The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-03-19

L poO ." Lb4 ~ 0hANS NN
tangled underwood and thorny creepers, which
made the entrance into the dense and gloomy
-recesses of the primeval African forest almos
impossible to the hardest of the human race
and Twas eagerly following i'll the track which
he had made, when suddenly he paused, utter
ed a low, slight hiss, and placing his RICH
hand behind him, made with it a gentle move
ment, warning me to be silent and cautious
How long we both remained m%otionless ant
hardly daring to draw a breath, l know not
1t may have been five minutes. 1t appeared
to me as many hours. l felt neither fear no.
apprehension of danger, but my anxiety to OBJ
tain a sight of a living gorilla, and, If possi
BILE to get within shot of him, and the hopt
that my black hunter had at length marked
one, caused my heart to throb with eXpecta
ton so loudly, that in order to still 1t | was
obliged to hold my breath forcibly Until the
sense of suffocation became unbearable, and II
was with great difficulty | repressed a spas
modic tendency to relieve the oppressed lungs
by a scream. At length my guide moved for
ward, but so silently that his progress was
more like that of a shadow than OF anything
having life and weight in it. His hand was
still behind him, the open palm towards me,
and every motion of the fingers instinct with
intelligence and warnings of the presence OF
danger the most imminent and deadly. The
Fan (my guide was a splendid specimen OF
that noblest of the Central African tribes,
again stopped. His palm expanded and | in
stantly paused. The ground shook with a
slight tremor. The air vibrated around us
and f1utteringly upon our ears, as the reader
may have felt when the deepest bass of a great
organ is gently touched. At first did not
perceive that the agitation was the result OF
sound, but as the vibration was passing away
| distinguished a low, deep roar, and found
that some terrible beast, most probable either
a lion or a gorilla, was close at hand, and was
either conversing in a low tone with his mate,
or was uttering the first notes Of suspicion OF
alarm.
| had seen the nasty little birds which at
tend the rhinoceros and perform for deep folds
of his thick but not insensible hide the duty
which in civilized society is RENTED to the
small tooth comb. | knew how sharp a watch
and ward they keep over the safety Of their
living feeding-ground, and how they scream
and dig their sharp and searching beaks into
the fierce brutes's ear when anything danger
Gus or strange approaches his resting place
and | feared lest some such courtierIy para
site of the woods might have attached itself to
the service and the court of the ~anthropodal
apish monarch and was now whispering into
his maiesty's ear its suspicious that certain
barbarian invaders Or low and villainous revo-
lutionists of an inferior order of the gorilla
species were trespassing within the bounds
which his majesty had been graciously pleas
ed to reserve as the limits OF his OWN eXclu-
sive domain. | listened, but M particular
note Or chirp struck my ear. The silence was
almost appalling so was the darkness OF that
portion of the dense forest into which we had
penetrated. Very shortly after we had enter
ed the woods the fierce glare of the sun had
ceased to penetrate to the ground except at
rare intervals. The broad, luxuriant upper
foliage of the mighty trees completely exclude
the blaze of the tropical sum-, which shone
down through a yellow atmosphere like the
mouth of an open furnace, from a sphere of pol
ished, glazing, redeemed brass. At first there
were cool, extensive forest glades, and vast
avenues Of gigantic trees, populous and noisy
with birds of gorgeous plunage but discor-
dant voices then came closer stems and less
er growth of scions springing emulously up
amidst the giant parent of the woods. Thick
tangles of tough-stalked creepers INTERVIEWING
with thorny plants, like briars of gigantic
growth, next barred our path in places which
were thereby made absolutely impenetrable.
At length, after threading our way through
tracks which the wild animals had slightly
made, we reached those darkest, densest por-
tons of the wood where the Fan hunter knew
that the gorilla could be only found, if found
at all.
Here, in the i~nterpenetralia, the voices of
the forest had altogether ceased. The hiss of
q serpent, the twitter of a grasshopper or To-
Gust, the boot Of an owl, or the chatter of a
stray monkey might indeed be occasionally
heard, but such sounds were few and far be-
tween, and they served rather to illustrate and
mark the silence by showing how exceptional
and discordant with all things around they
were. The darkness, although nearly as deep
as that of a ~starless night, was not night-like.
1t was not thick and close and pitchy, pro-
v~ocative Of close eyes and slumber it was a
greenish black, living, startling, intelligent
and wakeful, as though the light were strug-
Cling to break through from the outside, and
exciting hope that it would succeed momen-
tarily. The eyes strained to pierce the YER
dant gloom. They seemed to feel a power
within them to become accustomed to it, and
to dilate their pupils sufficiently to magnify
the few attenuated rays which had foated in
to and lost themselves in that leafy-roofed
dungeon until they should be made to illumi-
nate its depths and unfold its secrets.
The pause which my guide now made was
longer than than the first one, but to me was
not so painful. The oppression was necessa-
rily great, but my nerves We're strung more
perfectly to endure it, and my expectation
was higher, more assured and calm.
Tho Fan Looked around 10 COO U-bnrn I 1-oC
The movement gave me pleasure, because
then certain that my progress was so com
pletely n~oiseless that even the quick ear of my
savage friend had failed to detect the crush
ing Of a withered stick or leaf beneath me-
AS the black turned his face to me, his eyes
were the only features that were distinctly
visible. They appeared to be lighted up by
q lurid fire within them and when his head
was sufficiently brought round to look upon
me fully, his eyes glared brightly and fierce
ly as those of a royal Bengal tiger. Mine
must have looked similarly upon him, for he
made a gesture of surprise with his hand anc
countenance, then grinned, showing his bril-
liant white teeth from ear to ear, and formed
an O with his mouth, which l interpreted as
an intimation that a gorilla, if not a whole
family of those delicate monsters, was within
view and bringing forward his rifle so as tc
see that the cap was right, he resumed hif
cautious advance. Turning a little to the lef
he made room for me to draw up alongside o
him, and l then discovered that we had reach
ed the inner edge of the brush-wood, and that
a clear space, forming a small amphitheatre IL
the forest was before us. An mormon tree
which seemed to nave overshadowed and des
troyed every plant and shrub within its range
occupied the centre, and formed the dense can.
opy of this opening. A slight gesture from
the black hunter directed my attention to the
foot of the giant of the woods but he at the
same time placed one hand above his eyes
thereby intimating to me that l must shade
mine before looking, lest the glare of them il
the darkness should attract the attention o.
our game. Laying myself along my double
barreled rife, l shaded my eyes with both o.
my hands, and looked towards the great tree
Sitting on the ground, cross-legged, with hit
back against the trunk, his hands lying care
lessly at his sides, with the palms turned up