The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-03-09
STRENGTH OF n GORILLA.
How 1t Kills Human Bcings-Attatks
On Animals
(FrOm The London Times

(FrOm The London Times.)
OF all the existing man apes the go
midable, large male standing not in
frequently over 3 feet inches in
height, and bones being known of
one which apparently measured in life
no less than 6 feet 2 inches. 1t is
not, we know from experience in the
gardens and elsewhere always when
young quite so utterly untamable a
beast and SO "entirely and constantly
an enemy Of man" as Du Chaillu rep
resented, but it is savage and morose
enough.
1t is still uncertain whether in a
wild state, except in the immediate
moment Of attack, it ever actually
walks erect without either resting it's
knuckles on the ground or supporting
itself in a branch overhead, but that
1T does beat its fist upon it's breast
when enraged (Du Chaillu says that
he heard the noise like a great brass
drum" at a distance of a mile) is es-
tablished; and when the male gorilla
turns as seemingly it does, to confront
man fearlessly when attacked, with
| it's huge size, it's great hairy limbs,
the hideous head set almost down in
to its shoulders, we can believe that
mo description can exceed the horror
gorilla usually lives in the depth Of
| forests where the light is so dim that
it Is difficult to see any object clearly
at distance of more than few
yards and it Is not to be wondered at
that the natives have invested it with
attributes even more horrific than
those which 1t possesses.
Many believe the gorilla to be hu-
man; others hold that, though itself,
a beast, 1t is often informer with the
transmigrated spirits of the human
dead 1t is said to lie In wait crouch
ed on the lower branches Of trees
overhanging a path and when a hu-
man being passes to drop one Of Its
long hind limbs and, clutching the
victim by the throat so suddenly and
in so terrific a grip that hardly a sob
Is heard, to drag it-man or woman
up to it's lurking place. 1t is credited
| oy>f,, ~.
and carrying them off to keep them
in the forests, and, armed with clubs,
is said to attack and beat off ee-
plants. The formidableness of the
great apes as compared with other
beasts, however, is not an easy matter
to pass upon. In Africa it is note
worthy that the lion and the gorilla
do not occur together, and it has been
conjectured both that the lion has ex-
terminated the gorilla within it's ter
ritory and that the gorilla has driven
| out the lion.
In Borneo the most serious neigh
| bors of the orang are the python and
| the crocodile, and the natives say
| that the ape overcomes them both,
the python by seizing and biting it
and the crocodile by leaping on it's
back, clutching it with the upper jaw
and by sheer main strength tearing
it open. The name "orang" is in itself
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 Pacha,
made seriously, that in the Mbongewe
forest the chimpanzees used to come
to rob the banana plantations in
troops, bearing torches to light them
on the way! Had 1 not witnessed
| this extraordinary spectacle person.
ally" he is reported as saying,
| should not have believed that any Of
the simians understood the art of
| making fire."
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