THE GORILLA GIRL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9386, 12 March 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GORILLA GIRL.

John o on's birthday was a perfectly natural occasion fir a celebration, and, Johnson being a medical student it wan also natural that the company should consist ofj mcd*.' Equally natural was it trJat on the centre table, in addition to several pairs of Feet, there should be a number of bottles — most of them dead marines, the rest in various stages of thoir last journey. Also, naturally, the atmofphere was pretty thick with tobacco smoke.

But, in~addition to the young meds., another man was present— a late arrival at Johnson's boarding house in Parkvale. Macintyre was a sun-browned, short bearded, some--what sailor looking man — a man who looked like one who knew strange places. The type is hard to describe, but, once seen, you will always know it. He wan still young, nol more than thirty-five, anyway, and his talk showed he had picked up medical knowledge irt his travels. Therefore he was as much at home as any of us.

Even in time of enjoyment talk amongst meds. smacks of 'shop,' which pjcplains why, in that smoky, whiskyfied atmosphere, the talk ha'i veered round to nerve-grafting and its possibilities.

' Yes,' paid Johnson, ' some day some daring genmn will fry to graft brain matter. He may succeed or ho may not. Ir' he does succeed, Lord knows what will come of it.'

A short silence fullowed. inty're broke it.

' Drain has befn eraitel ol'eady, and what came of it was horrible ' The voice was quiet but d^-ided. 'Not recorded,' interrupted Jobnson.

' Quite true,' answered Macintyre; ' not in print. I destroyed the rnauuscript nmelf. 1

'Chuck it off your chest I' said a voice

' Macintyre did, and, as I remember it, tbe story ran thu*.

Some years ago, while in West Africa I spent some time in tbe Gaboon country, which is only a mile or two north of the equator, and therefore between tony and fifty miles north of Cupe Lepoz. ] f you know where that is, jou can fix tha neiyhbourhood.

While on the Gaboon 1 heard many queer yarns from the natives about the gorilla. The natives of tbe back country know tbe gorilia well. Those on the coast know a little of tbe beast; white men practically nothing;. So in some of the native yarns there may be some truth. , ' There's a lot to be learned yet about the big anthropoid apes. Gamier cays ''monkeys have a lan guage, and that be knows some of it. The bach country natives also declare the big monkeys can talk.

Those natives look -n the gorilla and talk of him as a kind of wild semi-human, endowed with many human powers. For example, in the Mboudemo country*tbe woman are ■ horribly afraid of gorilla, and miny (are the stories of a women carried offand mis-used by the beasts. There are also many yarns about gorillas inhabited by spirits, which lie in wait for human beings whom they choke with their powerful hands and after wards devour. Be hind most tinditiona and superstitions tbers is commonly a basis of truth. I don't say the natives' yarns are true, and I don't say they're not. People who've lived in Central Africa are Jiot quite so sceptical on some' points as philosophers whose nature knowledge is bound by the walls of the British Museum.

When I was 'knocking about the Gaboon, I used to hear strange tales •old of an old Portuguese doctor' named Mendoza, who lived a sort of hermit life up in the Fan country. He must have been a queer old fish. The natives spoke or him as a kind of wizard, and held him for a eon or' the devil. According to them, he understands the language of the gorillas, ! and bad lived with the beasts in the forest. Tales were told of councils of the gorillas, aod oi Me.ndoza taking part therein, and addressing the ass^mblir-s in tbe moukuy tongue A little nigger boy was also said to live with them, who likewise understood the monkey language. I didn't believe these stories — till afterwards I

Id the eyps of most of the cnant whitee, Mendoza was a myth. The Arab trader^ of the interior, however, spoke of him as a reality. I was sure he was.

Soon after I arrived in the Gaboon country.rumour had it that Mendoza was dead. A little later on repoits hecame prevalent of troops of gorillas engaged on predatory excursion b. It was even said that the beasts were armed with clobs and spears, and knew the use oi fire. Some natives, even declared that with these raiding troops there bad been seen a nigger boy, who seemed to be a sort of leader amongst them. Certain it was that trading posts in the interior were being wrecked and burned, women carried off, and provisions stolen. Of course the coast authorities blamed the tribesmen, and said the gorilla yarn wouldn't wash. A small punitive expedition was cent up to the depredated district, which I had the honour to command. We came, iv time, upon Mendoza's, hut, and in it I -found an iron box containing, amongst other things,' his papers. Among these was a Bort of journal— in cipher. This cipher I partly worked out, more or less badly, "the contents of the journal., "What 1 managed to translate showed-th-t either' Mendoza was a' madman, or else cleverer than' all the medical schools of Europe, " -

Tnis journal, among other records, contained what purported <o be conversations with the gorillas, and on one page — I havethis pagesnll— » was a passage which ran something like this: —

'All this knowledge I owe to my successful exchange of part of the young gorilla's brain with part of that of my Ean"boy, Ndia. Ndia now understands the gorilla tongue, and is teaching me, for he became partly gorilla and the little gorilla purtly human. And 1 only have his knowledge among men '

This journal I kept. The box, pnpßrs and other property I scut down to the Portuguese consul on the coast by a couple of. natives, and afterwards got a receipt for it. The rest of the expedition went ou with me into the disturbed country.

