Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1872-08-01

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night, the chief guide woke me up, and
informed me that some of our companions
were hun ting us. He said he had seen
one Of them walking across the path to
our right. We both gotup. and went
in tina, direction; but could fud nothing
ofany Of our folks. We had gone back
and was just sinking into doze again,
when feotstep, close by my head, arous-
ed me, and upon starting to sitting
posture, 1 plainly saw what took to be
a man walking. towards the woods.
spoke to him. called second tine-and
he quickened his steps and soon ;disap-
peared. The guide had been up and seen
the disappearing object. and be agreed
with, me that il could not be any Of oar
people.
ut must be-" said he; "some native
that belongs to this district If there is
a party of them here, we'll hunt them UP
in the morning.
The thought that there might be a
party Of savages near us disturbed my
rest somewhat for the remainder of the
night: and. SO soon as the first dawn of
day broke the gloom of the forest, I was
upon my feet. The guide was very soon
by my side and having taken careful
survey of the ground around US, we sat
down and eat up the last OF our bread and
meat; aud when we had finished our meal,
we shouldered our doubled barrelled RI
fles, and struck off in to the woods in the
objection VIII ich had been taken by the
disappearing persons Of the previous
night. Within a hundred yards of the
place where cur elephant lay, we found
rivulet o pure water, which vent muir
muring musically along over bed Of
dark red sand. We bathed our heads
and faces in the limpid stream. and then
sat down upon the grassy bank to rest.
The guide was telling mea long story,
when We were startled by loud sharp
cry close at hand. 1t was different
cry from any had ever before heard and
so strangely terrific that leapel to my
feet US though thunderbolt had burst
tpou me. An exclamation Of ter or frt N
the guide. aud a wave of ais hand, indi
| Gated to me the direction of the author of
the cry we had heard; and looking that
2ay oekeld scene that quickencd the
pulsation Of my heart.
Not more than twenty yards from us,
upon the opposite side of the stream, STOOD
two monster anshophoids I quickly de-
termlned that they were male aud fe-
male. The guide as he started back for
his rife. called them chimpsuzees, but
knew better than that The male as he
stood: was at least six feet high, aud no
chipanzee ever approached that stature.
And, moreover, this animal possessed a
muscular development the most powerful
| had ever conceived Of. The head was
broad and low, the brain cavity being al.
most entirely behind the face, instead Of
above it; as IN man, the ears were small,
the nose broad and fat, with wide nos
trels; the mouth exceedingly large, With
thu, hard lips; the chin very small and
reccding; with muzzle very prominent
The whole face was wrinkled ard black,
and its expression the most rcpuls:ve and
forbidding that can be conceived Of The
chest was massive snd capacious the
shoulders broad and heavy, the stomach
very prominent, and the limbs a so lid
mass of bone, muscle and sinew. The
arms were not az long as those of the o.
rang, but lon ger than those of the CHM
panzee. the body WAS .mostly covered
with short, coarse hal: Of dirty blscki.h
gray coler. the female being almost
black.
SIT is not chimpansee, I said. as
moved back to TIE tree where my rife
stood. There is but enc family in the
world to which these m,nstcrs can belong.
l have, until now, doubted The existence
of that colossal anhopod tribe but can
doubt no longer. They must be goril-
las
by heavens % cried the guide, grasp
ing his rifle and bringing it up ready for
use, 'you are right, Colonel" y
I knew i, was right. The snimals be-
fore US were surely gosillas, and more
terrible monsters never saw. When the
male found he had attracted our atten-
ton, he gave utterance 10 deep, guttu.
raj cry then he beat his broad breast ire
mendou<ly with both hands, aud directly
his cry arose in volume until it became
roar that mado the very forest shake. l
,rcmbed-I could not help it; saw that
the guide trembled too The female sat
down, supporting herself on her haunch-
es, in such positioa that she could leap
at an instant's notice !; lie the male re
NAMED standing erect, continuing to roar
and beat his breast.
The guide asked u,e if VS. should FIRE.
I did not know what to answer. I
knew if we fired, and III isscd our mark,
we were dead men. If We did not fire,
the gorillas might leave US. And yet
wanted the skeleton and skin of this re-
markable brute However, our delibera-
tions were quickly and summariy brought
to al end. The male suddenly gave a
terrific cry-a cry like the concentrated
war-whoop of Thousand savages-a and
made bound towards us.--Tbo sense of
mortal danger instsntly gave the tone of
steel to my nerves, and my rifle came to
my shoulder quickly and firmly. We
both fred together, but the. gorilla was
not killed: He leaped the narrow stream
with yell more terrific than the first, in
an instant more be graspad the guides
rifle. and bent the steel barrels as though
they had been OF the softest lead. This mo-