Gorillas & ChimpanzeesGarner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Science
Gorillas & Chimpanzees
Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Chimpanzees; Gabon -- Description and travel; Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch), 1848-1920 -- Travel; Gorilla
On board a small river steamer that plies the Ogowe, was a young female
kulu that belonged to the captain. Her face was not by any means
handsome, and her complexion was the darkest of any kulu I have ever
seen. It was almost a coffee-colour. There were two or three spots much
darker in shade, but not well defined in outline. The dark spots looked
as if they had been artificially put on the face. The colour was not
solid, but looked as if dry burnt umber had been rubbed or sprinkled
over a surface of lighter brown. Although she was young (perhaps not
more than two years old), her face looked almost like that of a woman
of forty. Her short, flat nose, big, flexible lips, protruding jaws
and prominent arches over the eyes, with a low receding forehead,
conspired to make her look like a certain type of human being one
frequently sees. This gave her what is known as a dish-face, or a
concave profile. She had a habit of compressing her nose by contracting
the muscles of the face; curling her lips as if in scorn, and at the
same time glancing at those around her as if to express the most
profound contempt.
Whatever may have been the sentiment in her mind, her face was a
picture of disdain, and the circumstances under which she made use of
these grimaces, certainly pointed to the fact that she felt just like
she looked. At other times her visage would be covered with a perfect
smile. It was something more than a grin, and the fact that it was
used only at a time when she was pleased or diverted, showed that the
emotion which gave rise to it was perfectly in keeping with the face
itself. In repose her face was neither pretty nor ugly. It did not
strongly depict a high mental status, nor yet portray the instincts of
a brute; but her countenance was as safe an index to the mind as that
of the human being. This is true of the chimpanzee more perhaps than of
any other ape. The gorilla doubtless feels the sense of pleasure, but
his face does not yield to the emotion, while the opposite passions are
expressed with great intensity, and with the common chimpanzee it is
the same way, but not to the same extent.
The kulu in question was more of a coquette than she was of a shrew.
She plainly showed that she was fond of flattery. Not perhaps in the
same sense that a human being is, but she was certainly conscious
of approbation and fond of applause. When she accomplished anything
difficult, she seemed aware of it; and when she succeeded in doing a
thing which she was not allowed to do, she never failed to express
herself in the manner described above. She always appeared to be
perfectly conscious of being observed by others, but she was defiant
and composed. There was nothing known in the catalogue of mischief that
she was not ready to tackle at any moment and take her chances on the
result. From the stoke-hole to the funnel, from the jack-staff to the
rudder, she explored that boat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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