The Irish standard., 1909-04-24
TRAPS AGoRILLA.
Story Of Vicious Struggle in Tho
African Jungle.

Story Of a Vicious Struggle in Tho
African Jungle.
Captain Fritz Duquesne, the Boer
ivory hunter, was commissioned by a
German naturalist society to capture
one of each species of African quadru-
mana. He was entirely successful in
the work, except that he could obtain
no gorilla. Finally a pygmy pointed
out portion of the dank jungle IL,
which a gorilla had been seen, says q
writer in Hamptons Magazine.
The captain Immediately arranged
his camp and laid his plans and made
preparations to trap the monster and
get him alive If possible, though he
fully realized the danger of the UNDER
taking.
For four days." said the captain,
1--WE camped in this hotbed Of disease.
Beaters went out in all directions
searching for the gorilla. At last
some deep, wide scratches were found
on a cluster of vines. On close ex-
animation the unmistakable hair Of
the gorilla was found on a broken
twig.
after some hours we found the
tree where the gorilla lived. We
could tell it by the greasy appearance
of the bark, made SO by the repeated
, rubbing of the gorilla's body. We
could tell by the fresh marks. with
sap still wet, that the animal had re-
Gently assembled the tree. The scrotches
had fitted itself up and had not slid
down, which would have made a long,
shallow scratch. " .-,.....
1--WE spread a. strong net around the
tree in a circle slipping upward on the
outer side. Around the top of the net
there were drawn ropes from four di-
rections, held by half q dozen natives
hidden in the bush. These were to
bring the top of the net together and
tluo D16 Jul 6olbSF
after waiting some hours the
leaves above rustled and then opened
as six foot male gorilla descended
unsuspectingly and uttered the trap.
signaled, the four ropes were pulled
at once, and we had our animal-for
a moment. He roared in fury. twist
ing, jumping and biting tho rope into
pieces. The natives were pulled about
like dolls as he tried to reach first one
and then another. j The professor
jumped about in excitement, trying TO
focus a camera on the Infatuated ami
NAL.
"At last the mighty arms Of the go
rilla broke hole through the net, and
he tore the rest from him as though
it were a rotten rag. Most of the ma =
tives fled in dismay. The professor
dropped his camera and tried to es-
cape. In a moment the gorilla grasped
him in it's terrible hands.
Il seized my rifle and fired in the
air to brighten the animal. In my po-
sition I could not shoot at him with
out hitting my friend. For a moment
the gorilla stood still, holding the now
unconscious man as though he were
a baby, the brutc's lips drawn back
from his glistening teeth.
Il thrust another cartridge in my
rifle. AS ! did so there was a buzz in
the air, and an arrow, shot by a IA
tive, pierced the gorilla's side. A roar
burst from his red throat. and he
dropped his victim. Like q flash. he
fore 1 could shoot. native sprang
from the leaves, and, half throwing,
half thrusting, drove an assagai into
the gorilla's heart. With a groan the
brute fell dead.
! "Examining the professor, I found
that his right arm was broken and
that some of his ribs were crushed
into his lungs. VIC gave up the effort
to get live gorilla and, placing the
injured man in a. hammock, carried
him back toward the east coast.
"He died on the road. Out on the
veldt beside native village a lonely
| little slab marked Carl Bloch sticks
up above the grass. 1t is the profes
sor's grave. Hunting is not all excit-
ting adventure and laughing victory
| II has ifa fears like 0fher fhinRSn