THE MAN-LIKE APES

(FROM EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE.)

BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.


[Illustration: HEAD OF GORILLA.]

Sound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like
Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct
information regarding their structure.

Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and
morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of
America and of Asia, to form magnificent collections as he wanders,
and withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his
collections; but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense
forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favorite
habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla, present
difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and the man who risks his life
by even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may
well be excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior;
if he contents himself with stimulating the industry of the
better-seasoned natives, and collecting and collating the more or less
mythical reports and traditions with which they are too ready to
supply him.