an
The Baldwin Library
University
[RmB wins
Bp Olive Thorne Siiller.
BIRD-WAYS. 16mo, $1.25.
IN NESTING TIME. 16mo, $1.25.
LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. 16mo,
$1.25.
A BIRD-LOVER IN THE WEST. 16mo, $1.25.
FOUR-HANDED FOLK. 16mo, $1.25.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,
Boston anD New York
MR. CROWLEY
FOUR-HANDED FOLK
BY
OLIVE THORNE MILLER
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
Che Vivergide press, Cambridge
1896
Copyright, 1896,
By H. M. MILLER axnp HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. 8. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.
CONTENTS.
; PAGE
I. Tae Kingxasou . . ; 5 , , 5 1
I. Nipsey ; ; ; ; : ar 1
Il. The Kinkajou at Hom F , ; : 6
III. Manners of the Kinkajou . : , , 11
IV. The Kinkajou’s Name and his Looks . . 16
V. The Last of the Kinkajou . 5 ; , 20
VI. A Kinkajou in a Boarding School : eS
II. Livine Bats : ; ; : 3 : 28
UI. Tur Haue-Monkey . . , : 7 . 38
I. Koko . i ; ; : ; : x 38
II. Manners of the Lemur . . 5 : . 43
IIL. Koko’s Intelligence . ; 47
IV. Pranks ofa Pet . ; , : . 62
V. More Lemur Ways , ; , 5
VI. Koko’s Friendliness : : : : . 60
VII. The End of Koko, : , : : 64
IV. Tur Marmoser . : : : : ; . 68
I. Mephistopheles . ; : : : ; 68
II. At Bedtime . : , ; : : >» 8
III. Life on the Mantel 78
IV. Ravyini and Ravenini: the Smallest Monkeys
inthe World —. S , , : . 8&2
V. A Visit to the Marmosets . , : A 87
VI. Monkey Tricks : : : : e eno?
VII. Another Pair of Marmosets , 7 , 97
iv CONTENTS.
VY. Toe CuimpaNnzEE
I. Mr. Crowley
II. Mr. Crowley’s Table ee
Il. A Naughty Chimpanzee
VI. Tue Spiper Monkey.
I. Gila . : :
II. More about Gila
JIL. The Monkey’s Quarters
IV. Monkey Mischief
V. The Monkey in New England
VI. Gila the Second
VII. Froliecs in the Corridor
VIII. Brother Longlegs .
VII. Tue Ocrror
I. Nico
IL. Tiger Tricks
VIII. Monxey Banrss
I. The Coaita and the Ome Ue
II. Other Monkey Babies
III. The Drollest Baby
IV. The Most Amiable Baby
IX. Monxzys Wao Worx .
InpEx . : 5 ; .
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Mr. CrowLrEy- : : : : . Frontispiece
Tuer Kinkxagsou . : ; : - : ; 12
Tur ARMADILLO AND DUCK-BILL . : ' : Od
Koxo ar Pray . : : ; 3 ‘ : 6 56
Koxo As HArpRreEssEr . : : . ¢ : nO
Tur MArMmosers : : i i . : : 80
A Rerarsr intro MonKryism : q 6 F 0
Tur Spriper Monkey 5 , : , , 120
FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
I.
THE KINKAJOU.
I. NIPSEY.
THE way it came about that a bird-student
set up a menagerie in her parlor, was this. In
New York the shops that keep birds for sale
are also supplied with beasts. In the largest
of them one may buy almost anything, from a
white mouse to an elephant, and always when I
go there to look for birds, I pass into the room
beyond and look at the animals. There is gen-
erally a cage or two of monkeys, and half a
dozen or more of other animals, just imported
from abroad, and not yet placed in some museum
or zodlogical garden.
One day while I was going through the room,
T stopped before a cage containing what looked
like a ball of golden-brown fur, and a lively little
beast who was pulling it about. Of course the
ball was a sleepy little fellow who wanted to be
2 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
let alone, and his cage-mate was trying to wake
him up.
For a while the rolled-wp creature endured
the annoyance of his fellow, but on a harder
push than usual, he slowly uncoiled a little, lifted
his head, and looked up at me as if asking pro-
tection from all this pulling and hauling. Now
I am susceptible to the pleading look in any
dumb face, and that one was so innocent and
mild, and the large eyes so intelligent, that my
heart was won on the instant.
“What is that little brown beast?†I asked
the man in attendance.
I was told that it was a night monkey, that a
sailor had brought it from Africa as a pet, and
they had bought it from him.
A night monkey! I had no desire for a
monkey, full of pranks and mischief, in my
houseful of birds, still less for one who would
carry on his performances at night.
I turned away, but, giving one glance back, I
was lost. The little fellow had come to the front
of the cage, pulled himself up straight, and was
looking at me in an earnest way that I could not
resist. Without pausing to consider the diffi-
culties to be overcome, I bought him at once,
leaving him to be sent home the next day, and
then I went home myself and worked out the
problem of how to keep a night monkey in a
parlor.
THE KINEAJOU. 3
First, of course, I must have a cage, and this
is what I planned, and had made.
two feet square, of half-inch boards, with the
whole front open. Over this open side a door
of coarse-meshed wire gauze slid up and down.
The bottom of the box was furnished with a
zine tray, with edges an inch high, on the top
of which rested a slide of the same coarse wire
gauze, and in the upper back corner was nailed
a round wooden spicebox. J describe it thus
carefully, to show my readers how easily a little
beast may be accommodated in a parlor, and
with how little care kept clean and sweet.
The wire floor, of course, let everything fall
through into the tray under it, and thus the little
fellow’s fur was beautifully clean. To put the
whole thing in order for the day was the work
of five minutes. The zine tray — on the bottom
of which was always a sheet of newspaper — was
drawn out, the newspaper carpet with its con-
tents dumped bodily into the ash barrel, the
tray held a moment under the hot-water faucct
in the laundry, and thoroughly scalded. It was
then dried, a fresh sheet of paper laid in it, and
returned to the cage. All this in the morning,
while the resident of the cage was rolled up in
his blankets fast asleep, and thus it was left
fresh and nice for the day.
He was a cold little beastie, and I feared at
4 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
first that we should never make him comfortable,
although he was clad in a coat of thick wool,
which stood out like the wool of a sheep, and
would seem to be very warm. His cage, too,
stood close to the register, and was covered all
day by a thick double gray blanket. Yet he
would not rouse himself at all, unless the ther-
mometer stood at 78°, and to be lively he needed
it at 80°. This was somewhat smothering to the
family, but they heroically endured it for the
pleasure the little African gave them.
All the long hours of daylight he passed simply
as a ball of fur, deaf to all coaxing, oblivious
alike of friend and foe; but during the night
he was wide awake, and as full of life as any
monkey.
Not being able to see in the dark easily, lim-
its our acquaintances in the animal world, and
among others, with all my efforts, I never knew
my little pet as I wished, for light, even the dim-
mest, was a damper upon his freedom. I could
listen to him, to be sure, and I did, through as
many nights as I cared to give to it. What I
heard was curious and suggestive, and I could
fancy all sorts of performances, — turning of
somersaults, dancing of figs, queer pushing,
shuffling, rustling, and gnawing, with straining
of the joints of the cage, rattling of dishes, and
now and then a fall to the floor, enough to break
his bones.
THE KINKAJOU. 5
Evidently he was my gentle pet no longer,
but a wild beast trying to escape. Yet, even
then, when his pranks were wildest, if I lifted
the blanket and spoke to him, he quickly thrust
out a cold hand to be warmed, and gently rubbed
a soft nose against my hands, though two min-
utes after I left, the strange sounds were resumed.
The morning showed signs of his deeds: paper
that had covered the floor torn to bits; sawdust
(which at first I kept on the bottom) scattered
far and wide out on the carpet; his much prized
nest box gnawed, pulled from its fastening if
possible, and upset on the floor; water cup bot-
tom up, and the cage flooded; heavy woollen
blanket that covered the door torn to ribbons,
or made into “ drawn work,†more intricate than
any designs in the pattern-book. These were
the results that proclaimed his night’s amuse-
ments. Woe to the household, I thought, if he
succeeded in opening his door.
II.
THE KINKAJOU AT HOME.
On one occasion we hada guest, a lady who
was afraid of the queer little fellow. During
the night she was frightened by noises she heard
in the parlor, and she declared that she heard a
strange shuffling on the stairs, and a sniffing at
her door.
I laughed at her, but when I entered the par-
lor I laughed no more. The room looked as
if a cyclone had struck it. Vases were tipped
over on a shelf; various articles of bric-a-brac
were upset, a framed photograph thrown down,
and even a framed engraving, quite heavy for
so smalla mischief maker, was lying on the floor,
while books, work basket, and all small objects
were scattered from one end of the room to the
other.
Worse still, the author of all the confusion
was not to be found. We searched the house
from attic to cellar, in every spot he could hide ;
under the beds, behind the bureaus, and among
the dresses in the closets. Fearing he had gone
~ out at an open window, we even examined the
/
THE KINKAJOU. 7
roof, and the outside windowsills — no monkey
to be found.
Grieving, both to lose him, and in dread of
the fate he might meet in the streets of the city,
I began to put the room in order, restore the
pictures, which were not injured in any way, to
their places, and pick up the scattered contents
of my work basket. As I went to replace a
volume in a set of low bookshelves, I caught
sight of a bit of fur. I pulled out half a dozen
books, and there, rolled into a snug ball, was the
naughty rogue, fast asleep.
What did I do with hin? Why, I took hold
of him, and he turned his sleepy eyes upon me
with a look so innocent and winning that I put
him back in his box, careful not to disturb his
morning nap — and forgave him on the spot.
We never should have made the acquaintance
of the odd little creature at all, if there had not
been several hours between sundown and bed-
time in which to study his curious ways. From
the moment he aroused himself in the evening
he was most interesting.
Soon after the gas was lighted and the family
had become quiet, for he hated confusion or
noise, his house was opened, by throwing the
blanket porti¢re over on to the top of the cage,
and sliding up the wire door.
Before long the fur ball in the small round
8 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
box in the upper back corner began to uncoil,
two tiny hands appeared on the edge, followed
by a quaint little gray face, with a look so un-
canny that one could not wonder at the super-
stitions of the natives of his country about him.
First he looked over to make sure of his mis-
tress, who always fed him. Then he leaned far
out of his box, taking hold of the water-cup
across the cage, and drawing his lithe body out
in a long, long stretch, bending his back down-
ward like a bow turned the wrong way, opening
his mouth very wide, and thrusting out his curi-
ous tongue, which was very thin and reached
nearly three inches beyond his lips.
Then he drew back to his box, and proceeded
to get wide awake by stretching each limb sepa-
rately, and spreading the fingers wide apart.
Next came his toilet, for he was a well-mannered
little fellow, and never thought of coming to
breakfast till he was in perfect order.
His way of dressing was amusing. Over each
long limb he passed his claws, thoroughly comb-
ing the hair the wrong way, so that it must
perforce stand up; then lifting himself to an
upright position, resting on feet and tail, he
dressed the fur on his broad stomach, using both
hands in rapid alternation on the same spot, and
moving them so quickly and in so business-like
a manner that it was very funny to see. His
THE KINKAJOU. 9
back and head were reached by one foot, or
hand, in doing which he turned and twisted his
arms and legs over his body, till it seemed as
if he would dislocate the joints. His face he
washed as a cat does hers, and he also washed
other parts of his golden-brown fur, while cov-
ered up in his blanket, later in the evening; but
the combing was the regular business, performed
before he was ready for society.
This done he was ready for his supper — or
should it be called breakfast, since he had eaten
nothing later than the night before? A banana
“was peeled, a thin slice cut off, and offered to
him on the point of a silver knife. He sniffed
at it gently, above, below, on every side, and if
exactly to his critical taste, he gravely opened
his mouth and received it, every movement being
with the utmost deliberation and dignity.
To eat it, he bit a piece off with the side
teeth, threw back his head, and crushed it be-
tween the tongue and the roof of the mouth,
which was crossed with bony-looking ridges.
When he came to me he ate apples, but the
first time he saw a banana he fairly snatched it
with both hands, so that J could not get it away
to peelfor him. Je tore the skin, and devoured
it so greedily that he was furnished with ba-
nanas from that time.
Generally he ate sitting up like a kangaroo,
10 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
but when the piece was large, he sometimes lay
down on his back or side, and brought both
hands and feet into use for help. Occasionally,
if convenient, he sat up against a book, or stick
of wood, leaning on one elbow with a most sen-
timental air.
His position in sitting down was very curious.
So flexible was his body that he could sit down
at any point of his spine. He often bent at
about the middle of the back, while he slowly
dispatched his food; head and shoulders stand-
ing straight up without support, and the rest of
the body lying flat, with the two legs spread far
apart to keep the balance. Not unfrequently he
leaned over the edge of the box, back down,
eating, with his head hanging wrong side up,
in which position any other animal would break
his back.
Slice after slice of banana disappeared till
almost the whole of one was consumed, when
he coolly turned his back upon the tempter,
and curled down, apparently for a nap. But
this was merely a hint for people to withdraw,
resume their ordinary occupations, of book, or
work, or play, and leave him in freedom, which
they accordingly did.
III.
MANNERS OF THE KINKAJOU.
THE coast being clear, as he ascertained by
cautiously peeping out, the kinkajou, with great
deliberation, prepared to come out for his even-
ing promenade. First he reached over to the
water-cup and refreshed himself with a drink,
lapping it like a dog; then he quietly came to
the floor of the cage with all fours, holding
tightly to his nest by the long tail. Should any
one move toward him then, he would scramble
back into the nest, and curl down into the small-
est possible space. But no one did; and cau-
tiously he moved about the cage, sniffing, or
smelling, so vigorously that he might be heard
across the room, and at last with perfect ease,
although without haste, let himself down to the
floor (about two feet), and started around the
edge of the room.
At every chair he rose to an erect position,
smelled at the cover, walking around it, and often
taking two or three steps without holding on,
showing that he had no difficulty in walking
on two feet. Occasionally he pulled himself up
12 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
on to a chair, but he preferred the sofa. This
had a high back, which he quickly mounted,
running along the thin edge of carved wood, and
standing up on the highest point, to smell at a
picture frame on the wall.
Sometimes he curled down on the sofa for a
nap, but usually he proceeded with his tour of
the room, climbing the tall easel to the top, and
there standing up to reach still higher; sliding
down again by twining his tail around, and
clasping with his four little hands the back
support ; inspecting the bell-pull, and trying to
understand the mystery of the speaking tube.
The kinkajou’s tail was an interesting mem-
ber, plainly for use more than ornament. As
he walked along the floor it dragged over every-
thing with a sort of clinging feeling, and if
it touched anything, like the leg of a chair, it
curled around it. It was a great help in stand-
ing up, and in steadying his body when climb-
ing. It was partly if not fully prehensile.
The little creature was very deliberate in his
usual movements, hobbling around the room like
a small bear, his long hind legs and turned-in
toes giving him a peculiarly awkward gait ;
climbing tables and chairs, and coming down
head first in a cautious manner. If startled, he
galloped clumsily back to his corner, scrambled
into the cage, pulled himself up to his nest,
SINKAJOU
ARELIC
THE KINKAJOU. 138
curled down out of sight, and stayed there till
all was quiet again.
His round spice-box nest, eight inches in
diameter, was his delight — by day to sleep in,
and by night to tear to pieces. Now spice boxes
are not very costly, but they come in sets, and
with each one of the proper size came several
smaller ones; so, after overstocking my kitchen
pantry and filling all my empty shelves, I put
an end to the fun by getting a grocer’s measure
of the right size. This, being very thick, of
hard wood and iron bound, was too much for his
teeth, and when fastened by screws to a pair of
iron brackets, defied all his attempts to destroy
it. The blankets to sleep on and to keep him
warm were lashed to the box; else they would
not be in place five minutes.
Fond as the kinkajou was of his nest, when
the door was open he discovered a place he liked
even better. This was the top of his cage, four
feet from the floor, where during the evening
lay a thick double gray blanket, into the folds
of which he delighted to creep, and peep out at
us, when the room was cooler than he liked.
To reach this snug retreat, he climbed an arm-
chair which stood beside it, pulling himself first
up to the seat, then to the arm, and then the
back. When the room was of a temperature to
please him, and consequently intolerable to us,
14 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
he liked to lie outside the blanket in the odd-
est attitudes ; sometimes flat on his back, with
legs stretched to their utmost, sometimes on his
stomach, with head hanging over the edge, in a
way to break his neck, one would think. Head
down was always a favorite attitude with him,
and in the beautiful ball he made of himself it
was not only turned down, but completely cov-
ered in the most smothering way.
The positions into which the kinkajou put his
incredibly lithe body were marvelous; it often
looked as though he had not a bone under his
skin. He could bend his back in a perfect bow
either way, turn and twist arms and legs into
any impossible position, flatten himself to creep
under a low bookcase, or narrow himself to pass
between two books on a shelf. Any place where
he could hold on was perfectly satisfactory. He
sat on the sharp edge of a spice-box with all
four feet Cor hands) side by side, and so com-
fortably, that if he wished to eat he removed
one hand for the purpose, and balanced him-
self easily on three, while he disposed of his
lunch.
On one occasion, passing from a small table
to the top of a cold stove a foot away, he had
put one hand and one foot on the stove, but be-
fore releasing his hold of the table, decided to
eat the slice of banana he held in the other
THE KINKAJOU. 15
hand ; so, all attitudes being equally agreeable,
he simply rested there, one foot on the table
and the tail laid across it, holding on to the
further edge, and one foot and one hand on
the stove. In this strange, unnatural position
he remained, eating with the utmost delibera-
tion, and washing his hands before he passed on.
The stride of his hind limbs was remarkable.
Climbing from the top of a chair to the mantel,
ten or twelve inches away, and as much higher,
he put up two hands and then one foot beside
them before letting go of the chair. Then he
did not jump, but pulled himself up.
His preparations for sleep were no less pecu-
liar. Te often curled his tail from the tip into
a perfectly regular coil, which he used for a
cushion, sitting upon it, and letting his pretty
little finger-like toes hang over the edge; but if
he wished to sleep, he placed his face on this
cushion, put his hands around and over, or
tucked them in behind his head, and drew the
long hind legs and feet up around the whole,
making a complete ball. Sometimes when on
the floor he curled the tail around outside.
This was his favorite attitude for sleeping
through the day.
