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The Gorilla Hunters
It was five o'clock in the afternoon. There can be no doubt whatever as to that. Old Agnes may say what she pleases-she has a habit of doing so-but I know for certain (because I looked at my watch not ten minutes before it happened) that it was exactly five o'clock in the afternoon when I received a most singular and every way remarkable visit-a visit which has left an indelible impression on my memory, as well it might; for, independent of its singularity and unexpectedness, one of its results was the series of strange adventures which are faithfully detailed in this volume. It happened - I was seated in an armchair in my private study in a small town on the west coast of England. It was a splendid afternoon, and it was exactly five o'clock. Mark that. Not that there is anything singular about the mere fact, neither is it in any way mixed up with the thread of this tale; but old Agnes is very obstinate-singularly positive-and I have a special desire that she should see it in print, that I have not given in on that point.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1861
About the author
R.M. Ballantyne
595 books121 followersR. M. Ballantyne was a Scottish writer of juvenile fiction.
Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and where he served for six years with the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.
Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and where he served for six years with the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 27, 2018
Kind of hard to rate - on the one hand, it really is a very good adventure tale. And, having read The Coral Island, it was fun to catch up with Jack, Ralph, and Peterkin in this sequel.
On the other hand, you have to get past some appalling racism. It was jarring at times.
I have to say, I'm glad I read it, and in the end, I ended up liking it better than The Coral Island.
On the other hand, you have to get past some appalling racism. It was jarring at times.
I have to say, I'm glad I read it, and in the end, I ended up liking it better than The Coral Island.
February 26, 2023
আরেকটু কম বয়সে পড়লে হয়তো বেশি ভালো লাগতো।
Read
January 10, 2019I read this sequel to The Coral Island on kindle (review here), having already requested a physical copy from my library's interlibrary loan program. I wanted to read an old edition, because I wanted to see what the books may have been like when William Golding (author of The Lord of the Flies) read them as a boy. The Coral Island was one of his favorite books as a kid; as a grownup, he wrote LOTF sort of in reponse to that book, he said he'd write a story about what teenage boys would really be like, if they found themselves stranded on a deserted island.
My library had trouble getting a copy, the first one arrived in such poor condition that they sent it back, and requested something from another library. It took so long, I was long past reading both the Ballantyne titles, but I felt obligated to skim read it, since I had requested it :p. Finished that today (1/10/19) since the book is due back tomorrow (!), but backing up the date to Dec 31, because this is a 2018 book for me, not a 2019 ...
My library had trouble getting a copy, the first one arrived in such poor condition that they sent it back, and requested something from another library. It took so long, I was long past reading both the Ballantyne titles, but I felt obligated to skim read it, since I had requested it :p. Finished that today (1/10/19) since the book is due back tomorrow (!), but backing up the date to Dec 31, because this is a 2018 book for me, not a 2019 ...
May 12, 2020
কিশোরকালে পড়া। সেবা'র অন্যতম সেরা অনুবাদক নিয়াজ মোরশেদ অনূদিত কিশোর ক্ল্যাসিক। সেই সময় দারুণ এক আ্যডভেঞ্চার পেয়ে বসেছিল এ বইটি পড়ে। এখনও খুব যত্ন করে রেখেছি প্রথম সংস্করণের দ্য গরিলা হান্টারস নামের সম্পদটি।
April 7, 2018
Published three years after his phenomenally successful "The Coral Island", ""The Gorilla Hunters" finds Ballantyne bringing back three friends from previous novel but this time they are grown up men and instead of Pacific, the story is set somewhere in Africa. It's all very exotic, adventurous and one can feel author's excitement as he muses about places he imagines - it must have been thrilling for his readers back than - however, the time wasn't kind to this one, it clearly feels like a work from a bygone era and it reflects opinions and perspective of Victorian writer.
I giggled with joy when Ralph, Peterkin and Jack meet again, after being apart for six years: they are different, grown up men now but in some ways they are still the same as we remember them, in fact, sometimes I even think they are three different aspects of the same person. Very soon, though, the huge gap between our modern sensibilities and dear old Ballantyne became evident - his characters are indulging in man's sport (that is, hunting) and even if he goes into trouble of explaining it all as a sheer scientific expedition (animals are being killed and collected for a purpose of research and exhibition back home) it grates very badly on modern reader who is not so bloodthirsty. There is a subplot involving all sorts of fights with native people left and right (described as simpletons, as Victorians would have seen them) but focus is mainly on three friends swaggering around with their guns and killing unsuspecting wild animals while they are drinking water from a pond or playing with each other. Gorilla, Elephants, Giraffe, you name it, they all get killed, eaten and collected as trophy. Even Ballantyne himself is not exactly sure about all of this, because he feels compelled to explain their actions as pure science: “For,” said Jack, “what would the naturalist do without the hunter? His museums would be almost empty and his knowledge would be extremely limited. On the other hand, if there were no naturalists, the hunter—instead of being the hero who dares every imaginable species of danger, in order to procure specimens and furnish information that will add to the sum of human knowledge—would degenerate into the mere butcher who supplies himself and his men with meat; or into the semi-murderer, who delights in shedding the blood of inferior animals. The fact is, that the naturalist and the hunter are indispensably necessary to each other—‘both are best,’ to use an old expression; and when both are combined in one, as in the case of the great American ornithologist Audubon, that is best of all.”
