by Monte Reel
14 He had not read Explorations and Adventures: T. A. Malone, letter to the editor, Times (London), July 5, 1861.
15 “Did you see everything you describe”: Malone’s questions were alluded to in the articles about the event, including his own letter to the Times referenced above.
16 “Of course all my remarks were unpalatable”: Ibid.
17 “He then rose”: Richard F. Burton, letter to the editor, Times (London), July 8, 1861.
18 “Soon after the chairman had left”: James Hunt, letter to the editor, Times (London), July 8, 1861.
19 Several witnesses heard Paul shout: Spectator, July 6, 1861; “Ethnological Society,” Lancet, July 6, 1861.
20 “I was preparing to go”: Malone, letter to the editor.
21 Feeling stifled by the “respectability”: Wright, Life of Sir Richard Burton.
22 “My wonder is that M. Du Chaillu”: Burton, letter to the editor.
23 “We fear M. Du Chaillu has been too long”: “Mr. Du Chaillu and His Detractors,” Examiner, July 6, 1861.
CHAPTER 29. “EVIDENCE OF A SPURIOUS ORIGIN”
1 Alexander Wilson, a Scotsman whose American Ornithology: Edginton, Charles Waterton; and Blackburn, Charles Waterton.
2 “It is then that you may see the cruel spirit”: Rhodes, John James Audubon. 179 They once correctly called Audubon out: Edginton, Charles Waterton.
3 “Audubon has been rudely assailed”: Arthur, Audubon.
4 He went so far as to surrender his claims: Rhodes, John James Audubon.
5 “Without leaving behind him in America”: Charles Waterton, “Remarks on Audubon’s Biography of Birds,” Magazine of Natural History and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology, vol. 6 (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1833).
6 “many of those who have afforded their patronage”: Souder, Under a Wild Sky.
7 “Audubon is immaculate when compared”: Waterton to Ord, June 27, 1861.
8 “I have warmed his hide”: Ibid.
9 “If it be a fact that he is a mongrel”: Ord to Waterton, Oct. 1861.
CHAPTER 30. SHADOWS OF THE PAST
1 he’d hint that there were Huguenots: Several biographical entries about Du Chaillu in encyclopedias list him as being born of French Huguenot parents in New Orleans.
2 People naturally assumed that “Belloni”: Vaucaire, Gorilla Hunter.
3 Edward Clodd, an eminent banker: Clodd, Memories.
4 The island of Réunion: Hombert and Perrois, Cœur d’Afrique.
5 children born of a white man: Bucher, “Canonization by Repetition.”
6 Charles-Alexis Du Chaillu was earning: Du Chaillu’s father’s activities on the island come from “Les ‘Francs-Créoles,’ ” Journal de l’Île de la Réunion, Jan. 1, 2005; and Hombert and Perrois, Cœur d’Afrique.
7 a ship registered to Charles-Alexis was detained: Many of the records concerning Charles-Alexis, including his relationship with Bréon, are from Annie Merlet, “Paul Belloni Du Chaillu; ou, L’invention d’un destin,” which is included in Hombert and Perrois, Cœur d’Afrique.
8 “He hated the country in which such things”: Evertson Smith, “Reminiscences.”
9 Charles-Alexis was in charge: Bucher, “Canonization by Repetition.” Du Chaillu’s father continued to show up in administrative documents until the end of 1855, and he is believed to have died then (Burton, Two Trips to Gorilla Land). However, Du Chaillu once wrote that his father died in 1851 and that he, Paul, traveled from France to Gabon at that time to take care of his father’s affairs—a statement that is contradicted by the Gabonese records and other statements by Du Chaillu concerning his father.
10 According to Putnam County, New York, records: Ibid.
11 “M. du Chaillu is a bald, bronzed”: “Central Africa,” New York World, May 9, 1867.
12 “By the way, it seems to be another disputed”: “Affairs in London,” New York Times, July 19, 1861.
13 “written by an old enemy of his and sent to me”: Clodd, Memories. Some have speculated that R. B. N. Walker was the author of the unpublished manuscript (see Nora McMillan, “Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker,” Archives of Natural History 23, no. 1 [1996]).
14 “Men hear gladly of the power of blood”: Emerson, English Traits.