IV.
THE KINKAJOU’S NAME AND HIS LOOKS.
To discover the name of my queer little pet,
and his place in the books of Natural History, I
found a hard task. Many volumes were studied,
the search being based on the story I had been
told, that he had come from Africa, and was
called a night monkey.
In looks, habits, and manners he resembled
the Lemuride or half-monkeys of that country,
Books and traveled naturalists agreed that he
must be a lemuroid, though no one could exactly
place him. But one day, in looking for some-
thing else, I stumbled upon a description that
suited him better than any other, and thus found
that he was a kinkajou of Central and South
America. Tt was plain, therefore, that somebody
through whose hands he had passed had not the
love of truth in his heart.
I was glad to find that I was not the first who
had been puzzled by his resemblance to the
lemurs. Naturalists have been uncertain where
to place him, but at last have decided that he
belongs to the bears, and his proper name is
Cercoleptes caudivolvulus, though the South
THE KINKAJOU. 17
Americans call him kinkajou, and the natives of
Central America, conyeuse.
My little South American was one of the most
nervous and observing creatures I ever saw ; not
a movement or a sound escaped his notice when
awake. He would lie on my shoulder or the
back of a chair by the hour, and watch the
shadows — especially his own —as they fell on
the carpet; he listened to the noises outside,
cats, dogs, the elevated railroad, the latter with
manifest disapproval.
He never liked to have any one come up be-
hind him. A sudden noise startled him greatly,
and his tiny hand had always a nervous jerk
when I held it inmine. He had a most sensitive
organization. At a distance, he liked to sit up
and look at us, but if we moved to approach
him, he turned his back, cuddled into a corner
or buried his head under a blanket. It was not
fear, for he readily came up on us, and, in fact,
became troublesomely familiar at last.
He was playful in a quiet way. He amused.
himself with a string, as a kitten does, lying on
his back and using all fours to toss it up and
pull it around. In the same way he played with
alone gold chain, biting and tossing it around,
and he was extremely ticklish. His principal
plaything was his own tail, which had a curious
appearance of independent motion. It curled
18 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
around his neck, laid itself over his eyes, or
moved back and forth before his face, while
he, lying on his back, seized it, pretended to bite
and worry it. The eard-table was wonderfully
fascinating to him; the cards he liked to put his
sharp teeth into, and the cribbage pegs were
simply irresistible.
The little animal was pretty as well as inter-
esting ; about the size of a small cat, being fifteen
inches from tip of nose to root of tail, with a
furry, prehensile tail, sixteen inches long, which
was always curled over at the tip. He had
kinky wool, of a beautiful golden-brown color,
darker on the back, with shining golden tips in
the daylight ; this stood straight out all over his
body excepting on the back of his hands, where
it was silky and lay flat.
His hands, though without opposable thumbs,
were beautifully shaped, with long, delicate fin-
gers, webbed to the knuckles, with double joints,
enabling him to bend them either way, and soft
thick cushions or pads inside, so that he was
shod with silence. [His feet were exactly like his
hands, excepting a heel-bone. Both hands and
feet had long claws instead of nails, and were
flesh-colored inside. His head was really beauti-
ful, —shaped somewhat like a eat’s, with a face
of a grayish color ; he had delicate, sensitive ears,
not large, but very wide open and movable with
THE KINKAJOU. 19
every emotion; his eyes were enormously large
for his size, very full and prominent, black and
gentle in expression, and over the inner corner
of each was a little tuft of hair like a ecat’s
whiskers, about an inch and a half long.
He had also whiskers on the sides of his nose
like a eat’s and another tuft of similar length
under the chin. His nose was bare, and the
nostrils were the peculiar shape of the lemur’s.
fis tongue was of great length, and very thin,
for what purpose I could not discover. Some
writers say that it is to collect insects from
evevices in bark, while others affirm that it is to
gather honey stored away by bees. I could not
induce my pet to touch any insect I could find,
and he did not show fondness for sweets.
Stealthy movement and almost entire silence
were characteristic of the kinkajou. In all the
time he lived with us, we seldom heard a sound
from him. Once, when accidentally hurt, he
uttered a chattering sound like nothing so much
as that made by a stick drawn across a picket
fence, at the same time showing his teeth like a
snarling dog; also, he repelled strangers with a
rough breathing, a sort of “huff.†When asleep,
we sometimes heard from under the blanket
where he lay, a low “yap†like a dreaming
puppy’s, or a whine like a dog’s. Save these
few times, he never uttered a sound.
Vv.
THE LAST OF THE KINKAJOU.
As time passed, and he became better ac-
quainted and lost all fear, the little kinkajou
became more affectionate and sociable. Espe-
cially so with his particular friend and mistress,
to whom he had always shown partiality. In
his wildest days, he would always put one soft
hand, sométimes two of them, through the wires
to be held, or to seize a finger to lick. He
liked to have me hold my face near the wires,
and let him put his hands on it. Almost every
moment that he was out he insisted on being
upon me,—my lap, my arm, or, best of all,
my shoulder, where he would lie at full length,
head outwards, to watch the room, with his tail
around my neck as an anchor. Nor did he lie
quiet even there. One moment he would sud-
denly turn and lick my cheek; then, as unex-
pectedly, would he take a gentle nip at my ear;
and first and last and always jerk at my hair,
which he seemed to regard as made for him to
pull down, tangle, and play with.
Of this he made a business, standing on my
shoulder, putting both hands on my head, and
THE KINKAJOU. 21
settling himself for a good frolic. What he
wished to accomplish I never found out, for no
one could long endure the rough treatment. If
I sueceeded in keeping him off my shoulder, he
would establish himself on my arm, which he
clasped with all four limbs, and held on for dear
life, while he licked or playfully bit my hand
or wrist. To shake him off was utterly impossi-
ble; he had a wonderful grip, and the more one
shook, the closer he held.
As the weather grew warm, this little fur
boa was not so comfortable around the neck ;
neither did I enjoy the warm little body glued
to my arm; but it was impossible to get relief.
Tf I put him down, or upon some one else for a
rest, he would climb about and amuse himself
till I made some movement or spoke, when in-
stantly his quaint little face turned, he aban-
doned all else and ran for me. When I made
violent effort to drive him away, pushing or
in any way exciting him, he never was scared
away; the more he was alarmed, the more fran-
tically he would run for me, clamber up my
chair, and mount to my shoulder as though that
were his haven of refuge. The more I disturbed
and pushed and tried to shake him off, the
tighter he clung, and the more persistently he
returned. Sometimes, when particularly affeec-
tionate, he threw all four arms (or legs) around
22 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
my head so as completely to embrace it, and
buried his teeth in my hair.
Trying to retain him on my lap by keeping
the rcom still and never relaxing vigilance for a
moment, if any sudden noise, a laugh, a door
opened, or anything startled him, he would slip
through my hands in spite of my efforts to hold
him, seramble to my shoulder, throw his tail and
perhaps an arm around my neck, and hold
closely enough nearly to choke me.
This soon became intolerable. J could neither
read nor do anything, except devote myself
entirely to the kinkajou. I went away from home
for a month — this was June — and during that
time he never cared to come out of the cage.
When the door was opened for evening, he
would glance gravely out, sniff loudly, and look
slowly around the room, then, in a few moments,
curl down again to sleep. I hoped he was cured
of his troublesome fondness, but on my return
he came out at onec, and proceeded to amuse
himself and torment me in the same old way.
The weather was now very warm, and I could
not endure his embarrassing attentions. I would
not keep him confined to his cage, so I presented
him to the National Museum at Washington,
where he was not so gentle and amiable as he
had been with us, but bit and seratched, and, in
fact, went quite back to savagery.
Vi.
A KINKAJOU IN A BOARDING SCHOOL.
A xKinxasou whose story was told to me by
his mistress was for four days a pet in a girls
school in Central America. Although a native
of that country, he is rarely seen, because of his
habit of making the night his playtime, and the
people are rather in awe of him,
This one used to sleep all day, rolled into
a ball in some corner, sometimes even on the
window-sill in the schoolroom. When in that
position, he might be tumbled all about the floor
without waking, or at least without wacoiling.
For his breakfast, he sat up in a child’s little
chair and, holding a banana in each hand, took
a bite from each in turn till he had enough.
Then he simply opened his fingers, and let the
fruit drop, and fell to washing his hands with
great care. Unlike my pet, he breakfasted be-
fore he dressed his fur, but he eombed and
brushed himself up very nicely afterward.
The greatest part of his enjoyment consisted
in examining the strange things he found about
him, and pulling them te pieces to see how they
24 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
were made. Nothing escaped his busy fingers,
and scarcely anything could resist his sharp
nails.
He was a social and warmth-loving creature,
and desired above all things to be in somebody’s
lap. And he was so droll in his way of getting
about, and so deliberate in his movements, that
his mistress never tired of watching him.
But when the family went to bed at ten
o’clock, his day, of course, was just beginning,
and as he was not caged, he found’the field open
for him to indulge his taste for investigation.
His first prank was to tear to pieces a whole
banana plant. The severest cyclone that ever
passed over a prairie in the West could not
more completely demolish a tender plant than
his four little hands did.
Great was the outcry when the family came
out in the morning, and saw how he had amused
himself during his first night in the house.
But when they looked for the culprit, and
found the little bundle of fur on the corner of
a window-sill, and roughly shook him out, pre-
pared to punish him severely, the calm, innocent
look in the sleepy eyes he turned upon them
disarmed them instantly, as the same look in my
own pet always did me. The fiercest wrath
vanished. ‘ Poor little beastie!†they said,
“how did he know it was mischief?†and he
THE KINKAJOU. 25
was forgiven and laid gently down again to
sleep.
The second night — grown wiser, as they
thought, and resolved that no more plants
should suffer —they shut him up in a school-
room. With nothing but desks and benches,
he could surely do no harm.
Could he not? They thought differently the
next morning, when they went in and found the
costly “solar system,†without which no child
could be expected to understand how the earth
and the moon and the various planets perform
their several waltzes around the sun, a total
ruin, as hopelessly destroyed as the banana
plant had been, and the little beast again coiled
up, sleeping the sleep of innocence.
His owner grew sober; if this was his way
of passing the night, it would soon empty her
purse to pay for his fun. But he was so droll,
she could not bring herself to give him up. She
would try him again. The next night, accord-
ingly, he was carefully shut out of the school-
room, lest he try his hand on the benches them-
selves, for by that time they began to think he
could do anything he chose.
With no fun on hand he became lonely, and
started on a search after society, which he al-
ways liked, but seldom enjoyed, since everybody
was in bed through most of his waking hours.
26 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
On this unlucky occasion the principal of the
school, who was so nervous as to faint at a spider,
and who of course “hated pets,†happened to
be engaged in some writing, which kept her up
after the rest of the household had retired. In
that warm climate, the bedrooms all open upon
the corridor, and have, for hot nights, slat doors,
high enough to keep people out, but not reach-
ing the top of the door frame.
The kinkajou saw a chance of company; so,
calmly and silently, in the stealthy way of his
race, he climbed over the slats and surprised
the late worker by a leap on to her lap. He
was greeted with a wild shriek, which awoke
everybody in that part of the house. Then,
while his mistress lay waiting in terror for
what should happen next, she heard muffled
steps without, a sudden movement, and a heavy
fall on her floor. She sprang up, got a light,
and found her naughty pet, much surprised but
not hurt, thanks to the soft cushions of his feet
and his cat-like way of falling upon them. His
greatly offended enemy had throw him over the
slat door !
The next day the principal looked rather
sober, though she said nothing, and his mistress
began to consider what she could do with him
to prevent further trouble. But that night, the
fourth of his residence with her, he took his fate
THE KINKAJOU. Q7
into his own hands, and settled his sentence of
banishment.
He wandered into the dormitory where twenty
boarders in as many beds were sleeping the
sound sleep of schoolgirls. What the poor little
fellow did could never be found out, probably
no one knew exactly; but he made his presence
obvious in some way, and startled one girl out
of sleep. Her shrieks threw nineteen more into
a panic of terror, that ended — when the family
had rushed in half dressed, and the cause of the
uproar was discovered —in a fit of hysterics all
around.
Solemnly and grimly the principal sent for
a bottle of bromide, and sternly she forced every
girl to take a dose, while the kinkajou’s mistress
gathered the naughty little beast imto her arms
and meekly retired to her own room.
That night she sat up and entertained the
troublesome pet, and the next day he was
returned to the hand that gave him, with the
verdict that he was exceedingly interesting, but
his manners needed cultivation to fit him for
general society.
Il.
LIVING BALLS.
Many animals have the power of rolling them-
selves into a ball, not only to sleep, but for
protection from enemies stronger than them-
selves, with whom they could not fight. Perhaps
the most interesting of these is a little-known
animal of South America, the ball armadillo, or
—in the books —the Dasypus apar.
This creature, scarcely more than a foot long,
is nearly covered by a horny case, curiously
divided into six-sided plates, with three bands
around his body. He looks funny enough when
walking about, exactly as if he had a decorated
blanket over him held in place by three girdles.
Over his wide face, almost hiding his eyes, is a
pointed shield of the same horny substance, and
another protects the top of his short tail.
This queer fellow delights in turning himself
into a ball. If he is in the least afraid of
anything, or if a friend is too rough, he rolls up
with a snap, like a spring, and sometimes the
rough-handed friend gets his fingers nipped be-
tween the sharp edges of his case.
LIVING BALLS. 29
Nothing is so droll as two of these odd little
creatures pretending to fight. The thing each
one tries to do is to bite the ears of his opponent,
or with his claws to tear the tough skin between
the three bands. They scuffle without much
ferocity till one gets a slight advantage, when,
presto! snap! his enemy has become a ball, and
a ball he patiently remains, in spite of the efforts
of beast or man, till he has tired out his assailant,
or considers it proper to unbend.
In this shape the armadillo is safe from the
attacks of larger animals, with which he could
not for an instant cope. The jaguar prowling
through the woods in search of food may roll
him about, but can neither crush him between
his teeth nor force him open with his paw.
Monkeys, which, true to their love of fun, de-
light in teasing small and harmless animals by
pulling them around by the tail, look in vain for
a tail to take hold of. It is not unlikely that he
enjoys some lively rolling about at the hands of
these frolicsome quadrumana, although no such
performance has been reported. Only from
man, who can take him up and carry him home
to unroll at his leisure, is this no protection.
The apar is an interesting little beast apart
from his habit of retiring within his shell. He
is lively and playful, and therefore much liked
asa pet. His walk is very odd. He has on the
30 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
fore feet three long claws, on the tips of which
he totters about, and on the hind feet five claws,
which he plants flatly on the ground.
It is curious that although many animals as-
sume as nearly as possible a spherical shape in
sleeping, this little fellow, to whom that shape
is so familiar and easy, sleeps, on the contrary,
stretched out his full length, resting on the stom-
ach, with fore paws laid together straight before
him, head flat between the two, and shield arched
up over him like a roof.
Bolita (little ball), as he is called by the na-
tives, is said by some travelers to be as expert
at tunneling as at ball-making. His enormous
claws being admirable digging tools, he is able
to burrow in soft earth so rapidly that a man
can scarcely seize him before he is out of sight.
Underground, if still pursued, he continues his
tunnel, and to dig him out, even with all the
wit of man in saving labor, is the work of hours.
The ball armadillo is much sought for by the
natives to eat, though, when caught, his innocent,
attractive ways often change his destiny from
roasting in his own shell to being the cherished
household pet and playmate for the children,
whose romps and games with the pretty living
ball are various and charming to see.
The baby bolita is one of the drollest of in-
fants, dressed from the first in armor complete
LIVING BALLS. 3l
as that of his elders, but light in color, and soft
like parchment.
The Old World furnishes another living ball
in the manis, or scaly ant-eater. This strange
animal is about eighteen inches in length, with
a tail as long as the body, and a protecting
armor different from, but quite as effectual, as
that of the armadillo. From nose to tip of tail
the manis is clothed in gray horny scales, shield-
shape and convex, so that they lie closely, lap-
ping over each other. The tail is very broad,
and possesses great muscles of such power that
several men together fail to move it from its
chosen position, wrapped around the ball he
makes of himself. In this position he is quite
different from the armadillo. Instead of offer-
ing a smooth, hard surface to the enemy, each
plate stands up from the rest, all presenting an
array of sharp, horny points extremely unpleas-
ant to the touch of man or beast. To assume
the ball shape he places his head between the
fore legs, wraps the tail over legs and head,
bringing it up on to the neck, and there he holds
it, while leopards and jackals, as well as men,
try their strength on him in vain.
The manis is quite as odd when walking about
as the armadillo, though not in the same way.
The claws of his fore feet being long and curved,
he turns them under or back, and walks on the
32 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
outside of them, holding his back highly arched
as he goes. He has also a curious manner of
standing erect on his hind legs for a better view
of things, using his broad tail to balance himself.
A better known animal of ball-making habits
is the common hedgehog, of whose spine-covered,
impervious ball we have all read from childhood,
if we have not seen. He also, like the armadillo,
resorts to the spherical form in time of war.
When “ having it out†with a venomous snake,
for instance, he will give a savage bite on the
back, and instantly retire behind or within his
sharp spines, which, projecting on all sides,
effectually keep the reptile at a safe distance.
After a time he will cautiously unroll and take
an observation, and, if the snake is off its guard,
give another sudden bite, and so on till he
breaks the back. In the same way he protects
himself from dogs, which are loath to attack the
spiny ball.
Not only as a safeguard from enemies is this
accomplishment useful to the hedgehog, but as
a protection from other perils. Should he lose
his hold and fall from a height, even of twenty
feet, he instantly pulls himself together into a
ball, and reaches the ground unhurt. It is even
said that he often chooses that easy way, and
deliberately throws himself to the ground, rather
than take the trouble to climb.
LIVING BALLS. 33
The largest animal known to assume the ball
shape for safety is the black bear of the Him-
alayas, called also the Tibetan sun-bear, and
about the size and color of our American black
bear. When pursued by hunters in his moun-
tain home, he will draw himself up into a large
ball of fur, and deliberately roll down the steep
hillsides, bounding off the rocks, and of course
reaching the valley much more quickly than any
hunter who cannot follow his short cut. At the
bottom he simply unrolls, shakes himself, and
walks off at his leisure.
The strangest animal in the world, perhaps, is
the duck-bill platypus of Australia, and rolling
himself into a ball is one of his dearest delights.
