Lost in the Jungle

the insects to hum, the bee to buzz, the butterflies to awake, I suddenly heard the cry of a young gorilla for his mother. Malaouen and Querlaouen were with me. They heard the

illa told us the precise direc

a little rivulet which seemed to flow from the direction in which we had heard the noise. So we waded into it and followed its cour

st we lay flat on our bellies, looking more like snakes than human beings. I had that morning painted my face and hands black, so I appeared of the same color as my men. We crawled to a spot where we remained quite still, for we could t

ught to have been more careful. We ought to have considered that perhaps the male gorilla was with his wife. But in less time than I take to write it we were facing the gorilla, who advanced toward us, his fac

r young had gone off, leaving the

he might have come after we had fired, and while we wer

come back; let us see if we can not find them." We hid ourselves on the lower branches of a tree, not far from the dead body of the

the gorilla. You know, as well as I do, that female gorilla are timid-indeed, that mos

"Querlaouen, let us go after the

s the name they give to a male gorilla), "who told you to come and fight us? If you had not come, perhaps at this time you might have been by the side of your wife and child, instead of being asleep for all time to c

, and from time to time collected leaves in our hands, which we dropped on the ground, and then, on our return, we would l

female calling for her mate. It was the female that had escaped from us in the morning. She was calling for the "old man,

he would move round; then she would pick a berry, giving another kind of chuckle for the baby to come and get it. After eating it he would climb on his mother, and she would pass her thick black hand over the little body. Then he came down and seated himself between her legs, and gazed at her, his little black face looking so queer. Then he moved off agai

at the poor dead gorilla, but rushed in pursuit of t

toward the other side. But he soon spied us, and took to a young sapling, and when he had reached

gorilla on it, howling and shrieking. At the same instant Querlaouen threw over his head

n that gorilla kicking under its net. The question was how to take the fellow from under the net and get it home. I cried, "Give me the axe; I see a branch close by which will make a splendid forked stick." The words were hardly uttered

then taking his hands off for fear of a bite, the little rascal kicked up such a row. Querlaouen, who had become free to act after I got the forked stick firm over his neck, had all he could do to hold the legs of the little f

the ground was to start at us. But he could not even turn his head round. He had to walk off a prisoner, and his shout

to the female gorilla, and the little fellow saw his mother, he tried to rush toward her. I dropped the forked stick and let him go. He at once jumped on his mother, and began suck

l our spoil, so we concluded to hang her to a branch of

his skin off. The little fellow did not seem to care for his father; he looked at him well, and gave only a single plaintive cry. I could not help thinking of the poor old fellow. How many times he had slept at the f

from an enemy whom he knew had come to do them harm. He was right. May

one of the most strange creatures of the forest God has created. His mate l

the neck to the limb of a tree near our camp, a

o into my flesh; his mouth seemed ready to open and give one of those terrific roars which shake the whole forest. And then I would see his enormous canines come out from his sharp-cut lips, and how red his mouth was inside. There were h

fore me?" I decidedly frightened him more than Malaouen and Querlaouen could, for, in despite of the noise the young gorilla made, and of the shadow of the big gorilla, t

took a piece of chalk of the Alumbi, and rubbed it on his forehead between his two eyes; then he rubbed it in the hollow of his chest, and along both his arms; then he chewed a piece of a certai

places, and took the blood that fell and rubbed his body with it, also t

he returned to our camp, and saw our big gorilla hanging to the tree, and heard that the mother of the young gorilla had been killed also, he cried, "Why did I go after wild honey inst

EN AND H

y down flat in the jungle-I am sure a snake or leopard could not have lain more quiet-and there I waited. My men ha

hand-over-hand movement, and with great rapidity. Then it crept carefully under the shelter, seated itself in the crotch made by a projecting bough, its feet and haunches resting on this bough, then put one arm round the

wered, when an unlucky motion of one of my men made a noise, and roused the suspicions of the ape in the tree. It looked

The black skin on the top of the head is quite shiny. They must attain great age, and I have often wondered how long the gorilla

ood enough for them all; besides, nuts and fruits are very plentiful. When they get old they feed on leaves, for a time comes when their t