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

Story Of Vicious Struggle in The
African Jungle.
| Captain, Fritz DuQuesnc, 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 d pygmy pointed
out a portion Of the dank jungle il,
which gorilla had been seen, says a
writer in Hampton's 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,
I'VE 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 cx-
animation the unmistakabe hair OF
the gorilla was found on a broken
twig.
| after some hours VIC found the
could tell it by the greasy appearance
of the bark, made so by the repeated
rubbing of the gorias body. We
could tell by the fresh marks, with
sap still wet. that the animal had re-
Gently ascended the tree, The scrotchcs
were short and deep. showing that It
had lifted itself up and had not slid
down, which would have made a long,
shallow scratch.
I'VE spread a strong not around the
tree in circle sloping upward on the
outer side. Around the top Of the net
there were drawn ropes from four di-
rections, held by half d dozen natives
hidden in the bush. These were to
bring the top OF the net together and
thus bag our game.
<AlISl "diIiIS tS''ilt Ilouio IIIC
leaves above rustled and then opened
as a six foot male gorilla descended
unsuspectingly and nntercd the trap
L signalcd, the four ropes were pulled
at once, and VIC had our animal-for
a moment. He roared in fury, twist
ing, jumping and biting tho rope into
t;,.c lI,,I ,l>N,,
like dolls as he tried to reach first one
and then another The professor
jumped about in excitement, trying 70
focus a camera on the inflriatcd ami
NAL.
AT last tho mighty arms Of tho go
rilla broke a hole through the net, and
he tore the rest from him as though
it were a rotten rag. Most Of tho ma
tivcs fled in dismay. The professor
dropped his camera and tried to cs-
cape. In a moment the gorilla graspcd
him in it's terrible hands.
Il seized my rifle and fired in the
air to frightcn the animal. In my pO-
sition could not shoot at him with
out hitting my friend. For moment
the gorilla stood still, holding the now
unconscious man AS though he were
a baby, the brut"'s lips drawn back
from his glistcning teeth.
Il thrust another cartridge in my
rifle. AS ] did SO there was a buzz in
the air, and an arrow, shot by d nA-
tive, pierced tho gorilla's side. roar
burst from his red throat, and he
dropped his victim. Like flash, be-
fore could sho"t. native sprang
from the leaves, and, half throwing,
half thrustng, drove an assagai into
the gorilla's heart. With a groan the
brute fell dead.
"Examning 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 Il live gorilla and, placing the
| injured man in n hammock carried
him back toward the east coast.
! "He died on the road. Out on the
veldt beside native village q lonely
little slab marked Carl Bloch sticks
up above the grass. It Is the profes-
sors grave. Hunting is not all cxci.-
ting adventure and laughing victory.
1t has it's tears, like other things"