An English naturalist who kept a pair of these
curious fellows alive, to study their ways, made
drawings of the different shapes they put them-
selves into, and their common sleeping position
he found to be that of a ball. To get himself
into this form, the animal placed the fore paws
under the beak, bending its head downward ; it
then laid the hind paws over the mandibles and
lastly turned the tail up over all, to make the
whole complete, when it looked like a well-made
fur ball. The naturalist was able to draw down
the tail, and thus disclose the method of pack-
ing; but unless the creature was sound asleep
it would growl like a savage puppy.
34 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
His account of the manners of his strange
pets is very readable. Like other young ani-
mals, they were extremely playful, and their
antics, being like those of puppies, were most
ludicrous in creatures so oddly shaped as the
Ornithorhynchus. The toilet after bathing was
of great interest. In this operation they used
the claws of the hind feet alone, twisting the
body easily in several directions, changing feet
when tired, and picking the fur as a bird dresses
its feathers. Even the head was combed by the
claws of the hind feet, and after an hour of this
work, the little creatures were beautifully sleek
and glossy.
Another ball-maker is the koala or Australian
native bear. He isa most attractive little beast,
not much bigger than a cat, clothed in long ashy
eray fur. His short face, with its large black
eyes and nose and the long hairy decorations of
his ears, gives him a quaint expression. He rolls
himself up to sleep, and when awake the droll
black-haired baby travels about perched on the
shoulders of his mamma, and makes a charming
picture to look at.
Nearly every part of the world furnishes a
ball-maker. In Africa is found one of the
strangest of beasts, the galago, belonging to the
Lemur family. There are several species, some
the size of a rat, and others as large as a cat,
THE ARMADILLO AND DUCK-BILL
LIVING BALLS. 85
but their manners and habits are about the
same.
They are, like the kinkajou, night - lovers.
During the day they prefer to sleep, rolled up
into a ball, but at night they are as full of
pranks as a monkey. They will jump about,
holding themselves upright like a kangaroo,
from the floor to a table, or to a person’s shoul-
der, sometimes uttering a loud cry, or a lively
chattering, and again going about in perfect
silence.
The galagos are pretty little creatures with
woolly fur and very long bushy tails, and they
are four-handed. They have great staring eyes,
as night-loving creatures are apt to have, and
their ears are curious, very large, and capable
of being folded or drawn down so as to be
almost closed, —a convenient arrangement for
fellows who want to sleep all day. Some of
them have been kept as pets, and others in
museums, and they are very entertaining.
The island of Madagascar contributes to the
ball-making beasts one of the strangest animals
in the world, the aye-aye. He is also of the
Lemur family, and so shy and solitary in his
habits that even the natives of the country are
not familiar with him.
All day long, when other animals and men
are wide awake, he sleeps rolled into a ball
386 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
among the thickest bunches of leaves, on the
bamboos, in the deepest woods. But when the
day-lovers have gone to bed, the queer little
beast comes out to frolic and to eat. He eats
the pith of bamboos and sugar-canes, and is fond
of beetles and grubs as well, and he makes more
noise than the galago, uttering a sort of plain-
tive cry as he jumps from branch to branch.
He is a singularlooking animal, with large
eyes and ears, and a tail longer than his body.
His fur is bushy and long, and very dark in
color. But the most remarkable things about
him are his hands. The hinder pair are like
other lemurs, but the front ones have the stran-
gest bony fingers of different lengths, the second
one so long and thin that it looks like a bent
wire.
For a long time no one knew the use of this
remarkable finger, but at last a naturalist kept
one alive and watched him. In his cage was
put at one time a worm-eaten branch, and when
the captive came out at dusk he at once began
to examine it. With his wire-like finger he
gently tapped the bark, at the same time hold-
ing his large ears close to it, listening.
Finally he seemed to hear something that
pleased him, for at once he began to tear off the
bark with his strong teeth, and to cut into the
wood, till he reached the entrance to a nest
LIVING BALLS. 387
where a grub was snugly lying. Then he thrust
in his slender finger and brought out the choice
morsel, which he ate with great relish.
When the aye-aye drinks he uses the strange
finger in another way ; holding his open mouth
conveniently near, he scoops or throws the water
into it, so rapidly that it seems to rush in in a
stream.
It is said that this queer little fellow lives in
a nest which he makes of the long leaves of the
“traveler’s tree,†rolled wp, and lined with dry
leaves. It is ball-shaped, with an opening in
one side, and is placed in a fork in a large tree.
Ii.
THE HALF-MONKEY.
I. KOKO.
Many a strange little beast from far-off quar-
ters of the globe may be picked up in New York,
in places where sailors are wont to dispose of
their pets. In such a place I found and bought
a rare and ‘interesting animal, a black-headed
lemur, or Lemur brunneus, native of Madagas-
car. He was a member of my household for
nearly a year, and during that time the family
circle was never dull. The whole of Barnum’s
menagerie next door could not have afforded
more entertainment than did this one droll little
fellow.
He was about the size of a small cat, or, to be
exact, from the tip of his pointed nose to the
root of the tail he measured sixteen inches; of
that length, three inches were face and thirteen
body and neck. His girth back of the fore legs
was nine inches.
The manners of the little stranger were ex-
tremely odd. His home was the cage in the
parlor already described, where he was generally
THE WALF-MONKEY. 39
alone all day, and spent the time, it is to be
supposed, in sleeping, although T must admit I
rarely found him so. At about four in the
afternoon I went into the room and let him out.
The moment I appeared he came to the front of
the cage, pressed his weird little black face with
its clear topaz eyes to the wires, and then
began to call and “weave†impatiently. The
latter was a smgular movement. Planting his
hind legs far apart, he held up, and outward,
his short arms, and swayed his whole body from
side to side, at each end of his swing bringing
his hands down almost to the floor. This he
did very rapidly, uttermg every moment a short,
quick sort of double grunt, with an occasional
explosion or “snort,†in the exact tone of a pig.
Of course I instantly opened his door, from
that time till ten o’clock being his regular daily
outing. Like a flash he bounced through it,
jumped to the nearest chair, from that to the
sofa, the table, somebody’s lap or shoulder, the
mantel, the top of his cage, or the piano, and
so made the circuit of the two parlors, without
touching the carpet.
After thus going the grand rounds, he gen-
erally jumped to the floor, and ran all about
under the furniture. Jlis sharp nose nearly
touched the carpet, and his back Cowing to the
four inches difference in length between his fore
40 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and hind limbs) sloped up at an angle of forty-
five degrees to the tail, which stood straight up
like a banner over his back, the tip sometimes
curling forward like a dog’s, sometimes back-
ward like a hook. During the whole perform-
ance he constantly uttered a contented single
grunt like “ woof!â€
If any movement in the room startled him, he
broke into a grotesque gallop, bringing his feet
up closely beside his hands at every leap. This
gallop, which was rapid and light, always ended
in a sudden spring to somebody’s lap, or a
scramble to the top of a tall easel, where he
looked around to see what had frightened him.
But if not disturbed, when his tour of inspection
was over he usually went to the open fire, placed
himself sometimes on the toe of a lady’s slipper
if it were conveniently near, sometimes on a little
three-by-five-inch cushion on the arm of an easy-
chair.
Here he sat up like a cat, with tail hanging
out before him, or fell eagerly to dressing his
peculiar woolly fur, which stood out all over his
body. He washed his face by licking the out-
side edge of his hand and rubbing it back and
forth over his face, and wiped his mouth on a
chair, as a bird wipes its bill, first one side and
then the other. Especially did he labor over his
eighteen-inch-long tail, scraping up the fur till
THE HALF-MONKEY. 41
it stood straight out, and made that member look
enormously large. The tool with which he ac-
complished so much was his curious row of lower
front teeth, which ended in points almost as
sharp as needles, and projected so much that
they could not be used to bite, but made an
effective scraper for the skin, or a comb for his
own gray wool.
Warmed and dressed, the playful fellow began
his evening’s amusement. If the master’s quiet
game of cribbage was going on, he often began
by springing without warning to the middle of
the table, scattering cards like chaff, upsetting
cribbage-board and sending the pegs flying, slap-
ping cards out of the hands of the players and
biting needle-like holes in them.
To make a great commotion of any sort was
his delight. Sitting peacefully on my lap, or
lying flat upon his stomach, every limb stretched
out, apparently the most innocent and harmless
of pets, he would often quietly rise to his feet,
and, before I suspected him, snatch my book out
of my hand or spring over it into my face. If
I started at this rough salute, as I was tolerably
sure to do, he was struck with panic, gave one
mighty bound to the mantel, the bracket of a
lamp, the edge of an open door, or the floor,
where he stood a few seconds motionless as he
alighted.
42 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
with curious effect. Whether he was lying
quietly on one’s knee, standing, sitting, or in
whatever position, on being alarmed by an at-
tempt to capture him, or by an unexpected
sound, he instantly disappeared, — sideways,
backward, or forward,— without in any way
making ready, or getting upon his legs. It was
as if his body were a spring, or as if he were
flung by some force outside of himself; he sim-
ply went. A curious fashion he had also of
leaping against the bare side wall of the room,
which he struck flatly with all fours, and then
bounded off in another direction. I have seen
the same thing done by a squirrel, and also —
strange as it seems — by a bird.
IT.
MANNERS OF THE LEMUR.
THe extreme nervousness of the little lemur
seemed to be caused by too much company.
When alone with one person, especially if that
one were my daughter or myself—bhis prime
favorites — he was as quiet as the family cat.
He sat or lay in the lap, and allowed himself to
be brushed ; indeed, he enjoyed brushing, and
thrust out arms and lees to be operated upon.
He sat wp with his tail laid over his shoulders in
a comical way, and, if he wanted to turn his head,
he “ ducked †it under the tail and brought it up
the other side, rather than change its comfortable
position. This member was really a great care
to the little beast; he spent hours in dressing it,
and by means of it he expressed all his emotions,
When in quiet mood it hung straight down, as
stiffly as if made of wood; if he were on mischief
bent, it assumed a naughty-looking sidewise
turn, though still hanging; during his pranks
and in excitement it stood up like a flagstaff,
safely out of harm’s way; if his ‘angry passions
rose,†it was swished, after the manner of a cat;
and when he jumped, it delivered a severe blow,
like a smart rap with a stick.
44 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
Never was a living creature more alert than
this small brute. So acute was his hearing that
it was absolutely impossible to surprise him. No
matter how quietly and apparently off his guard
he sat on a chair, one could not jerk or tip that
piece of furniture so quickly as to take him un-
awares; at the first sign of movement he appeared
on the other side of the room, one could hardly
tell how. I wanted much to see him when he
did not see me, and to that end several times
stole into the room from the front. The back of
the cage was toward that side, and he could not
possibly see me. I took off my shoes, and moved
without the slightest sound over the carpet; but
when I reached the point where I could see the
open front of his cage, there he was, waiting,
looking for me, his bright yellow eye pressed
eagerly against the wires, in the corner nearest
the side I came to. The instant he saw me he
uttered a mocking grunt, which plainly said,
“Thought you ’d surprise me, eh?†and began a
violent weaving and coaxing to get out.
Perhaps he was thus wide awake because he
seemed really to fear being alone, and to dread
the dark. The moment he was left in the room
the spirit of mischief departed, and he retreated
to the top of his cage, where he stayed till some
one came in. The dusk, with its shadows, always
alarmed him, and, when taken into a strange
THE HALVY-MONKEY. 45
room, he cowered and clung to his friend as if
frightened out of his wits. Fond as he was of
society, he was exceedingly nervous about it.
When he heard a person coming through the
hall, he first ran to the end of a sofa nearest the
door; as the steps approached, he grew more
and more uneasy; and when the hand touched
the door-knob, he yielded to wild panic, bounded
to the other end of the sofa and over the back,
where he held by one hand, while his body
dangled behind.
His great sensitiveness showed also in another
way; he never met a human eye with his own.
He saw every expression of the face, but he
always looked just beyond it. He violently ob-
jected to being stared at, turned his head away,
and, if his head were held between two hands
for the purpose of looking in his face, he got
away, either by a sudden spring to the top of
the head of his captor, or by wriggling himself
out. backward. His wool-covered body it was
almost impossible to hold.
But although the little fellow would not look
one squarely in the face, he saw everything that
happened, and was as inquisitive as any monkey.
Ue liked to sit before the window and look at
passers-by, both beast and haman; a cat he
saluted by a short, sharp bark. A bugle that
was brought out proved most interesting. He
46 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
rose on his hind legs, which he did with perfect
ease, and thrust his nose into the large end,
evidently to find the sound. Once happening
to get possession of it when its owner was ab-
sent, he made a thorough examination of it. He
pulled it on to the floor, threw his body across
it, embracing it with his legs to keep it in place,
pushed his head almost out of sight into the big
end, then took the small end in his mouth, as if
to blow, and made minute and careful study of
every part of it, until fully satisfied that what-
ever he sought was beyond his reach, when he
threw it down and left it.
III.
KOKO’S INTELLIGENCE,
Tue intelligence of the lemur was notable.
He knew his own blankets instantly, wherever he
saw them, and was quite positive that no one
had a right to touch them; he learned his name
readily, always answered when spoken to, and
came at a call like a dog, which animals of his
sort rarely do. He also knew his own box, his
chosen seats, his place before the fire, and in-
sisted that they should not be used by others.
. In pictures he recognized a bird, tried to snatch
it out of the paper, as he did also any figures
that looked like insects. He disapproved of
change, complained when I closed the shutters,
and looked askance at me when I put on a dif-
ferent dress. He knew with perfect certainty
who would let him out of the cage and who
would not; one of the gentlemen of the house
might sit in the parlor all day, and, except for
keeping an eye on him, the little beast made no
sign; but let either of his mistresses enter, and
he was excited at once, weaving, grunting, and
demanding that the door be opened. He under-
stood at once, too, when forbidden to do any-
thing.
48 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
On the occasion of the visit of a child, he was
at first very jealous; did not like her to oceupy
alap he had considered his own, and opposed
with a squealing grunt her sitting on his special
stool before the fire. But she was a gentle
child, and a little later he became very fond of
her, let her pat him, sit beside him on his seat,
and at last insisted upon lying on some article
of her dress, if any were in the room.
What the small African set his mind on, he
always secured in the end, for his persistence
was simply marvelous. He was as fond of apples
as any schoolboy, and the head of the family
liked to tantalize him by coming in with one
hidden in his pocket. The sharp little nose
sniffed it at once, and the eager little fellow
sprang upon the apple-bearer, tried to dive into
his pocket head first, then to dig into it from
below, and, despairing of this, went to work to
tear away the garments that covered it. No
doubt he would have succeeded, but before he
went so far the owner gave in, and handed the
fruit to the impatient creature. He snatched
it at once, and fairly “gobbled†it, biting off
pieces with his back teeth, throwing his head up
to chew them, and carefully separating and
dropping the skin.
He never at any time made a full meal, as do
many beasts. His desire seemed to be merely
THE HALF-MONKEY. 49
to stop the cravings of hunger; the moment this
was clone he opened his hand, and whatever food
was in it dropped to the floor. He ate bread,
sweet potato, and banana, and drank milk and
water; but his delight was candy, and that he
never dropped. If there was a bit in sight he
was simply wild. When a piece was offered,
he snatched it, chewed it down, and instantly
begged for more. The favorite trick of a mis-
chievous youth was to give him a licorice-drop,
which became soft in the mouth, held his jaws
together, and in every way was troublesome ; but,
in spite of his struggles with it, he was never
discouraged, and always coaxed for another.
No beast that I ever saw was more fond of
play than the little Malagasy, not even a lively
kitten. From the moment his door was opened
till he was shut in for the night, he generally
gave his mind to a constant succession of pranks.
He scraped the beads off our dress-trimmings
with his comb-like teeth, and he slapped or
pulled books or work out of our hands. He es-
pecially liked to frolic in one’s lap, lying on his
back, kicking with all fours, pretending to bite,
and even turning somersets, or giving the most
peenliar little leaps. To do this he flung out
his arms, dropped his head on one side in a be-
witching way, turned half around in the air, and
came down in the spot he started from, the
50 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
whole performance so sudden, and his face so
grave all the time, it seemed as if a spring had
gone off inside of him, with which his will had
nothing to do.
A favorite plaything with the lemur was a
window-shade. He began by jumping up to the
fringe, seizing it and swinging back and forth.
One day he learned by accident that he could
“ set it off,†and then his extreme pleasure was
to snatch at it with so much force as to start the
spring, when he instantly let go and made one
bound to the other side of the room, or to the
mantel, where he sat, looking the picture of in-
nocence, while the released shade sprang to the
top and went over and over the rod. We could
never prevent his carrying out this little pro-
gramme, and we drew down one shade only to
have him slyly set off another the next instant.
Next to the shade, his chosen playground was
a small brass rod holding a bracket-lamp. It
was not more than half an inch wide, and so
sharp-edged that it seemed impossible that an
animal of his size and weight could stay on it
one minute, especially as it was not more than
eight or ten inches long, and held a burning
lamp at the end. The lamp was no objection to
the always chilly little beast; he enjoyed the
heat of it, and not only did he sit there with per-
fect ease, and dress his fur or eat his bread, but
THE HALF-MONKEY. bl
he played what seemed impossible pranks on it.
He turned somersets over it; he hung by one
hand and swung; he jumped and seized it with
hand or foot ; whisked over it, and came up the
other side. He never made a slip nor touched
the lamp, and his long, stiff tail served as a bal-
ancing pole.
IV.
PRANKS OF A PET.
Prrnaps the greatest fun our little captive
had was with a newspaper. The thing that first
interested him was being told to let it alone
when he longed to tear itup. This desire of his
kept us always on the watch for our papers, till
at last I resolved to give him his wish. I took
an old paper, and put it on the floor for him.
First he came with a big leap into the middle
of it, when the rustle instantly scared him off,
in a second bound as tremendous as the first.
He soon came back, however, and began again.
He turned somersets on it, rolled over it, then
took hold of one corner and rolled himself up in
it. But all the time every fresh rustle of the
paper put him in a panic, and he leaped spas-
modically away. It was a wild frolic impossible
to deseribe, with attitudes so comical, move-
ments so unexpected, and terror and joy so
closely united, that it was the funniest exhibi-
tion one can imagine.
