rts of the wood watching for prey, and when a
native chances to pass by close enough he puts down his hind foot,
seizes the wretched man therewith, lifts him up into the tree, and
quietly throttles him. They don't add whether or not he eats him
afterwards, or whether he prefers him boiled or roasted. Now, I don't
believe that."

"Neither do I," returned Jack; "nevertheless the fact that these fellows
recount such wonderful stories at all, is, to some extent, evidence in
favour of their existence: for in such a country as this, where so many
wonderful and horrible animals exist, men are not naturally tempted to
invent _new_ creatures; it is sufficient to satisfy their craving for
the marvellous that they should merely exaggerate what does already
exist."

"Go to, you sophist! if what you say be true, and the gorilla turns out
to be only an exaggerated chimpanzee or ring-tailed roarer, does not
that come to the same thing as saying that there is no gorilla at all--
always, of course, excepting yourself?"

"Credit yourself with a punched head," said Jack, "and the account shall
be balanced when I am sufficiently recovered to pay you off. Meanwhile,
continue your account of what the niggers say about the gorilla."

Peterkin assumed a look of offended dignity as he replied--

"Without deigning any rejoinder to the utterly absurd and totally
irrelevant matter contained in the preliminary sentences of your last
remark, I pass on to observe that the natives of these wilds hold the
opinion that there is one species of the gorilla which is the residence
of the spirits of defunct niggers, and that these fellows are known by
their unusual size and ferocity."

"Hold," cried I, "until I get out my note-book. Now, Peterkin, no
fibs."

"Honour bright," said he, "I'll give it you just as I got it. These
_possessed_ brutes are never caught, and can't be killed. (I only hope
I may get the chance to try whether that be true or not.) They often
carry off natives into the woods, where they pull out their toe and
finger nails by the roots and then let them go; and they are said to be
uncommonly fond of sugar-cane, which they steal from the fields of the
natives sometimes in a very daring manner."

"Is that all?" said I.

"All!" exclaimed my comrade. "How much more would you have? Do you
suppose that the gorilla can do anything it likes--hang by its tail from
the moon, or sit down on its nose and run round on its chin?"