THE LONE MALE OF KARISIMBI
By November 14th, I felt about as happy and about as unhappy as I
ever have in my life. I felt exceedingly well about the success of my
gorilla hunts. I had four fine specimens for the group which I intended
to mount for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and
I had several hundred feet of moving-picture film of live gorillas in
their native forests--the first photographs of live wild gorillas ever
taken. I also had the fever and that was what I was unhappy about.
It was not only uncomfortable but it also threatened to interfere
seriously with my plans and to put me in an embarrassing position with
the rest of the party. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley and Miss Miller were camped
at Kissenyi two days' march away. It had been agreed that I should
investigate the gorillas alone first, but it was not contemplated that
I get sick during the investigation and not be ready to provide hunting
for them. They had come all the way to Central Africa to hunt gorillas
and the obligation rested on me to see that they had that experience.
I was afraid that if I did not get them up into the gorilla mountains
quickly, I might not be in shape to fulfil this obligation and
pleasure. So I sent a rather urgent message that they come up to my
camp. Solicitation for my health and keenness for the hunt led Bradley
and the two ladies to make the two days' march in one.
This taking ladies to hunt gorillas had caused a certain amount of
adverse comment of two kinds. The uninitiated in African hunting
censored me for leading the ladies into such terrible dangers. The
initiated, or rather some of them, were a little irritated with me
because if I showed that ladies with no previous hunting experience
could hunt gorillas, elephants, and lions, much of the heroics which
have attached to African big-game hunting would begin to wane. As a
naturalist interested in preserving African wild life, I was glad to do
anything that might make killing animals less attractive.
I had never been in gorilla country before this trip, but I had started
in with the firm conviction that hunting gorillas was not dangerous,
or, of course, I should not have taken the two ladies to hunt them. My
experiences proved my theory even more thoroughly than I had expected.
Consequently, when the ladies arrived I was prepared to take them after
gorillas without the slightest misgivings. After a day of rest at the
camp from which I had hunted, we moved our base a thousand feet higher
up (to about 10,000 feet above sea level) to the Saddle between the
two mountains, Mikeno and Karisimbi. We had two good-sized tents, one
for Mrs. Bradley and Miss Miller and the other for Bradley and me.
We had a fly also for a dining tent. These arrangements were quite
comfortable except for the cold. It was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit
at night at the Saddle Camp. There was an old five-gallon metal cask
with holes in it which when filled with coals made a fair stove for the
women's tent, but the men's tent and the mess tent gave one very little
feeling of the tropics, in spite of the fact that we were very near the
equator. But if we were cold our plight was not to be compared to the
condition of the porters, gun-bearers, and guides. They had little or
no clothing and they spent the night in hovels which they constructed
in various places around camp, the chief characteristic of which was a
limited space which insured crowding and a roof which would keep off
the rain.
[Illustration: A map showing the location of the three mountains,
Mikeno, Karisimbi, and Visoke, on whose slopes the gorillas live. These
three peaks are to be reserved as a sanctuary where further studies of
the gorilla may be made]
The first day after we reached the Saddle Camp we went on a fruitless
hunt up and down the slopes of Karisimbi. With the guides cutting a
path as they go, a party does not cover a great deal of distance in a
day. Nor is there any need for fast going, for the gorilla does not
range far, nor even when pursued does he go fast. On the other hand,
even after the guides have cut a "path" the going is sufficiently
difficult underfoot and so precipitous in these mountains that a march
of five or six miles is a fair day's work, especially for a sick man.
We saw no fresh signs of gorilla on this first ladies' hunt. We did run
on to a buffalo trail, but we did not come up to the animals, probably
because of the fact that I was not very keen about it as it was very
dense country and not at all the sort of place in which to hunt buffalo
with ladies.
The next day we went up the slopes of Karisimbi farther to the west. We
had not been out of camp more than an hour and a half when I stopped
to make a panoramic motion picture of the wonderfully beautiful view
of the surrounding country. Just as I was about to begin cranking, a
signal from the guides who had gone on ahead resulted in our going
quickly to them where they pointed out moving bushes a little distance
down the slope. We followed the guides rapidly for a short distance,
down on our hands and knees and under a mass of dense vegetation, and
as we got to our feet on the other side we saw a huge old silver back
moving along in plain sight about twenty-five yards away.