CHAPTER 31. BLACK AND WHITE
1 “I met every where in my travels”: Du Chaillu, Explorations and Adventures, 21.
2 significantly less offensive than others: Livingstone also was generally less dismissive of native Africans than other travelers of the mid-nineteenth century.
3 assumed that blacks were “less evolved”: Often scientists supported the idea by citing general differences in cranial capacity as evidence—differences that were hotly debated in the following centuries.
4 “They roar with laughter”: Du Chaillu, Explorations and Adventures, 284.
5 “Now he belongs to the ages”: Some have argued that Stanton actually said, “Now he belongs to the angels” (Gopnik, Angels and Ages).
6 “Du Chaillu was a fool to wander”: McClellan, McClellan’s Own Story.
7 “Since the Southerners have adopted the habit”: White Cloud Kansas Chief, Aug. 8, 1861.
8 “We do believe that if the African Gorilla”: Van Tassel, “Behind Bayonets.”
9 “these human gorillas to murder”: Greeley, American Conflict.
10 “hopelessly degraded intellectual organization”: MacMahon, Cause and Contrast.
11 “In this there seems to be a palpable contradiction”: Wheat, Progress and Intelligence of Americans.
12 “a Nietzschean confrontation”: Jeal, Stanley.
13 “independence of mind”: Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley.
14 “neither fish nor fowl”: Lady Isabel Burton, The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton (London: Chapman & Hall, 1893).
15 “For the half-castes I have great contempt”: Stanley, How I Found Livingstone.
16 “degraded the superior race”: Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Feb. 14, 1869.
CHAPTER 32. THE IMPOSTORS
1 “the truth would right itself”: “Royal Geographical Society,” Times (London), May 28, 1861.
2 Paul had written to the Presbyterian mission: “Du Chaillu Vindicated,” Times (London), June 3, 1862.
3 “Letters came to town from the Gaboon”: Athenaeum, Sept. 14, 1861.
4 But the Athenaeum item was puzzling: Du Chaillu to John Murray, Sept. 15, 1861.
5 “Everything will be right”: Ibid.
6 “I, in common with most persons”: The Morning Advertiser letter was reprinted in the Athenaeum, Sept. 21, 1861.
7 Unless the letter wasn’t really from: Du Chaillu to Murray, Sept. 17, 1861.
8 He’d moved from Sussex to Gabon: Biographical information from McMillan, “Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker.”
9 “My enemies will not let me rest”: Du Chaillu to Murray, Sept. 17, 1861.
10 “Having known M. Du Chaillu for some years”: Athenaeum, Sept. 21, 1861. 198 “for the sake of greater courtesy”: Ibid.
11 The Times, for its part, declined: Vaucaire, Gorilla Hunter.
12 “An enterprising naturalist with whom”: Walker to P. L. Simmonds, Nov. 4, 1858.
13 progenitor of the black race: John P. Daly, book review of Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery by Stephen R. Haynes, Journal of Southern History 69, no. 4 (Nov. 2003).
14 “Mr. Paul Duchaillu, the West African”: Walker to Simmonds, May 3, 1859.
15 “I cannot express to you the sorrow”: Du Chaillu to Murray, Sept. 18, 1861.
16 Within months, R. B. N. Walker would board: “Gorillas in Liverpool,” Times (London), June 3, 1862.
17 “I am going to pen a few lines”: McMillan, “Robert Bruce Napoleon Walker.”
CHAPTER 33. SHORTCUTS TO GLORY
1 “Belloni, it appears, is the traveler’s”: “M. Du Chaillu, His Book an Alleged Imposter,” Glasgow Examiner, Feb. 13, 1862.
3 Charlotte and Myra, was dismissed: The reviews of Reade’s books come from Allibone and Kirk, Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors.
4 “discovered a short cut to glory”: Reade, African Sketch-Book.
5 “In my humble character as a mere collector”: Reade, Savage Africa.
6 “all of whom were tolerably”: Ibid.
7 Walker took one look at Reade: From diaries of the Reverend William Walker, Wisconsin Historical Society.
8 “As you have not been in a hot country”: Reade, Savage Africa.
9 “He is very social, & likes”: Letter from Walker, Feb. 20, 1862.
