Stories of the Gorilla Country Narrated for Young People

Stories of the Gorilla Country, Narrated for Young People is a children’s adaptation of Paul Du Chaillu’s African exploration material, drawing on the substantial expeditions he had made in equatorial Africa in the 1850s and 1860s. Du Chaillu (1831-1903) had been the first Westerner to scientifically describe the gorilla and his African work made him famous in the United States and Europe.

The children’s version retells the major incidents of Du Chaillu’s African travels in a form accessible to young readers. The encounters with gorillas, with various other African wildlife, and with the indigenous African peoples Du Chaillu met across his expeditions provide the dramatic material. The book belongs to a substantial nineteenth-century tradition of adapting adult exploration writing for younger audiences.

The treatment of African peoples reflects nineteenth-century Western assumptions and includes various descriptions that modern readers will find uncomfortable. The book remains of historical interest as a Victorian-era children’s introduction to equatorial African subjects.