If the gorilla were as aggressive an animal as he has been credited
with being, this old fellow should have charged that twenty-five yards
in a few seconds and given us a chance to defend the ladies heroically
from threatened death. However, he didn't know his part, for it was
evident that his one idea was to go away. His departure was interrupted
by a shot from Bradley which hit him in the neck. He fell like a log.
While we were congratulating Bradley and before we had started for
the prize, one of the guides suddenly called our attention to the
fact that the gorilla was moving off. He disappeared from view. We
followed, scrambling along as rapidly as possible but not making very
fast progress. But our time was as good as the gorilla's, for we had
glimpses of him as he went down and up the other side of a gully to
the crest of a ridge beyond. As he reached the top of this ridge he
came into full view perhaps fifty yards from where we were. Bradley
fired again. This shot sent him rolling down the slope, stone dead.
He lodged against the base of an old tree. He was a fine specimen, a
huge creature weighing three hundred and sixty pounds. I believe that
he was the big lone male of Karisimbi of which we had been told. He
had unquestionably met white men before because at one time he had
been badly wounded in the pelvis, leaving a permanent deformation of
the pelvic region and a crook in his spine. Like all of the others he
displayed no signs of aggressiveness. He was intent only on getting
away. He had not made a single sound at any time.
As he lay at the base of the tree, it took all one's scientific ardour
to keep from feeling like a murderer. He was a magnificent creature
with the face of an amiable giant who would do no harm except perhaps
in self-defence or in defense of his friends.
From twenty feet above him on the slope where we settled down with
our kit to make pictures, notes, and studies, we had a view of
Mikeno and the surrounding country which I then thought, and still
remember, as the most beautiful view I have ever seen; and I believe
my companions, one and all, quite agree with me. The motion-picture
camera was directly behind us up the slope where we had deserted it.
It was sent for and a panorama was made from over the body of the dead
gorilla. Mikeno was at her best; she had thrown aside her veil of
cloud; her whole summit was sharply outlined against the blue of the
tropical sky. The warm greens and browns of the moss-covered cliffs
suggested a drapery of lovely oriental weave. From the summit well
down the wonderful line of the western slope the eye was arrested by
old Nyamlagira smouldering lazily and sending her column of smoke and
steam to join the hovering cloudbank above--then on again the eye
swept over a scene of marvellous opalescent colour in which were dimly
seen distant mountain ranges; suggestions of shimmering lakes, and
mysterious forests--then around to Chaninagongo, looming dark and
massive in the middle ground, smouldering, too, but less demonstrative
than her sister, Nyamlagira. Lying almost at the foot of Chaninagongo
and to the south, glistened in the tropical sun the loveliest of
African inland waters--Lake Kivu. Behind us, upward toward the summit
of Karisimbi and adown the slopes in front, there stretched a primeval
forest of marvellous beauty--in character unlike anything else I
know--a veritable fairyland--and at our feet lay dead one of its great
giants.
I realized that the search for a background and a setting for the
gorilla group was ended. We will reproduce this scene on canvas as a
background for the gorillas when they are mounted in the Museum. The
foreground will be a reproduction of the old dead tree with its wealth
of vegetation in the midst of which the old gorilla died. Of course, it
is regrettable that we had no painter with us at the time. To get one
there means another long journey from New York to Central Africa, yet
it will be worth it if the thousands who visit the Museum get even a
faint degree of the satisfaction from the setting of the group that we
got from this view in the gorilla country.
I felt then, and even more so now, that that morning represented the
high spot in my African experiences. In the midst of a forest, a land
of beauty, we overlooked a scene incomparable, a scene of a world in
the making, while our great primitive cousin, whose sanctuary we had
invaded, lay dead at our feet. That was the sad note. To me the source
of greatest joy was the fact that here, at the culmination of a dream
of thirty years, I was not alone. There were three friends who keenly
appreciated all that it meant.
We had made good in our boasted undertaking of taking ladies on a real
gorilla hunt, presumably the last word of danger and adventure in the
popular mind. Another popular illusion gone to smash! It was adventure
full of beauty and charm and hard work, but absolutely without danger.