The next evening I arranged a newspaper
tentwise on the floor. The lemur looked at it
sharply, examined the tempting passage-way
THE HALF-MONKEEY. 53
under it, then dashed frantically through, and
flew to the highest retreat in the room, as if he
had taken his life in his hands. He returned —
for it was impossible to keep away — and re-
sumed his gambols, his hand-springs, his various
fantastic exercises ; and between each two antics
flung himself about the room as if he had gone
mad, ending every romp by sitting a few seconds
motionless, with a grave and solemn air, as if it
were out of the question that he could be guilty
of anything frivolous.
Early in his residence with us, he made up his
mind that free use of the two mantels in the
rooms he had the run of was desirable. Those
shelves being already occupied, the family nat-
urally opposed his wish. In vain. Every point
in his advance he won with a struggle; chairs
were removed toa distance and reproofs show-
ered upon him. All wasted effort. To frolic
upon those mantels was his aim, and he secured
it. We gave up at last, pushed the bric-a-brac
against the wall, and let him enjoy his victory,
but we might have spared ourselves the fight,
for he never did the slightest harm.
Most amusing were his acrobatic feats on a
set of clothes-bars, brought from the laundry for
his use. He accepted the enticing array of
small rods three quarters of an inch in diameter,
without a doubt that it was intended for him, as
54 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
in fact he did everything; that he could be un-
welcome anywhere never occurred to him. The
moment the bars were set up, he made one flying
leap across the room and landed upon them.
He ran all over those small sticks as if they
were a level floor, using his tail as a balancing
pole; he turned hand somersets (if I may call
them so) over them; hung from one or both
feet, head down and arms stretched out, and in
this attitude often washed his face. He flung
himself from one post to another, never missing
his hold, though the whole thing shook and
creaked with his violence. He went up the cor-
ner post hand over hand, using all fours, and
stood upright on the top, looking up for more
worlds to conquer. One moment he swung by
his hands, his long legs drawn up, and the next
he seized a bar with the right hand and foot, and
whirled over it, coming up in the same position,
a sort of side somerset. There was nothing
possible to a monkey that he did not do, and I
never saw a monkey half so lively. The little
fellow was so happy, and we so entertained, that
the clothes-bars became for a time a part of the
parlor furniture.
The bars, too, helped Koko to solve a prob-
lem that he had been revolving since he first
came tous. He longed to explore the top of a
tall old-fashioned bookcase, as we knew by his
THE HALF-MONKEY. 55
eager looks and movement, threatening to jump
up from the back of a chair. In his antics one
day he sprang over to the upright window-cas-
ing, to examine an ornament of moss that hung
on the wall, and the ease with which he held
on to the moulding put another notion into his
head. He had found a ladder !— and he began
to climb.
This discovery removed the last obstacle be-
tween Koko and everything in the room. With
three long windows, a wide arch, and a door, all
surrounded by this highway of ladders, he could
reach almost anything on the walls hitherto
barred from him. The first thing, of course,
was to gratify his old longing to explore the
bookease : he walked up the moulding till he was
level with the top, and then jumped over the
chasm. In about two minutes he satisfied him-
self that nothing was there but dust, and having
well covered his feet and hands with this, he
sprang back to the casing and ran down, leav-
ing pretty little prints of his mischievous hands
all the way. After that exploit the casings were
his favorite playground and retreat.
Vv.
MORE LEMUR WAYS.
A GREAT pleasure to Koko when there was no
fire was to sit on the centre-table, close to a big
Rochester-burner lamp, and lwxuriate in its heat.
The first time he tried this seat, he put one in-
quisitive finger on the shade, but instantly thrust
it into his mouth with a glance at me. I laughed
at him, and, feeling insulted, he ran out his
tongue, and saluted me with a mocking “ Ya!
ya! ya!†Often as he sat there afterward he
never touched the lamp again.
When a fire was burning in the open stove,
a foot-rest was placed before it for the use of
the little beast, who spent many hours there.
Sometimes he sat with his tail around his neck
like a boa, but usually he was bolt upright with
his feet stretched out toward the fire, while he
dressed the hair of his tail, which was several
inches longer than his body and an object of
great care. Ilis way of doing this was to haul
it up before his face, and hold it with both
hands, while he washed and combed it the wrong
way ; that is, so that the hair stood up instead of
lying down. His hair was woolly and not soft,
KOKO AT PLAY
THE HALF-MONKEY. 57
and this treatment of course made it stand out
all over, forming a very pretty coat, and a thick
cushion around him. By this process his tail,
after he was kept nicely, was made to look very
large; as I said before, near the root it became
fully three inches in diameter.
A seat Koko liked very much, was the top of
a high rocking-chair, a bamboo rod an inch and
a quarter in diameter. In spite of the most
violent rocking, he had no trouble to keep his
place, holding on with all four hands side by
side, or by two hands on the post at one end.
In this place he dressed his fur or washed his
face, with perfect ease and calmness. In fact,
so sure was his hold that to get him off a per-
son was almost impossible; he could not be
shaken from an arm, for instance; he clasped
both arms and legs tightly around it, and no jar
or pull would remove him.
We did learn a trick after a while that always
sent him with a leap to the floor, where he stood
and looked at his tormentor with a reproachful
expression, sometimes ran his tongue out very
rapidly several times, as children do to show
contempt, and then went back, with a forgiving
spirit that usually won him the place again.
This potent spell was an imitation of his own
“woof!†The instant it was uttered, he sprang
off without rising to his feet, or turning his head
58 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
to see where he should alight. The cushions
under his fingers and toes, indeed, made it a
matter of indifference where he did fall; he
could not hurt himself.
Troublesome was the position of “ best friend â€
to the little fellow, for whatever happened to
him, if he got into mischief, if any one spoke
reprovingly to him, if he was suddenly startled,
he went on a mad gallop for his friend, sprang
to her knee, to her shoulder, to the top of her
head if she would allow it, and from that point
turned upon his enemy, ready to defend himself.
He could be very savage, too; he had sharp
teeth, and a ferocious way of resenting a direct
insult. He flew at the enemy, screaming with
rage, climbed up his clothes (it was always man
or boy), and acted as if he would tear him to
pieces. But the fury was short-lived ; in a few
moments he grew calm, though I think he never
lost suspicion of a person who had once ill-
treated him.
One thing that Koko considered an unpardon-
able affront was an exclamation sometimes used
to drive away strange cats, a sort of “quish!â€
spoken with emphasis. This always infuriated
him. If reproved by any one excepting the two
ladies of the household, in those highly offensive
words “ No! no!†he was displeased also, turned
suddenly, looked over at the speaker with a
THE HALF-MONKEEY. 59
squeal which plainly expressed the opinion that
it was not his business to interfere. When
either of his special friends used the same words,
he instantly turned to her, galloped across the
room, and bounded on to her shoulder.
Koko was not dependent on outside objects
for his amusement; he bubbled over with fun,
and his whimsical little pranks can never be
half told. He turned somersets on the carpet,
sometimes very fast, again very slowly, even
pausing while standing on his head; he sprang
over the top of a book or newspaper one was
reading ; he snatched away eye-glasses ; he made
droll little leaps about a foot high,. with a
coquettish toss of the head and fling of the arms,
and often spent a long time in thus jumping
about on the floor. Above all things he liked
to leap. It was not uncommon for him to spring
square into one’s face, sometimes grasping a nose
in one hand, and an ear in the other, but occa-
sionally embracing the face with all fours, hands
on both sides of the forehead, and feet each side
of the cheek. He stopped but a second; his
friend was merely a station on his way to the
mantel; but it was a great surprise, and though
it lasted but a moment, one felt as if a tornado
had passed over.
VI.
KOKO’S FRIENDLINESS.
UNLIKE most beasts, this little fellow had a
great liking for strangers, and frequently took
violent fancies, in which case it was quite impos-
sible to keep him away from the object of his
affections. Some people liked it, but others did
not; and when one young lady was actually
afraid of him, he appreciated her feeling, and
not only resented it by angry barking grunts,
but contrived again and again to surprise her,
by stealing up behind her chair and suddenly
pouncing upon her. Of course she shrieked,
and he squealed and grunted and ran out his
tongue at her. With his friends he was trouble-
somely affectionate, insisting on being held on
lap, arm, or shoulder, and following them from
room to room, in a long, droll gallop on the floor,
or by jumping from chair to table, and some-
times to their backs as they passed.
Perhaps the most amusing entertainment was
his attention to a certain grave professor who
spent an evening with us.
The professor was interested in animals, and
as pleased to see him as was Koko himself when
THE HALF-MONKEY. 61
he found a willing victim. He began by licking
the hands of his new friend, and then planted
himself on the shoulder and settled to work.
First he washed the face of the gentleman,
holding on to the nose or laying his droll lit-
tle paw flat on forehead or cheek, or grasping
irreverently the full dignified beard. The face
finished, greatly to the professor’s delight, he
began on the head. Now the professor’s hair was
rather thin, very neatly parted in the middle,
and brushed down each side. Koko’s method
of treatment was peculiar; it was to scrape
against the grain with his singular front teeth
as he did in his own toilet,
At it he went, literally tooth and nail, and in
a few minutes the professor’s locks stood up as
if he had been electrified, not a hair in its place.
The victim sat like a martyr, closing his eyes
when Koko laid a paw on them to keep his
balance, and saying continually, “ What a nice
little fellow he is! What a dear little pet!
The nicest I ever saw!†and so on.
For half an hour or more this show went on,
both having a most luxurious time, while I
wished that some of the professor’s many ad-
mirers who stood in awe of him could see him
at the moment. He was not only a man of pro-
found learning, but a bachelor of very particular
ways. One of the family suddenly brought a
62 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
small mirror and held it before his face. What
a look came over him as he saw his head! He
laughed. long and heartily, but I observed that
after he had retired and put his hair in order
_ he did not allow the “nice little fellow†to dis-
arrange it again, though he was just as much
pleased with him.
The good-will of a captive is pleasant to have,
and indeed necessary if one would know its
ways; but Koko, as.I said, was too affectionate.
His chosen seat was the top of one’s head, but
since he was never allowed to occupy that for
more than an instant, he contented himself with
the next desirable, namely, the shoulder of some
one he liked. There he sat and dressed his fur,
now and then giving a sudden lick on the cheek
or ear of his victim, intended for a delicate at-
tention, perhaps a kiss, sometimes varying this
by absent-mindedly snatching a handful of the
hair so near him. These marks of his devotion
being not very welcome, he was forced to take a
seat not quite so near the face. Next in order
was an arm, on which he sat by the hour, lick-
ing the wrist as long as one could endure it, and
scraping it with a push of his queer lower teeth.
On somebody he was determined to be.
Almost every sound Koko uttered was like
the voice of a pig. Going about the room con-
tentedly, he constantly made a low sound like
ESSER
KO AS HAIRDR
KO
THE HALF-MONKEY. 68
“oof!†or “ woof!†When anxious to get out
of his cage the grunt was double, like the draw-
ing in and blowing out of the breath in the same
tone. His bark even was of a piggish quality.
When angry or hurt, he gave a squeal and grunt
together, impossible to deseribe; and if rubbed
and caressed, he showed his pleasure by a loud,
rough purr. His ery of loneliness was truly pit-
eous; I heard it occasionally through the regis-
ter. It was a sobbing, dismal sound, sometimes
half a howl, sometimes with a retching quality.
In uttering this he opened a small round hole of
a quarter-inch diameter, in the front of his very
flexible lips. If this ery is common with his tribe
in the wilds of Madagascar, I do not wonder
that the people are superstitious about them, and
call them “spectres.†No lament. can be ima-
gined more weird and heart-rending. At first,
when I heard my pet cry thus, I ran hastily
downstairs, thinking something dreadful had
happened; but the instant his eye fell upon me,
the rogue changed his wails into the grunt of
recognition, and a demand to be let out.
VII.
THE END OF KOKO.
AFTER five hours of revels that kept his andi-
ence in shrieks of laughter, or in terror for his
life, the time came for Koko to go to bed. He
was never willing; on the contrary he was deter-
mined to stay out. On this one point he never
had his desire, but catching him required always
a little stratagem. The cage he was careful
never to enter without leaving aleg hanging out;
capturing by the chase was not to be thought of,
so nimble, so quick was he in movement, and so
mighty in leaps ; slippery and elusive was his fur
to hold; there was but one way. It was for his
best friend to wait patiently till he was quiet on
her lap, in exactly the right position so that there
should not be any chance of failure, then bring
two hands down upon him suddenly and firmly,
and carry him to his cage. When the hands of
his friend came upon him in this way, he sub-
mitted as to fate; but if any one else tried it,
he rebelled, wriggled, struggled, bit, and usually
got away.
It was curious to see him prepare for the
night. His bed was in a round wooden box, fast-
THE HALF-MONKEY. 65
ened upon the side of his cage, lined and covered
with blankets. Sometimes he lay on his back,
his head hanging out upside down, and two legs
sticking out at awkward angles ; occasionally his
arms were thrown over his head, and his hands
clung to the edge of the box. But usually, after
a long preparation of fur-dressing, he placed his
head on the bottom of the box, face down, and
then disposed his body around it, wriggling and
twisting and turning till he was satisfied, when
he was seen lying on his side, his head not under
him as would be expected, and his tail curled
neatly around. Sometimes, after long and elabo-
rate arrangement, when one would not expect him
to move before morning, he suddenly started up
and came out as bright and lively as if he never
dreamed of going to sleep. But more often,
when he had thus composed himself, the heavy
blanket was dropped before his door, the lights
were turned out, and he was left for the night.
The society of Koko was entertaining through
the winter and spring, but when the weather
erew warm, a heat-loving little beast who in-
sisted on lying full length on one’s shoulder, or
clasping an arm with four very woolly limbs,
was not to be endured. So he was packed off
to the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, due
arrangements having been made for his comfort.
There his playful ways and amiable disposition
66 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
made him at once a favorite, and he was put
with the chimpanzee so long a resident of the
Garden, in a cage twelve feet or more square.
Of course the two animals were closely watched
to see if they would be friends.
When the great lazy ape observed her small
eage-mate, she first honored him with a good
stare, and then reached out her long arm to take
hold of him. This, however, was a stranger
Koko did not care to spring upon; he slipped
away. She moved a step or two, he retreated
slowly, but careful to be just ont of her reach.
She followed him around the cage ; still he eluded
her. The chase began to be interesting. He
took refuge on certain beams put across for her
use: she followed. Higher and farther he
elimbed, she close at his heels, till he reached the
highest and the farthest corner whence was no
retreat. On she came, sure now of her game,
as were also the spectators, who looked on with
deep interest to see if she would be amiable.
Suddenly, just as she stretched out her hands to
seize him, he rose over her head with a bound,
and came through the air te the other side of the
cage, almost as though he had wings. Never
was an audience more surprised.
Although Koko would not allow the chimpan-
zee to catch him, the two soon became ae
lent friends, and furnished great amusement for
THE UWALF-MONKEY. 67
visitors for a year, perhaps longer. The strong
bond between them seemed to be, that his great-
est happiness was to oe and dress and work
over hair, and her greatest happiness was to have
it done.
Passing through Philadelphia a year after-
ward, I stopped at the Gardens to see how my
little pet fared with a stranger of his own kind,
who had lately been added to the happy family
in the chimpanzee cage. Sure enough! there I
saw two lemurs, one sitting over behind a box
nearly hidden, and the other frolicking in the
front. Was this Koko? He bounded about in
the same way, though with not so much spirit,
and he had the same vacant stare at something
back of his audience, never meeting one’s eyes.
Tt was exactly like him, perhaps a little grown.
After a while he came near the chimpanzee, who
lay quietly on the straw as if she were ill. See-
ing him approach, she put out her hand to push
him away, and in fact, though he made several
attempts to get close to her, she would not allow
it. But now the other lemur came from behind
st, only perhaps
a little smaller. With the assurance of estab-
the box, a perfect copy of the fir
lished custom he ran up to the
began to dress her hair. She cl
contentment, and I knew this was Koko,
IV.
THE MARMOSET.
I, MEPHISTOPHELES,
THE most unique ornament that ever adorned
my mantel was a comical looking little fellow,
who usurped the place of bric-a-brac in my house,
—poreelain and pottery, curios and carvings
were all swept out of sight, and the whole length
and breadth given up to an eight-inch fellow,
whose “tricks and manners†were household
entertainment for months.
He might generally be seen sitting inside a
low box, covered with a blanket shawl, his
funny little hands with fingers wide spread rest-
ing on the edge, and quaint face peering out
from under the gray shawl to see that nothing
happened without his knowledge. With his
coal-black complexion, and long silvery hair
lying smoothly back over the top of his head,
as though held by a round comb, he exactly re-
sembled a very black old lady, with a very white
cap and dirty white gloves.
Nor was the illusion quite destroyed when, in
a moment, something interested him, and he
THE MARMOSET. 69
gracefully lifted the shawl and stepped out in
full sight. The rather long fur of the arms and
under parts gave him the appearance of wear-
ing a white, long-sleeved apron over his reddish-
brown dress.
The home, the eating and sleeping place of
the little beast, whose name was Afidas Pinche,
was on the mantel, but he had by way of change,
and to afford a chance for outings, a highway to
the floor in the shape of an old-fashioned easy
chair. The piece of carving at the top was his
favorite seat, from which he looked upon the
strange human world he found about him.
Descending to the arms, he had on the left a
cushioned seat before the bright grate fire, and
on the right a somewhat distant outlook into the
sunshine through the windows. On rare occa-
sions he went to the floor, and made efforts to
climb the slender leg of an upright piano, across
the fireplace from his chair. A laughable figure
he was too, his white arms clasping the leg, and
his queer face turned toward me to see if I in-
tended to allow it. So far and no farther, was
his range, defined for him by the length of a
cord attached to a belt around the body, and
very seldom, indeed, did he attempt to take a
step beyond his limits.
On one occasion, there being no fire, a centre-
table was moved nearer than usual to the mantel,
70 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and quite unexpectedly, as I sat beside it read-
ing, the monkey came with a bound upon it. I
was alone and he was not startled, so he pro-
ceeded to make careful study of everything
upon it — books, papers, and lastly a small
Japanese tray on which was fastened a bronze
frog about half an inch long. After some
examination of this creature, he cautiously ap-
proached and pounced upon it with both hands,
showing that he was familiar with the business
of catching insects. While he was busily lift-
ing the corners of newspapers, as if looking for
something he had lost, I happened to turn sud-
denly, when he made one tremendous bound and
landed on the mantel, four feet away. I don’t
know which of us was the most startled.
