The Virginia enterprise., 1909-12-24
REAL FOREST KING
GORILLA HAS ALL OTHER AMI
MAILS IN SUBJEcTloN.
strength Of This Maniike Creature Of
the Wiids ls Almost Unbeliev-
abIe-0f a Savage and
Morose Character.

VI all the existing man apes the
gorilla is beyond question the most
formidable, large male standing not
lnfrequently over five feet six inches
IN height, and bones being known of
one which apparently measured in life
no less than six feet two inches. 1t
Is not, we now know from experience
In the gardens and elsewhere, always
when young quite so utterly untam-
able beast" and so "entirely and
constantly an enemy of man" as Du
Cha1llu represented, but it is savage
and morose enough.
1t Is still uncertain whether in
wild state, except in the immediate
moment of an attack, it ever actually
walks erect without either resting its
knuckles on the ground or supporting
itself by a, branch overhead, but that
it does beat its fist upon its breast
when enraged (Du Chaillu says that
he heard the noise like great bass
drum at distance of a mile) is es-
tabllshed, and when the male gorilla
turns, as seemingly it does, to con-
front man fearlessly when attacked,
with Its huge size, its great hairy
limbs, and hideous head set almost
down into its shoulders, we can be-
ieve that mo description can exceed
in horror it's appearance" Add that
the gorilla usually lives in the depth
of forests where the light is so dim
that 1t is difficult to see any object
clearly at distance of more than
few yards, and it is not to be Won
dered at that the natives have in
vested it with attributes even more
terrific than those which it possesses.
Many believe the gorilla to be hu-
man; others hold that, though itself a
beast, 1t Is often Informed with the
transmigrated spirits of the human
dead. 1t is said to lie in wait
crouched on the lower branches of
trees overhanging path, and when
human being passes to drop one of
Its long hind limbs, and, clutching the
victim by the throat so suddenly and
in so terrible grip that hardly a sob
Is heard, to drag it-man or woman
up to it's lurking place. 1t is credit.
ed with capturing and stealing women
and carrying them of to keep them In
the forests. and, armed with clubs: is
said to attack and beat of elephants.
The formidableness of the great apes
as compared with other beasts, how.
ever, is not an easy matter to pass
In fsA3nn t. ~ ~
the lion and the gorilla do not occur
together, and it has been conjectured
both that the lion has exterminated
the gorilla within It's territory, and
that the gorilla has driven out the
lion.
bors of the orang are the python and
the crocodile, and the natives say that
the ape overcomes them both, the py-
thon by seizing and biting it, and the
crocodile by leaping on it's back,
clutching it by the upper jaw, and by
sheer main strength tearing it open.
The name 'orang" is in itself a title
of honor, meaning roughly wise one" ,"
the Malays giving it alike to their
chiefs, to elephants and to the wild
men," Perhaps, however, no native
myth or story eclipses In wonder the
statement of Emin Pasha, made seri-
ously, that In the Mbongwe forest the
chimpanzees used to come 10 rob the
banana plantations In troops, bearing
torches to light them on the way!
Had not witnessed this extraor-
dinary spectacle personally" he is re-
ported as saying, Il should not have
believed that any of the simians un.
derstood the art of making fire." Un-
happily we personally did not wit
ness 1t.