Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-05-17
AFRICAN PRIZE-FIGHTERS.
Danger of Hunting the Gorilla in the Dark
Continent.

Continent.
"The gorilla is the prize fighter of
Africa" said Carl Steckeiu aun, who has
personal knowledge of the dark CONT
nent.
Contests with all wild animals pale in
com paripon with that in which one must
engage III meeting the gorilla" he said.
"Ihe gorilla is found in only a compart-
lively small portion of western Africa.
He turks in the woods along the coast for
several hundred miles north of the mouth
of the Congo. | have never seen a goril.
la in the open country, and, by the way, [
think that the fact that he STAYS in the
woods accounts for the fact that he is al
most biped instead of a quadruped.
You see, the gorilla in passing through
the forest reaches out with his long arms,
and, Selling the branches of the trees,
rises on his hind legs and walks on them,
supporting himself with his hold on the
branches. Habit has thus almost made
an uprigh hit creature of him.
"The gorilla is as brave as brave can
be. The male gorilla does all the fight
ing for the family. If you approach a
paIc of gorilIas the female will luD,
sore 4ming, through the woods, or will
climb the highest tree, uttering all the
while cries not unlike a woman in great
fright. But the male gorilla will come
straight at you. He does not know what
fear is He will fight any number of
men"
Glow do you fight them" asked Phil
adelphia Call man.
with pistols. It is very unsafe to trust
to gun Or to a poor weapon of any
kind. The gorilla is so fierce and power
full that you have but ose chance az him
at the best. The wounds where ha is
found are so thick that it is impossible
to see him accurately at any distance
II you fire at him as he comes at you
down the tree limb may turn the course
of the bullet. Before you can fire a sec
ond time he will be upon you. He drops
from limb to limb, and comes at rapid
swinging pace. The safest way is to hold
your fire until he is at arms length and
then fire steadily into him with pistol.
The gorilla is easily killed. An ordi-
nary pistol shot will have about the same
effect upon him as it has upon a man.
The hunters danger is in not making the
shot tell. Once [ was passing through
the forest with bo1y-guard of natives.
The natives are furnished by the Dutch
traders with miserable gun, the barrel
of which Is made of gas pipe. The na-
tives have learned to be suspicious of
their guns. When they fire at anything
they point in the general direction, pull
the trigger, and fling the gun at the OBJ
iect. They throw the gun because they
are afraid il will xplode in their hands,
as it very frequently does. Wet, we
came upon gorilla. A native saw him
dropping from tree, coming at Us.
Aiming at the descending form, ne fred
and missed He had not turned before
the grim monster was upon him. S and
ing and throwing his arms around the
leg 20 5 neck, the gorilla seized his throat
in his manlike Avs and was crushing
the life out of hIm when We came up and
fir, a ball into him at Gloss range. But
the wounds Ii filcted were mortal and the
naive died in great agony"
Are the gCrilIas numerous IN ne strip
of country where they are found?"
They are scarce. In making trip
once | saw two in one day, but that was
unusual. They are the fiercest and brav-
est of animals. The male gorilla, in 60
ing in battle, sounds a fearful warning |
by beating Its breast and giving forth |
sounds that make the dense forest re
sound. He is dangerous Antagonist, |
and you are all the time reminded By his |
sppearasce that you are contt sting with |
a creature that has mans faculties and |
appearance, a giants strength, and |
monkeys agility"