From his mantel or the top of his chair, our
South American guest —as I said — looked on
at the life about him, and expressed his views of
the same, with great freedom. He knew every
one of the family, and had his opinion of them
too, and he considered the presence of a stranger
entirely uncalled for, and not to be tolerated.
He watched one who came in very closely,
with a grave air of suspicion, and generally
ended his scrutiny by a vehement harangue,
which although in his native tongue, and un-
translatable by us, left no doubt of his meaning.
His manner at the time was most droll. He
THE MARMOSET. T1
turned his head over on one side in a sentimental
attitude, though his feelings were far from sen-
timental, and began a low chattering, in a sweet
birdlike tone, which rapidly became louder, hay-
ing notes higher and lower, longer and shorter,
and passages trilled and slurred, with mouth
sometimes contracted to a small round opening.
It was a truly musical performance, surprising
indeed from an animal.
During the delivery of this song — as I must
eall it — he turned his head from side to side, in
the manner of a professional singer, and lastly
gave a bewitching close to the whole, by a whim-
sical little jerk of head and body, first one
side, then the other, as if trying to “ show off.â€
Sometimes this jerking movement went so far as
to become “ weaving,†throwing his whole body
on one side and bringing his hands to the mantel,
then doing the same on the other side. This
he kept up for several minutes, his venerable
looking face, with its eager expression and large
dark eyes, swinging through an are of perhaps
six inches each time. Now and then he de-
livered this tirade to a mischievous youth in the
family, who was prone to trifle with his dignity,
by seizing his temptingly long tail, or peeping
under the cover after he was curled up for a nap.
The mere glance of this tormentor he hotly
resented. In fact he much disliked to have any
72 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
one look athim; it seemed to give him a nervous
shock. Sometimes, too, he thus reproved even
his mistress, when she offended him by putting
on eyeglasses, or a bonnet.
From certain performances of his own, and
from the unnatural actions of a dog before he
came to me, the little fellow had established
the reputation of being “ queer†and received
the extraordinary name of Mephistopheles. The
dog — a very intelligent spaniel — looked upon
him with peculiar suspicion and disfavor. He
plainly longed to shake the life out of him, as he
did with a rat, but his master not allowing this,
he restrained himself, at the same time declining
to make friends with him, as he had with other
pets in the household. He treated the marmoset
always with the same reserve, and at last refused
even to go into the room where he was kept,
although it was his master’s studio, and had been
his favorite retreat. He would stand at the
door and whine, and ery, and wag his tail, to
show his friend that he did not lack affection for
him ; but over the threshold he would not step.
II.
AT BEDTIME.
Nor a movement or sound in the house
escaped the notice and the comments of the
marmoset. A glimpse of his own reflection in
the polished marble, or the glass of the book-
case, always set his head twitching, a strange,
quick jerking motion, that seemed to be involun-
tary. Whena hand glass was placed on his
mantel, he twitched as he caught sight of him-
self in the beveled edge, but when he came into
full view he showed no curiosity about the mar-
moset before him, but an absorbing interest in
the room “ through the looking-glass,†at which
he stared so long as the glass stood there.
No elderly maiden with notions was ever more
“set†against change than the monkey on the
mantel. A gentleman putting his feet upon a
chair he considered highly improper, and spoke
his mind at onee, in a sharp, though musical
chatter. On one oceasion of sudden company,
where the youth of teasing ways had to sleep in
the room, he was so excited and annoyed by his
presence that he positively could not go to sleep.
Drowsiness overcoming him, he went into his box
74 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and made preparations for the night ; then at the
last moment he cautiously lifted his blanket with
one hand, to see if the mtruder were still there,
and seeing him, popped out like a Jack-in-a-box,
to remonstrate and scold, and demand, in his
way, that things be restored to their usual order.
He took great offense at any change in my dress,
and if it were marked, as from a black to a
white dress, he utterly refused to take his food
from my hand, but chattered and “ weaved†at
me across the room.
A striking peculiarity of the odd little beast
was his refusing to become familiar with us.
After he had been in the family room for about
four months, and taken his food from our hands,
he was still scared out of his wits if we attempted
to touch him. I never before had beast or bird
who did not after a while cease to be suspicious,
so that, while they might not allow liberties,
they were not afraid. But that strange fellow,
so long with us, persisted in regarding us as
enemies, and resented our slightest touch, with
screams that were truly appalling in one of his
size. I attempted once to give him a treat by
carrying his box, with him in it, to the window,
so that he could look out. At my first movement
he shrieked with terror, as if I were murdering
him. He could not have made a greater outcry
if I had actually attempted his life.
THE MARMOSET. 75
Bates, in his “ Naturalist on the Amazon,â€
speaks of the same behavior in the relatives
of my pet in South America. He says that so
long as the Midas Ursula is in any way con-
fined, it refuses to be familiar, but when allowed
the freedom of the house, it becomes exceed-
ingly tame.
Never was a four-handed creature more in-
quisitive than my marmoset, and his attitudes
were curiously human as he daintily lifted one
corner of a cloth or paper, and leaned far over
to peer beneath it. He was suspicious of a mys-
tery concealed under the towel I spread over
the cold marble for him, and he seemed to ex-
pect that a terrific bugaboo would some day
appear through the door that looked into the
dark hall.
Unlike the common marmoset, which destroys
everything it touches, he was naturally gentle.
A white moth, which was once given him to eat,
he took in his dainty fingers, examined it closely
on all sides, and then let it go without hurting
it in the least.
During the summer and early fall the mar-
moset had perfectly regular habits of sleeping.
At five o’elock he retired to his bed, in the
blanket-lined box. But although so “early to
bed†the little sleepy head did not carry out
the old proverb, for not before eleven in the
76 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
morning did he condescend to rise. As the
weather grew cold he stayed longer and longer
in his warm nest, and after he found that lights
made the room warm in the evening, he grew
more and more late in going to bed, till Novem-
ber, when he never left us until about eleven
o’clock, though he still rose about eleven. Te
took many long naps during the afternoon, and
I believe if it had been cold enough he would
have hibernated.
He was a wise little beastie, too ; he discov-
ered after a while that it was warmer to crawl
under the shawl itself, outside of, and close
against the box, and so for a month or more
he did not occupy his old quarters. Still he
would not allow the box to be removed; he
might not choose to use it, but he knew it was
his, and he wanted it in its old place, where he
could climb over it on his way to bed.
So long as he slept in the box it was com-
ical to watch his retiring. Beside the box he
always stood a few moments upright, which was
easy for him to do, raised with one hand the
blanket cover, leaned over and peered in, with
a comical air of looking under the bed for a
burglar. Finding things all right, he glanced
around the room to see that all was safe there,
then dived under the blanket, resting his feet
(or hinder hands) on the edge of the box a
THE MARMOSET. TT
moment, while his long tail curled itself up from
the tip like a watchspring, and passed in before
the body, when he instantly dropped under the
cover. Often as we saw the performance, it
never ceased to be extremely funny.
Once inside his bed with his cherished tail,
he sat down with this member standing up
before him, on edge, like a wheel, thrust his
head between his knees beside it, and thus
arranged in a compact bundle, almost as round
asa ball, he slept, the top of his head on the
floor, and his nose buried in his fur. How he
could breathe was a problem. Soon after he
was in bed we heard the most tender, sweet,
and bird-like calls and cries which were really
touching, for they seemed like lamentations for
his mates or dreams of home.
When getting-up time came, the little fellow
uneoiled himself ; we heard gentle stirrings, and
a low, single chirp,—a true bird note. In a
moment a corner of the shawl was lifted, a wide-
awake black face with its crown of silver hair
appeared, looking, as I said, comically like a
black old lady with a white nighteap. The
next instant out stepped the marmosct, stretch-
ing himself, and showing us how long and thin
he really was. Tis usual position was sitting
up like a squirrel, when he looked round and
plump enough.
II.
LIFE ON THE MANTEL.
As soon as the marmoset was up he hurried
to his favorite seat, the top of the armchair, and
immediately called for his breakfast, with his
usual ery, a sort of long drawn out “ e-e-e†in
a musical voice, each note a tone higher and a
little longer than the one before it.
At once his breakfast was brought. If it
happened to be bread and milk, he first drank
the milk, and then ate the soaked bread. If it
were grapes, he poked one into his mouth out
of sight, even though it were a big Concord
grape, chewed till the pulp came out, then took
the skin in one hand and the pulp in the other,
and licked off the juice, rejecting what was left.
A pear, if soft, he took in both arms and
scooped out the inside with his tongue, leaving
the skin an empty cup, thin as the finest of
china. A slice of pear or apple he held in both
hands and bit, when he looked like a small
black boy with a slice of watermelon.
The diet of my pet was at first bananas
alone, and his pranks with this food were in-
tolerable on a mantel, however they might do
THE MARMOSET. 79
in his native woods. He took a thin slice in his
hands, bit off twice as much as he could man-
age, and at every movement of the jaws, thrust
the mouthful out on his tongue. After two or
three chews he gave his head a quick toss, that
flung the surplus off on to carpet and wall and
furniture, which was soon ornamented with
small wads of sticky banana hard to remove.
After enduring it some time I began to experi-
ment, and found that the naughty rogue would
eat many things, and then banana was no longer
on his bill of fare.
The Jidas pinche was perhaps eight inches
long in body, with a tail of sixteen or eighteen
inches; he would not let us come near enough to
measure it. As already mentioned, his face was
coal-black, while the long silky hair that hung
down on his shoulders was a beautiful silver-
white. He had also a curious line of long white
hairs on his bare face, starting from near the
corner of the eyes and falling off each side like
a fashionable mustache, and his nearly white
eyebrows met in the middle and were quite
heavy.
All of this gave him a truly venerable look,
aside from the fact that his face itself looked as
if he might be a hundred years old. His ears
were bare of hair, very human looking, and
ended in a little point at the top.
80 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
Unlike most of the monkey tribe, he would
look one squarely in the eye, and not flinch.
On the hands the fingers were long and slim,
but there was no opposable thumb, while on the
feet — as we naturally called the hinder pair of
hands — there was a decided thumb. All his
fingers had claws and not nails.
This funny tenant of my mantel never washed
face or hands, and paid no attention to his coat,
with one exception, — his tail. This apparently
useless appendage, twice as long as he was,
which usually hung straight down, or stood
straight out, gave him much concern, and was
evidently the one point on which he prided him-
self. To dress it, he brought it up before him,
held it with one hand and combed it violently
with the claws of the other, — the wrong way of
the fur. When he got too far up in his opera-
tions to reach while sitting (for the tail tow-
ered above his head like a flagpole), he rose to
his feet, and stretched up in a Indicrous way.
It never seemed to occur to him to draw the
prim tail down. In fact he acted as if it be-
longed to somebody else. Te often sat and
held it wp before his face, contemplating it with
an air of grave interest and curiosity, as who
should say “ What is this that I see before me?â€
In fright, the beautiful silky hair of his head
rose so much as to change his expression, while
THE MARMOSETS
THE MARMOSET. 81
that on the tail stood out all around; and in
anger the member itself was ‘“swished†like
that of an angry cat. In fact, although he was
afraid of people, when he was really cornered
he became savage, and showed that, notwith-
standing he was a pet and lived on a mantel, he
might be a very unpleasant beast to manage, a
genuine wild monkey.
As the weather grew colder in the fall, the
little monkey hardly came out at all, from his
warm corner under the blanket. One day I
bethought me of trying to comfort him with
a footstove. I got a flat stone three or four
inches square and an inch thick. This I put
on the kitchen range till it was very warm, then
wrapped it in flannel and laid it in the path of
the shivering ttle fellow. When he came out
to breakfast and stepped on it, he instantly
stopped, and nothing would induce him to leave
it till it grew cold. After that I kept it heated
for him all the time he was awake, and he
hugged it as a freezing person will hug a stove.
But as the weeks went on he grew more and
more sleepy and dull, so that be was no longer
amusing, and I knew he would not brighten up
till summer came. So IT moved his quarters to
another place, and never again tried to keep a
monkey on the mantel.
LV
RAVINI AND RAVENINI: THE SMALLEST
MONKEYS IN THE WORLD.
THE marmoset that lived on my mantel gave
me much pleasure, but none of these little fellows
are half so charming when they are confined in
any way as when they are free.
The house of a friend living not far from me
was, a few years ago, the home of two of the
smallest monkeys in the world.
They were brought from Brazil by the son of
the house, and his mother was horrified when he
told her what he had done.
“ Monkeys, of all things! and two of them at
that!†she cried. ‘“ What on earth can I do
with them?â€
“But mother†— he began, “they ’re not
very big.â€
“They ’re so mischievous! They ‘Il be up to
all sorts of pranks, and I shall not be able to
sleep nights,†went on the mistress of the beau-
tiful home, unused to pets.
For answer, the tall son drew one hand out of
his pocket, held it toward her, and opened it.
THE MARMOSET. 838
There sat a marmoset, the smallest of the mon-
key family, not nearly so big as his fist.
Before his mother could speak, he held the
other hand out, and there sat another monkey,
almost the twin brother of the first.
“Oh, what cunning little creatures! Are these
your monkeys?†burst out the mother in changed
tones, and coming nearer. “The dear little fel-
lows! do let me take them!†and she put out
her hand.
The smaller of the two accepted the offer,
sprang into her hand, and ran up her arm to her
shoulder, where he sat down to a close study of
the lace in her neck. But the other one greeted
her with a sharp chattering, and hastened to hide
himself at the back of the neck of his master,
cuddled down inside his collar. No more coax-
ing was needed. The little strangers won the
heart of the whole household, and before night
every one was as fond of them as their owner.
They were the Pigmy Marmoset, four inches
tall when standing up, and so light one could sit
on the edge of a china teacup and not upset it.
Nothing was ever more funny to look at than
a rough-and-tumble fight between these two little
beasts, when they would wrestle violently to-
gether, throw each other down freely, scold and
chatter, with plenty of room to spare — all in the
palm of a lady’s hand.
84 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
A comical performance, too, was their hunt
for sugarplums, of which they were very fond.
They soon learned by experience that the desired
bits of candy were sometimes to be found inside
the mouth of the lady who “did n’t want any
monkeys†before she saw them. All she had to
do was to open her mouth wide, when there was
a rush and a scramble to be first to explore that
curious candy-box.
The first one who got there stood on her hand
or her shoulder, or any convenient place, rested
his funny little hands on her teeth, and thrust
his little round head out of sight in her mouth,
turning it this way and that till he spied the
tidbit, when he snatched it out and retired to
a safe place to eat it. This might be on top of
her head, or inside her neck ruche against her
neck, which warm nest he was very fond of.
This seems like a strange performance, and if I
had not seen it many times, I should hesitate
about telling it.
If it was the bigger of the two who captured
the dainty, he ate it in peace, for he was not
so good-tempered as his companion, and never
allowed interference with his comfort.
But if the smaller one proved the more nimble
and secured the prize, he had to run and hide,
and sometimes fight for his rights. Even then
he did not always secure them, for his brother
THE MARMOSET. 85
was down upon him like a flash, with a sharp
chatter, and often snatched the candy away.
The notion they got by this performance was
that an open mouth was an invitation to hunt
for sugarplums, and this made a funny scene
one day.
laughing in the room, when one of the marmosets
noticed that his mouth was unusually large, and
frequently opened in a most tempting way. He
quietly stole up on to the man’s knee, then, not
being noticed, he ran up his arm, and at last
from the top of his shoulder gazed longingly
into the attractive opening.
No friendly hand, however, was held up to the
chin for him to stand upon, and it was some dis-
tance from the shoulder. He stood and looked
earnestly, while all the room full—except the
gentleman himself — were watching him.
At last the poor little fellow grew desperate,
and when a hearty laugh opened wider than
usual the tantalizing candy-box, as he thought
it, he took one flying leap, landed somewhere
(Git was done so quickly that no one could say
where), and head and shoulders disappeared
within the tempting cavity.
There was a ery of horror from the spectators,
who had not imagined that he would go so far,
a yell of dismay from the victim, a jerk of the
tail from his master, and the poor little beastie
86 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
learned roughly, that not everybody kept candy
in the mouth, or enjoyed having a monkey, how-
ever small and dainty, explore it.
I said the larger of the two was somewhat ill-
tempered, but it was only during the first few
days that he appeared so, and there proved to be
a very good reason for it.
When the little creatures were brought on
board the ship in Brazil, they were not caged,
but held by cords tied around the body, and
thus they were kept on the ship. But their
kind mistress did not want them confined, so
she took her scissors to remove the cord. In the
case of the larger monkey, she found it so tight
that it was with great difficulty that she could
get the scissors under to cut it.
The poor little fellow must have suffered
greatly. He chattered and fought her, but the
moment it was cut he was relieved, and before
long he was as amiable as his brother mar-
moset. That kind deed attached him deeply to
his mistress, and he displayed his affection by
wanting to kiss her all the time.
Vv.
A VISIT TO THE MARMOSETS.
THe smallest monkeys in the world were a
pretty gray color, and had on each side of their
faces tufts of dark hair, which were brushed
back over their ears. Their tails, three times as
long as their bodies, were covered to the tip
with hair, in gray and black rings.
Nothing could be prettier than their tiny
round faces, with the bright, intelligent black
eyes, and mouth, when wide open, about as big
as a sugarplum. On their heads was a growth
of darker hair, which started from the forehead
like that on a human head, and gave them a
curious resemblance to us.
As soon as they were received into the family,
names were found for them, which I shall spell
as they sounded. The larger was Ravini Racker,
and the smaller was Ravenini Hipticoro, the
é pronounced like e. The name in the books is
Hapale pygme, and it is neither so long nor so
hard to remember as the home names.
The first time I saw the marmosets I was
shown into the room where they were alone,
cuddled down in a soft blanket shawl on a sofa.
88 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
I went up to look at them and speak to them;
but at the first word they turned on me as
fiercely as though they had been four feet tall
instead of four inches. They chattered and
scolded in a voice like a canary bird’s whisper,
and finding that I was not frightened, and really
meant to come nearer, they scrambled out of
their warm corner; secampered across the room,
caught at a lace curtain, and ran like two gray
streaks to the top.
Arrived at the safe elevation of the cornice,
they calmly sat down and proceeded to examine
me, turning their quaint little faces on one side
and then the other in a very saucy-looking man-
ner. But I wanted to see them nearer, and
I had come provided with attractions, in the
shape of sugarplums. I selected a bright-red
one and held it in my hand where their sharp
eyes would see it, and placed myself so that the
lace-curtain highway touched my shoulder.