I giggled with joy when Ralph, Peterkin and Jack meet again, after being apart for six years: they are different, grown up men now but in some ways they are still the same as we remember them, in fact, sometimes I even think they are three different aspects of the same person. Very soon, though, the huge gap between our modern sensibilities and dear old Ballantyne became evident - his characters are indulging in man's sport (that is, hunting) and even if he goes into trouble of explaining it all as a sheer scientific expedition (animals are being killed and collected for a purpose of research and exhibition back home) it grates very badly on modern reader who is not so bloodthirsty. There is a subplot involving all sorts of fights with native people left and right (described as simpletons, as Victorians would have seen them) but focus is mainly on three friends swaggering around with their guns and killing unsuspecting wild animals while they are drinking water from a pond or playing with each other. Gorilla, Elephants, Giraffe, you name it, they all get killed, eaten and collected as trophy. Even Ballantyne himself is not exactly sure about all of this, because he feels compelled to explain their actions as pure science: “For,” said Jack, “what would the naturalist do without the hunter? His museums would be almost empty and his knowledge would be extremely limited. On the other hand, if there were no naturalists, the hunter—instead of being the hero who dares every imaginable species of danger, in order to procure specimens and furnish information that will add to the sum of human knowledge—would degenerate into the mere butcher who supplies himself and his men with meat; or into the semi-murderer, who delights in shedding the blood of inferior animals. The fact is, that the naturalist and the hunter are indispensably necessary to each other—‘both are best,’ to use an old expression; and when both are combined in one, as in the case of the great American ornithologist Audubon, that is best of all.”
October 12, 2017
অনেকদিন পর অাবার মিলিত হল তিন বন্ধু। জ্যাক, পিটারকিন অার রেল্ফ। ঠিক করল অাফ্রিকার গহিন জঙ্গলে যাবে গরিলা শিকার করতে। যাওয়ার পথে এক গ্রামে পেল জ্যাকের মত একজন গাইড। ঘটনাচক্রে গ্রাম্য প্রধান জামবাই বলি দিবে জ্যাকের হবু বৌকে। সবাই মিলে তাকে বাঁচিয়ে সেখান থেকে পালালো। একটা সময় গরিলা ও শিকার করল তারা। এর মাঝে অারো নানা কিছু শিকার করেছে তারা।
এক সময় বনে এক দাস ব্যবসায়ীর সাথে দেখা হয় তাদের। যখন তারা জানতে পারল জামবাই এর গ্রামে অাক্রমণ করবে তারা, জীবন বাজি রেখে নেমে গেল দাস ব্যবসায়ী বিরুদ্ধে। হল ভয়ানক এক যুদ্ধ। চমৎকার এক অভিযান কাহিনী নিয়ে এ গল্প।
এক সময় বনে এক দাস ব্যবসায়ীর সাথে দেখা হয় তাদের। যখন তারা জানতে পারল জামবাই এর গ্রামে অাক্রমণ করবে তারা, জীবন বাজি রেখে নেমে গেল দাস ব্যবসায়ী বিরুদ্ধে। হল ভয়ানক এক যুদ্ধ। চমৎকার এক অভিযান কাহিনী নিয়ে এ গল্প।
May 31, 2023
Here are some excerpts, taken out of context, from R M Ballantyne's 'The Gorilla Hunters':
1). "Can he not understand,” said Peterkin, “that we hunt for fun?”
2). "Moreover, after I lay down, the reality became a dream, and I spent that night, as I had spent the day, shooting gazelles, lions, wild pigs, and elephants in imagination."
3). "...it seems to me that, notwithstanding the short time we stayed in the gorilla country, we have been pretty successful. Haven’t we bagged thirty-three altogether?”
“Thirty-six, if you count the babies in arms,” responded Peterkin.
“Of course we are entitled to count these.”
“I think you are both out in your reckoning,” said I, drawing out my note-book; “the last baby that I shot was our thirty-seventh.”