10 “I must shoot a gorilla”: Reade to Walker, April 20, 1862.
205 “His answer was precise”: W. Winwood Reade, “The Gorilla as I Found Him,” Every Saturday, Aug. 31, 1867, 270.
12 “He had only shot little birds”: Ibid.
13 “Having spent five active months in the Gorilla Country”: W. Winwood Reade, “News from the Gorilla Country,” Athenaeum, Nov. 22, 1862.
14 “Thus in an obscure African village”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 34. THE WAGER
1 “What are five months to traverse”: Du Chaillu, letter to the editor, Times (London), Dec. 1, 1862.
2 “The old African hunters will not take”: Ibid.
3 “I will prove how I got my specimens”: Ibid.
4 “a sum much below that at which”: “Du Chaillu’s Collection,” Times (London), June 13, 1863.
CHAPTER 35. THE REINVENTION
1 “addressed to a person who”: The handbook was first printed as an insert in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 24 (London: John Murray, 1854).
2 see entries like “bones as fuel”: Galton, Art of Travel.
3 “With such a book in his hand”: Marcy, Prairie Traveler.
4 Richard Burton, for one, rarely traveled: Rice, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton; and Kennedy, Highly Civilized Man.
5 R. B. N. Walker reported to the Times: R. B. N. Walker, letter to the editor, Times (London), Dec. 5, 1862.
6 “I will briefly state that, after a residence”: Richard Burton, letter to the editor, Times (London), Dec. 23, 1862.
7 revising Hints to Travellers for a new 1864 edition: Markham, Fifty Years’ Work of the Royal Geographical Society.
8 Back, who tutored him: Their friendship is evident in numerous letters between the two men held by the RGS, and Du Chaillu thanked him in Journey to Ashango-Land.
9 “We were two days about the ascent”: Du Chaillu, Explorations and Adventures, 442.
10 As he studied with Back, Paul also took: Information about Du Chaillu’s various apprenticeships from letters to Back; Vaucaire, Gorilla Hunter; and Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land.
11 On August 6, 1863, a hundred-ton schooner: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land; and Du Chaillu, Country of the Dwarfs.
12 Some of the boxes were packed tight: Descriptions of equipment from Du Chaillu, Country of the Dwarfs, and letters from Du Chaillu to John Murray sent from Gabon in 1863 and 1864.
13 “Be assured that I will apply the amount”: Du Chaillu to Murray, June 22, 1863.
14 The resulting shopping spree: Du Chaillu to Murray, Jan. 2, 1864; and Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land.
15 “to fix with scientific accuracy”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 1.
CHAPTER 36. DAMAGED GOODS
1 The Mentor lingered a teasing distance: The account of the troubled entry onto land was reconstructed from Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, and letters from Du Chaillu to Murray and Back written in 1863 and 1864.
2 “with great exertions kept me”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 11.
3 To help defray the costs: Du Chaillu to William Walker, April 15, 1864.
4 “I like to practice while I am near”: Du Chaillu to Murray, Nov. 15, 1863.
5 “I felt and still feel the warmest friendship”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 18.
6 “The old fellow was so delighted”: Du Chaillu to Murray, Jan. 2, 1864.
7 hearing Tom’s “frantic cries”: “Amidst the Ruins,” Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip, vol. 3 (1868).
8 “there was a strong party”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 66.
9 “Once or twice they seemed on the point”: Ibid., 50.
10 “The huge beast stared at me”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 37. THE BOLDEST VENTURE
1 “If I looked at him he would make a feint”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 68.
2 “Her death was like that of a human”: Ibid., 55.
3 “I had sent him consigned to Messrs. Baring”: Du Chaillu wrote of the consignment in letters to Murray, to whom he sent the money to buy the insurance. Among the dangers that Du Chaillu feared the ship might face was war. In Africa, Du Chaillu had been told by crew members of an English ship that both France and England had declared war against America, turning the U.S. Civil War into an international battle. “I hope the Yankees will not get hold of the Mentor,” Du Chaillu wrote to Murray. “It will be a case.”
4 requesting a copy of the book Cosmos: Du Chaillu to Murray, Jan. 14, 1864.
