The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1867-06-12
AMONG THE GORtLLAS.


OF the gorilla among the natives, he des
crihes his emotions when he came first
upon traces Of these dreadful beasts:
I remember well the GrM tirne 90,
glimpse Of The gorilla. We had reached
place where "nce a village had been
built, and whese degenerate hind of su,
gar cane was growing, in the very SPOT
where the houses had formerly stood,
when my men perceived what at once
threw us into the creates. state of excite
ment. Here and there the cane was hea
ZEN down, tor" up by the roots, and ly'
ing about in fragments which had evi
denly been chewed. Nv men looked At
each other in silence, and mu,tered tho
word "Ngrvla," whico is the name ihey
give to The gorilla. We followed the
traces, and presently came TO the foot
prints Of the so long desired animal. /,
VAS the fir't time had ever seen ihese
footprints, AID my sensations were indies,
crihahle. Here was now, il seemed. on
the point Of meeting face 10 face that
monster o! whose faroci,v. strength and
cunning natives had told me so much-an
animal which, since the dave of Hanno,
had not been seen in its wild state by a
white msr. Nv hear, heat until 7 feared
''s loud pulsa'ions would Prove fatal. Bv
the rscks II was easy TO see ,ha, there
must have heen sevarnl gorllas in COM
psny. We prepared at once to follow
them Tho women Of our party, WIN
CARRIED the food of their husbands. were
terrified, and we left them an e~ort of
several men. Then the rest Of u. looked
! once more csrefullv at our. guns. for the
ma'e gerills give. Won no time tp reload,
ard vnnr gun mnst not mss fire. fir then
woe to him whom he attacks! Wawere
armed To the teeth, and We departed from
camp and left the people there with fear
written on their faces.
SLOWLY we pressed on through the
dense hu.h. lss we should alarm the
oeasts. Mskinda va. to 60 10 the rich,
of The rock. while I took the left. I'm,
fortunately. he got in advance of me-
The wstchful animals saw him Sudden
" vas starred nv strange. discordant ::
hall human. devilish crv. and hshald four
Vor'l'as running past in she thick Of the
forest We fired. hut hitnothine Then
we rushed'in pursuit; but they knew the
woods he,'er than we did. and could run
faster than we did. N.verihel4sa 7
caught glimnse Of one OF the animals
again but an intervening tree spoiled
my aim, and did not fra. When We
I could pursue no more we reiurne,l slowly
To our camp. where the women and men
~ers arxion.lv expecting us. a. they
ran on their hind iegs these porillss look
ed fearfulIv like hsirv men. Thei, head
down. thei- BODY inclined forward, their
snele appearance was Ike men rnrnirp
for their lives and 7 ceased 10 wonder
that ,he natives have the widest super
s,itiops about these "wi!d men OF the
Woodsn
CURIOUS STORIES.
One of the stories was that two Mhon .
demos women were walking together
Though the woods, when suddenly an
immense gorilla stepped intothe path,
and c'u.ching one OF The women, bore
her off in spite OF the screams AID strup
giles Of both. The other soman returned
to the village and related the story. OF
course her companion WAS given up for
lost. Crest was the surprise, therefore,
when few days after she returned "a
the village. She related that she had
'even,ualiy escaped from the .gorillas.-
ayes" said one OF the men, stha. was Q
man that bad turned into q gorilla, y
which explanation ~ss received with a
gsnersl grant Of approval. for these peo
pie believe that some men have turned
into gorillas. Such gorllss the natives
believe can never be killed, and the pos
sessed beasts are, according to them, en-
dowed with the intelligence Of msu uni,
ed to s,rength and the fer6city OF the
Beast. Another man told how, some
| years ago. n pavty Of ooyiIlas Was foun