“What!” cried Peterkin, “the one with the desperately black face and the horrible squint, that nearly tore all the hair out of Jack’s head before he managed to strangle him? That wasn’t a baby; it was a big boy, and I have no doubt a big rascal besides.”
“That may be so,” I rejoined; “but whatever he was, I have him down as number thirty-seven in my list.”
“Pity we didn’t make up the forty,” observed Jack.
It is hard to believe that the same writer who wrote 'The Coral Island' and 'The Madman and the Pirate' also gave us 'The Gorilla Hunters'. Not that 'The Gorilla Hunters' isn't a great adventure: it is; but whereas the other books, devastating though they are in terms of wildlife slaughter (think of 'The Dog Crusoe' with the wholesale massacre of beaver and buffalo), still remain in the realms of fantasy, GH somehow comes a little too close to reality to be altogether comfortable.
There are two distinct story lines in GH. The one is about exploration and discovery in 'darkest Africa', with special emphasis on the 'naturalist's' eagerness to find 'specimens'. The second sounds the slave dealing theme, very common in the novels of late Victorian writers who wrote about Africa. Ballantyne deals with the business in a perfunctory manner, as melodramatic as it is improbable.
Although allowances are usually made for the writers of an earlier period, the use of the n-word with no apparent awareness of its pejorative meaning, and the patronising and paternalistic attitudes of the first explorers repels us today, as does the unconscionable killing of wild beasts for fun.
By a strange miracle, although they are tossed over a rhino's horn, fall into pit-traps meant for large animals, charged by elephant, gorilla, rhino, lion, African buffalo and leopard, the three heroes are not hurt apart from sprains, scratches, bruises and a dislocated shoulder in a book marvellous for the absence of crocodiles, hippopotami and cannibals. And black mambas, although of course there is an evil witch-doctor. How could there not be?
The real tragedy is not the way Ballantyne writes about wildlife, but how gorillas were regarded as evil in Victorian times, and how this seems to justify their killing to near extinction. According to John Carey, in the 'Faber Book of Science', in his introduction to "Gorillas" by George Schaller, "Paul Du Chaillu of the Boston Society of Natural History, who explored West and Central Africa in the 1850s, described the ‘ferocity and malignity’ of the gorilla, and its resemblance to a ‘spirit of the damned’." Carey goes on to add, "Man’s view of the gorilla illustrates in a dramatic way the change from slaughter to conservation that distinguishes modern attitudes to wildlife. To nineteenth-century explorers and naturalists, gorillas were evil." (John Carey, 'Faber Book of Science'.
Ballantyne specialised in adventure books, but despite his bloodthirstiness, there was a very real love of animals in his books, both land and marine animals. Perhaps that explains the immense popularity of 'The Gorilla Hunters' in his day, as we undertake a voyage through uncharted Africa, wild and primaeval, in search of wildlife that had never been seen before, only read about, in ancient accounts by Herodotus and Pliny.
1). "Can he not understand,” said Peterkin, “that we hunt for fun?”
2). "Moreover, after I lay down, the reality became a dream, and I spent that night, as I had spent the day, shooting gazelles, lions, wild pigs, and elephants in imagination."
3). "...it seems to me that, notwithstanding the short time we stayed in the gorilla country, we have been pretty successful. Haven’t we bagged thirty-three altogether?”
“Thirty-six, if you count the babies in arms,” responded Peterkin.
“Of course we are entitled to count these.”
“I think you are both out in your reckoning,” said I, drawing out my note-book; “the last baby that I shot was our thirty-seventh.”
“What!” cried Peterkin, “the one with the desperately black face and the horrible squint, that nearly tore all the hair out of Jack’s head before he managed to strangle him? That wasn’t a baby; it was a big boy, and I have no doubt a big rascal besides.”
“That may be so,” I rejoined; “but whatever he was, I have him down as number thirty-seven in my list.”
“Pity we didn’t make up the forty,” observed Jack.
It is hard to believe that the same writer who wrote 'The Coral Island' and 'The Madman and the Pirate' also gave us 'The Gorilla Hunters'. Not that 'The Gorilla Hunters' isn't a great adventure: it is; but whereas the other books, devastating though they are in terms of wildlife slaughter (think of 'The Dog Crusoe' with the wholesale massacre of beaver and buffalo), still remain in the realms of fantasy, GH somehow comes a little too close to reality to be altogether comfortable.
There are two distinct story lines in GH. The one is about exploration and discovery in 'darkest Africa', with special emphasis on the 'naturalist's' eagerness to find 'specimens'. The second sounds the slave dealing theme, very common in the novels of late Victorian writers who wrote about Africa. Ballantyne deals with the business in a perfunctory manner, as melodramatic as it is improbable.
