only recently established, is certain enough, and which has at

least as good a title to the name of a “monster as any in this chapter-the following is the description given by Du Chaillu of his first encounter-the first encounter, I believe, of any European-with the Gorilla.

"Suddenly," he writes, "as we were yet creeping on in silence, which made a heavy breath seem loud and distinct— the woods were all at once filled with the tremendous barking roar of the gorilla. Then the underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He had gone through the jungle on all fours; but when he saw our party, he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I shall never forget. Nearly six feet high, with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely glaring large deep grey eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to me like some nightmare vision-there stood before us the king of the African forest.

"He was not afraid of us. He stood there and beat his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense bass drum, which is the animal's mode of offering defiance, meanwhile giving vent to roar after roar.

"The roar of the gorilla is the most singular and awful noise heard in the African forests. It begins with a sharp bark like an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have been tempted to take it, when I did not see the animal. So deep is it, that it seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat, than from the deep chest and vast paunch.

"His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on

his forehead began to twitch up and down, while his powerful fangs were again shown, as he again sent forth a thunderous roar. He advanced a few steps-then stopped to utter his hideous roar again-advanced again, and finally stopped, when at a distance of about six yards from us. And here, just as he was beginning another of his roars, beating his breast in a rage, we fired and killed him. With a groan, which had something terribly human in it, and yet which was full of brutishness, he fell forward on his face. The body shook convulsively for a few moments: then all was quiet, and I had leisure to examine the huge body. It proved to be five feet eight inches high, and the muscular development of the arm and chest showed what immense strength it had possessed."

This monster ape, as enormous when compared with the rest of the species, as the auroch among oxen, or the Irish elk among deer, is in truth as formidable an enemy as man has anywhere to encounter. Nevertheless much has been said respecting it which is either exaggeration or fable. Du Chaillu contradicts the stories of its attacking the elephant with clubs, large numbers of gorillas banding together for the purpose: the creature, in fact, not being gregarious. It is also untrue, he says, that they build rude huts, or that they sit on the lower boughs of trees waiting for travellers who may pass under, and then drop down and strangle them with their hind legs. They build no huts, and do not make their resting-places in trees.

CHAPTER XIX.

STRANGE BIRDS : THE ROC PHOENIX-SIMORG―DINORNIS—

CONDOR-HALCYON-DODO.

THE reader will remember that, when the second voyage of Sindbad the Sailor was under consideration, the enormous dimensions of the "Roc" were mentioned, but the discussion of the matter was postponed to the present chapter. It is needless to say, that the statements of Oriental writers respecting it are, for the most part, monstrous exaggerations, and occasionally simple inventions. The question we have to consider is, What substratum of truth do they contain? Most of the travellers in question not only rival Sindbad in the marvels he records, but far outdo him. Here is a specimen. "A certain merchant," says Damar," * 66 came to the land of Megareb-one who had lived for a long time among the Isles of Sinæ. He had the radicem of a feather from the wing of this bird (the roc), which held nine bladders full of water. He said that, once on a time, when he was journeying to the Sea of Sinæ, the wind drove him to a great island, that they might take thence wood and water. They saw a great tent more than a hundred cubits high, (!) which shone and glistened. When they had approached it, full of wonder, they found it to be the egg of a roc, which they ceased not to strike with sticks and

* Quoted by Lane in his edit. of the "Arabian Nights."

stones, until it was split open by the chick, which was as big as a mountain. They clung to the feathers, trying to draw it towards them; but the chick shook its wings clear of them, so as they could carry nothing off, except a feather, which was torn out by the root from the wings, before it was fully formed. Then they killed the chick, and took as much of its flesh as they could. They cooked it in the island, and the log with which they stirred it in the pot turned black."

Then follows the incident, almost identical with that related by Sindbad in his fourth voyage. "On the following morning the rocs were seen flying, like great clouds, through the air, carrying great masses of rock in their claws. These they let fall, when they got near the ship. One of these would have shattered the vessel to fragments, but that it just missed. striking it." "In the Indian Sea," says Kazweenee, "is a bird so vast, that, when it is dead, men take the half of its bill and make a ship of it!"

Marco Polo reports the existence of a feather very nearly corresponding in size to the above. "The great Khan," he writes, "sent to those parts to inquire about these curious matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. They brought to the great Khan a feather of the said 'roc,' which is said" (Marco does not say that he has seen it) "to measure ninety spans, while the quill part is two palms in circumference "- -a marvellous object !

Marco also bears witness to the existence of the bird itself, though here also it should be noted that, in all he says respecting it, he speaks from the information of others, and not from his own knowledge. "It is said," he writes, "that in those other islands to the south, which the ships are unable to visit, because a strong current prevents their return, is found

the bird 'gryphon,' which appears there at certain seasons." Persons who had been there, and had seen it, told Messer Marco Polo, that "it was for all the world like an eagle, though one indeed of enormous size-so big, in fact, that its wings covered an extent of thirty paces, and its quills were twelve paces long, and thick in proportion. And it was so strong, that it could seize an elephant in its talons, and carry him high into the air and drop him, so that he is smashed to pieces. Having so killed him, the gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird ‘ruc,' and it has no other name. I wot not if this be the real gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can tell you for certain, that they are not half lions, half birds, as our stories relate."

A story of the fifteenth century (quoted by Colonel Yule) states that," about the year of our Lord, 1420, a ship, or junk, of India, in crossing the Indian Sea, was driven, by way of the 'isles of men and women,' beyond the Cape of Diab, and carried in a westerly and south-westerly direction for forty days, without seeing anything but sky and sea; during which time they made, to the best of their judgment, 2000 miles. The gale then ceasing, they turned back, and were seventy days in getting to the aforesaid Cape Diab. The ship having touched on the coast to supply its wants, the mariners beheld there the egg of a certain bird, called Chrocko, which egg was as big as a butt. And the bigness of the bird is such, that between the extremities of the wings it is said to be sixty paces. They say, too, it carries away an elephant, or any other great animal, with the greatest ease, and does great injury to the inhabitants of the country, and is most rapid in its flight."