BIG GAME

Evening Star, Issue 20986, 28 December 1931, Page 1

BIG GAME

TRAILING GORILLAS THRILLS IN AFRICA 1 have been within twelve, feet of death by a charging elephant, in tight corners with rhinos and lions, but nothing ever affected me like the first gorilla I tried _ to photograph _ on my last trip to Africa, writes Martin Johnson, the famous explorer, in the ‘New York Times.' The sound of the breaking bamboo had stopped. The moment we had prepared for, after many weary marches into the_ gorilla country, had arrived. Everything was so quiet that we could hear the pad of the gorilla’s feet as he walked. I started to turn the crank. Then out came a great, astounding head. The face was turned toward us, it hung there for a instant, massive and primordial, then, in the twinkling of an eye, it .vanished. A nerve-racking scream arose from the bamboo clump. It was taken up in other clumps of bamboo around us. I had never heard such loud, piercing screams before. I ran quickly from one spot to another, eager to be ready when another head appeared, but after a minute or two that seemed to be the end of it, for the most 1 could see was a dense shadow moving in the lighter shadows of the bamboo. Then, thinking that there was no chance for a picture there, I walked over toward the nearest clump of bamboo —and pulled up short at what I saw. • , , I know my hair stood on end in that instant. I think my heart stopped heating. For not more than fifteen feet away an enormous gorilla seemed to be rising _ slowly, towering further and further into the air. He stood, finally, on his back legs with his arms grasping the inadequate bamboos. Then he opened his mouth and yelled the most blood-curdling yell or any animal on earth. I could see his red tongue and gums, his big tusks and teeth. He was an enormous thing. Had I not known that gorillas do not grow so large I would have sworn he was ten feet tall and would weigh at least 1,000 pounds. Of course, this impression was caused by excitement and because he was so close. But now that I have seeen hundreds of gorillas I still think he was the largest I have ever met. , TERROR. I was literally petrified with.terror. I had no gun. And through my mmd raced the stories I had heard of these savage beasts who tear human beings limb from limb. All my life I will carry that picture. He stood there only half a minute, but it seemed an ago or so to me. Then be whirled, dropped back on all fours again, and vanished. ..IVhen to piece together the details'. . First of all, his head and back were grey—a silver grey. Next, that bis fangs seemed like extra large lion fangs. Next, that his teeth were discoloured. It is remarkable how that impressed itself on my mind while that gaping jaw was open and the scream was shattering the quiet air. Then I remembered how short and stumpy his fingers were m comparison to the rest of his body. The girth of his arms wa enormous; ho seemed to have no neck, and his, head looked as if it rested squarely on Iris body. The thick hair that covered him seemed to be woolly, like that of a teddy bear. Most noticeable was the large, protruding forehead that hung over his eyes and made them seem to be sunken in. And his face was a glossy black, as black as anything can be black, but so glossy that it resembled patent leather. No photograph that I will ever take can be as clear as this picture of a gorilla imprinted on my brain in that crowded half-minute. WANTED ALIVE. One of our main objectives in this safari was to capture gorillas alive and bring them back to America. After many weeks of trekking through jungle and acr. .s mountain ridges our chance to make a capture came one day when two young gorillas, each weighing more than 1001 b, climbed a tree while we were trailing them. That was the beginning of another exciting adventure. We had thought out the way we should handle these powerful brutes if we ever got a chance to lay our hands on them, but putting those plans into execution was another matter. In the first place, there was the problem of the tree —keeping the two gorillas up there until we were ready to capture them, and then getting them out of the tree without losing them in the fracas that would follow. In the second place, there was the problem of an old silverback who seemed to be bent on preventing me from going after the two gorillas in the tree. So while my porters were busy watching the tree and clearing a space in the forest around it I turned to meet the advances of the old animal on the ground. Hq must have had some idea or protecting the youngsters in the tree. The other gorillas had gone away. He remained. For moments at a time he would stay at a safe distance, merely contemplating me. Then ho would rush toward me full speed. Each time he pulled up short. Up to this time I had thought' the gorillas in_ this district were smaller than those in other parts of the Congo, but the old fellow was no dwarf. At least four times he made those charges toward me. And each time he retreated, and wo could see him pacing back and forth, Btnrlegged, probably thinking of what to do next. , y Then he decided to go away, and X followed him with my camera. After he had gone a few hundred yards he joined about seven or eight others, and they all went away into the jungle at a good speed. We followed, and three or four times more the old silverback stopped and charged towards us. 1 never saw or heard a gorilla so angry. He would pick up sticks and bamboo and break them in his rage. Finally he disappeared in the jungle. MAKING A SPACE. All this time the boys had been working like mad clearing a space around the tall tree into which the two youngsters had climbed. They, cleared about lOOffc on three sides of the tree and 200 on the side toward which we meant it to fall when we cut it down. High up in the branches we could see the gorillas looking down at us and

wondering what in the world was going to happen. We must have had about forty boys at work preparing for the capture. It was an exciting time for, us all, because we knew that if wet could get the animals alive they would! bo the rarest trophies we had evcq brought out of Africa. When everything was ready we stationed the boys for the hand-to-handj grappling with the gorillas, and began’ to cut down the tree. Dewitt Sage,, our companion on the expedition, and. I put on all the coats we could find and heavy gloves. My Nairobi boys were given heavy tarpaulins and blankets. High above our heads the gorillas swayed in the tree as the strokes of the axe shook it. We formed a lino where we knwl the tree would fall. Everyone wasj tense, watching the axemen. The cufej in the tree was deep. It was almost! cut away. Then came the sharp crack-] ing sound as the tree began to go over,-! swaying across the sky in a wide arc,.! carrying the two gorillas with it as it crashed to earth. VIGOROUS WORK. I think we all reached the gorillas before either of them knew they had reached the ground. Every boy closed in with his heayy_ cloths, shouting and, yelling in a whirling frenzy of gorillaai and men. Bukari was the hero of the! day, for he jumped in and captured one of the animals single-handed, and had him wrapped in f tarpaulins while _ a 1 dozen hoys were still struggling with' the other. The capture took only a few minutes, but it was strenuous while it! lasted. Then, with ten or twelve boya to a gorilla, they held the animals’! heads down while Bukari and Orangf tied their hands and feet with ropes The beasts were carried down to the cages on poles and put in. For the rest of the day we did no-, thing but stand around and admire the; gorillas. We all expressed the same’ thought: “ How on earth did we ever, manage to capture such great, strong animals?” They looked tremendous inj there, and seemed to be enjoying the! pans of water, sweet potatoes, and green corn we gave them. To celebrate the capture we gave all! our boys a reward of baksheesh in such] large quantities that they were de-J lighted, and I dished out three things i they like very much—tea and sugar! and cigarettes. It was a big day iir camp, and everyone was happy.