Although allowances are usually made for the writers of an earlier period, the use of the n-word with no apparent awareness of its pejorative meaning, and the patronising and paternalistic attitudes of the first explorers repels us today, as does the unconscionable killing of wild beasts for fun.
By a strange miracle, although they are tossed over a rhino's horn, fall into pit-traps meant for large animals, charged by elephant, gorilla, rhino, lion, African buffalo and leopard, the three heroes are not hurt apart from sprains, scratches, bruises and a dislocated shoulder in a book marvellous for the absence of crocodiles, hippopotami and cannibals. And black mambas, although of course there is an evil witch-doctor. How could there not be?
The real tragedy is not the way Ballantyne writes about wildlife, but how gorillas were regarded as evil in Victorian times, and how this seems to justify their killing to near extinction. According to John Carey, in the 'Faber Book of Science', in his introduction to "Gorillas" by George Schaller, "Paul Du Chaillu of the Boston Society of Natural History, who explored West and Central Africa in the 1850s, described the ‘ferocity and malignity’ of the gorilla, and its resemblance to a ‘spirit of the damned’." Carey goes on to add, "Man’s view of the gorilla illustrates in a dramatic way the change from slaughter to conservation that distinguishes modern attitudes to wildlife. To nineteenth-century explorers and naturalists, gorillas were evil." (John Carey, 'Faber Book of Science'.
Ballantyne specialised in adventure books, but despite his bloodthirstiness, there was a very real love of animals in his books, both land and marine animals. Perhaps that explains the immense popularity of 'The Gorilla Hunters' in his day, as we undertake a voyage through uncharted Africa, wild and primaeval, in search of wildlife that had never been seen before, only read about, in ancient accounts by Herodotus and Pliny.
July 29, 2024
Dzīvnieku medīšana nav gluži lieta, par ko es gribētu lasīt, bet šeit iekļautie piedzīvojumi bija tā vērti. Mani izbrīnīja humors un šķietami mūsdienīgāka stila rakstība. Kad pamanīju, kurā gadā šī grāmata uzrakstīta, pabrīnījos.
Ieteiktu izlasīt tiem, kuriem patīk daba, dzīvnieki un džungļu piedzīvojumi.
Ieteiktu izlasīt tiem, kuriem patīk daba, dzīvnieki un džungļu piedzīvojumi.
August 14, 2018
Coyer Summer Bash
This novel is about a group of British men that go to Africa to see gorillas. Their is an arrogance to all the interactions with the natives. An interesting read.
This novel is about a group of British men that go to Africa to see gorillas. Their is an arrogance to all the interactions with the natives. An interesting read.
February 25, 2019
British imperialism at its worst.
April 14, 2020
I would give it a 9 out of 10 🌟.
December 31, 2021
A tad wordy, and a little slow in some sections. Overall, this is a fantastic sequel to one of my favorites
May 15, 2025
This is a great book for kids! A must read for teenager boys!
April 6, 2014
The Coral Island has long been a favourite children's book of mine so I was delighted to discover this little-know sequel.
How disappointed I was to read it though! It lacks the charm, excitement and - above all - storyline of the Coral Island. The story is weak and nothing really happens. I found it quite boring to read.
The concept of killing animals for sport may be alien to us in the 21st century but it would be wrong to criticise this book because it talks about hunting gorillas and the like, nor for the language used to describe the native Africans. Victorian England was very different to today's world.
How disappointed I was to read it though! It lacks the charm, excitement and - above all - storyline of the Coral Island. The story is weak and nothing really happens. I found it quite boring to read.
The concept of killing animals for sport may be alien to us in the 21st century but it would be wrong to criticise this book because it talks about hunting gorillas and the like, nor for the language used to describe the native Africans. Victorian England was very different to today's world.
July 29, 2011
Excellent, morally upright, thought provoking, and amusing read. Though better enjoyed after reading The Coral Island, The Gorilla Hunters can be read by itself with no trouble. The only possible objections to this book is that there is some violence--many people get killed. It is not graphic, however, or very disturbing. A new favorite book of mine. :)
January 21, 2015
A fun, entertaining sequel to The Coral Island. I liked being back with the characters - Jack, Ralph, and Peterkin, who I've dubbed 'old friends'. They're a good trio! Overall? I enjoyed it, I laughed, I was surprised, and...well, I look forward to reading more of Ballantyne's books. (If only he wrote a third book about these guys...)
May 6, 2012
Loved it back then. Now? Not so sure about the cruelness in finding happiness in hunting gorillas.
August 23, 2014
a book every young teenage boy should read!!
December 1, 2012
Still remember after all these years how I so disliked this book. Too evil for me.
November 22, 2014
Great book I've read it three times it was so good!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews