The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-08-08
AFRICAN pRIzE FIGHTERS.
Danger os Hunting the Gorilla IN ths Fss
ests of tho Dark Continent.


ests of tho Dark Continent
'sThe gorilla Is the prize fighter of
Africa" said Carl Steckelmann, who
has personal knowledge OF the Dark
Continent He had been speaking OF
leopard skin on exhibition in his
window, and had been telling OF the
danger encountered I'm lighting 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 'erhe gorilla is found in only
comparatively small portion of West
ern Africa He turks i'm 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 quadruped.
You see the gorilla in passing through
the forests reaches out with his long
arms, and, seizing the branches of the
'rees rises on his hind legs and walks
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
lighting for the family. II you ap-
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
a woman in great fright But the
male gorilla viii come straight at you.
He does not know what fear is He
will fight any number of men"
How do you fight themf"
wish pistols II is very unsafe TO
trust 10 gun or 10 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 il il
any distance If you fire at him rs
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 a rapid,
swinging pace. The safest way is TO
/ hold your fire until he is at arm s
/ length, and then fire steadily into him
/ with pistol.
''The gorilla is easily killed. An
ordinary pistol shot viii 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 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
4 learned 10 be suspicious of their guns.
/ When they fire at anything they point
| in the general direction, pull the trig-
I ger and fling the gun at the object
/ They throw the gun because they are
afraid il will explode I'm their hands,
as it very frequently does. Well, we
came upon a gorilla. A native saw
him dropping from a tree coming al
us Aiming at the descending form,
he fired 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 foundf
They are scarce. In making a triI
once saw two in one day, but that
was unusual. They are the fercesi
and bravest of animals. The male go
rilla, in going into battle, sounds g
fearful warning by beating its breast
and giving forth sounds that make the
dense forest resound He is danger.
GUS antagonist and you are all the
time reminded by his appearance that
you are contesting with a creature thai
has mans faculties and appearance
giants strength and monkeys agil
ity. indianapolis News.