Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1861-08-29
The Gorilla In his Native WiIds


The Gorilla In his Native WiIds.
The volume of Adventures in Africa,
Just published in London, by our coun-
tryman, Duchaillu, among other highly
interesting descriptions of life in Western
Africa, gives some graphic sketches of
the gorilla in his native wilds. The
"What is it?" is decidedly formidable
fellow. We give an extract of his first
experience with the gorilla
"Then the underbrush swayed rapidly Just
ahead, and presently before us stood an i'm
mensa male gorilla. lie had gone through
the jungle on his all fours, but when he saw
our party. he erected himself and looked lis
boldly in the face. He stood about dozen
yards of, and was sight | think | never
shall forget. Nearly six feet high, with i'm
mensc body, huge chest, and great muscular
arms, with fiercely garing large, deep gray
eyes, and hellish expression of face which
seemed to me like some nightmare vision
thus stood before us this king of the African
forest.
"He was not afraid OF us. lie stood there
and beat his breast with lis huge fists till it
resounded like an immense bass drum, which
is their mode Of offering defiance, meantime
giving vent to roar after roar.
"The roar Of gorilla is the most singular
and awful noise in these African woods. 1t
begins with sharp bark, like an angry dog,
then gifies into deep bass roll, which closely
resembles the roll of distant thunder along
the sky, for which have sometimes been
tempted to take it when l did not see the
animal. So deep is it that it seems to pro-
coed less from the mouth and throat than
from the deep chest and vast paunch. His
eyes began to flash ficrccr fire as we stood
motionless on the defensive, and tho crest of
short hair which stood on his forehead began
to witch rapidly up and down, while his
powerful fangs were shown as he again set
up thnnderous roar. And NOW truly he
reminded me of nothing but some hellish !
dream creature--a being of that hideous
order, hal-man, half-bcast, which we find |
pictured by old artists in some representa- |
tons of the internal regions. He advanced |
few steps--then stopped to utter tha: hid
eouS roar agaln-advanccd again, and finally |
stopped 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.
"N lth groan, which had something ter
rlbIy human in it, and yet was fall Of bru-
tshness, he fell forward on his face. The
body shook coDvulsively for few minutes,
the limbs moved about in struggling way,
and then all was quiet-death had done its
work, and had leisure to examine the huge
body. 1t proved to be i've feet eli ght inches
high, and the muscular developments of the
arms and breast showed what immense
strength it lssd possessed
Subsequently to this, Duchaiu saw fe-
male gorilla sucking her infant, and the
mother having been shot, he endeavored to
rear the little one, but without. success M
he had no food for it, lie remarked that
this seemed u1o'e docile than the other, and,
m fact, 1t is premature to conclude as vet,
That if the gorilla is caught sufficiently
young, he is altogether beyond the influence
of humanity. There is skeleton of the
Caucasian mar on page go. who is pointing
rather contcmptuously to his gorilla COM
panion, but it is not so certain that the DIFF
ference between them, as estimated by the
superior anatomy, is not at present little
The writer just refers to these
perpleXlng questions, has one chapter on the
additional apes of Africa, and another on the
Oony structure of the gorilla and the cognate
species, which is accompanied by the SYM
netrical skeleton 30 superior in its own con-
ceit.
After summing up the osseous peculiarities
upon both sides, he comes to the Conclusion
that there is dissimilarity bctwcenl the bony
frame of man and that Of the gorilla, but
that there is also, he says, IAN arfM likeness,
Which in the gorilla resembles an exaggerated
,arcatnre Of a human being" Moreover, to
such an extent is il evident that he was i'm
pressed by the native stories, that he mem
TONED that he searched continually to asccr-
certain whether an intermediate race, rather
Intermediate races or links, between the Ia +.
lives and the gorilla might not be found !
As he could get no nearer to man than the n
gorilla himself-thst is to say, as no inter-
Mediate relatives were forthcoming, we ad- '
nit that Duchailr's human skelet on has so
ar reason for complacency that, if his un-
,anly companion is connected with him in II
ny degree, cousin so very far distant can
ardly expect To be acknowledged at this
ime of day and in the presence Of good So
iety.
KEEPING THE LAw.-rhere was an old u
Quaker. who had an unfortunate reputation :
4 non-resistance. It was said that any one :
ould jostle him, tread on his toes, or tweak
lis nose with imprnity; until ons market
lay clustering fellow, being told has yon-
l. .Gal