In 1847 the first sight of a part of a Gorilla was obtained by an American missionary; it was a skull, and its shape struck him as being so extraordinary that he believed the natives were correct in attributing it to the much-talked-of Ape of whose ferocity and strength he had heard so much. Collecting others, he at last handed them over to a fellow labourer, Dr. Savage, who possessed much anatomical knowledge. Every attempt was made to obtain even a dead Gorilla, but without satisfactory results. Savage lived for years in the neighbourhood of the Gaboon river, and not only gradually accumulated a fine collection of the bones of the great Ape, which he at first thought was the Orang-Utan, and which he subsequently described as the Gorilla, but also put together a history of its habits and aspect as gleaned from the natives. He was in the heart of Gorilla Land, which may be said to extend from ten to fifteen degrees of latitude on each side of the equator. It is bounded by the sea on the west, and extends to an unknown distance to the east, being watered by the Gaboon, Danger, and Fernandez Vas rivers. Mountainous far from the coast, and very undulating everywhere, it consists of dense forest, wild jungle, and open places. Traversed as this country is by navigable rivers which are visited by traders, it struck this observer that it was indeed remarkable that the Gorilla should have been so unknown to civilised men; but he was soon impressed with the dread the natives had of it, and also with the fact that it sought the remoter parts of the neighbouring woods. From the descriptions of the natives, who never attempted to interfere with the Gorilla except in self-defence, its height is above five feet, and it is disproportionately broad across the shoulders. It is covered with coarse black hair, which greatly resembles that of the Chimpanzee; with age it becomes grey, and this fact has given rise to the report that there are more kinds than one. Resembling a huge Ape in shape, with a great body, comparatively short legs with large hind-thumbs, its bulk is considerable, and its arms, reaching further down than in man, enable it to grasp and climb well. It does not possess a tail, and the head has a wide and long black face, a very deep cheek, great brows over the deeply-seated hazel eyes, a flat nose, and a wide mouth with very strong teeth. The top of the head has a crest of longish hair, and elsewhere it is exceedingly thick and short. The belly is very large. From inquiry he ascertained that when walking, their gait is shuffling, and the body, which is never upright like that of man, moves from side to side in going along. Usually it walks by resting the hands on the ground and then bringing the legs between them, and swinging the body forward. They live in bands, and the females generally exceed the males in number. They are exceedingly ferocious, never running away from man, and the few that