One evening the scouts brought in word of gorillas ia front, between, us and the next trading post.

The night following we saw, some distance ahead, the reflection or a big fire. Suspecting a raid on the post, we pressed rapidly on till we reached the edge of the forest surrounding; the clear space where the trader's hut stood. Climbing trees, we were enabled to see over the thick growth of bush tint fringed the forest. The sight that met our eyes was horrible. Even Dore or Blake could never have imagined it.

In the centre of the ("louring were the smouldering ru'.ns of the hut, and near it a big fire, on wh eh Homt-thin" wasroastirg R iuud tin fire were moving a number of hideous human-locking fi^urt-s, two of which spemed to be teoiiag the roasting mass. Focussing mv night glasses, I realinpd that thu moving fiuuren were gorillas, and that of the

two cook« one was a gorilla and the ether a nigger boy about tea years old. The uiass on the fire wae a headless and disembowulled human body, I had heard of cannibalism. Now I taw it, and in perhaps the most revolting fjrm which ever met European vision.

As I watched I «nw the devilish cooks lift the body off Iho fire and dismember it. I could stand no more. 1 quickly told my companions what I h«d seen, and we prepared for action.

Having worked our way to the edge 'j of the jungly bush, we opened fire. . Our firnt fire brought down Jhree ! gorillas. The nigger boy I shot my- < self. The gorillas were frightened i only for a moment Then they made I for us. I Myself, and the three whites with . I me had guns, and the native boys < only spears and bow?. The reports i at the coast were true, for the gorillas j had clubs and spears, in addition to ' ' teinfic brute strength. The fight I was fearful. i.i '. Only two people survived that fiaht— mvself and a young Portuguese. All the gorillas were slain, j The Portuguese and I examined the battle field in the dawn. The roasted body we knew by the non-separation of the big toe from ,' the others to be thar. of a whi c man, I a diagnosis confirmed by finding the head oftho Portuguese trader amoog the ruins of that but. On the arm of the nigger boy who i had been one of the conks, were tattooed to words, ' Ndia ' and ' Metv doza.' - For trophies of 'the fight we drew the canine teeth of the dead gorillas, of which there were fouiteen. The young Portuguese died of country fever on our way buck to the coast. How 1 got myself back I don't know. I was toM afterwards that I had arrived in the settlement ma state of raging fever, which laid me on mv back for three months. On mv recovery I wrote a report of what 'I had seen ar.d done, and handed in the trader'x gUD and powder flaik and the gorilla teeth as evidence. To mv intense disgust my report was treated as a hallucination of a person imperfectly recovered from country fever. I left the Gaboon soon after. I have never cared to return. • # * • ' Steep, Macintyre, very steep,' said Johnson, who was first to break the silence. ' Now weren't those gorillas really only cannibal niggers disguised in gorilla skin.' For answerMactntyre removed his coat and bared bis left arm. Then we saw that his .upper arm had the bone very peculiarly bent, as if it had been badly fractured and had united without being first properly set. On the upper and under sides of the arm at the distorted part were deep cicatrices os if made by a fearful bite from two immensely powerful jaws, and particularly noticeable, above and below, were two ragged looking scars like those of the tearing grips of four great canines.

Mrs S. — 'I wish I could get a good servant girl.' Mrs T.— 'Why, I thought you were bragging the other day about what a fine one you had.' Mrs 8. — ' I was, but that waa tbe first day she came.'

Bess — ' If I were in your shoes — ' Madge — 'Don't talk of impossibilities.'

Apparent Customer (inquirinyly) : 'Got any olean collars and cunY Solomon Einstein (eagerly) — ' Blenty, my friendt — blenty.' Apparent Customer (cooly)— Then why don't you wear .some.'

1 1 never so to a sad play,' said the young woman who poses. ' It . is almost'sure to make me cry, and then it is bad for my eves. 1 . 1 Yes,- replitd Miss Cayenne,' and sometimes for the. complexion.'