Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-24

some seven years in WombweIl's travelling
 menagerie without it's species being recog.
 nized during life, it being regarded as a species of chimpanzee. Fortunately, how
 eyer, it was photographed and was undoubt-
 edly an unmistakable gorilla"
 The gorilla at the "Zoo" was little more l than baby, and certainly must have been
 the cause of sad disappointment to those
 and they are many-whose ideas of the go-
 rilla are gathered from Du Chaillus book alone, as he showed no sign of the terrible feroelty alleged by that author to be innate
 Tn his Kind. In fact more timid little beast could not be imagined; he would hardly al- low h1s keeper to touch him, not from feroci- ty, but simply from fear. This timidity was
 no doubt to considerable extent the result
 of his treatment. During his voyage he was
 confined in rough box small that it would hardly allow him to turn round. and
 we have little doubt that he was regarded by
 all on board the vessel as dreadfully fero- clous beast and treated accordingly. In the same packing case he was forwarded from Liverpool to London, and we leave it to those who are acquainted with the habits of the railway porter to imagine what must have been his sufferings during this part of the Journey. The result, however, was that on his arrival at the gardens he was so cramped and weak that he was unable to stand and too Ill to eat. He was also suffering from cold-a not uncommon ailment at this sea- SOAI ofoA 0AAOAS CAOSO hcCUSCOueQ to our climate. Under the fostering care of that most excellent of animal nurses, Mr. Bart lett, his cold was cured, his appetite returned and hopes were entertained that he might. | like Sally" the well known bald-headed ! ch1mpanzee, live and thrive in the comforta- ! ble quarters provided for him. These ap- psarances of restored health have, however. | proved illusive, as he was taken i'll in the | middle of last week and died on Saturday.
 The death of this gorilla goes far to prove | that the problem of keeping anthrepoid apes ! in this country has not yet been solved, as l many, judging by "Sallys" continued good 1 health during her four years sojourn in the | society's gardens, have imagined.
 At the same time considerable allowance | must be made for the unfortunate condition in which the beast arrived, the result of sui | ferings which must naturally have impaired ' his constitution and rendered him more sus- ceptible to the changes of our climate than i if he had arrived in sound health-changes which, even in house the temperature of | which is never allowed to descend below sev- enty degrees Fahrenheit, must be trying to any animal born near the equator.
 Pongo," as he was named, was a quaint little beast with grave face and most stolid demeanor, of whom the words of one An- drew Battel, quoted by Du Chaillu, that he 'carrieth his hands clasped on the nape of his necke when he goeth upon the ground" were certainly true. This curious trick gave him the appearance of suffering from chronic headache, though we have every reason to believe that, until he was seized by the ill., ness which terminated fatally, he was in | fairly good health.