DU CHAILLU, PAUL BELLONI, a distinguished traveler, was b. in the s. of France, ,about 1820. His father was for many years a merchant trading on the Gaboon (q.v.) river, in western Africa, and thither he was carried when a boy. He lived there for several years, and became familiar with the habits and languages of the natives, thus— as well as in his habituation to the climate—unconsciously preparing himself for the explorations which he was afterwards to undertake. In 1842, the French made a settle ment and built a fort on the Gaboon. Under the protection of this fort, both the elder and younger Du C. resided and carried on their commercial pursuits for some years. Du ' C. afterwards went to America, where he resided for a number of years, and was naturalized by the legislature of the state of New York. In Oct., 1855, he sailed from New York to w. Africa, where he spent four years in explorations. making many interesting discoveries, and traveling, as he himself tells us, about 8,000 miles, always on foot, and unaccompanied by other white men. He returned to America, and after subjecting his specimens in natural history and ethnological notes to the examination of the scientific men of New York and Boston, he crossed the Atlantic to England, and published a volume of travels—Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chase of the Gorilla, Croco dile, Leopard, Elephant, and other Animals (Loud. 1861). His travels were in a region lying between n. let. 1° 30', and s. lat. 2°, and extending from the coast to about e. long. 14° 15'• ' and the work in which he gives an account of them contains very important contributions to geographical, ethnological, and zoological science. Under the first of these heads must be ranked, as of chief importance, the information concerning the Fernand Vas, Ogobai, and Rembo rivers (see OGOBAI, or OGowE), and concerning the mountain chain which, between the equator and s. lat 1° stretches from w. to e. from the neighborhood of the coast far into the interior of Africa. He made known the existence and described the characteristics and habits of a number of African tribes, among which particular interest attached to his account of the Fans (q.v.), a cannibal tribe, inhabiting a region on the western side of the coast-range of mountains, just to the n. of the equator. His contributions to zoology related not only to the gorilla and other remarkable apes, some of them previously quite unknown, but included also many new species of mammals and birds. Many of the statements contained in his vol ume, however, being very extraordinary, it was received with much distrust, and was subjected to very adverse criticism; to which it was the more exposed because the author's journals having been put into the hands of a literary gentleman in America to be prepared for the press, separate journeys were mixed up in the narrative, and the i chronology was thrown into confusion. Much discussion took place in newspapers and periodicals, and some writers went so far as to assert their belief that Du C.'s stories. about the gorilla were entirely fabulous, and that he had never seen the animal alive, but had purchased the specimens which he brought to England from natives on the coast. His descriptions of nest-building apes were, of course, also received with incredu lity, and the truth of his account of the cannibal Fans was much doubted. The maps drawn up by Dr. Barth and Dr. Petermann in 1862 moved the positions of all the places which he had visited much nearer the coast than he had fixed them, so as greatly to reduce the length of his routes. The general trustworthiness of Du C.'s narrative was, however, maintained by some men of the highest eminence, and particularly by sir Roderick Murchison and Dr. Owen. Du C. resolved to confute his opponents, and vin dicate his own reputation, by another expedition to Africa,- for which he prepared him self by a course of scientific study, to enable him to make astronomical and other observations, and by acquiring the art of photography. During his first explorations, lie had laid down the position of places from compass-bearings only. The substantial accuracy of his observations was, however, in the meantime confirmed by a French gov ernment expedition under Messrs. Serval and Griffon du Bellay, which explored the Ogobai river in 1862; and Dr. Petermann then reconstructed his map of that part of
Africa as Du C. had originally laid it down. His statements regarding the cannibalism of the Fans were also confirmed by capt. Burtou, who himself traveled among them. Du C., however, proceeded on his second expedition. He freighted a small schooner, and sailed in her from England on 6th Aug., 1863, carrying with him not only an ample store of scientific apparatus, but also of goods for presents to the natives, or barter with them. He reached the mouth of the Fernand Vas river on 10th Oct., and was warmly wel comed by the African chiefs whom he had formerly known; but he sustained a grievous. misfortune in the loss of all his scientific instruments and many other valuable articles, through the swamping of the canoe by the surf, as they were being landed from the schooner. He was compelled to send to England for another set of instruments, and to wait till they arrived. Meanwhile, he made several excursions in the neighborhood of the coast, through the almost impenetrable jungle which covers the western coast regions of equatorial Africa, and had abundant opportunity of confirming his former observa tions regarding the gorilla. He also had live ones caught and brought to him by the natives. In Sept., 1864, Du C. having received his new supply of instruments from England, started on his expedition for the exploration of the interior. He was attended by a bodyguard of ten Commi negroes, in thick canvas trousers, blue woolen shirts, and worsted caps, each man having a blanket to keep him warm at night. There was diffi culty, however, in getting leave to set out on the expedition at all. It is the universal rule among the coast tribes of w. Africa to prevent, if possible, all strangers from penetrating into the interior, even if it be only to the next tribe, through fear that the exclusive privilege of trading with that tribe should be lost. A grand palarer was held on the subject, and it was at last agreed that Du C. should be allowed, as a special favor, to ascend the Fernand Vas or Ogobai, as his object was not to trade, but to shoot animals, and to bring away the skins and bones. "Truly," the chiefs and councilors. said, "we do not know what Chaillie has in his stomach to want such things, but we must let him go." Du C. revisited some of the scenes of his former explorations—the Ogobai, the Rembo, and their branches. He suffered great hardships, being sometimes at a loss even for food, and his attendants being almost all at one time ill of small-pox, which made fearful havoc among the native population, and exposed him to the dan gerous suspicion of having caused it by witchcraft. He passed through a forest district so dense that animal life is scarcely found in it, and an almost unbroken silence prevails. by day and by night. He found also in his journeyings many scenes of extreme beauty, scenes of mountain and meadow, hill and pasture-land, groves of plantains, groves of lime-trees remarkable for dark foliage, stately palms, and clear sparkling streams. An unfortunate misunderstanding took place at last between Du C.'s party and the inhab itants of a village which he had reached. A conflict took place, the natives became exasperated, and it was with difficulty that the traveler escaped, being obliged, however, to resign all thought of proceeding further. He reached the mouth of the Fernand Vas. river on 21st of Sept., 1865, and found a vessel there loading for London. He had lost everything but his journals; all the treasures in natural history which he had collected were gone. He brought home, however, his astronomical observations, which have been carefully examined by the most competent persons, and the map of western equa torial Africa has been made much more complete and correct than before. Du C. did not penetrate, on any of his journeys, much more than 240 m. in a direct line from the coast, but his discoveries have been numerous and important, and amongst them are about eighty new species of mammals and birds. No one now doubts the right of Du C. to be ranked among the most enterprising and truthful of travelers. The account of his second expedition to Africa is entitled A Journey to Ashango-Land (Loud. 1867). His ethnographical observations were published in My Apingi Kingdom (1870); and The Country of the Dwarfs (1872)