Gorillai

alternative obsolete Gorillæ · alternative obsolete gorillæ · alternative Gorillae

1. historicalA tribe of hairy women described by Hanno the Navigator.

   6 more examples

   Mr D. cenſures Voſſius for imagining that the Gorgons and Gorillæ had any reference to each other; and obſerves, that it was not the Greeks, nor even the Carthaginian Hanno himſelf, who gave them this appellation, but the interpreters, whom they had procured from the Lixitæ; and that it is probable, that this word Gorillæ is of African origin, whereas the word Gorgon is a Greek word. / But Voſſius might think, that there was ſome connection between them, when almoſt all the writers of antiquity place the Gorgons nearly at leaſt in the ſame ſituation in which Hanno ſays that he diſcovered the Gorillæ.

   1797, Thomas Falconer, “Dissertation II.”, in The Voyage of Hanno: […], London, page 41

   Proceeding to the chapter which treats of the ‘traditions reſpecting the iſands of the Atlantic,’ adjacent to the coaſts juſt examined, we may remark, that, at the extremity of Hanno’s expedition, he mentions the Gorillæ, and tells us, that he chiefly ſaw females, who fought with fury; that he killed three of them, and carried their ſkins, covered with hair, back to Carthage. Theſe female Gorillæ are ſuppoſed to be the Gorgons of antiquity; the iſland of the Gorillæ, the Gorgades, and the Gorgons, from the authority of Xenophon of Lampſacus, quoted by Pliny, are conſidered as the ſame.

   1799, The Critical Review; or, Annals of Literature, London, page 488

   These monsters whom they call Gorillæ, and who seem evidently to have been orang-outangs, ran off on their approach, climbed rocks, and threw down stones on their pursuers; yet three females were caught, and their skins carried to Carthage. At length, the coast becoming desolate, and no longer affording either provisions or water, it was found necessary to return. / How far this voyage extended, and what proportion of the African coast it surveyed, has been the subject of long and learned controversy. The only two disputants who now appear on the field are Major Rennel and M. Gosselin: the former believes that Hanno passed Sierra Leone, and that the island and bay of the Gorillæ were Sherbro’ Island and Sound; while the other terminates the voyage on the frontier of Morocco, at the entrance of the river Nun.

   1832, Murray, Hugh; Jameson; Wilson, James, Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in Africa, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time: With Illustrations of the Geology, Mineralogy, and Zoology, 2nd edition, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; London: Simpkin & Marshall, pages 48–49

   Hanno’s account of the gorillæ has been confused with fabulous stories of Gorgons; but even this circumstance is confirmatory of the truth of his progress. […] Hanno’s gorillæ were found in an island; the males could not be killed, but three females were slain and their skins were exhibited when the expedition returned to Carthage.

   1859, Henry Lawes Long, “Chapter I. The Early Geography of Western Europe”, in A Survey of the Early Geography of Western Europe, as Connected with The First Inhabitants of Britain, Their Origin, Language, Religious Rites, and Edifices, London: Lovell Reeve, Note upon the Voyages of Hanno and Pytheas: Gorillæ,—Chimpanzees., pages 88, 89

   Hanno, a Carthaginian, made an exploring voyage down the west coast of Africa. His log, or Periplus, has been preserved. He records the number of days occupied by his voyage, mentions its chief incidents, and describes the features of the coast sometimes with minuteness. The two great authorities upon the Periplus are Gossclin (Geographie des Anciens) and Rennell (Geography of Herodotus). The former, a sceptic, will not allow that Hanno sailed beyond the limits of the Barbary coast; an hypothesis to be rejected: while Rennell, evidently desirous of taking him as far as he can, fixes the end of his voyage at a little below Sierra Leone. Now the chimpanzee is found in that region; but the gorilla is found only close to the equator. In the first place, therefore, Hanno’s voyage must be stretched to the equator. / Allowing that he did reach the equator, and that the volcanic peak of Fernando Po was the Currus Deorum, “the flames of which seemed to touch the sky,” another difficulty remains to be disposed of. He says that the gorillæ defended themselves with stones, and escaped over the precipices. Now there are no precipices on the coast of the gorilla country, and the gorilla of the nineteenth century is not in the habit of throwing stones.

   1867 June, Packard, Alpheus Spring, Morse, Edward S., Hyatt, Alpheus, Putnam, Frederic Ward, editors, The American Naturalist, a Popular Illustrated Magazine of Natural History, volume I, number 4, Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, The Habits of the Gorilla by W. Winwood Reade, pages 177–178

   The earliest mention of the peninsula now called Sierra Leone is supposed to be contained in the Periplus or account of the voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian traveller in the sixth century b.c. There has been much disputation as to the exact places visited by him, but it seems to be certain that Sierra Leone is the locality whence he carried the skins of the gorillæ—long supposed to be fabulous creatures until their re-discovery by Du Chaillu—and where he witnessed, to his surprise, the burning down of the rank vegetation by the natives in the dry season, a system of agriculture followed to this day, but which he described as burning mountains running into the sea.

   1882, Royal Colonial Institute, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, volume 13, page 57