Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-14
THE EVENING STORY
One of WOrld.FamOus Works of Literature

| and pushed for the most dense and
| impenetrable part of t he forest, In
hopes of finding the very home Of the
beast so much wished to shoot. Hour
after hour we travelled. and yet no
sign of gorilla. Only the everlasting
chattering OF little monkeys-and not
many of theSe-and occasionally birds.
In fact, the forests of this part Of
Africa are not so full of life as in some
other parts to the south.
Suddenly Miengai uttered a little
cluck with his tongue, which is the
natives way OF showing that some
thing is stirring and that a sharp look
out Is necessary. And presently l
noticed ahead of US seemingly noise
Of someone breaking down branches or
twigs of trees.
This was the gorilla. knew at once,
by the eager and satisfied looks of The
men. They looked once more carefully
at their guns, to see If by any chance
the powder had fallen out of the pans;
also examined them to make sure
that all was right; and then we
marched on cautiously.
The singular noise of the breaking
of tree branches continued. We walked
with the greatest care, making no noise
at all. The countenances of the men
showed that they thought themselves
engaged in a very serious undertaking:
but we pushed on, until finally We
thought we saw through the thick
woods the moving of the branches and
small trees which the great beast was
tearing down, probably to get from
them the berries and fruits he lived on.
Suddenly, as we were creeping along,
in silence which made heavy breath
seem loud and distinct. the woods were
filled with the tremendous barking roar
of the gorilla. Then the underbrush
swayed rapidly just ahead, and pres
entity before us stood an immense male
gorilla. He had gone through the jun
gle on all fours; but when he saw our
party he raised himself erect and
looked us boldly in the face. He stood
about a dozen yards from us, and was
sight I'll never forget. Nearly six
feet high, with immense body. huge
chest and great muscular arms, with
fiercely glazing deep gray eyes, and a
helliSh expression of face, which seemed
to me like some vision. Thus stood the
king of the African forest.
He was not afraid of us. He stood
there. and beat his breast with his huge
fists till 1t resounded like an immense
bass drum. which is their mode of
offering defiance, meantime giving vent
to roar after roar. The roar OF the
gorilla is the most singular and awful
noise heard in Africa. 1t begins with
a sharp bark. like an angry dog, then
glides into a deep bass roll which liter
ally and closely resembles the roll OF
distant thunder along the sky, for
which I have sometimes been tempted
to take 1t where did not see the ami
NAL. So deep is it that 1t seems to
proceed less from the mouth and throat
than from the deep chest and paunch
His eyes began to flash fiercer fire
as We stood motionless on the defen-
sive, and the crest of short hair which
stands on his forehead began to
witch rapidly up and down, while his
powerful fangS were shown as he again
sent forth thunderous roar. And
now truly he resembled nothing but
some hellish eam-creature-a being
of that hideouS order, half man half
beast. He advanced a few steps-then
stopped to utter that hideous roar again
advanced again, and finally stopped
when at a distance of about six yards
from US. And here, just as he began
another of his roars, beating his breast
in rage, we fired and killed him.
With a groan which had something
terribly human in it. and yet was full
of brutiShness, he fell forward on his
face. The body shook convulsively for
few minutes, the limbs moved about
in q struggling way, and then all was
quiet-death had done its work.