9-th, 2004 - 09: 1   (Posted By: Webmaster)
Paul BeUoni Du Chaillu

Paul BeUoni Du Chaillu
EXPLORER OF AFRICA AND BELOVED STORYTELLER (1837-1903)

PAUL BELLONI DU CHAILLU, African traveler, discoverer of the gorilla, writer of children's stories, and one of the most talked of men of his time, was born on the island of Reunion off the east coast of Africa of a French father and a mulatto mother. The date of his birth is uncertain. It was probably 1837. Du Chaillu kept that, as well as the place of his birth and his ancestry, a secret, for reasons that will be seen.

Sent to Paris for his education, he later returned to Africa and began, like his father, to trade with the natives along the Gaboon River in West Africa. This venture ended in disaster. His canoe was upset, he was nearly drowned, and he lost his entire cargo of ebony and ivory. Deserted by his men, he stumbled upon an American mission four days later. This misfortune was to be his making. The missionaries painted such an attractive picture of America for him that he decided to go there to make his fortune. With the money he had inherited from his father, he left for New York.

In America, realizing that it would be fatal should his true ancestry be known, he evaded mention of the place of his birth, leaving the inquisitive to make their own guesses. Fortunately for him, though his skin was dark and was burned even darker by the African sun and his face was Negroid, his hair was straight. He was further helped by his foreign accent, and as he spoke French, it was generally said he was from New Orleans. To this some added that he was of Indian extraction.
But he could not always escape suspicion. One night in midwinter some of the white men in the lodging house in which he lived decided to "teach him a lesson." They planned to surprise him in bed, tie him up in a blanket, toss him from hand to hand down four flights of stairs, and then down a steep incline into the icy waters of a lake. Du Chaillu, warned of this, went out and returned with a good supply of roast turkey, cake, pie, candy, and fruit. When his tormentors appeared, he invited them in courteously, and asked them to join him in supper. They ate and bothered him no more.

Du Chaillu's great ambition was to be a writer. He knew Africa and he felt sure he could thrill others by telling them of it. For instance, there was the gorilla--that creature too much like a beast to be a man, and too much like a man to be a beast. He had never seen one, it is true, but the natives had often told him wonderful tales about the animal. He tried to interest the newspapers but the editors, sure that they knew what the public wanted, would not listen to him. Africa was then of little interest. The editor of the New York Tribune tartly told him that if he was so much interested in Africa, he ~mught to return there at once.

In his rounds Du Chaillu had noticed one thing, however. While the editors were not interested, the people with whom he talked were very much so. Accordingly, he planned a scientific expedition of his own, and began taking lessons in natural history. In October, 1865(?), he left for Africa, promising to send specimens to museums in Boston and Philadelphia.
Arriving in Africa, he was well received. The natives, remembering his father, brought him ivory, ebony, gold dust, and other merchandise. But he was now a scientist and no longer a trader. When he did not buy their goods but tried to get them to accompany him into the interior, they became suspicious. At that time ivory and ebony were passed from hand to hand through the lands of the various tribes until they reached the coast. In the passage each middleman took his share of the profit. Accordingly, it was believed that Du Chaillu in wishing to get into the interior meant to trade directly with the natives there, so they tried to discourage him from going by telling him of the great dangers---of the lions, leopards, snakes, elephants, and the cannibal tribes,

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