Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-07-31
oU cHALLus FIRST GORILLA.
A Thrilling Incident in the Life Of
the Famous ExnIorer.

A Thrilling Incident in the Life of
the Famous Explorer.
Paul Belloni Du' Chaillu, the famous
/ traveller, who died a short time ago,
was the center of fierce controversy
forty and fifty years ago, when his
stories of life in Central Africa, and
his discovery of the gorilla, since con-
| firmed, were menounced as gross ex-
aggeratiOns, IL not absolute lies. He
never fully overcame the effects Of
/ his defamation and vilification, and
although he lived to enjoy many hon
ors, he did not reap the full reward
due to his achievements. Born in
New Orleans in 1888, he was early
taken to Africa by his father, who
| held a consular appointment In the
Gaboon. In 1852 he published series
OF newspaper articles about the Ca
boon country which attracted much at
tention. In 1855 he returned TO the
West Coast Of Africa. UEdc .om-
panied by any white man, he travelled
distance of 5000 miles in practic-
ally unknown country. He killed and
stuffed 1000 birds, including many
i new species, and many gorillas, of
which he brought the first accounts to
Europe. 1t was his vivid and elo-
quent description of these huge and
ferocious apes that excited incredu-
lity.
Here is the account which he gave
of his encounter with his first gorilla:
Suddenly an immense gorilla ad-
vanced out of the wood straight TO-
ward us, and gave vent, as he came
up, to terrible howl of rage, as much
as to say, I am tired of being pur-
sued and will face you
at was a lone male, the kind
which are always the most ferocious
| This fellow made the woods resound
with his roar, which is really an aw-
full sound, resembling the rolling and
muttering of distant thunder. He
was about twenty yards off when we
| first saw him. We at once gathered
together, and 1 was about to take aim
and bring him down where he stood
when my most trusted man. Malaoren,
stopped me. saying, in whisper, Not
| time yet
1--WE stood, therefore, in silence, gun
in hand. The gorilla looked at us for
| moment or SO out of his evil gray
eyes, then beat his breast with his
gigantic arms-and what arms he hadt
then gave another howl of defiance
and advanced upon us. How horrible
he looked! 1 shall never forget it.
Again he stopped, not more than fif-
teen yards away. Still Malaonen
said, Not yet Good gracious! what
is to become of us if our guns miss.
fire, or if we only wound the great
beast?
again the gorilla made an advance
upon us. Now he was not twelve
yards off. 1 could see plainly his fe-
rocious face. 1t was distorted with
rage; his huge teeth were ground
against each other, so that we could
hear the sound; the skin of the fore
head was drawn forward and back
rapidly, which made his hair move up
and down and gave a truly devilish
expression to his hideous face Once
more the most horrible monster ever
created by Almighty God gave roar
which seemed to shake the wood like
thunder. l could really feel the earth
tremble under my feet.
The gorilla, looking us in the eye
and beating his breast, advanced
again.
"'Don't fire too soon,' said Malao-
nen; if you don't kill him. he will
kill you
This time he came within eight
yards Of us before he stopped. | was
breathing fast with excitement as |
watched the huge beast. Malaonen
only said, Steady as the gorilla came
up. -. When he stopped Malao-
nen said, .Nowv And before he could
utter the roar for which he was open
ing his mouth, three musket balls were
in his body. He fell dead almost with
out a struggle"