Evening star., 1924-09-07
BY Prince William Of Sweden

n n with the mountain gorillas
N took place on the southern
slope of Sabinio, one Of the
great Birunga volcanoes
A member of the party had discoV-
cred fresh tracks when he had gone
out to shoot buffaloes. and he sent
for me. He had un-
swares run straight into the hock,
which OF course had fed up into the
They were eight or zen
in number and had been lying on the
ton of a low and dense thicket OF
bamboo.
We followed their tracks. Tne
corilIas were evidently not seriously
frightened. for now and then they
had sat down and one could distinctiy
see the marks of their bodies In the
grass. On the spot there always lay
fresh manure as we'll as broken Tree
branches. the bark of which mao oeen
peeled off and evidently eaten. The
largest footprint was consloeraoiS
bigger than my hand.
During eight hours we crept.
crawled, ciambered. slipped and roiieo
forward over the most absurdly DIM
cult ground | have ever traVersed:
up and down, over wet ground and
dry ground. over precipices and across
torrents. In a word, we had to pro-
ceed like the eorillas themselves.
Our feet slipped, branches beat our
faces. thorny climbers tore holes In
our khaki and scratched us till we
bled; we had not a dry thread on
our bodies. which were bathed in
nerspiration. With hearts that beat
audibly from our exertions we oo-
stinately continued our pursuit, but
we were always baff1ed.
Our backs ached. our knee muscles
grew weary, fatigue began to over
power US. Should we stop and give
up? Never. A gorilla was worth
more than that. On and on we OBJ
stinately pursued the track, at any
cost Only no turning back.
Suddenly the tracks ceased. You
could not see an arms length in front
of you on the ground. But overhead
In the foliage we perceived a move
ment in some low tree tops. The
gorillas must be there, within fair
range but completely invisible. Then
we could also distinctly hear the an
imals breaking off twigs and also
making a sound as II they were beat
ing their stomachS.
After having waited in vain for
them to climb up some tree or at
least to stand up, we decided to creep
round them in a wide circle, and in
lndI way 10 COIHc dDoNC thSih. hiS
We also did-but the flock still re-
mained invisible.
The sun was already low on the
horizon, so we had no other choice
but to chance it and go straight on.
Carefully we slid down toward the
waving bamboo tops. Then scream
suddenly cut through the stiffness
of the forest. Then another. then
several 1t is a sound that most re-
sembles the grunt of an infuriated
SOW or the trumpeting of an angry
elephant. The flock must have heard
US or scented us.
NOV things began to move in the
/ Y bushes round about US. The
vegetation is SO dense that you can
scarcely see farther than the barrel
of the gun, which automatically fol-
lows the sound. If the gorillas had
attacked at that spot these lines
would certainly not have been writ
ten. In sheer self-defense we are
ready to shoot at the first suspicious
movement among the nearest leaves.
At last there is crash among the
bamboo. I see only a glimpse of a
shadow during a fractional part Of
a secondhand the flock takes to its
heels, invisible as before. without
the slightest possibility of our let
ting off a chance shot.
Then we finally gave up the chase
and returned disappointed.
To shoot gorillas on such ground I
believe to be absolutely impossible
for any European; he makes too
much noise as he tramps along. and
his clothes become too easily en-
tangled in the thorns. 1t is another
matter with the negroes. They walk
barefoot, wear fewer clothes, and
have, besides, considerably better
trained sight and hearing than we.
Early the next morning the Kongo
Askaris were therefore sent to fol-
low up the tracks, in the hope that
they would be more successful than
we.
And such was in fact the case.
Late that night the first four
mountain gorillas (gorilla beringeD
lay in our ca.np. That our joy was
great and thas the Askaris were duly
made much 0f 1 need scarcely say,
though Carr and 1 would quite nat
urally prefer to have had the good
fortune to be the object of so much
attention.
The Askaris told us that they had
followed up he track the whole morn
ing over very dense ground. In a
TdNfHC lhCy SuuoCiis SodShI oiehI Va
a flock of 10 animals just as one OF
the females was feeding her baby
Three fell on the spot, but the fourth
an old male, rose on his hind legs
and came wounded toward them.
Look here" said the best shot
amongst them, and showed how his
shirt was torn at the chest, this Is
what he did before he fell.'
The truth of his story is, of course
impossible to check, but I have ne
reason to doubt it..
IT proved to be very valuable
gorilla bag, for it consisted of two
males, one of which weighed sSe
pounds, one full-grown female and 6
young one.
In contrast to their cousins in th'
virgin forest, the mountain gorilla.
are very long haired to protect then
against the cold. The face. the ex
tremities and part Of the breast arr
bare, but otherwise, the fur is thick
dark in the females, lighter in thu
males, which at an advanced age ar
often quite white haired on thei
backs.
! Their height is not worthy of spe
cial mention, but their breadth II
all the more impressive. Arms ant
legs make an impression Of enormou
punches of muscles which would b.
able to break or crush their victim
with the strength Of a sledge hamme
"a man would be as firmly held IL
such an embrace as is a nail in I
wise.
The natives tell fantastic store
of how the gori1las, the Ingagt, Leaf
quite a human existence; how the.
build their huts with roof. max
fires, steal women and eat negro chill
dren. 1t is perhaps these native tale
that have inspired the author Of tn
Wild Tarzan books.
All these stories lack, Of course, an
foundation. The experience Of the q
pedition, which was in the future {
be very varied. has proved that tn
!