They noticed the bait instantly, and after
some chattering, and many sharp looks at me,
the larger of the two decided to risk it. He
ran down the curtain to my shoulder, turned a
moment toward my face with a sharp remark, as
if to say, “I trust myself with you, but you may
be sure I can take care of inyself, so you need n’t
presume ;†then ran down my arm, snatched
the candy, and stuffed it into his mouth. He
THE MARMOSET. 89
intended to return to the cornice to devour it
at his leisure, but I had quietly stepped back
from the curtain, so far that he did not care to
jump, and as I did not attempt to touch him,
he decided to make the best of it.
He returned to my hand, sat up and pro-
ceeded to dispose of his prize, while I in turn
studied him. He never took his alert eyes off
my face, and after he had eaten the candy he
started on a tour of discovery. The material of
my dress was scrutinized, a falling lock of hair
examined, perhaps with the idea of adding it
to his bed, and the flowers of my bonnet tasted
and rejected as hollow mockeries.
The treasure which rewarded his search, how-
ever, was a rose in my dress. This he took out of
its place, and went on to demolish. Each petal
he pulled off deliberately, dropped it to the
carpet, and looked over after it as it fell. He
nibbled the green leaves and at last ran off with
the bare stem as a trophy.
Then he began to call to his mate, who all
this time was performing droll gymnastic feats
on a picture cord. He replied with a sharp
little whistle. My little visitor ran quickly down
my dress, across the floor, up the curtain, across
the cornice, and down the picture cord, and
seated himself on top of the small picture frame
beside his friend.
90 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
Then in a musical chatter, low, but very sweet,
like a soft canary-song, with trills and silvery
calls, he told him, no doubt, all about his thrill-
ing adventure, —his daring capture of the sugar-
plum; his investigation of the sham flowers
which made so brave a show; the storming and
utter destruction of the rosebud.
To all of this the little fellow on the picture
frame listened and replied with interest, and
then both sat still and looked at me, with funny
little heads held over one side, — the most com-
ical pair I ever saw.
Among other things of interest that their
master had brought from Brazil was a box of
the beautiful beetles which are found in that
country. When he came into the room to see
me, he brought out the box for me to look at.
They were of all sizes, from a tiny creature of
sapphire blue a quarter of an inch long, to a
monster of three inches with horns ferocious to
behold. We were much interested in these, and
were soon bending over them, entirely forgetting
the two marmosets on the picture frame.
But the elder, Ravini, was interested also.
In those beautiful strangers in the box he recog-
nized familiar objects, and remembered well that
under each brilliant coat was a delicious morsel
of meat. We were all absorbed, and again the
little beast set out on a dangerous expedition.
THE MARMOSET. 91
The first we saw of him, he dropped down among
those beetles with a bounce, snatched one or two,
galloped across the floor, and scrambled to the
top of the lace curtain like a flash. His master
sprang after him, and coaxed and threatened in
vain. The saucy marmoset chattered back, and
calmly devoured them to the last eatable mor-
sel, leaving nothing but the gorgeous wing-cases,
which dropped to the floor.
Observing that the sharp little eyes were
again fixed on the box, and that the two he had
captured had merely whetted his appetite for
costly beetles, his master covered up the box and
decided to exhibit his treasures in another room.
At another time the marmoset saw something
that reminded him of home, probably. At any
rate he resolved to help himself, and did. His
master had brought a large collection of postage
stamps, to give to his friends. While sorting
and arranging them one day on the table he was
suddenly surprised by a visit from Master Ra-
vini, who alighted in the middle of his stamps,
snatched both hands full, and decamped so
quickly that he could not be caught by anybody
too heavy to follow him up his ladder of lace.
Regrets were useless ; he could not be made to
give them up, and the annoyed stamp-collector
had to stand and see him tear them to bits too
small to be repaired.
VI.
MONKEY TRICKS.
So little were the two marmosets that a man-
tel with its various ornaments was a big field for
discoveries. For my entertainment, Ravini was
placed on a mantel. First he went for a clock
that had a large and attractive pendulum swing-
ing outside. The marmoset accepted this as a
swing. Je sprang on, and clung tightly while
the pendulum carried him back and forth. This
was great fun, and I don’t know how long he
would have kept it up, but he happened to no-
tice a cologne bottle.
This new curiosity must be examined, so he
left his swing and pounced upon that, running
or climbing quickly to the top. He seemed to
be familiar with bottles, for he pulled out the
stopper at once, and tried to reach the fluid
within, probably hoping it was good to drink.
First he put his face to the neck and peered
sharply in, then he smelled as hard as he could,
and finally he thrust his arm in and tried to reach
down. But the cologne was low, and he could
not get at it. At last he consoled himself by
seating himself on top, in place of the stopper.
THE MARMOSET. 98
It was an ample seat for him, and a droll figure
he made perched up there.
Then a common lead-pencil was held out for
him to perch on. He readily accepted it, and
used it for various gymnastics. He hung from
it, head down, turned somersets on it, and
“skinned the cat†(his master said). Then
Ravenini was invited to join him on the pencil,
and they together performed the oddest and
funniest feats one can imagine.
The marmosets refused to live in a big cage
which was bought for them, and of course the
freedom in a large house, of creatures so small
and so curious, made great care of doors and
windows necessary. If one were open three
minutes the little rogues would slip out and start
on a tour of the house.
One day their master came into the room
where they were kept, and found the door open.
The marmosets were gone! He looked in their
shawl, on the sofa, behind the picture frames,
on top of the cornices: no monkeys to be found.
He then called for help, and the house was
searched from cellar to attic, — no small under-
taking when one remembers that one of them
could hide in a teacup.
Still no little beasties to be found, and that
house went into mourning. After an hour or two
the house mother came home, and removing her
94 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
street shoes, thrust one into the shoe-bag which
hung on the closet door. It did not go in far,
and instantly there was a scramble and two little
heads appeared at the edge of the bag, scolding
furiously at her for daring to disturb their nap.
Although these little fellows are the small-
est of monkeys, they are by no means stupid.
Neither are they alike in temperament or taste.
One of them, for example, preferred boiled
onion to any other food, while the other set his
affections on baked apples. Ravenini was an
affectionate little fellow, and liked to cuddle
down into a warm hand for a nap. He also was
more timid with strangers, and not so greedy
as his elder, nor so eager for adventures. Both
were very quick to make up their minds whom
they liked and whom they disliked among people.
They agreed in avoiding children altogether.
Some grown people, too, they would not go
near; while others, no more attractive to human
observers, they would accept at once as friends,
and run over them without fear.
They were very fond of playing, both with
each other and with people. Ravini, indeed,
played “bo-peep†as well as anybody. He
would run down the lace curtain till below the
lambrequin, which hung two or three feet from
the cornice, and wait there for some one to start
for him. The instant one accepted his challenge
THE MARMOSET. 95
and started, he scampered to the top of the cor-
nice, peeped over, and chattered out his “bo-
peep.†If his playmate then walked back a few
steps he would come down again, and do it all
over. This game he would keep up till he tired
out everybody.
A curious thing was their manner of eating
loaf sugar. They doted on this luxury, and
when one of them received the treasure, he at
once retired to a safe place, holding it in his
arms with great care. Then he seated himself
to enjoy his feast. He used only his tongue,
licking it in one spot till he dug out a little
round hole. When he had eaten all he wanted,
there would be left in the square lump a little
cup-shaped cavity about big enough to hold a
small pea.
Animals that are kept in the house, as all pet-
keepers know, must have the care that we give
to people who live in a house, or they will be
very unpleasant house-mates. These little fel-
lows were bathed and thoroughly brushed every
day by their mistress. At first they rebelled at
the bathing, but after a few trials they came to
like it, and the brushing that followed kept their
fur coats in the most beautiful condition.
But life in our climate is hard on the natives
of the tropics. One of the pets died before the
next winter. The survivor was greatly grieved
96 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and dreadfully lonely. He was not happy, nor
even contented a moment, away from his mis-
tress. So she procured a little basket, one of
the kind made to hold a ball of knitting-yarn.
This she furnished with warm wraps, and here
she established the desolate monkey. Then she
hung the whole affair — monkey and all — to
her belt, and carried it with her wherever she
went.
He was thus made as happy as possible; but
the climate was not favorable to health, and at
the end of a year, or possibly a little more, he
too drooped, and slept his last sleep in his little
basket.
VIL
ANOTHER PAIR OF MARMOSETS.
AFTER the death of the smallest monkeys in
the world, I was able for a year or two to look
out of my window and see another pair of mar-
mosets, who lived in a big cage at a neighboyr’s,
and were put out on a back piazza on pleasant
days. They were larger than those I have told
about, but they were sometimes very amusing.
People often say that marmosets are stupid.
They are not so intelligent as the larger mon-
keys, but one reason why they appear so, is that
they are shut ina cage. We all know how dull
and listless even a dog will get who is always
confined, and the case is worse with these little
creatures, the most restless and active animals
in the world.
What, indeed, could any one do, shut up in
a cage with nothing on earth to amuse himself
with ?
The marmosets on the back piazza had great
frolies among themselves. They rolled and
tumbled together on the floor like two kittens ;
they “played tag†all over the cage, chasing
each other madly, and, sometimes seizing the
98 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
playmate, they dropped in a wriggling heap on
the floor. Through all the fun I was amused to
see what good care they took of their long tails,
—twice as long as they were. During their mad-
dest pranks the tail was held one side, and often
the only thing I could see in a squabble on the
floor was a mass of gray fur and two tails stick-
ing up, waving frantically in the air.
Their cage was furnished with all desirable
gymnastic appliances, —two bars, a wire bas-
ket, and a hanging cord. Over and under and
around and through these, the monkeys frisked
like — well, like nothing but lively monkeys.
They hung head down, from one hand, or two ;
they ran across, hanging back down from the
perch, like the pictures of the sloth; and they
turned somersets of the wildest kind. When
anything startled them, they darted into their
sleeping-box, which was fastened wp under their
roof, with a round door just big enough for one
to goin. A droll performance this was, for the
instant one was in, and had jerked his long tail
in behind him, his head appeared at the door
to see what had happened in that half second.
Their floor was carpeted with newspaper, and
that gave them as much fun as it used to give
my little halfmonkey. They frolicked over and
under it; they tore it to pieces and scattered
the fragments far and wide; and they in some
THE MARMOSET. 99
way made balls of it, I hardly know how. They
were more tame than my little pet was, and they
ate or drank from a teaspoon in the hand of
their mistress.
The funniest thing, however, was to see the
actions of a half-erown kitten about the cage.
To her it was a constant circus, and she spent
hours gazing at them. Generally she was quiet,
and merely looked on at what happened; but
sometimes she seemed to feel that they were
having too good times, and longed to share them.
On these occasions she went to the top of the
cage, the coarse wire gauze making a convenient
ladder, and looked down at them. Then they
would come up near her and thrust out -their
little hands. Woe to her long tail if she let it
rest on the wires; and woe also to her feet if she
looked not where she stepped. The four little
hands below were all ready, and four little eyes
were sharp to see a chance.
But pussy was cautious. She walled care-
fully on the narrow board of the frame, and she
lay down over the top of their sleeping-box, and
they could not touch her. Then she would thrust
her paws out and pat the wires, upon which the
marmosets would tumble over cach other in their
scramble for the other side of the cage. Then
she turned her face away, and they would hasten
back to give her a nip if they could reach her.
100 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
The two were nearly the same size, but one
had shining white ear-tufts each side of his black
face, while the other had a full head of long
black hair hanging down on his shoulders, mak-
ing him look like an old withered-up Indian.
For my own convenience, I named them Black-
head and Whitehead.
They were not always in afrolic. I sometimes
saw the two sit close together, side by side, on
a perch, for an hour together; not moving, and
looking almost as if they were “ stuffed,†with
two long tails hanging motionless below.
I don’t believe my neighbor who owned these
little fellows had half so much pleasure with
them as I had.
All through one summer the marmosets lived
- in the cage on the back piazza, and during the
winter that followed I used to see them occasion-
ally through a window. But the next spring,
when the weather got warm and the cage again
appeared out of doors, a great change came to
them: their cage door was set open for them
to go in and out as they chose. At first they
were very shy of the big world, — venturing
out cautiously, and contenting themselves with
climbing over the vines that shaded their
piazza. But before long they extended their
rambles into the yard, and finally reached the
back fence, that highway through the block,
THE MARMOSET. 101
with a branch running to every back door,
which in the city belongs, by long custom, to
the cats.
As soon as the marmosets learned the possi-
bilities of the fence, they were happy. They
could run from one end of the block to the
other, and visit every kitchen in the row. And
then they were very busy from morning till
night, making new friends, and getting choice
bits to eat in nearly every yard.
This intrusion upon their exclusive highway
did not pass unnoticed by the cats, and I looked
with anxiety for the fate of a marmoset when it
should come in the way of pussy. I need not
have worried about them, for, strange to say, the
eats, one and all, gave the odd Little beasties
a wide berth. Though so much bigger, they
seemed to be afraid of the monkeys, and ran
away from them.
Sometimes a very brave cat would crouch on
the fence about three feet from a marmoset, and
wait, in cat fashion, to see what he would do.
That did not disturb the little fellow in the
least. If it was his whim to pass her, he would
simply give a great leap over her head and land
on the fence the other side, while the cat would
tear across the nearest yard, frightened half out
of her wits.
Promptly at four o’clock in the long summer
102 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
days, the little marmosets would turn toward
home. Many days I watched them crossing the
lawn in hurried gallops, scrambling up the steps
and into their cage, and disappearing within
their sleeping-box, to be seen no more till
morning,
Vv.
THE CHIMPANZEE.
I. MR. CROWLEY.
IF one could judge by the crowds that flocked
to see him, the most interesting personage in
New York in his day was Mr. Crowley, the
chimpanzee. From early morning, through the
long summer days, he held his levees, and to get
a satisfactory look at him one was obliged to
take his place in the jam, and patiently work
his way step by step, as one after another re-
tired, till he penetrated to the rail that defined
the “safety point†before the cage.
The animal was fully aware of his position as
entertainer to this ever-varying crowd. He was
also perfectly competent for the task; in fact it
was no task at all, for he delighted in it, and
enjoyed the shouts and laughter as much as an
actor his applause.
Sometimes, if one got into the building before
the public was admitted, Crowley would come
to the front, sit down and examine his visitor,
exchange the compliments of the morning, that
is to say, listen gravely to the remarks of his
104 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
guest, and answer by most expressive panto-
mime. Under these circumstances he appeared
gentle and friendly, and as if he might be made
companionable. He looked one steadily in the
eye, without that furtive glance that makes us
always suspect the next move of a monkey; he
observed dress and manners with an air of in-
terest. That he had thoughts and opinions of
his own no one who studied him closely could
doubt, and the stranger often felt inclined to
offer his next of kin a friendly hand through
the bars. But when the ropes at the entrance
were taken down, and the waiting multitudes
trooped in, —men and boys, if early, women and
childrén at a later hour, — instantly the human
disappeared and the monkey came to the front ;
the thoughtful fellow-creature became a buffoon.
He sprang from his seat, took a flying leap to
the roof, crossed it by two or three swings of his
long arms, and flung himself upon his two tra-
pezes — which were, perhaps, six feet apart —
with a violence that would destroy anything less
strong than those inch-thick iron bars. On and
around these he performed mad capers that
made the spectator hold his breath, lest he get
his death-blow from the erratic movement of
the heavy iron swings. The ape had no misgiv-
ings; his agility was equal to the demand, and
he kept both trapezes in violent and irregular
THE CHIMPANZEE. 105
motion, while he plunged over, under, around,
through, between, before, behind, and every
other possible way, all so rapidly that there
appeared only a mass of swaying and tossing
iron and wood, and a kaleidoscopic vision of
legs and arms inextricably mixed up therewith.
He soon tired of this, leaped to his spring-board,
turned a somerset or two, and stood on his head,
with feet on the board beside it and hands on
the floor below; then like a flash slipped around
under the board, embracing it with all fours
while he jounced himself up and down, bumping
his back on the floor at every jolt.
This lasted but a minute. After a bounce or
two across the cage and a swarming all over the
bars of the front, he would suddenly come to
the floor with a thump, gallop around near the
walls, one hand slyly sweeping the floor, and
quick as thought fing a handful of damp saw-
dust into the faces of his laughing audience
outside. While they coughed and rubbed their
eyes and brushed their clothes, he chuckled
with delight, and turned somersets all around
his cage, or ran around at full speed, driving his
head through the dust of his floor like a plough.
Sawdust - throwing was his favorite insult.
While his portrait was being painted, he re-
sented the personal attentions of the artist, Mr.
James H. Beard, by showering this material,
106 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
not over the gentleman himself, but, with dis-
criminating understanding of where it would be
most annoying, upon the fresh paint of the por-
trait, whence it had to be picked bit by bit.
If a moment arrived when Mr. Crowley did
not frantically desire to play some prank, he
came to the front, made faces, and jumped up a
few inches, with arms and legs held stiff and
body upright, coming down on the floor again
and again with a thump, as if feet and hands
were mace of iron. In fact his footsteps, at
least during his public exhibitions, were usually
of this character. Unless he was on some sly
mischief bent, he went about like an iron-shod
horse, galloping over the boards, though he
weighed but ninety pounds. The baby in the
adjoining cage — for there was a baby, Crow-
ley’s future spouse — did the same thing, so it
must be a chimpanzee fashion. On the whole,
Mr. Crowley irresistibly reminded one of a boy
at the “showing-offâ€â€™ period of life; and’ with
these fantastic tricks he kept his constantly
varying jam of admirers in roars of laughter
the whole day.
We had no reason to look for anything dif-
ferent, for after he came to New York an infant
of about eight months, weighing between ten
and twelve pounds, his life was passed almost
entirely on the exhibition stage. At that re-
THE CHIMPANZEE. 107
mote time in his existence Crowley was very
attractive, for a young chimpanzee is one of the
drollest of beasts, although so much like human
babies as to be almost painful to look at. AIL
the anthropoid apes, our next of kin, resemble
us in infancy, in a much greater degree than
inage. As years go over the head of man he
becomes wiser, and generally more amiable in
temper; while the ape, on the contrary, grows
wary, sly, and more brutal.
