River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-02-05
OUT IN THE WILDy.


Once upon time, as the primer
books say, while trading off the western
coast of Africa, in the equatorial re-
gions, ran my vessel about twenty
miles ND one of the rivers in that vicin-
ity, and remained there several weeks,
having a very profitable intercourse
with some of the inland tribe of natives.
A portion of my leisure time | spent
in hunting through the thick woods and
dark jungles for which that coast region
is famous, and it was on one of those
excursions that | first met living
gorilla.
My guide was a native of the cannibal
specie, black, low browed thick.sculled,
and but little removed from the brute
animal himself. He could make him
self understood, however, knew the
country well, and stood in such salu-
taly awe of the wonderful white man,
that l felt perfectly safe in trusting my
sell with him far beyond the reach Of
friends, and in places where | would
not have ventured with any single one
of my countrymen.
One day we had Yentured off into
one of the deepest recesses of one of the
darkest and most tangled of jungles,
where the spreading branch and leaves
were so thick and dense that scarcely a
ray of the vertical sun could find its way
down through them to damp, malari-
Gus earth beneath, when suddenly we
were both startled by a succession OF
the widest and most discortant shrieks
| had ever heard-though with some
thing human in the sound-accompan-
led by the rustling of and plunging
through the bushes ahead of us as if
the creature, whatever, it was, was
hurriedly making its escape.
At the first sound we both stopped
the black trembling, frightened, and as
white as the nature of his skin would
permit-and cooking my double barrel
ed rifle, / stood on the defensive, and
at the same time inquired what it was.
My guide replied in broken English,
that he had picked up in his inter
course with white traders, that it was a
terrible gorilla, and that unless we
turned back at once, and made good
our retreat, we should probably never
have the pleasure of seeing our friends
again.
l had before heard some rather mar
velous accounts of an animal SO called,
and said to bear a close resemblance to
man, and | naturally felt hunters de-
sire to see with my own eyes, and, If
possible, add the skin OF it to my collec-
ton of curiosities. Therefore | was
rather in favor of going forward than
back, believing that my steadiness of
nerve, quickness of sight, and reliability
of my two loaded barrels, whuld be suf-
ficient to protect me from actual harm.
to say nothing Of the assistance in a
strait of my ompanion, who was armed
with a spear that he could throw with
the force and precision Of an old har-
pOoner.
Cant think of turning back for a
mere gorilla, that has been frightened
at our approach so as to have fled away
shrieking," said / in tone of contempt,
intended to reassure my guide and in
duce him to go forward. What, two
brave hunters, armed as we are, to run
away from a beast that roams the for
est-we who have killed the big snake,
the leopard and the crocodile Pshaw.
Mocha that will never do-never,
lad !"
'De snake, him big" replied Mocha,
with his teeth almost chattering, and
his eyes glaring upon the thickets all
around him; 'de leopard, him sabage;
de crocodile, HIM bigger; but de gorilla
90 90 oof him awful p
"But we have not seen any gorilla
yet" said /; "and ii that animal that
ran away was one, we are not likely to,
either"
"Him woman ruu-him man stop,
fght-him debil, master"
"Well, man, woman, or anything else,
| Mocha, / must see something before
90 back frightened
"Master him see no go back-hlm
goril kill master"
/ had by this time made up my mind
to 90 forward through the thicket, ever
if / went alone; and ordering Mocha
in tone that admitted no question, tC
keep at my heels as ne valued his life
| | resolutely advanced a few PAGES
though if truth must be told, not hall
SO courageous in feeling as | seemed
in action.
But at the end of those few PAGES l
came to another sudden stand, for
saw denser thicket some fifteen or
twenty yards ahead, agitated by the
moving of some heavy body within it,
while almost mediatly there appear
! in plain view, a monster of such hid
eous appearance that felt the blood
freeze through my veins and gather
around my heart, as if appalled, by
some horrible vistant from the other
world.
NV powers OF description are limited
but had the language of Milton or a
Dante, l could only hope to convey to
your minds faint idea of the hideOus-
ness of the living creature that now
stood before me as to his voice-its
tones of anger, and Defiance know
not to what they can be likened, unless
YOU can imagine the bark of dog, the
growl of tiger, the snarling of a wolf,
the trumpeting of an elephant, all unit
ed and combined with sulphurous
vomitings from the regions of Pande-
monium.
In shape, he was like man, but like
man deformed-with a monstrous
big chest and body, small head planted
down between his shoulders, large, long
arms and huge hands, and short thick
DOW legs leIIHlHdIluS III AdiIHo ihSbChN
of feet. He stood erect like man,
was nearly six feet in height. and was
covered all over, face, and all, with
short black hair. His head was small
in proportion to his body, and had a
human conformation. Fierce glittering
gray eyes, set deep in hollow, cavernous
sockets, rolled and glared Economically.
The forehead was Low, and retreated
sharply. There was but little nose, with
high, prominent cheek-bones.
The mouth was immense, with huge,
massive laws, and short, thin lips that
parted angrily only to display formid-
able and ferocious set of teeth, the can
ines being long and sharp pointed.
He stood before US erect, defiant
and awful-uttering the horrible roar |
have attempted to describe and beat
ing his breast with his huge fis.s, pro-
ducing g hollow, drum-like sound that,
combined with all the rest, as truly ter
rife, and made me wish was safe be-
yond his reach. Then he advanced a
few steps, with sort of rolling, wad-
ling motion, stopped again, with his
cleaning eyes fixed intently upon US,
beat his breast as before, and uttered
that prolonged and dreadful roar.
stood on the defensive, wisely deter
mined to reserve my fire for the APP
nrOahinp crisis of nv fate, hoping aud