Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-22
GORILLAs.


and HOW They Get It-Three GOriI-
Has Caught AliVe.
sIn his TstJ0urneys to dAshaDgo Land" M.
Du ChaiIlng gives the following account of
his latest observation of the gorilla:
/ bad hot been at,the village longe befole e
news came that. gorillas hads Deen recently
seen i'm the neighborhood of plantation
only half mile distant. Early sins the
morning of June %, wendell my way
thither, accompanied one of my boys,
named Odanga. The plantation was large
one, and situated on very broken ground,
surrounded by the virgin forest. 1t was a
lovely morning; the sky was almost cloud
less, and all aroand was stillias death, ex-
cept the slight rusfling of the tree-trops
moved by the gentle land breeze. When
1reaebed the place, had first to pick my
way through the mazeof tree -stumps and
half-burnedlo logs by the side of a tieldTot
cassada. Il was going quietly along the
borders of this. when I heard, in the grove
Of plantain trees toward which was walk
ing, great, crashing noise. like the break
ing of trees. Immediately hid myself be-
hind a bush. and was soon gratified by the
sightot female gorilla, but before had
time to notice its movements, a second and
third demergeds from the masses OF, colossal
foliage; at length no less than four came
They. were all busily engaged in tearing
down the larger trees. One of the females
had q r,3s:lng one following her, had an
excel ent opportunity of Watching the
novel Its of the impish looking band.
The shaggy hides, the protuberant alb
doulens, the hideous features of those
strange creatures whose form so nearly re-
semble man, made up picture like avision
in some morbid dream. In destroying a
tree they first grasp the base OF the stem
with one of their feet. and then with their
powerful arms pull It down, matter OF
not much difficulty with soloosely formed
stem as that of the plaintain. They taen
set upon the Juicy heart of the tree at the
bases of the leaves, and devoured it with
great vOracity. While eating they made
kind Of elucking noise, expressive OF eon-
Gentment. Many trees they destroyed out
of pure mischief. Now and then they
stood still andsslooked around. AOnce or
twice they seemed on the point of starting
off in alarm, but recovered themselves and
continued their work. Gradually Y they got
nearer to the edge of the dark forest, aud
finally disappeared. was SO intent on
watching them that I let go the last chance
of shooting one almost before l became
aware of iG.
s. The next day j went with O ianga to the
same spot. i { ad incorporation of seeing
goFillas in the same plantation, and was
carving a Right shot gun, having given my
double barreled rifle TO the boy to carry.
The plantation extended over two hills,
with deep hollow between. planted with
sugar cane. Beforeo1 had crossed the hol-
low saw On the opposite slope moll-
strous gorilla standing erect and looking
directly toward me- With ,ut turning my
face / sbeckoned TO the boy To bring me my
rifle, but no rifle came-the little coward
had bolted, and lost my chance. The
huge beast sta. ed at me for about two
minutes, aud then, without uttering any
cry, moved off to the shade OF the foresI,
runing nimbly on his hands and feet.
AS my readers may easily imagiue, had
excellent opportunity for ob-erving, dur
ing these two days, the manner III Which
the gorillas walked when in open ground.
They move along with great rapidly on
all tours; that Is, with the knuckles OF
their hands tOuehing che ground. Artists
In representing TIE gorilla walking, gem
orally make the arms too much bowed out
ward, and elbows TOO much bent; this gives
the figures an appearance OF heayiness and
aWkWardness. When the gorilas that !
watched left the plaintain trees, they NOV
ed off at a great pace over the ground, with
their arms extended straight forward to-
ward the ground. and moving rapidly. l
may mention also that having now opened |
the stomachs of several freshly-killed go-
riTlas, have never found anything but
vegetable matter in them.3 zfk4sJ
One day one of my men came in with the
startling news that three live gorillas had
been brought, one of them full grown. L
had not long TO wait; in they came. First.
q large aQui6 l6Hfd16,- OOullQ gHdUu anu IOOGs
then her female child, screaming terribly
and lastly, a vigorous young male, also
tightly bound. The female had been inge-
niOusly secured by, the negroes to a; stout
stick, the wrists bound to the upper part
and the ankles TO the lower, so that she
could not reach to tear tile cords with her
teeth. 1t was dark, and the scene was one
so wild and strange that | shall never for
get it. The tiendish countenances OF the
CalfbanfsiI trio, Que of them distorted by
pain, for the mother gorilla was severely
wounded, were lit up by the ruddy glare
of native torches: The thought struck me,
whatswoulds i not give to have the group in
London for few daysI
The young male i secured by chain
which / had in readiness, and gave him
henceforth the name of Tom. We united
bis hands and feet; to show his gratitudefor
this act of Kindness he Immediately made a
rush at me, screaming with all his might :;
happily the chain was made fast, and Itook
care afterwards to keep out of his way. The
old mother gorilla was i'll an unfortunate
plight She had an. arm broken and a
wound in the chest, besides being dreadfnlly
beaten on the head. She groaned and roar
ed many times during the hight, probably
from pain. - issoSt' - -" 49,
noticed next. day, and on many occa-
sions, that the vigorous young male when
ever he made a rush at any one and missed
his aim, immediately ran back. This cor
responds with what is known of the habits
of the large males in their native woods;
when attacked they make a furious rush at
their enemy, break an arm or tear his bow
els open, aud then beat a retreat, leaving
their victim to shift for himself go
The wounded female died in the course
of the nextday her moaniugs were more
frequent in the morning, and they grad
ally became weaker as her life ebbed out.
Her death was like that of a human. being, ]
d.faff1iQtQd than 1 naI1i6 ho
thonght possible Her, child elungq to her
to the last, and tried to obtain milk from
her breast after she was deal. L photo
graphed them both when the young Ole
was resting liz its dead mothers lap. l
kept the young one alive for three days
after its mothers death. It muaned at
night most5pteously. fed it on goats
milk, for it was too young to eat berries.
1tsdied the fourth day, haviug taken1an uHss
conquerAble dislike TO the milk, 1t had, l
think, began to know me a little. As to
the male, 1 made at least a dozen attempts
to photograph the irascible little demon,
but all in vain. The pointing of the cam
era toward MIN threw him into a perfect
rage, and / was almost provoked to give
him a sound. thrashipg. The day after,
however. / succeeded with him, taking
two views, not very perfect, but sufficient
for my subject. ..s-...-, 1, -.5,,-.l,. ..-7.r..
I have also satisfied myself that the go
rilla Is more gregarious than formerly
considered it to be, at least it is now clrar
that, At certain times of the year, it goes in
bands more numerous than those lsaW i'll my
former journey. ThenI never saw more
than five together. l have myself seen, on
my present expedition, two of these bands
OF gOrlllas, numbering eight or ten, and
have had authentic accounts from the ma
tiVes of other similar bands. 1t is true
that, when gorillas become aged, they seem
to be more solitary. and to live in pairs or
as in THE case of old males, quite alone.