Mr. Crowley was in his infancy when he
eame to New York. He had the advantage of a
training by refined people; consequently no bad
habits or tricks had developed. Ile passed
almost from his mother’s arms into the family
of Mr. Smythe, United States Minister Resi-
dent at Liberia, who, with his wife, cared for
the little beast as tenderly as they could for a
child. On the passage he shared the comforts
of the cabin; at hotels his board was paid ; thus
he had every attention, and reached New York
in perfect health, and showing a pleasing wil-
lingness to respond to the friendly advances of
everybody.
IL.
MR. CROWLEY’S TABLE MANNERS.
In the first winter of his residence in Central
Park Mr. Crowley had a dangerous attack of
pneumonia, during which there were daily bul-
letins in the papers, as though he were a public
personage. The best medical advice was secured,
and he was treated exactly like a child. He
submitted cheerfully to poultices and remedies,
and completely recovered his health, though after
that, as a precautionary measure, he had with
dinner his daily spoonful of cod-liver oil, which
he enjoyed greatly.
Mr. Conklin attributed Crowley’s perfect
health and condition to the fact that he was
thoroughly acclimated, and never made tender
by living behind glass. On the contrary, he
passed his days in a cage, twelve or fifteen feet
square, open on one whole side to the air of an
animal house, which had both ends wide open to
the outside. He went daily back and forth, in
the arms of his keeper, from this show-room to
his sleeping-room in another building, uncovered
and without taking cold. In the winter, it is
true, when constant fires become necessary to us,
THE CHIMPANZEE. 109
he was removed to a close building; but even
then he had the air of an ordinary house, with
its varying temperature. THis diet also was a
subject of care. He was never allowed some of
man’s indulgences which, because they appear
funny for an animal, are often given to him;
tea and coffee, strong drinks, candy, meats, and
many things we use were never seen on his table.
Rice or oatmeal and milk, with fruit of different
kinds, and sometimes boiled eggs, formed his
frugal bill of fare, and his robust health bore
witness to the wisdom of this course.
Susceptibility to training is one of the most
attractive qualities of these great apes. It was
to be regretted that Crowley’s capabilities could
never be known, since he was so constantly on
exhibition that the necessary quiet and leisure
were not obtainable. His dear five hundred
friends never would consent to spare him from
society long enough for an education. His
“culture,†therefore, was limited to the table
manners that he brought with him.
These table ceremonies were a source of ever
fresh interest. As the hour for his breakfast
(half past ten) or for his dinner (five in the
afternoon) drew near, the crowd grew more
dense in front of his reception room. A table
was brought in, the cloth spread, a chair placed
before it, and a soup-plate of rice and milk served.
110 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
If Mr. Crowley happened to be hungry he rested
from his performances, and came, like anybody
else, at once to the table; but if he had rather
more fruit at his early morning luncheon than
usual, or if very much excited about anything,
he acted precisely as does a naughty child under
the circumstances,—he would not come; he
pranced around the cage, jounced on the spring-
board, set the trapezes in violent motion, ran up
a ladder with his hands, and hung head down
over the table as if he would drop and annihilate
it. The keeper meanwhile scolded, threatened
to “give it to Kitty,†and in fact behaved ex-
actly like an exasperated nurse in the presence
of a willful youngster. When he did come, he
seated himself decorously, spread his napkin over
his knees, or sometimes crumpled it in his left
hand, took the spoon in his right, and devoted
himself to the business before him. That this
was not play, but a serious matter, he fully rec-
ognized, and he conducted himself accordingly.
He handled the spoon as dexterously as anybody,
and readily put the napkin to its proper use
when necessary, though occasionally his memory
needed jogging by his keeper, who was at the
moment table-waiter. “Mr. Crowley! where’s
your napkin?†sternly asked, never failed to
bring the proper response.
The soup-plate emptied, and tipped up to
A RELAPSE INTO MONKEYISM
THE CHIMPANZEE. 111
scrape the last drop, it was removed, and there
followed a plate of fruit, sliced, but not small
enough for mouthfuls. Tere the knife and fork
came in, and Mr. Crowley was as skillful in cut-
ting pieces and thrusting them into his mouth —
always with the fork —as any person. He even
went so far in imitation of the manners he had
seen, as to pause now and then with a mouthful
held up on his fork, ready to shove in as soon
as he had made room in that very capacious
receptacle, his mouth. After fruit came a cup
of milk, which he took by the handle and drank,
and lastly the cod-liver oil, and a lick or two of
the spoon while his keeper was replacing the
cork, and so not looking.
When on his good behavior, he retired from
. the table like a gentleman, and perhaps sprang
into his waiter’s arms to be held while dinner
was removed by help of an assistant outside, or
mounted the table and danced a jig while his
attendant beat time for him. But if in a mis-
chievous frame of mind, with the disappearance
of the last course he suffered a sudden relapse
into monkeyisin, kicked over table, dishes, oil-
bottle, and all, and darted to the roof of his cage,
out of the reach of vengeance. Tiven on these
occasions, however, it needed only a command
from his keeper, of whom he was very fond, to
bring him down meekly to lay his knife and fork
112 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
properly and replace his napkin, after which
he immediately gave vent to his feelings by a
few dozen somersets, a fresh frolic with the tra-
pezes, or a lively tattoo with his feet, while
clinging to a bar with his hands. Another cus-
tom of civilized life to which Mr. Crowley took
kindly was sleeping in a bed. When evening
came on, he was always very tired from his all-
day’s performances, and glad to be carried over
to his room, where he quickly sprang into bed
and drew the blankets around him. He slept
till awakened by the light of morning, when he
called loudly for his early breakfast of fruit, and
then was ready for another day’s entertainment.
One point at issue between the superintendent
and Mr. Crowley was the wearing of clothes.
The ape could not be convinced that the dress
of his human neighbors was either useful or
ornamental, while it certainly interfered with his
freedom of movement. Without his own consent
he could not be clothed, for no fabric has ever
been contrived strong enough to resist his mis-
chievous fingers.
Ii.
A NAUGHTY CHIMPANZEE.
CROWLEY’s worst quality was the irresistible
propensity to destroy every object he could lay
his hands on, including live animals. A dog or
cat he would almost instantly tear to pieces; in
fact, the sight of a small animal seemed to put
him into a fury. A tiny monkey brought by
a lady on her shoulder made him so wild that
he acted like a maniac; he threw handful after
handful of sawdust all over his audience; he
shook the bars of his cage with suggestive vio-
lence; he put up his lips like a trumpet and
evied ‘ Hoo! hoo!†at it; he.tore around the
cage in a transport, and lastly he spit at it.
This was one of the bad tricks he learned from
ill-bred and teasing boys who visited him, and
he became so expert that he could reach his
mark eight feet away. During the above exhi-
bition of temper the unfortunate little creature,
a beautiful squirrel monkey six inches long,
was out of its senses with fright, chattered, and
fairly screamed in terror.
This lamentable destructive tendency demanded
a strong guard-rail before the cage, at the length
114 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
of Mr. Crowley’s arm, for he was always ready
to thrust out one of those long, sinewy members
and snatch at hat, parasol, or anything he could
reach ; once in his elutches it was lost. A Park
policeman stood one day talking to him, inside
the rail by virtue of his office, while Crowley sat
on the floor close by the bars, absorbed in con-
templation of his brand new white gloves. Very
gently he pulled the tips of the fingers one
after the other, quietly loosening them, till sud-
denly, like a flash, he snatched off the glove
and bounded to the back of his cage. In vain
the hapless policeman commanded and coaxed,
begged and threatened. Mr. Crowley, entirely
unmoved, sat calmly down to enjoy his prize.
First he put it on his hand, using his teeth to
help, and then held it up for the audience to see,
with every finger spread, grinning with delight.
But, not being able to arrange it to his satis-
faction, he tore it to strings, and passed a happy
fifteen minutes while reducing it to its primitive
state of thread, holding one part in the bend of
the thigh —the monkey’s convenient pocket —
while he worked on another.
On another occasion one of the Park men
went inside of the rail to speak to the chimpan-
zee. Crowley sat quietly on the floor looking
at him, and thrusting his hands out to play, as
was his custom.
THE CHIMPANZEE. 115
“ Look out, there!†warned the keeper.
“Oh, Mr. Crowley knows me,†was hardly
out of his mouth in response, before Mr. Crow-
ley fastened his fingers upon the lapels of his
coat, one each side, and gave them such a jerk
that the man was dashed violently against the
bars, and the coat split down the back like so
much paper.
This animal proved so attractive to the public
that the Park Commissioners thought they would
provide him with a playmate. An order for a
young female chimpanzee was therefore sent out,
and after two years of waiting a promising per-
sonage named Kitty was brought to New York.
The baby, for she was but an infant, being
two years old and about half the size of Crow-
ley, was very pretty,—for an ape,—and a.
charmingly amiable and frolicsome little crea-
ture. Not possessed by the mania of tearing
everything to bits, she could be trusted with a
hammock, in which she played all sorts of amus-
ing pranks, and a ved shawl, the delight of her
heart. She was introduced to Ma. Crowley by
placing her in the next cage to his, separated by
a close partition, in one part of which were nar-
row openings, hardly more than evacks, through
which he could see and hear, but not touch.
Ilis reception of her was not very gallant.
He went mad with rage; he ached to tear her to
116 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
pieces; he shouted at her; he pounded the par-
tition and shook the bars; he fairly jumped up
and down in passion. If anything was given to
her he raised a riot ; and when his audience paid
attention to her, he behaved like a tiger out of
the jungle. In fact he showed himself to be a
ferocious wild beast. There is no doubt that he
would have killed her instantly had she been in
his power.
But Kitty was protected by her bars, and
gradually he grew more amiable, though with
oceasional relapses into his original sentiments
that augured ill for Miss Kitty’s future. He
erew wily after a little, and made use of other
tactics to get her within reach. He came to the
bars, coaxed and chattered, and was very socia-
ble till she came near, when he blinded her with
a handful of sawdust. Poor Kitty retired in dis-
gust, while Crowley seampered around his cage
in a frenzy of joy, chuckling, turning somersets,
and indulging in the maddest of frolics.
Again, he thrust his long arms outside his
cage, in front, and around into her cage, his
hand feeling about to seize whatever it might
touch. Sometimes Kitty avoided it; sometimes
she took hold of it; occasionally she gave it
a playful bite, wpon which he jerked it back,
rushed around his floor to gather a handful of
sawdust, again put his arm through the bars,
THE CHIMPANZEE. 117
and flung it at her. Hate her as he might, he
could not help being interested; if any sound
came from her side of the wall, he hurried to the
opening and glued his ear or his eye to the
erack, as an eavesdropper to a keyhole.
One day each of them had a stick to play
with. Kitty amused herself biting hers to a
point, pressing it into a hole too small to admit
it, until it was reduced in size, and breaking
it off, then biting it again, and repeating the
operation, apparently liking the noise it made.
Crowley used his stick to annoy her; he pushed
it between the bars and tried to reach her with
it. She would take hold of it, when he jerked
it away, and was so pleased that he chuckled
and grinned most unpleasantly. After torment-
ing her a long time, he grew careless, and she
snatched it out of his hand. Then his fury was
terrible to see; he raged round like a demon,
pelted her with showers of sawdust, and became
so outrageous that one of the keepers took a long
iron rod with a scraper on the end, and tried to
discipline him. But, so far from succeeding, Mr.
Crowley turned the tables on him by snatching
it out of his hand, and then he had a weapon
with which he might easily kill half a dozen of
his packed speetators. He had the strength to
do it, too; he handled that six-foot rod as if it
were a bamboo cane. There was a sort of panic
118 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
outside ; the crowd backed ; the keeper snatched
a longer iron of the same kind and kept the
enraged beast so busy defending himself that
he had not a chance to think of the power in
his hands till the rod could be dragged out.
When cold weather foreed Mr. Crowley to
take refuge in a warmed room, where the usual
jam of visitors was not admitted, he missed the
excitement, and often found time heavy on his
hands. Then he was sometimes treated to play-
things. A ball he was fond of, and he had the
important advantage of four hands to play with.
He even evolved a new and original way to play
with that very popular toy ; he lay flat on his
back and took all-fours to it. An exceedingly
comical picture he made of himself, too.
Tenpins he enjoyed, though he refused to
set up the pins. When his obliging friend and
servant, his keeper, set them wp, he ran across
the room and rolled the ball, making very good
shots with it.
A doll that was given to him he made use of
in his peculiar fashion, first beating it soundly
with a stick, sitting on it, jumping on it, and at
last tearing it to rags. He could blow a whistle
as well as a boy, but his supreme treat was
winding a stem-winding watch; a “ Water-
bury †was a treasure to him, for he doted on a
half hour of steady winding,
THE CHIMPANZEE. 119
Crowley certainly understood much, if not all,
that was said to him. He was grieved by re-
proaches and pleased by kind words, and he
managed to express his emotions clearly to his
friends, though he was evidently not so fluent as
some of his kind have been in captivity. This
may be because he had no companions, nor even
neighbors, who might be supposed to understand
him, and so make it worth his while to talk.
Perhaps if he had become reconciled to Kitty,
and on friendly and social terms with her, we
might have learned the chimpanzee language.
Meanwhile he was a deeply interesting subject
of study, as well as the funniest fellow in New
York.
WAE
THE SPIDER MONKEY.
I, GILA.
Tue dearest pet I ever had, said the friend
who told me this true story, was a Spider mon-
key of Central America. I was greatly pleased
when she was given to me, for I had often lin-
gered in my walks to look at her pranks in the
place which was then her home.
The particular thing that had amused me was
her fondness for horseback-riding, and the cun-
ning way in which she managed to gratify her
taste for that sport, at the expense of the pigs
that were kept in the same yard. Sitting in
perfect silence on the low branch of a tree, she
watched her chance, and the moment a pig wan-
dered under her hiding place, she swung herself
down and pounced upon him, taking a good grip
of his ears to hold on by.
The steed needed no spur. He galloped off at
the top of his speed, and tore furiously around
the yard, evidently not pleased to play horse,
but unable to shake her off till she was tired
and dismounted herself.
THE SPIDER MONKEY
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 121
Unlike most of the race, spider monkeys are
fond of standing erect, and I often saw her walk-
ing about with tail held above her head, the
tip curled over like the end of a letter S. I
think I never saw anything more funny than
Gila (whose name was pronounced Heela) walk-
ing down the garden path, swinging a tin pail
in a business-like manner, as a workman carries
a dinner-pail.
Gila was a very pretty creature. She was
more than two feet tall, and weighed twelve
pounds, which is quite heavy for one of her
family. Her dress was a suit of long, light-
yellow hair, lighter than many of her kind, and,
after a few weeks’ care and combing, it became
beautifully soft and silky. Her face and hands
were black, and her knees and feet. The skin
inside her long tail was also a satiny black.
With this most useful tail she could not only
hang from a branch, but could hold objects.
Whenever she snatched anything and ran away
with it, which I regret to say was a favorite
trick, she did it with her tail ; though, when she
sat down to look at her prize closely, she took it
in her hand. Once, when not in the best of
humor, she was passing the table spread for
dinner, on her way to be chained up. With
that too-handy tail she swept it clean, dishes
and all, in one complete wreck.
122 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
Her hands were long and slim, and soft as
velvet inside, but without thumbs; her thumbs
were on her feet. Her eyes were of the “ snap-
ping †black sort, full of mischief, and she had
a fine set of white teeth, which she sometimes
used for other purposes than eating.
The common name of my pet was Black-
handed Spider Monkey, but the name I gave
her, which was the one she answered to, was
Gila Chimpilicoco. She was intelligent, and
could express her feelings as well as if she could
talk. Though she had only two or three kinds
of cries, she uttered them with such varying
expressions that there was no need of words.
The first act of the new pet was naturally
mischief. Not being expected, no place was
ready for her, so I had her tied by a rope to
the trunk of a small tree in full blossom, and it
happened that no one noticed her for some time.
She did not suffer with loneliness, however ; she
perfectly amused herself, if not the family. She
literally stripped that tree, not only of flowers
and leaves, but of twigs and small branches, and
when we found her she was coolly “ jouncingâ€
herself in the branches to break them off. In
ashort time the whole would have been kindling
wood. She screamed and chattered at us when
we dragged her down, before she had finished
her work to her taste.
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 128
*“ Now, Madame Gila,†said I, as the man tied
her to a post, “ we “Il see what you can find to do
here.â€
She did find something ; her hands were never
idle. She worked at the knot of her rope till
it untied, and then she proceeded to investigate
the garden, her new home. Whatever green
fruit she could find, she pulled off and threw
down as unworthy the notice of any sensible
monkey ; the growing vegetables she dragged
out of the ground to see what they were like ;
the pots of flowers she upset to examine the
under side. In fact that spot of ground looked
as if a hurricane had passed through it.
“Now this will never do,†I said; “this
Mischief must be securely fastened. I can’t
keep her to ruin a garden not my own.â€
But the secure fastening was the puzzle. It
was beyond the wit of man to contrive a knot
that she would not untie. At last she had to be
chained, for every finger was full of “fidget†as
some little people’s fingers, and she had twice
as many of them, besides her two thumbs. A
home was also made for her that seemed safe.
The house, like all first-class houses in the
city of Granada where all this happened, was
built around a court which was filled with trees
and flowers. Around the court, into which every
room opened, was a corridor like a wide piazza,
124 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
with a roof over it. Under the edge of that
roof, where she could have sunshine or shade as
she wished, was made Gila’s home.
She soon learned many ways of civilized life,
for she was a bright scholar. To eat with a fork
required only one lesson, — and that’s more than
can be said of our little folks,—and to take
her breakfast like a lady, not “gobbling,†but
drinking her coffee out of a cup, was almost as
soon learned. She became very fond of her
morning coffee, and was wise enough to know
when she might expect it. If the master of the
house came into the corridor and took his early
coffee, as was his custom, Gila paid no attention
to him; but the moment I appeared and seated
myself for the same purpose, she began to ery
and scream and tease, till for the sake of peace,
she was served first, though I always insisted
that she should show us some trick before I gave
her the cup.
She quickly learned what I meant, and when
she begged for her breakfast I had only to say,
“No, no, Gila; not till you show us a trick,â€
when she at once stood on her head with her
funny heels in the air, or, if we gave her a piece
of board, she stood it wp on end, climbed to the
top, and sat there as long as she could keep her
balance, steadying herself by her chain.
II.
