"Some days later he was more successful in hunting the gorilla. He was out with his party, when suddenly the sound of the breaking of a branch of a tree was heard. The natives intimated that they were near a gorilla, and very cautiously all proceeded; soon they came in sight of the huge beast breaking down the limbs and branches of the trees to get at the berries. They stood still, as he was moving in their direction, and in a little while he was right in front of them. He had moved through the jungle on all fours, but as he came in sight of the party he stood erect like a man.
DU CHAILLU ASCENDING AN AFRICAN RIVER.
"Then he gave vent to a tremendous barking roar which is very difficult to describe, and beat his breasts with his huge fists till they resounded like drums. This is the gorilla's mode of offering defiance, roaring and beating the breast at the same time. The roar begins with a sharp bark, like that of an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder, so that it is sometimes taken for it when the animal is not in sight.
"The gorilla was about twelve yards from Du Chaillu when he first appeared; he advanced a few steps, then stopped and roared and beat his breasts again, then made another advance and stopped about six yards away. As he stopped a second time, Du Chaillu fired and killed him. The shot was well aimed, and death was almost instantaneous. Measurement showed that the animal was five feet eight inches in height, but when standing erect, at his first appearance, he seemed to be fully six feet.
"During his wanderings in Africa Mr. Du Chaillu killed several gorillas, whose skins and skeletons he preserved and sent to England and America, where they attracted much attention in the scientific world. On two or three occasions he was fortunate enough to capture some young gorillas alive, but found it impossible to tame them. They showed the most furious temper and bit at everybody who came near them; at first they refused food, but after a while their hunger got the best of their obstinacy and they ate the berries and leaves that were gathered for them from their native forests. But all sickened and died, and I believe that no one has ever succeeded in taming one of these animals."
"Was nothing known about the gorilla until Mr. Du Chaillu hunted him?" Fred asked, as Doctor Bronson paused.
"Something was known about him," was the reply, "but not a great deal; he had been heard of for several centuries, but no white man had ever seen a living or even a dead gorilla. Dr. Wilson, a missionary on the west coast of Africa, discovered the skull of a gorilla in 1846, and a year later he found the skull and part of the skeleton of another. These relics were sent, one to Dr. Savage, of Boston, and the other—the second discovery—to the Boston Society of Natural History.
"Wonderful stories were told about this animal by the negroes. It was said that he lurked upon trees, by the roadside or overhanging the paths, drew up unsuspecting passers-by with his paws, and then choked them to death. He was said to carry a stick or staff when walking, and to use it as a weapon of defence; troops of gorillas thus attacked elephants and beat them to death; the gorilla built himself a house of leaves and twigs among the trees and sat on the roof; and sometimes whole armies of gorillas banded together for purposes of war. All these stories proved to be fables; almost the only truthful account of the gorilla's prowess was that he was a terrible fighter and more than a match for a lion. Mr. Du Chaillu says that the lion does not inhabit the same region with the gorilla, and there is little doubt that the latter can whip the lion in ordinary combat.