The gorilla is not dangerous, but he is impressive. I have taken a tape
and measured around the chests of two good-sized men standing back
to back. The two together measured three inches less than Bradley's
gorilla alone. His chest unexpanded was 62 inches. He weighed about as
much as two men, 360 pounds.
Although not so tall as Dempsey, the gorilla weighs nearly twice as
much, and his arms are longer and more powerful. But his legs, on the
other hand, are much shorter. Unquestionably a well-developed man can
travel both faster and farther than a gorilla.
One can visualize something of his size by a comparison of his
measurements with those of Jack Dempsey.
GORILLA DEMPSEY
Height 5 ft. 7½ in. 6 ft. 1 in.
Weight 360 lbs. 188 lbs.
Chest 62 in. 42 in.
Upper arm 18 in. 16¼ in.
Reach 97 in. 74 in.
Calf 15¾ in. 15¼ in.
The next morning we decided to return to our base camp on Mikeno, a
thousand feet lower down. I think we all wished to stay at the Saddle
Camp longer because of the marvellous beauty of the place, but our
guides and porters complained so bitterly, and I think so justly,
against the cold that a decision was made on their account rather than
our own. The guides, however, were not content with their return to the
Mikeno Camp, but insisted on quitting their jobs entirely. While this
was a disarrangement of our plans, my appreciation for all they had
done and sympathy with their just complaints caused me to pay them off
and let them go. The following day they returned, a very dejected and
penitent lot, and their explanation for their return was interesting,
to say the least. When they reached home their sultan had asked them if
my work was finished and if they had stayed until I no longer required
them. They had admitted that I had given my consent unwillingly. He had
told them that they must come back to me and stay until the work was
finished and that they must bring to him a report from me of complete
satisfaction.
Bradley and I remained two days longer, and these guides were on the
job every minute. It was a demonstration of honour and manliness on the
part of the sultan that I have rarely seen equalled in a savage.
Mrs. Bradley and Miss Miller went to the Mission Camp, but Bradley and
I remained for two days of photographing and the cleaning up and the
packing of the gorilla material. The third and last day we made the
descent of the mountain, sending the porters ahead with their loads to
Burunga, but retaining our guides for another hunt in the bamboos.
We had descended well down toward the lower level of the bamboo when
the guide led us along a cattle trail up a ridge of Mikeno. We came to
a track of a single old male gorilla on this trail, which, after we
had followed it for a half hour, had been joined by others. Ultimately
we were on a perfectly fresh trail of a whole band. The purpose of
the hunt was to get more pictures and to add to our series one more
specimen, a young male if possible. At this time I had not seen more
than one male with a gorilla band and I felt that a group of two old
males, two females, and a youngster of four years would be misleading;
that if I used them I would have to use one of the old males as an
intruder in the family group. I had to explain to my gun-bearer that we
must go slowly because I did not want to come up with the gorillas in
jungle so dense that I could not photograph them; and that we must try
to manage not to disturb them until they had come to more open country
where the chance for observation would be better. We were near the
edge of a ravine the opposite slope of which was cleared of bamboo and
bush. I suggested to him that if we could possibly see them in a place
like that, it would enable us to do the things that we wanted to do.
Not that I actually hoped for any such luck; but as a matter of fact,
fifteen minutes later we heard the bark of a gorilla. Peeping through
the bush we saw the entire band on that opposite slope, all of them
in full view. There were at least three old males, I think four, and
perhaps a dozen females and youngsters. They, of course, had seen us.
They were making off toward the crest of the opposite slope as fast as
possible.
My first thought was along these lines:
"Here is a perfectly peaceful family group including three or four
males. I could use my two males without apologies. There is really no
necessity for killing another animal."
So the guns were put behind and the camera pushed forward and we had
the extreme satisfaction of seeing that band of gorillas disappear
over the crest of the opposite ridge none the worse for having met
with white men that morning. It was a wonderful finish to a wonderful
gorilla hunt. We went on to Burunga for the night and the next day we
were at the Mission by noon where we found Thanksgiving dinner waiting
for us. The chief mission of the expedition had been successfully
culminated, and all of us were together again just in time for a real
Thanksgiving.