Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-03-19
Mlistellanepns Artieles.
MAN AND THE GORILLA.

| u!AN hNO nG NoNAAAAs
In New York, few days ago, M. PAT
B. Du Chaillu, the celebrated African ez
plorer, gave the first of a course of lecture
in that city on African exploration. 81
had full house, and his subject was 9Th
Gorilla and it's habits, the Gibbon, Orang
0utang, Chimpanzee, and the Affinity Q
these to Man."
The lecturer, in his Introductory remarks
said that the region of Africa through whicl
he had travelled, and of which he proposes
to speak, lay on each side of the equato
two or three degrees, and extended to
point not far from fifteen degrees east lon
gitude. The journeylay principally througl
dense forests, which were travelled for mile
without hearing the voice of bird or any
thing to break the awful silence that reignec
supreme. Nuts and berries were there il
abundance, and it was soon learned tha
this was the country of the gorilla. M
Duo Chaillu then recounted his first adventure
with one of these animals. There were five
persons in the company at the time. anc
coming suddenly into the presence of ahuge
male gorilla, they fired upon him, but were
so greatly excited that they all missed him,
and the animal escaped. Subsequently he
killed thirty-one gorillas at different times
A popular superstition of the Africans is,
that the gorillas have once been men, but
have changed in some unaccountable man.
ner to their present condition. The roar of
the gorilla is terrible to hear, sounding at
first like distant thunder. Sometimes it is
like the sharp, quick bark of an infuriated
dog, only great deal louder, and gradually
assumes the character of deep rumbling
noise, reminding one of the far-away thun-
der before great storm. When enraged,
the animal beats his breast furiously with
his hands. N. DeChaillu's former impress
sion that the gorilla was not gregarious, has
been wholly changed by what he observed
in recent explorations. AS many as ten
have been seen together at one time, living
in pairs. At night the female sleeps in the
top of tree, and the male, as her protec-
tor, on the ground, at the foot of the tree.
They cannot be tanned. He tried the ex
pertinent eight times and failed. They seem
to hate the sight of man, and cannot be
made to eat our food. One day he shot a
female, and took from her company a little
gorilla, with white complexion, and smooth,
straight hair. Little "Tommy," as the cap.
tive was called, remained with the company
some time, and became so far civilized that
he would get drunk whenever an opportuni-
ty was afforded. He seemed to acquire a
sort of notion of the rights of property {; for
if any one took his little red cap, orpillow,
he would cry loudly and piteously until they
were returned to him. Chaillu made an e.
laborate discussion of the affinity of the va
rious species of apes to man. In doing so,
he said that.the arms of the gibbon reach to
the ground those of the orang outang to
the ankles, of the chimpanzees little be.
low the knees, of the gorilla little above
the knees, and of man to the middle of the
thighs. These apes all have thirteen ribs,
while man has but twelve. There are nine
teen bones in human hand and the same
number in those of the apes. The thumbs
of the latter are Joined to the first fingers.
The hand of the gorilla is shorter than his
foot, and in the latter, which is nothing but
a great hand, there are the same number of
bones as in a mans foot. The teeth.of the
gorilla, chimpanzee, &c., are thirty-two in
number, and after the canine teeth have
been worn down, they appear much like the
teeth of human being. When the gorilla
grows up, ridge, an inch or two in height,
grows out of the skull, and runs directly from
point above the nose, back to level with the
top of the ears. With reference to the
brain capacity, NJ. Du Chaillu said that the
average in the gorilla is twenty-eight cubic
inches with very little growth from infan-
Cyl and the highest thirty-four cubic inch
es, while in man the capacity of the lowest
averageis sixty-three cubic inches, and that
of the highest civilization one hundred and
fourteen cubic inches. The head of man
sits far easier upon the vertebral column
than that of the ape. The structure of the
vertebral column of man shows that he was
from the first intended to walk erect, while
that of the ape shows an adaptation to the
use of "all .fours' in locomotion. NJ. du
Chaillu closed his able lecture with the most
emphatic declarations of his belief in the
superiority of man to, and his distinct diff;
ference from, the animals of the African
forest of which he had spoken,
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