The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1867-05-29


watching for people TO go to and fro, and
when one passes sufficiently near, grasps
the lucklcss fellow with his powerful
feet, and draws him up into the tree,
whore he generally chokcs them.
A GORILLA KILLED.
Suddenly as wo were yet creeping
along in a silence which made q heavy
breathing seem loud and distinct, the
woods were at once filled with the tre-
mcndous barking roar Of the beast. Then
the undcrbush swaycd rapidly Just
ahead. and presently before us stood an
immense male gorilla. lie had gone
through the jungle on all fours, but
when he saw our party, he erected him.
self and looked us boldly in the face.
Nearly six feet high, with an INN ensc
body, huge chest, and great muscular
arms, intensely black face with iercely
glaring large, deep, gray eyes, and a
hc|lsh expression Of face, which seemed
to mo, like some nightmare vison, this
stood before me, the king Of the African
forest. lie was not afraid Of lis, but
stood there and beat his breast with his
huge fist ill it rcsoundcd like in i'm,
mcnsc bass drum which | found to be
his mode Of Offering defiance, meantime
giving vent to roar after roar. This
roar Of The gorilla is the most singular
and awful noise heard IN these African
woods. 1t begins like a sharp bark OF
al angry dog, then glidcs into deep
bass, which literally and closely rcsem.
bics the roll Of distant thunder along the
sky. SO deep is it that it seems to pro-
cccd less from mouth aud throat than
from the deep chest ard vast pauach.
His eyes began to flash fcrccr fire as
we stood on The defensive, and The crest
Of short hair which stands on his lore
head began to twitch rapidly up and
down, while his powerful teeth, were
shown as he sent forth q thmtMrous
roar, and now truly he reminded me Of
nothing but some hcllish dream creature
"A king of that hidcous order, halfman,
half beast. lie advanced II few steps,
then stopped 10 utter that hidcous roar
again, and beat his chest, and finally
stopped when ut n distance OF abont six
yards from us; and here, just rs he
began ono Of his roars. beating his
breast in rage, | killed him. With
8roan which had something terribly hui
man in it, and yet was full of british.
ness, he fell forward on his face. The
body shook convulsivcly for q few min.
ntcs, the limbs moved about in a strug.
Cling way, and then all way Quiet
death had done his work, and | had
leisure 10 examine the largo body.
M. Du Chailu observed that he
brought twcnty-thrcc skins of gorillas
to thus country few years ago and
offered to sell them for $4,000. No
ono accepted the offer, and he finally
sold them for much larger sum in
England.
Of tho habits of the gorilla, and the
difficulty Of tanning it, NJ. du Chailu
said (:
The animal livos in the lonolicst and
darkest portion Of the African Jungle,
prelc!Img dccp-woodcd valleys and
swampy soil. 1t is a restless or nomadic
beast, wandering from place to place,
and scarcely found two days in the
same ncighborhood. This rcstlessncss
is caused by tho struggle it has TO find
ITS iavorite food. For though the goril.
la possesses such immense canino teeth
and though his vast strength doubtless
fits him to capture and kill almost every
animal which Irequents thc forest, he is
q strict vegetarian. 1t does not live on
trees; its enormous weight would pre-
vent it from doing so. Some Oft
males must weigh from 800 to 400
pounds. BY tho examination of the
stomachs of the many specimens have
had, was enabled to ascertain with
tolcrablo certainty the nature of it's food,
and / discovered that it had no need to
ascend a tree. 1t is fond of the heart Of
some trees, also ola kind Of nut with
very hard shell.
Alter my first explorations I said that
the gorilla was not gregarous. Nv
last journey has demonstrated that T
was wrong, for have scen ten Of them
together, but | found them when adults
almost always one male with one fe,
male. When the male becomes very
old nc wandcrs companionless. In such
a case, as with the "roguc" elephant, ho
is particularly morosc, and malignant,
ana dangerous to approach. and woe to
the man who comes suddenly upon one
OF these old ones, and tho hunter tracks
them must be on his guard. | found
bands OF four or fvo gorillas.
When i'll bands these arc very shy and
then difficult TO appro ach, MS thoir hear.
ing is acute.
Sometimes, like the lion, the gorilla
to amuse himself roars and roars, and in
a far distance mistook this for nut.
tering of thunder. One day I found
that it was male gorilla roaring to its
female, who, after while, could BE
heard with weaker cry. The echoes
swclcd and did away from hill to hill,
until the whole forest was full Of the
din. AS approached l could hear the
deep drum like sound caused by beating
!hclr breast with h's huge fist. Present.
" heard tree cracking, and saw through