St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-26
LIVED WITH GORILLAS.
PROF. GARNER RETURhS FROM HIS
STAY IN AFRICA.
HAVE A LANGUAGE.

Four Months With No Compan-
ions but Gorillas and Monkeys
Convince Him That His Theory
Than Any Man Living Po-
lygany Practiced.
NEW YORK, March 25.-Prof. Richard
l.. Garner, whose efforts to learn the
language which he avows belongs to
the gorilla aud chimpanZee, and which
has earned for him the LSeudOnym Of
The Monkey Man," returned from his
Investigations in Africa on the Etruria
today. The professor said tonight his
journey had been an absolute success.
Il left here" said he. ''in July. 1892.
After considerable difficulty in securing
funds and making preparations for the
journey. got away from Liverpool in
the following December. / went
through the lake regions enough to
get information about the animal in
habitants and conditions of the coun-
thy for my purpose. After this
journey returned to Lake Feran Vaz,
through which / passed on the way
back. There l found suitable place
to erect my cage. | located one mile
from the lake i'll dense jungle, for the
gorilla will not live in an open country
1t was on the south side of the lake,
about two degrees south OF the equator.
l do not know the longitude, but it was
about one days journey to the seacoast
in a direct line. [ had been adRssed by
In Southwestern Africa to find numbers
of gorillaS. In this locality many had
been captured by white hunters. l
slung my cage with the assistance of
three natives.
THE CAGE
consisted of network of steel rods five
SiXteenthS af an inch thick. [ brought
it with me in eight sections, each six
feet six inches in length. These sec
tons weighed fOrty-five pounds IN all.
anchored it with three heavy chains
passed over the roof. AS precaution
a network of steel wire was thrown
around the rods as a guard. The roof
was made of bamboo, and had with
Inc canvas and tarpaulin in case of rain.
My effects consisted of household uten-
slls, two revolvers, one magazine rife,
one air gun, and hollow arrows filled
with prussic acid, which | discharged
with blow gun. The best safeguard |
had was device Of my own invention.
1t was bag like a large canteen filed
with concentrated ammonia, to which
was hose attached thirty inches long,
with a nozzle, through which [ could
force the fumes Of the ammonia, which
would Suffocate gorilla ten feet away
The cage stood on foundation three or
tour feet from the ground.
Il had no photograph, as one ordered
from Edison May 3. 1898, never reached
me. l had the invoice, and was very
much disappointed at not receiving it,
as it would have aided me very materi-
ally in my experiments. Unfortunately
my Photographic apparatus failed to
work also.
WENT INTO THE CAGE
alone on April %. 1898, and remained in
it until Aug. 6 following. Or course |
came out for short intervals, For my
young chimpanzee Moses, which l had
with me, l built hut outside not far
from the cage. During the long months
he was my only companion most of the
time. We dined together, and on
these occasions Moses was not con-
fined, but went in and out at will.
On some occasions he behaved very
badly, for the etiquette of the race is
not always perfect. Then | would put
him out. L saW a great many gorllas.
l think L can safely say more than any
other white man living. My position
was such that gOrillaS would come very
close. and | could sit silently and study
every detail of movement and express
sion. never had occasion to use nv
gun but once. Then | only cooked it.
aimed at gorilla to rescue my pet dog,
but before fired the gorilla became
frightened and ran away. | have seen
only two or three gorillas while outside
within the cage. Many things which |
have read before and since my re-
searches in magazine articles and nat
ural history about the gorilla are fiction.
have learned not more than six OF
eight words OF the
CHIMPANZEE LANGUAGE.
"TheSe cannot give you, for they
are not amenable to any known etyinOl-
Ogy or photography. l cannot pro-
nounce them. LII L could would will
ingly give them to you. l think there
are about forty or fifty words or utter
anceS in their language.
The gorilla certainly has marital re-
lationS, but no ceremony | learned
from the natives that they are poly
gamous. However, | am quite satisfied
that they keep the same female as
wife for many years. | have seen
groups of three or four in which are
always one male only. 1t is very clear
to me that they have patriarchial form
of government. L was assured by Il
man whom believe to be truthful that
lie had seen gorilla sitting on the
ground eating plantaInS. They were
brought by other male gorillas to his
supposed majesty after being gathered
by females. The only thing which in
ciines me to doubt the story is the fact
that the gorilla rarely eats the plantain
itself, but lives on the meat of the stock
of the plantain tree, which he tears to
pieces.
The gorillas are at full maturity
when they reach the age of eight or ten
years. They do not build houses, and
are not carnivorous, but omnivorous.
Their vocal organs are almost exactly
like those OF man. They are not nearly
so vicious as described. When they
would approach my cage they would
take one peep and turn away wholly
unconcerned. The natives told me that
If blackened my face they might take
more interest in ME. | had twelve at
tacks of fever in nine months. The
natives. like myself, are firmly con-
WINGED that the gorilla aid chimpanzee
tribes have language.
II brought back to London with me
two chimpanzees. They died soon after
their debut into civilization. | pre-
served their skins and skulls. also
brought the vocal organs of four Chin
panZees and three gorillas, and the
brain of one gorilla. The braiUs of the
chimpanzees which died in London
We're sent to Oxford at the request of
the university, where they will be ex-
amined and an official report rendered"
Carried Ont 10 Sea