The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-05-08

Still the weight will find leaycn,
still tho spoilers hand is slow,
~. While tho future hns its heaven,
And the past its long ago.
NEW BOOKS.
JOURNEY TO AsIANoo LAND and further Penetration
M into Equatorial Africa by PAUL B. Du cAmnu author
Illustrations. Now York: D. Appleton i Co.. Broad
way, 1857. aes :5sa s,a4.. p, - -
As the previous volume of the author has excit
ed great doal of discussion in scientific and lit
erary circles, we will give a brief sketch of his
life before we examine his new book NJ. Du
CHA1LLU was born III Paris, in 1882. He came to
the United States when quite boy. From his
earliest youth he was devoted to studies of geog-
Iaphy and natural history, and retained in vivid
freshness, the dream, present, we believe with
almost every boy, of visiting in after life foreign
lands and desert wilds In October, 1856, at the
age Of twenty three, he left New York on his first
Journey Of exploration to Western Africa With
the enthusiasm natural to youth, he selected for
the scene OF his labors region where he had rea-
son to suppose no white man had preceded him.
he travelled in the immediate vicinity OF the oqua-
cor, distance of some four hundred to five hun
dred miles, Travelling in these parts is attended
with all but 1nsuperable difficulties there being
!; no beasts OF burden whatever. The fall of rain
there Is at rate entirely unknown in this part OF
the world; nc ;ording to our travellers measure
ment two hundred aud twenty-five inches in tho
Twelve months tho thermometer not unfreuueu tly
= reaching l4S degrees With such meteorological
conditions we need not say that the country is
slckly"t NJ. DU CHA1LLU had repeated attacks OF
Afr1 :an fever, and his strong constitution, alone
enabled him to bravo such terrible hindrances to
: : a nus enterprise He was all the whilo surrounded
exclusively by natives not having been ablo to in
duce single white man to accompany him. 81
NJ CLASSICAL readers m
Periplus, Or voyage Of HANNo, the Carthagenian,
Written more than two thousand years ago, he
makes allusion to the animal known as the gorilla
son the third day." he says, 'swe came to bay
ca4ieo the horn or the South. In the recess was
an Island like the first, having lake. and in this
there was another island full of wild men, But
much the greater part Of them were women, with
Z hairy bodies, whom the interpreters callcd eoril-
las. * But pursuing them, we were not
\ abe o.take tho men; they all escaped from ue by
tner great agility, being crennobates. that is to
say chmblng precipitous rocks and trees, and de-
tending themselves oy throwing stones at u.s. We
:: TOOK, three women who bit and tore those who
Caught them, and were unwilling to follow. We
were Obliged, therefore, to kill them. and take
Their skins of, which skins were brought to Car
image, for VIC did not navigate farther provisions
becoming scarce"
~, 1t was the pcrusal of those traditions. coup,cd
with us reports current among the negroes of tho
Y. coast, mat led NJ. DU CHAILLU to venture upon
tn1s dangerous journey into the interior. Tho dis
coVer1es which he made then amply rewarded him
Tor he perils which he encountered. In orpitho-
logy he added upwards Of sixty new species to the
existing classifcaions, and to that Of auadrupeds
more than thirty, among which were three new
Sa11etles Of apes. On getting to the head waters
q the Ntanbounay, about five thousand feet above
The level OF the sea, he made his first acquaintance
With the gorilla. We cannot do better than to
give the account of the meeting in his own words:
suddenly, as we were creeping along in o silence
which made q heavy breath seem loud and dis
t,ncs the woods were at once filed with the
@eg%ePdogs barking 1oar Of the gorilla. Then the
:, unoerorush swayed rapidly just ahead, and
presently before us stood an Immense male
!: gor11na. He had gone through the jungle on his
himself ana looked us boldly in the face. He stood
41! apo1e dozen yards from us, and was q sight
tRnk Re proya6 s1a on never forget Nearly
Goy, nuSe chest and great. muscular arms, with
glar1n m large deep gray eyes anda hesh
nightmare vision; thus stood before us this King
o1 the African forest. He was not afraid of us
Ee stG1d @ there and beat his breast with his huge
nats q! 1t resounded Like an immense bass drum
winch ls their mode of Offering Defiance meantime
giving vent to roar after roar: &:-,-4,. !. !7 9
3 Ih1s monster NJ. DU CHAuLu shot, and the BODY
when measured proved to be five feet eight inches
Il n IN nelght, slxty-two inches round the chest and
nine feet from the extremity of one outstretched
arm arm TO the other: He subsequently, killed on this
tt1p, tWenty-one of these creatures the measure
ment Of one of which proved to be larger than that
We have just given. The skins and skeletons were
Drought to this country, and were exhibited for a
snort time IN New York and Boston. Strange to
say, they elected but very little Interest," except
among few Of our scientific. men. They were
tnen taken to England, where they created great
sensation, and NJ Du CaAnLu became one of the
Ao-s OF the day. This difference Of appreciation OF
Of these discoveries in the two coun-
tries can only be accounted for by the publication
OF his FIRST book, Adventures in Equatorial Afri-
Ca" which made its appearance shortly after his
arrival in London.
Even in England and in Germany there were
persons not disposed to accept them as facts, and
violent controversies followed in regard to them.
" Men OF high scientific reputation, however, such
as Professor OWEN, Sir RoDERIcK MURcH1soN, and
Professor ALTMAN, Of Edinburgh, rnanfnly stood
= by NJ DU CHAnLU, and maintained by incontroyer-
hble geological and anatomical analogies the pro-
bable correctness Of his statements few disco
veries subsequently made by Captain BURTON and
other travellers on the same section of the African
coast served to corroborate their truthfnlness
NJ but not. satisfied that there should remain a
Parucle OF doubt on facts SO important NJ DE
~~~AA@o PAoR0A oA hAHSoA 4OI q second lOUTney of
exploration. The better to qualify himself for it.
he applied himself to the study Of astronomy, and
also made himself acquainted with the manage
msnt of Photographic Instruments. After three
years thus spent, part boing passed in the United
States, and part in England for the advantages Of
the British Museum, he left London for the coast
o. Afrca on the 9Th Of August, 1868. There being
no commercial intercourse with the point for which
ne was bound, tho Fernand vaz, which lies ono
hundred and ten miles to the south Of the equator,
he had to specially freight vessel for the expe-
dition. In disembarhng on the coast he met with
disaster in the upsettng Of canoe, by which he
lost all his chronometors and other valuable scen-
tifc instruments. By this accident tie object Of
his journey was delayed for upwards Of eight
months, during which he waited for the arrival
from England Of another set Of instruments, which
had to oe dispatched to him by . vessel again char
tered for the purpose. It s but right to add that
IN these two expeditions NJ. DU CHAnLU received
no aid from any quarter. They were undertaken
at his individual expense. and whatever advantage