Chayou, Paul du

Details of his early biography and exact year of birth are unknown (1831th, 1835th and 1839th are indicated in various sources ^[4] ); was born, according to various sources, in Paris or New Orleans ^[5] . In his youth, accompanied his father, an employee of a French company engaged in African trade, traveling on the west coast of Africa. In a trading post in Gabon, he received some education from missionaries and became interested in studying this country, its nature and local residents, which later became the basis of his scientific work. In 1852, he published a number of articles on this subject in the New York press and in 1855 was sent by the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, convinced of the level of his knowledge, to an African expedition. From 1855 to 1859, he studied regions of West Africa at the equator, having studied significant areas of the Ogove River Delta and the mouth of Gabon. During his travels he observed a large number of large anthropoid apes (gorillas), at that time known to scientists by only a few skeletons, and, according to his own assurances, hunted them. He is considered the first white man in recent history to observe and describe gorillas.

The next expedition, which took place in 1863-1865, allowed him to confirm the reports of ancient authors about the Pygmy peoples inhabiting African forests. Reports of both expeditions were published in 1861 and 1867, respectively, under the names "Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chace of the Gorilla, Crocodile, and other Animals" and " A Journey to Ashango-land, and further penetration into Equatorial Africa. " The first work caused serious debate in the scientific community regarding its veracity, but subsequent discoveries proved the truth of Du Chais's statements regarding the facts communicated to them; although perhaps some of the adventures that he described as having taken place with him were in fact a retelling of the hunting stories of the locals. His map of ashango lands was of great value, but the photographs and collections of the researcher were lost during his forced flight from Africa due to hostility of the indigenous population. After several years in America, for which he wrote several books for young people based on his African adventures, du Chaillou went to Northern Europe, where he studied Lapland and the primitive history of the Scandinavian Peninsula and published in 1881, “The Land of the Midnight Sun ", in 1889" The Viking Age ", in 1900 -" The Land of the Long Night ". He died in St. Petersburg.

• Journey to Inner Africa ( Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa ) / Composition by du Chalioux. Part 1-2. - St. Petersburg : printing house of the partnership "Public Benefit", 1871. - 2 tons; 22. (World traveler. Illustrated journal of travel and geographical discoveries; 1871, July-August).

• Wild Africa ( A Journey to Ashango-land, and further penetration into Equatorial Africa ). The second journey of du Challey . - St. Petersburg : editors of the journal "World Traveler", qualification 1872.- 338, VI p., 1 l. kart.; ill .; 25.

• Viking ( Ivar the Viking ). Romanesque history from the era of the III and IV centuries . Translation from English. / Composition by Paul du Challeu. - St. Petersburg : printing house of A. S. Suvorin , 1894. —- 98 p .; 24 cm

• “ The Land of the Long Night ”. Traveling through Lapland Du Chali / Translated from English by M. Gotovtseva; Editor-publisher: female doctor A. Ostrogorskaya-Malkina. Part 1-2. - St. Petersburg: ed. J.-V. E. Kozakevich-Stefanovskaya, 1904. - 2 t .; 18 cm. - (Library of the Young Reader).

• This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .