The only humans who ever penetrate the dense forests on the Uganda border of the Belgian Congo, where these animals are found, are pigmies, with whom the great apes live on the best of terms. Captain Pitman is one of the few white men ever to have entered the area. The mountain gorilla is probably the highest of all the gorillas, next to man. One of the two or three ever in captivity was an infant kept at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D. C. Its brain was the largest ever found in an infra-human creature; it almost matched the smallest normal human brains. Capt. Pitman found the gorilla quite a likeable and peaceful animal. He says: “Around the male gorilla, on account of its enormous size and strength, coupled in recent years with frequent lapses from grace provoked by unnecessary and undue interference, there has been woven and unfortunately published a fantasy of inaccuracy and exaggeration—so much so that the very homely old male is visualized as an object of dread. The male gorilla, as the family head, is most solicitous for the welfare of his wives and children—a very human trait. On the threat of danger, he accepts full responsibility for the well-being of his charges. “If the danger is real the females and young are sent off, while the father waits to take on all comers until satisfied that the remainder of the band are out of harm’s way. Sometimes, when the danger is sudden and overwhelming, the youngsters are sent up trees to hide until the trouble is over. It is strangely reminiscent of the records of some of the early African explorers relative to tribal customs. When the womenfolk were to be seen busily engaged in their usual vocations in the precincts of a village all was well and no hostility contemplated on the part of the local inhabitants. “But an absence of women and children was interpreted as unfavorable, signifying that they had been removed to a safe place to enable the warriors to fight unhampered. And so it is with the old male gorilla, for as soon as he bids his family seek safety he is out for mischief, although without direct provocation he is unlikely to attack. There are black sheep in every fold and solitary examples both male and female, which probably have been outlaws for a very good reason, have been known to be abnormally aggressive.” _The Biggest “Rat” in the World_