5 “chain of connection, by which all natural forces”: Humboldt, Cosmos.
6 “troops of marauders, who roam over the steppes”: Humboldt, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.
7 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau: In his intellectual biographies of both Emerson (Emerson: The Mind on Fire [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995]) and Thoreau (Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986]), Robert D. Richardson noted their readings of Humboldt.
8 “It was not my object on the present journey”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, ix.
9 “I am perfectly tired of this Gorilla business”: Du Chaillu to Dr. Henry Bence Jones, Aug. 20, 1864.
10 “In a few days I am off for the interior”: Du Chaillu to Back, Aug. 20, 1864.
11 “It is so good, so superior”: Letter is quoted in Owen, Life, vol. 2.
12 “In his last letter to me”: “Sir Roderick I. Murchison’s Address,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 9 (1865).
CHAPTER 38. THE ARMIES OF THE PLAGUE
1 About fifty men accompanied Paul: Details of the expedition from Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, and his account of the expedition delivered to the RGS, “Second Journey into Equatorial Africa,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 10 (1866).
2 “Macondai cursed the okenda i nialai”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 108.
3 “They began boldly to accuse me”: Ibid., 122.
4 “Not a day passed”: Ibid., 129.
5 “Those who were now well enough”: Ibid., 132.
6 “I found it impossible to keep them all”: Ibid., 146.
7 “On the 1st and 3rd of April I over-exerted myself”: Ibid., 163.
8 “I told you when I came”: Ibid., 179.
9 “My misfortunes will never terminate!”: Du Chaillu’s journal transcriptions were included in Journey to Ashango-Land, 191.
CHAPTER 39. RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES
1 “We must go forward”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 246.
2 known as the Babongo people: Today, many of the Babongo still live in the forested areas where Du Chaillu found them, and they are still renowned for their tracking skills. At the Max Planck gorilla research station in the Fernan-Vaz region, Josephine Head employs Babongo tribesmen, hired from inland communities, to work as professional trackers.
3 “My {Ashango} guides were kind”: Ibid., 324.
4 “The musical box was brought out”: Ibid., 305.
5 “It is a tremendous task”: Journal entry transcribed in ibid., 301.
6 “I felt that it was time to make a stand”:
Ibid., 356.
7 “You have no idea of the trials”: Du Chaillu to Murray, Sept. 29, 1865.
CHAPTER 40. THE JURY OF HIS PEERS
1 Paul, the featured speaker: “Second Journey into Equatorial Africa,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 10 (1866).
2 Some of the people in the crowd: “Discussion on M. Du Chaillu’s Paper,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society 10 (1866).
3 “deposited it in the hands”: Ibid.
4 An article in the Transactions: Ibid., and “Prof. Allman on Potamogale velox,” Transactions of the Zoological Society of London (1867).
5 French exploratory boats had been pushing up: Kingsley, Travels in West Africa; Patterson, “Paul B. Du Chaillu.”
6 The German cartographers who earlier: Vaucaire, Gorilla Hunter.
7 “astonished at the multitude and accuracy”: “Discussion on M. Du Chaillu’s Paper.”
8 “After these opportunities of further observation”: “Second Journey.”
9 “I will only add that if M. Du Chaillu’s”: W. Winwood Reade, letter to the editor, Times (London), Jan. 23, 1866.
CHAPTER 41. ACCIDENTAL VICTORIES
1 In early 1866, Owen published a paper: Rupke, Richard Owen. The paper was “On the Anatomy of Vertebrates.”
2 Owen suggested that Darwin: Ibid.
3 “What an unmerciful basting you give”: Huxley to Darwin, Nov. 11, 1866.
4 Owen had published a monograph: Owen, Memoir on the Gorilla.
5 “men differ more widely from one another”: T. H. Huxley, Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature (London: D. Appleton, 1863).
6 “I have observed individuals of the Negro race”: “Professor Owen on the External Characters and Affinities of the Gorilla,” Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 5 (1866).
7 “the respect and gratitude of every genuine”: Du Chaillu, Journey to Ashango-Land, 439.
CHAPTER 42. THE EXPLORER
1 Paul took full advantage of the offer: An account of Paul’s days in Twickenham appears in Burnand, Records and Reminiscences, vol. 2.