The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1861-08-31
KILLING u,5 FIRST GORILLA


Killing U,s r!Rsr GORILLA.
We started early, and pushed for tie
most dense and iLucnet!abie rart Of the
forest. iu hopes to md the very home O!
the beast o i..cA wished to shoot -
Hour after nouc We Travelled, and VT 10
aign Of gorilla. CaIy the everlasting 1T
tie cua.teriug monkey ys-and no. many Of
;Lesl-aud occasionally binds. II fact
the forests Of ;...s part of Ah.ca-as the
reader las seen ay this tilne-are not so
full Of lie a. - some o,Acs parts 70 The
south.
Suddenly N:s--a; uttered l..t,e c,lct
with us tongue, winch is The natives Way
Of showing HAT something = stirring. and
that . sharp lookout L necessary. Aud
presently noticed, ahead o: u seemingly
noise OF some one breaking down
branches or twigs Of trees,
This vas = gorilla, ! knew az once. By
the ea.-,. and satisfied looks Of the men.
They looked once more carefully ~ their
Guns, to see i ty any chance the pom;.er
had fallen out Of their pans; ! also ex-
am;ucd mine 70 make sure that every
thing was right and then We marcned
on cautiously.
The singular nose Of the breaking Of
tree branches continued We wal ned
with the creates care, making no noise st
all The ccuEtenanccs OF the men showed
that they thought a -nseIves in = very
serious undertaking; but We pushed on,
until finally We thOug ht we saw through
the thick woods the moving of the
branches and small frees which the great
beast was tearing down, probably to get
from them the berries ana tSuits lie lives
on.
Srddehly. as we were yet creeping
along, in a silence which made heavy
breath seem loud and distinct, the woods
were at once filed with the tremendous
barking roar OF the gorilla.
Then tEe undelbrush swayed raliily
Just ahead, and presently before Us stoo !
an immense male gorilla. lie had gone
through the jingle Q" ali-tcurs but when
lie saw our party he erected himself and
looked US boldly in the face. He stood
about a dozen yards from u, and was a
Il iIht think never shall forget. Nearly
iy SIX feet high, (he proved four inches
shorter.) with lmnIt nse body, huge chest,
and great muscular arms, with iierceIy
glaring large deep gray eyes, and a heiiish
expression OF face, which seemed 10 me
like some nightmare vision thus stood
before us this King of the African forest
He was not afraid OF us He stood
there and beat his breast with his huge
lists til it resoUnded like an immense
base drum, which is their mode OF oiier-
ing defiance; meantime giving vent to
roar after roar.
The roar OF the gorilla is the most sim
gular and awful noise heard in these At
rican woods. 1t begins with sharp bark
like an angry dog, then glides into u deep
H.. all MN nd cln
se,nbles Ii" oil of distant thunder along
the SKY, for WHICH have sometimes been
tempted to take it where | did not see
the animal. So deep is it that it seems TO
poceed less from the mouth and throat
than from The deep chest and vast paunch
His eyes began TO flash fercer lire as
we stood mOtiouiess on the defensive, and
the crest OF short har which stands on
his forehead began to twitch rapidly up
and down, while his powerful tangs We're
shown as he again sent forth a thuderous
roar And now truly he reminded me of
nothing 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 III
fernal regions. He advanced few steps
then stopped to utter that hldeous roar
again-advanced asa'n, and finally stop
ped when at a distance OF about SIX yards
from US. And here: just as he began an
other Of his roars, beating his breast in
rage, we fired, and killed him.
With n groan which had something ter
,ibly human in it, and yet was full of
bru,ishness, he fell forward on his face
The body shook convulsively for few
minutes, the limbs moved about in a
stragglius way, then all was quiet death
had done its work, AID had leisure to
examine the huge body. 1: proved to be
five feet eight inches high, and the m6s-
cular development of the arms and breast
1 showed what immense strength it had
possessed.
Ny men, though rejoicing at our luck,
! immediately began to quarrel about the
apportionment OF the meat-for they real
! ly eat this creature l saw that they
would come to blows presently if l did
! not interfere, and therefore said would