The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-08-29
An Accomplished Gorilla.

vi hAs-AHf 81 Nthhk 1Ntftn XVI
rilla, says the London Times, arriv-
ed in England by the Hamburg steam
and was taken to the Westminster
aquarium. lie travelled under the
Of DR.. Hermes, director of the
aquarium. Pongo is the first
gorilla that has been safely brought
to Europe, and he has now been thir-
months an inhabitant of the tenn
perate zone. Even in Africa, the go
rilla rarely lived long 10 captivity.
Mr.. Da Chaiilu had three at different
which were all taken young,
bat be did not keep any Of them NOR
than a few days or weeks. Pongo
whose name is that by which Battcl,
early traveller, in l622, called the
species) was found by the
Prussian natural history expedition
in Africa chained up in a village on
the Gaboon. DIR. Falkenstein brought
him to Berlin, and sold him for 90
600 marks to the Berlin aquarium.
lie is about three years and ten
months old, and is believed to have
about eighteen months before him be.
fore the dangerous period OF teeth.
ing will begin. lie is three aud
three-quarters feet ia height, of great
girth round the chest and stomach.
is covered with black or iron grey
hair. and has coal black face, feet
and hands. The hands are the most
strikingly human part of the animal,
but as he usually walks on all fours,
bending the fingers in to do so, as a
child does; there is a fat, ~callous
mass on the back OF the fingers near
the middle phalanx When be is
pleased at being noticed or wants to
be noticed Pongo clsps his hands
with a loud report, squatting on the
floor, and dropping his baEds AFTER
ward in his lap. Sometimes be wraps
himself 10 Q blanket be has or swings
about the room by the ropes Of a ira
peze, but does not climb them. lie
has for companions a little ohimpaa-
zee and q dog, and is much the less
active, although far the strongest Of
the party. His foot is more like the
foot Of a man Than that Of any other
ape. but the toe are longer than a
mans, and better used for grasping.
or course he has no tail
He never stands up like e human
being, but his lavorite position is to
sit on the floor and hug a stick or an
umbrella, and he is very pleased to
be trusted with a. umbrella, although
be does not always deserve the con-
Gdenoe, because he has a tendency TO
open it ia & new ana expeditions way,
and 10 umbrella frame csn resist his
very great Muscular strength Of arm
and Jaw. At a private reception
which Pcngo held on Saturday, Mr..
Frank Buckland tried 10 teach hin
to write but, although be did make
some marks on the paper. be prefer
red to carry the pencil to his mouth,
and swallowed about an iuch of the
best Cumberland lead. Professor
Owen, who described the gorilla 10
lS4S, Prof. Mivart, and other gentle
meE and ladies were among his visit
ors OF Saturday. When be obtained
hat. which be acquired by the easy
process Of putting out his hand and
the first one ho found. be
drummed upon it with great apparent
satisfaction, but then began to crush
from the crown.
At this stage the owner interven-
ed, and, with the assistance Of the
German keeper, got his property out
Of the young goriiia's powerful grasp.
Pongo drank half q glass OF beer in
the presence of the audience, and
also ate come roast beef aud potatoes;
but ~ordinarially be lives on yegeta-
bles, and makes epormous meals of
In the morning they give him
milk and fruits, cherries, c~urraDts,
raspberries, DC. At midday be has
basin Of boiled rice, aud everything
else be can get. la the course of the
afternoon be has fruit, and, per-
haps, some eau sUcree or wine and
In the evening more milk is
brought, and this, with bread and
butter and eggs, completes his sup
per. He goes to bed at eight and
as late as eight the next morn
1t AUST be remembered hat be is
very young. hut be has learned to
smoke-at least, when the cigarette
has an amber mouthpiece, for be does
not like the taste of tobacco. He
puffs out the clouds of blue smoke
his wide nOstrils. Two hundred
thousand people are said to have Wis
ted him in Berlin since June %, 1876,
and be has grown In that period tall
er by more than three inches and
heavier by eleven pounds. As be has so
Early leernt both to smoke and drink,
is hoped that he may SOC acquire
he other accomplishments which dis
civilization.
Mr.. Frank Brickland, who was IA
7ored with an early introduction to
writes an account of the inter-
The gorilla received his
yuest after the approved manner of
Louis Quatorze-in bed, tucked up
blankets like a child. ''rbe face
S very humar,' writes the naturalist,
and as black as ebony; the nose is
very snub, the lips are thick and
but every now and then q
pleasant smile lighted up the counte-
nance Of this sleeping beauty. This
specimen, though quite young,
convinced me that as far as phvsiog-
lomy alone is concerned, the line be-
.ween the low caste negro and this
lnthropomorphous, manlike ape is in
Iced small. When, however, we ex-
mime the hand, the difference be-
ween O man and a monkey is at
'nce evident" The gorilla tolerates
luman society, but his favorite com.