Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-04-12
AFRICAN PRIZE FIGHTERS.
Danger of Hunting the Gorilla in the For
ests of the Dark Continent.

ests of the Dark Continent.
"The gorilla is the prize fighter of
Africa, said Carl Steckelmann, who
has personal knowledge of the Dark
Continent. lie had been speaking of
a leopard skin on exhibition in his
window, and had been telling of the
danger encountered in fighting with
the original owner of the skin.
Contests with all wild animals pale
in comparison with that in which one
must engage in meeting the gorilla,
he said THE gorilla is found in only
comparatively small portion of West
ern Africa. He turks in the woods
along the coasts for several hundred
miles north of the mouth of the Con-
go. | have never seen gorilla 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
almost biped instead of a quadruped.
You see the gorilla in passing through
the forests reaches out with his long
arms, and, Selling the branches of the
on them, supporting himself with his
hold on the branches. Habit has thus
almost made an upright creature Of
him.
THE gorilla is as brave as brave
can be. The male gorilla does all the
fighting for the family. If you APP
proach a pair of gorillas the female
will run, screaming, through the
woods, or will climb the highest tree,
uttering all the while cries not unlike
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,"
How do you fight theml"
wish pistols. 1t is very unsafe to
trust to gun or to poor weapon OF
any kind The gorilla is so fierce and
powerful that you have but one
chance at him at the best. The woods
where he is found is SO thick that it is
impossible to see him accurately at
any distance If 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 second 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
ordinary pistol shot will have about
the same effect upon him as it has upon
making the shot tell. Once / was pass
ing through the forest with a body
guard of natives. The natives are
furnished by the Dutch traders with a
miserable gun, the barrel of which is
made of gas pipe. The natives have
learned to be suspicious of their guns.
When they fire at anything they point
in the general direction, pull the trig-
ger and fling the gun at the object.
They throw the gun because they are
afraid it will explode in their hands,
as it very frequently does. Well, we
came upon gorilla. a native saw
him dropping from tree coming at
u.s. Aiming at the descending form,
he fred and missed. He had not
turned before the grim monster was
upon him. Standing and throwing
his arms around the negro's neck, the
gorilla seized his throat in his manlike
jaws, and was crushing the life out OF
him when we came up and fired q
pistol ball into him at close range.
But the wounds inflicted were mortal,
and the native died in great agony"
Are the gorillas numerous in the
strip of country where they are found3'
They are scarce. In making trip
once saw two in one day, but that
was unusual. They are the fercest
and bravest of animals. The male go
rilla, in going into battle, sounds 8
fearful warning by beating its breast
and giving forth sounds that make the
dense forest resound. He is a danger
Gus antagonist, and you are all the
time reminded by his appearance that
you are contesting with creature tha
has mans faculties and appearance
agiants strength and monkeys agil
ity."-lndianapolis News.