THE GORILLA. (Troglodytes Gorilla.)
This wonderful Ape, which has lately been discovered in the same region inhabited by the Chimpanzee, is thought, in some respects, to possess even a greater resemblance to our own species. He is said to attain a height of seven feet, but the largest specimens hitherto obtained have been rather less than six feet high. By some travellers the Gorilla is said to walk upright, with his hands resting on the nape of his neck, but the state of his knuckles shows that he usually goes, like the Chimpanzee, on all fours. His skin is covered with short grizzled hair, and the naked skin of his face and hands is black. The Gorilla is much dreaded by the negroes who have to pass through the forests frequented by him when engaged in hunting the Elephant; this is not on account of his teeth, although they are sufficiently formidable, but of the enormous strength of his hands, with which he can strangle a man in a moment, and it is even said that the old males never miss an opportunity of performing this operation. It is even said, that as a party of hunters is passing through the forest, one of their number will sometimes disappear suddenly, being caught up by a Gorilla lurking upon the low branches of a tree; the monster speedily strangles his victim and then lets the body fall.