The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
THE GORILLA.
STUDYING HIS HABITS FROM A
CAGE IN AFRICAN WlLDS.
What Professor Garner Saw and
Heard - Sounds Made by the
King of Apes-The Cor
: illa's Terrible Voice.

- scientist who has been study
ing monkey habits from q
cage in the wilds of Afri ca,
has an article in Harpe1's Weekly
detailing his experience. This quota
ton follows:
From my retreat I could view the
widest sports of nature, and hear her
many voices, chief among which was
that of the gorilla king himself. 1
have read and heard descriptions of
the sounds made by the gorilla, but
nothing ever conveyed to my mind
Just and adequate idea of their true
nature until I heard them with my
own ears in the dead Of night and
within a few yards of my lonely
abode. By some it has been called
roaring, by others bowling, but to my
ears they neither roar nor howl; they
utter peculiar combination of
sounds, beginning with low and not
unmusical note, which gradually in
creases in volume and frequency until
at it's climax it reaches the pitch Of
most piercing scream. The first part
of this series of sounds is quite within
the scope of and easily initiated by
the human vocal organs; but as it
rises in loudness and pitch it passes
far beyond the reach of the most
powerful efforts of the human lungs.
The first sound of the series appears
to be made in the natural way, by ex-
piration; the second by inspiration;
and thus they alternate throughout
kho of
which somewhat resembles the human
voice, but the latter part has strong
resemblance to the braying of an ass,
except that it is louder. A gorilla
does not make this sound every night.
when he does he usually makes it be-
tween two and four o'clock in the
morning, and it is repeated from ten
to twenty times, at intervals of one or
two minutes each. The only meaning
that could attribute to the sound was
that it was intended to arouse and col
lect the family, preparatory to al
early march, or that it was made to
alarm some intruder that might be
heard approaching too closely. From
my own experience I can say that I
know of nothing in the way of sounds
that can inspire one with SO much ter
ror as the voice of big gorilla near
at hand in the lone and silent hours of
the night. have often heard it at a
great distance, and I do not think
there is any doubt that it can be heard
three or four miles of. Sometimes
this terrific yell is accompanied by q
peculiar beating, which travellers have
described, and it is currently believed
that it is made by the animal beating
upon his breast with his hands, but
do not think so. have heard it many
times at some distance from me, but
on one occasion was stopping over
night at a house in o native town,
when was aroused from sleep by
gorilla screaming and beating only
few hundred yards away. I instantly
slipped out of bed, put on my boots
and helmet, seized my rifle, and started
through plantation in the direction
of the sound. I stealthily approached
to the edge of the bush, which brought
me within less than two hundred yards
of the animal The moon was shining
but family, and had no desire to APP
proach nearer at such a time; but 1
heard distinctly every stroke, and my
belief is that he was beating upon a
log or piece of dead wood.
He was evidently beating with his
hands alternately, and with great ra-
pidity, and not unlike the manner In
which the natives beat drum, except
10 khoc 1oy
of strokes, and the strokes were in
constant series, rising and falling
from very soft to very loud, and vice
versa; and a number of these runs
followed one another during the whole
time that the voice continued. Be-
tween the first and second strokes the
interval was slightly longer than be-
tween the second and third, and SO on.
As the beating increased in loudness
the interval shortened in q correspond
ing degree, whereas in the diminu-
endo the intervals heightened as the
beating softened, and the author of
the sounds seemed conscious of this
fact. could not trace any relation,
however, in time or harmony between
the music and the beating, except
that they usually began at the same
time and ended at the same time; but
the voice suddenly stopped at the
climax of the sounds, whereas the
beating was stopped at any part of the
scale. I have no doubt that the
gorilla sometimes beats his breast, and
he has been seen to do SO in captivity;
but I do not think it follows that he is
confined to that. I have great doubt
if any man has ever seen him make
the sounds which have just described,
as they seem to do SO only at night.
1t has frequently been declared that
he beats upon his breast and screams
when he attacks man. This may be
true; hut I sought in vain through
seven tribes to find one man that had
actually seen gorilla in the act of as
saulting man. Many of the stories
told by the natives are like ghost
stories-the author never saw the
thing himself, but he knows man
that has seen a fellow that does know
it to be true. Travellers are too ready
to repeat the native fairy tales and
youch for them as known facts.