Gorillas & Chimpanzees

R. L. Garner.

Gorillas & Chimpanzees

By
R. L. Garner

Illustrated

London
Osgood, McIlvaine & Co.
45 Albemarle Street, W.
1896

To
MY FAITHFUL AND GENEROUS FRIEND
MR. ADOLPH STROHM
WHO HAS GIVEN ME
LIBERAL AID AND UNSWERVING ENCOURAGEMENT
AND TO MY KIND AND STEADFAST FRIEND
MR. JAMES A. DEEMIN
WITH WHOM I SHARED SOME OF THE HARDSHIPS OF TRAVEL
AND A FEW OF THE JOYS OF THE HUNT
THIS VOLUME IS
GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY
ITS AUTHOR

vii

PREFACE

The present work is the natural product of someyears devoted to a study of the speech and habits ofmonkeys. It has led up to the special study of thegreat apes. The matter contained herein is chieflya record of the facts tabulated during recent yearsin that field of research.

The aim in view is to convey to the casual readera more correct idea than now prevails concerningthe physical, mental, and social habits of theseapes.

The favourable conditions under which the writerhas been placed, in the study of these animals inthe freedom of their native jungle, have not hithertobeen enjoyed by any other student of Nature.

A careful aim to avoid all technical terms andscientific phraseology has been adhered to, and thesubject treated in a simple style. Tedious detailsare relieved by an ample supply of anecdotes takenfrom the writer's own observations, and most ofviiithem are the acts of his own pets or of apes in awild state. The author has refrained from rashdeductions and abstruse theories, but has sought toplace the animals here treated in their true light,believing that to dignify the apes is not to degrademan, but to exalt him even more.

It is hoped that a more perfect knowledge ofthese animals may bring man into closer fellowshipand deeper sympathy with Nature, and cause himto realise that all creatures think and feel in somedegree, however small.

THE AUTHOR.

ix

CONTENTS