Forgotten Books: Paul B. Du Chaillu and his travels through West Africa

Illustration of Du Chaillu facing a gorilla in his book "In African Forest and Jungle". This book was published in 1903. 

I've read two books from Paul Du Chaillu. I didn't like them so much. Probably is the style of his writings. Too much first person - protagonism - compared to other books from the same period written by soldiers or Christian missionaries. Said that, the man traveled a lot through West Africa and some stories are interesting.   

Paul Du Chaillu was a French that moved to the United States in 1852. He traveled with his father to West Africa and was educated by missionaries in Gabon. 

Du Chaillu loved hunting and made money selling gorillas and other stuff to European museums. He also wrote books about Scandinavia - Vikings stuff.  

I chose to read books in which he wrote about his encounters with Pigmies and gorillas - Du Chaillu was the first to confirm the existence of both in the 1800s. 

Some excerpts and comments from the books follow.

The Country of the Dwarfs - Published in 1872

His plan was to cross Africa along the equator and to reach the Nile River in about 5 years. 

The journey was funded through the sales of his book Adventures in Equatorial Africa and the sales of collections of African species that included gorillas - he said that scientific societies never helped his expeditions.

His description of facing a gorilla. 

I was going down the hill to get over to the other side of the hollow, my eyes suddenly fell upon a monstrous gray-haired male gorilla standing erect and looking directly toward me.

At some point, he planned to meet the legendary Sir Richard Burton during this expedition.

The place where these gorillas had been captured was about thirty miles above my settlement, up the river; at this point a low, narrow promontory project into the stream. This spot was my favorite hunting-ground for gorillas, which came there to eat the wild pine-apple, and it was there I intended to take my good friend Captain Burton, the great African traveler, the man who made the pilgrimage to Mecca, for he was now at Fernando Po, and had promised to make me a visit.

The first encounter with a village of pigmies - Du Chaillu called them "Obongos", these were Babongo Pygmies from Gabon, also known as "forest people".

Suddenly we came upon twelve strange little houses scattered at random, and I stopped and asked Kombila for what use those shelters were built. He answered, "Spirit, those are the houses of a small people called Obongos."

The pigmies always fled their village at his approach, but eventually he gained their confidence through gifts and food for them. 

A few of them were not more than four feet in height; others were from four feet two inches to four feet seven inches in height.

They showed me flint-stones, and a species of oakum coming from the palm-tree, and said they knocked these stones against each other, and the sparks gave them fire.

In this trip Paul Du Chaillu was wounded. 

A rain of spears and of poisoned arrows came from behind the huts, and showered all around us. I am wounded—a sharp-pointed arrow pierces me. 

This time I was wounded badly. The arrow was bearded, small, and slender, and had gone deeply into my stomach, and if the leather belt which held my revolvers, and through which it passed, had not weakened its force. I should have been mortally wounded;

He recovered of the wound and left Africa. 

...six days after my arrival on the coast, at the close of the year 1866, I sailed for England.

In African Forest and Jungle - Published in 1903

This journey reads like a hunting trip. Du Chaillu requested help from a tribal chief to get guides for his adventure. 

"Rotembo, great Chief," I replied, "I wish to go and live in the forest. I desire to kill all the wild beasts I can and stuff them. I want to kill three or four of every kind of all the birds of the country..."

And he got the help of Rogala, a local with a big hunting resume in the wilderness of African. 

Scars upon one of his legs told where a leopard had once wounded him. He wore a huge head-dress of eagle's feathers.

He has killed during his life more than one hundred elephants.

Rogala was the greatest elephant hunter of his day. 

Besides wildlife dangers, Du Chaillu confronted dangers from other humans. 

Further on we saw in the distance, near the other bank of the river, two canoes descending the stream. They were full of men in war-paint and armed with spears and war-axes. They were singing their war-songs and beating their tom toms fiercely.

It was good for me that these wild men thought I was endowed with extraordinary power. I never told them I was an Oguizi, or spirit, but I never told them I was not. My safety depended entirely on their superstitious regard for me. If it had not been so, and if they had thought I was a man like themselves, I should not have lived to tell the tale of my wanderings.

And he found his gorillas.

The ngina was looking fiercely at us.

There are many books from Paul B. Du Chaillu in Amazon - link is affiliate.