Stories of the gorilla country : Narrated for young people / By Paul Du Chaillu.

  • Paul du Chaillu
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Stories of the gorilla country : Narrated for young people / By Paul Du Chaillu. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    At last the natives came on board, and what funny people they were! I could not discern one from an- other ; they seemed to me all alike. What a queer way of dressing they had, too! You would have laughed to see them. Some had only an old coat on. Others had an old pair of trowsers which prob- ably had belonged to some sailor; these wore no shirt or coat. Some had only an old ragged shirt, and some, again, had nothing on except an old hat. Of course none of them had shoes. How they shouted and halloed as they came about the vessel! They seemed to speak such a strange language. ]S'<> one on board appeared to understand them. They made so great a noise that I thought I should become deaf. One of them had a fowl to sell; another brought an egg or two; and another a few bunches of plantains. Our captain knew the coast, for he had long been an African trader, though he had never been at this place before. The ship cast anchor. It was not far from a river called Benito. I left the vessel and went ashore with some others. As 1 landed I was surrounded immediately by crowds of natives, who looked so wild and so savage that I thought they would kill me at once. I was led to the village, which stood not far from the sea, and was hidden from view by the very large trees and the great forest that surrounded it. On one side of the village was a prairie. I shall always remember this village. It was the first African village I had ever seen, and it was unlike those built in Southern Africa.