The muscular power of their arms and the
size of their fingers indicate prOdigous force. l
have seen a tree three or four inches in diameter
broken by them. Their arms are much longer in
proportion than their legs, but the bones of the
latter are much stronger and thicker; and the ca
pscity of the chest shows also the immense power
of the animal. The skeleton of man is very slim
and delicate in comparison. The intensely exag
serated features of the face, its large and deep
eye-balls, give TO the animal, especially the
male, an expression of savage ferocty seen,
think, in no other animal. From the immense
canine teeth by which the jaws of the male are de-
Tended, one would naturally suppose that the force
Of the animal lay principally in its jaws, and that
its principal means of defense was there. But this
is mistake; the prodigious strength of the mon
ster lies more in his hands and feet which he
One of my hunters, who wounded
. male, paid for his temerity with his life; the
animal seized bin with one hand, took bold of his
abdomen, and tore the flesh and intestines with the
other, and with his teeth stripped his right arm of
times, FIVE young GOrillss, captured after the kill
ing of the mother. i observed that when they
wanted to bite me they used to take hold of me
first with their feet. / have never been able to
tame any of them, or to accustOm them to eat any
thing but wild nuts and berries of the forest.
In this particular the Gorilla is quite unlike the
Chimpanzee, which is easily tanned.
Though one would naturally suppose, from the
canine teeth of the Ngna, that he sometimes lives
on meat, must say that i never me- in the
stomach of any specimen anything else than vege-
table matter, such as nuts, wild berries and
fruits and leaves. Although skeletons of this
animal have been taken to Europe or Amer
lea, have seen but very incorrect and exag-
gerated accounts concerning it. The too confding
chip captains or others have been too apt to take
for granted the stories related to them by the
natives of the coast concerning this really wonder
full animal, which is to them an object of great
terror In their superstitious fears the natives of
the interior say that bad men are changed some
times into Nginas. The one who killed my hunter
was said to be Ngina that had been man first
and no gun could kill him.
have met with the Gorills or Ngina, or Nglla,
or Ngia, as it s indiHerently called, along the
waters of the Mum River, as far as the Sierra del
CRYSTAL Mountains; how much further 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 woodlands of the interior
between Gaboon and Cape Lopez. have found it
also up the Fernand.yay River, in the mountain
ous regions of that river, and up the Nazareth in
the Kong Mountains, and in all the surrounding
billy countries; and were it not that l had found
the Gorilla very abundant in fat prairie
and woody country back of the Gamma country l
should say that it lives only in hly mountainous
regions. In the Gamma country where pneapples
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 have
most frequently seen them in troops of fve-four
females and one male. have never seen more
than five together. The old males are found wan
deripg alone in the forest.
The Gorilla is very shy, and when met several
together have never seen them face man. 1t
is then exceedingly difficult to approach them;
the least noise generally disturbs them in their