MORE ABOUT GILA.
Besrpes coffee, Gila delighted in fruits and
sweets ; syrup on bread pleased her greatly, and
she always made her own choice of the dishes on
the table. She decided instantly what she wanted,
and if it was not given to her she would accept
bread or anything offered to her, but she held it
without eating till she saw what became of the
dish she had selected. Not until it was carried
past her, on its way to the kitchen, would she
make up her mind to be content with what she had.
In the middle of the day it was the custom to
serve to the ladies of the family something cool-
ing, — lemon or orangeade, ora fruit drink. Of
the ladies Gila considered herself one, and the
moment the servant appeared she was on the
alert; no lazy swinging then, no quiet napping
on her shelf; she had her rights to look out for.
By long use she had come to regard the dregs
of the glasses as her share of the treat, and no
miser ever watched his gold more eagerly than
Gila watched the precious drink. Jf the ser-
vant forgot her, or the glasses were too nearly
emptied, she would scream and cry.
126 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
When Gila was in her native forest, among
her own people, she lived upon nuts and fruits,
mangoes, bananas, oranges, and many others, but
she was exceedingly willing to make experiments,
and always ready to try anything she saw us eat-
ing. She soon ate exactly what the family did.
She had a curious fashion of getting a drink
when it rained, that I suppose she brought from
her wild home. The roof of the corridor was of
tiles, shaped like cylinders cut in half. Down
these little gutters the rain poured in tiny
streams, and Gila would carefully hold her head
so that the stream fell into her open mouth, and
not into her eyes, and drink as much as she
liked.
Like her mistress, Gila was fond of pets, and
especially doted on the kitten. Once she caught
her and held her tightly hugged in her arms,
while chattering over her in glee; but pussy did
not like it and eried pitifully. Nothing would
tempt the too loving monkey to give her up, and
every one had so much respect for Gila’s teeth
that they hesitated to try force. She petted and
caressed her, examined her fur, and looked in-
side her ears, all the time chattering and having
the most delightful time. Poor puss! sometimes
she was held by one leg, and sometimes by a
grip on her fur; sometimes her head was up
and sometimes down.
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 127
At last, after Gila had held her three or four
hours, one of the servants declared she would
make her give her up, so she armed herself with
a stick and went towards Gila. That cunning
creature knew what was wanted as soon as she
saw her coming, and quick as a flash she took
Kit in one hand, and held her down to the
ground behind her, while with the other she
snatched up an old parasol to defend herself.
There was one member of the family against
whom Gila had the greatest spite, and it is
curious that all over the world monkeys have
the same feelings. It was a parrot, which at
‘first was placed on the same bar with the mon-
key. Whether jealous of her gay dress, envy-
ing her because she could talk, or whatever the
cause, nothing so pleased Madame Gila as to
play a trick on the unfortunate stranger.
The sly creature would begin by sitting
quietly, and with the greatest seeming indiffer-
ence, on her usual seat. Apparently she was
deeply engaged in studying the state of things
on the ground, carefully examining her own
toes, arranging her glossy hair, evei sometimes
pretending to be asleep, or at least too sleepy
to feel the slightest interest im any parrot.
After keeping her eye on the enemy for some
time Poll grew careless, plumed her gay feath-
ers, and looked out sharply to see if anything to
128 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
eat was approaching, for the monkey herself
thought no more of dainties than did Poll.
When she had almost forgotten the presence of
her hereditary foe, Gila suddenly came to life.
Quietly and slowly she stole up till within
reach, when there came a quick grab, followed
by shrieks of rage and pain. The parrot pulled
herself away, generally with the loss of part of
her gay tail-feathers, and moped and sulked for
some time, while the monkey chattered with glee,
exulted over her victory, and chewed the ends
of the captured feathers.
But the laugh was not always on her side.
Polly had a brain, and was not slow to plot re-
venge. She too could bide her time and steal
quietly upon her victim, perhaps when she was
intensely interested in lunch going on below, or
taking a little nap in the afternoon. In her
turn Polly crept across the bar, till near enough
to give a tremendous peck at the soft flesh in-
side the end of her enemy’s tail. Then the cries
of distress came from the monkey, while the
parrot chuckled with delight. This went on for
some time, both of them refusing to be friends,
and at last Polly was provided with a new resi-
dence.
One of the most troublesome things that the
spider monkey did was to frighten children.
Lhe moment she saw one she gathered herself
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 129
up, ready for fun, keeping perfectly still till the
child came quite near, and then suddenly spring-
ing to her feet, flinging out her arms, with a
loud growling ery like “O-o-0-0!†It was a
wild sound, and the youngster was sure to run
and scream, which was the desired result, and
greatly pleased Gila. But, strangely enough,
there was one little girl, a mere baby, who was
very fond of the monkey, and perhaps even
more strange the fact that Gila was equally
fond of her. The child’s pet name was Chi-
quita, and she was a regular visitor at the house.
The moment she appeared, Gila opened her
arms and weleomed her with a glad cry, and the
baby, who could just walk, ran and threw her-
self into them with a warm embrace. After
this, Gila sat down with her pet, and proceeded
to look her over.
III.
THE MONKEY’S QUARTERS.
Tuer home of the Spider Monkey, as I said,
was under the edge of the roof of the corridor.
It was made thus : —
Two posts, some feet apart, were placed in the
spot decided upon, and between them fastened a
plank or bar, on which Gila could exercise as
much as she liked. Over the bar slipped the
ring at the end of her chain, which allowed her to
stand on the ground, or to climb among the raft-
ers under the roof, where a shelf was placed for
a bed. On top of one of the posts was fastened
a box for a seat or table, and her home was
thought to be complete. So evidently did not
Madam Gila; she wanted a swing of some sort,
and she expressed her wishes by making one for
herself, of the chain that held her. She would
take hold of it with her tail to keep it loose so
that it could not choke her, and then, throwing
out arms and legs, swing to her heart’s content.
We took the hint thus given, and sent out to the
Indians who make hammocks, so much used in
that climate, and ordered one made of a suitable
size for the monkey. When it was hung be-
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 1381
tween her posts, there was never a creature so
delighted. She had watched the family lying in
hammocks in the corridor, and knew at once
how to use it, and she could hardly be induced
to leave it, night or day.
Monkeys differ as well as men. I have known
those I would not have in the house, but my pet
was naturally neat ; her ways from the first were
almost civilized. Nothing annoyed her more than
soiled or sticky fingers, and much as she liked
syrup she often hesitated to take it, on account
of the inevitable daubing. She did not use her
long hair for a napkin either, but rubbed her
hands against a post, or — sad to say — upon
the dress of any lady who chanced to be near
enough.
One of the most interesting sights was Gila
in her morning bath. It was a shower from a
watering-pot, and she sat perfectly still during
the operation, rubbing herself all over, arms,
back, and leg, like a well-trained child. Then
she was brushed and combed, till dry and shin-
ing. But in spite of all her civilized ways, she
could never be cured of a love of pranks. Her
fingers fairly ached to be doing something, and
her head, though small, held brains enough to
be full of suggestions. No chance for mischief
ever escaped her quick eye or was unimproved.
If a woman came into the court to sell vegeta-
182 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
bles, which she carried on her head, Gila sprang
upon her, frightened her nearly out of her wits,
scattered her load far and wide, and scampered
up into the rafters where no one could reach her,
— grinning and chuckling over it till the excite-
ment passed and she considered it safe to come
down. A special favorite with this monkey was
the woman who sold certain dainties made of
rice-flour and milk, which she carried in a tray
upon her head. Gila could throw herself out
very far from her bar by holding on with her feet,
and it was almost impossible for this woman to
get past her without giving the watchful crea-
ture a chance to snatch a handful of her wares.
As I always paid for them, possibly she did not
try to keep out of the monkey’s reach.
When Gila got loose, as she sometimes did in
spite of our care, there seemed no end to the
things she would think of to do; and to think of
them was to do them, with her. If interrupted
in her fun, she would climb nimbly to the top
of atall tree, and no coaxing would bring her
down.
One day she made much trouble by upsetting
and injuring many house-plants, and then re-
treated to her usual place. Every way was tried
to get her down, talking to her and tempting her
with fruit that she liked, but she would not
come, At last we thought of a certain jaguar
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 1383
skin in the house. Monkeys have a deadly fear
of this big cat, who is fond of them, — to eat,
—and Gila had often been frightened by hav-
ing this skin shaken at her, accompanied with
growling.
A servant was told to bring it, but no sooner
did Gila hear the order, whether she understood
it or not, than she hastened quickly down the
tree and sprang into my arms, where she always
felt safe.
In the last chapter [I spoke of the monkey
“looking over†the baby she was fond of. This
was a curious operation, to which Chiquita made
no objection, though her mamma looked on with
terror, for Gila was rough at best, and if angry
she would bite in an instant. Biting, however,
she did not think of. She gravely lifted the lids
of the child’s eyes, and peered under them with
interest ; satisfied with them, she investigated
her ears, looking at them inside and out, before
and behind, above and below, as earnestly as if
she were a doctor searching for a disease. Then
she gently lifted the little curling rings of hair,
examining them curiously. Next she looked
over her clothes, peering at hems, and trying
to solve the mystery of ruffles, all the time as
grave as a judge, with the air of wondering why
the baby was white and not black; why her hair
curled instead of lying straight like hers; why
134 FOUR-HANDED FOLE.
her clothes didn’t fit close like her own; and,
altogether, what was the difference between a
baby and a monkey anyway. It was more than
curious, it was alinost sad. One could hardly
help thinking that Gila was really making com-
parisons, and actually pondering causes in her
mind.
The queer friends were extremely affectionate.
Having allowed Gila to take the child in her
arms, it was nearly impossible to get her out.
Fortunately Chiquita liked it. If she had not
been pleased and had objected, she might per-
haps have been bitten, and her mother always
dreaded it, for baby had a will of her own.
Coaxing never had any effect on Gila, and at
any attempt to take the child she held on with
arms and legs and tail, which gave her a great
advantage over those who use arms alone. The
only way they could be separated was by strata-
gem. Something would be done to attract
Gila’s attention, and Chiquita snatched away.
This proceeding did not please either of them,
and both screamed at the top of their voices.
Iv.
MONKEY MISCHIEF.
Gita was brimful of what is called the
“mother instinct ;†she always wanted a baby
to fondle. She was as fond of a doll as any
girl, and played with a rag-doll I made her for
hours at a time, though she generally ended by
tearing its clothes off. But what can one expect
of the most restless fingers in the world, — six-
teen of them at that, — and obliged to pass away
the long hours somehow? I never blamed her
for tearing her doll. Unfortunately, she liked
best a live baby. Not a cat, or any small ani-
mal, could come within reach of her long arms
or her tail, but she would snatch it with either
of the five that was nearest, and scramble to the
top of her box, where she sat down to enjoy it,
hugging it tight in her arms, no matter whether
the head was wp or down.
Among my pets was a baby tiger, as it is
called in Central America, really an_ ocelot.
This little fellow was very amusing, being as
big as a eat, and as lumbering and playful as a
kitten. Gila watched him with great interest
as another live doll-baby, and if in a moment of
186 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
frolic he chanced to get within reach, snap! she
would snatch him and run to her perch. This
insult from a monkey, who in a wild state is food
for an ocelot, was not to be endured. The baby
“yowled†in a fearful way, and scratched like
any old cat. But Gila was not discouraged ;
she pressed him closer than ever to her breast,
and played baby as long as she chose.
Poor Gila! she had trouble in finding a play-
thing to please her, but she did have one that
was everything she could desire. Her only grief
was that her pleasure did not last long. It was
another monkey, one of a much smaller kind, a
Friar monkey. She was almost too happy when
he came, and she adopted him at once, hugging
and kissing him, —at least if pressing her lips
to him is kissing. Happily, he liked to be pet-
ted, and he enjoyed hanging on to Gila’s neck,
and riding around in her arms, as much as she
enjoyed having him.
They were very happy for a while, but he was
more mischievous than she, if possible, and his
career was short. The first thing he did was
to get loose, and, as I could not attend to him
at the moment, I put him in my room, and un-
fortunately forgot him for some hours. The
poor little fellow, left with nothing to do in
a room full of wonders, naturally indulged his
thirst for knowledge, and such a sight as greeted
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 137
me when I opened my door I hope never to see
again,
There was not a box or a bag, that he could
open, but he had opened and thrown to the floor,
and scattered everything. There was not a cur-
tain in the room that he had not torn to shreds ;
not a picture that, in his search for spiders, he
had not pulled down. The canopy over the bed
he had destroyed ; a glass of orangeade he had
poured into the soap-dish ; an inkstand he had
upset, and made prints of an inky little paw all
over my glass, where he had evidently been try-
ing to get at the monkey he saw there. Lastly,
when there was positively not another thing he
could do, he had gone to sleep among the pil-
lows, inky fingers and all. When I opened the
door he sprang up in a panic, and was outside
before I could catch him. He probably knew
he should be whipped, for he ran to the roof and
got away, and I never saw him again.
By this time I had become very fond of Gila,
and she returned the affection, her greatest grief
being that I would not let her sleep in my room,
and be near me always, for she was a terrible
coward and hated to be alone. When I opened
the door in the morning, she stood up and
greeted me with her most earnest “ O-o-0-0.â€
And when I bade her good-night, she screamed
and chattered and begged so hard, that I could
138 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
hardly bear to leave her. A fright threw her
into an agony of terror, and one night I sprang
from my bed in terror myself, for I thought she
was being murdered. I fancied that nothing
less than a jaguar from the woods had hold of
her, from the noise she made.
The instant I opened my door she sprang
upon me, throwing her arms so tightly around
my neck I could scarcely breathe, much less get
away. I took her to my room and found that a
bat had bitten her and caused all this alarm. I
laughed at her, and tried to get her back into
her own quarters, but she made so great an ado
that I could not accomplish it, and that night she
passed in my room. A thunder-storm drove her
nearly wild, which is not so much to be wondered
at, for storms in that country are terrific. Even
the family gathered in one room, where Gila
always cried to accompany them, and I always
allowed her to do go.
She was a most sociable creature and much
company for me. I used to talk to her, and she
always responded and appeared to enjoy it. I
took pleasure in showing pictures to her, and
of this she was exceedingly fond. She would
pore over my photograph album, examine slowly
every picture, and look so wise that I could
hardly believe she had not her own opinions
about the faces it contained.
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 1389
At one time I received a copy of a newspaper
which had a good cut of a chimpanzee. I held
it up to show her, curious to see if she would
recognize it as a fellow-monkey. I was really
startled to see how quickly she was affected.
At first she merely glanced at it in a curious
way, but in an instant she was greatly inter-
ested. She came down from the bar to examine
it closely. After looking some time she actually
put her hand behind it to grasp the creature, as
T had seen her do to her own reflection in a
mirror. It was plain to me that she recognized
one of her kind.
When I had owned this monkey eighteen
months, I prepared to go to my home in New
England. Of course I could not think of leav-
ing my pet, and I resolved to provide her with
companions, lest she be too lonely. I collected
five of her species, though one proved to be so
homesick I had not the heart to take it from
its friends. It moped and refused to eat, but
watched the door from morning to night, look-
ing earnestly at every one who entered, and so
evidently longing for its friends that I feared it
would die, so I sent it home.
Ve
THE MONKEY IN NEW ENGLAND.
Wuen I decided to take five spider monkeys
to New England I had a travelling conveyance
made in the shape of a large cage, of slats on all
sides, so they would have air and light. Into
this I put the four strangers. On first coming
into close quarters, they had a general fight all
round, but after this they made the best of it
and lived peaceably together. Gila watched all
this with interest, and not till the last moment
did I put her in, too.
Thad a feeling that it would not please her,
and it did not. Her emotion was not anger, it
was grief. She really seemed stunned, and too
amazed for expression, that I could subject her
to this indignity. This cut me tothe heart. To
see my dear Gila moping in a corner, refusing
to eat, taking no part in the troubles or pleasures
of the rest, made me feel very badly.
I coaxed and talked to her, but it was of no
use, she would not be reconciled ; and when we
reached the port where we had to wait for
steamers, I took her out. But by this time she
was really ill, — had chills and fever. I sent for
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 141
a doctor and tried to make her swallow his
prescription, but she got no better, and would
eat nothing except a little she would sometimes
take from my lips.
The voyage was a delightful thing for Gila.
I kept her out of the cage, and she was the pet
of the passengers. She was well supplied with
dainties, and, above all, was never alone, —a
thing she hated more than anything.
When we reached New York bay, no seasick
traveller was ever more glad to see land than
Gila. She was as interested as anybody to see
the strange people and things. As we drew near
the pier, I noticed that the people on shore
laughed and pointed, and I found that Gila had
climbed to a port-hole, and seated herself where
her bright eager eyes could take in all the sights.
But now we must land, and now, alas! came
the prison again. The noise and confusion
had already driven the other monkeys nearly
wild with fright; and when I opened the door
to foree my unwilling pet in, another got out.
Gila clung to me, and between them a new
bonnet I wore was torn to rags, as well as the
hats of two men who were trying to help me.
Finally all were secured, and, feeling that I
looked as if I had been in a fight, and heartily
wishing the troublesome monkeys were back in
their native forest, I paid for the two hats, and
142 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
started with my unmanageable freight for the
quiet village in New England that was my des-
tination.
The dismay of my family at my fellow-trav-
elers, —for beside the monkeys I had several
parrots and a baby ocelot, — the exclamations of
surprise, not to say horror; the anxious “ What
can we do with five monkeys!†‘ And a house-
ful of parrots!� “And a tiger!†—all this I
leave to the readev’s imagination.
The first thing was to release them from
prison; so I took them out, one by one, and
tied them in a row to the garden fence. A vil-
lage with the usual number of small boys, five
queer monkeys tied in a row, a free show! The
news spread like wildfire. The audience was
perhaps not large, but it was all there was; it
was the whole population, at least the younger
part.
“ A crowd surrounded the yard all day 3 car-
riages drove up and stopped; and every country
wagon that passed within ten miles, I’m sure,
came around by our street to see the strangers.
The monkeys enjoyed this succession of com-
pany; nothing pleased them like an audience,
and they cut all the pranks they could think of
for the amusement of their guests.
At night they slept in the stable, where they
huddled together under a quilt, and as it grew
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 143
colder, I often had to go out in the night, roused
by their cries, and give them more bedding.
Children did not usually come very near them,
but one little girl, a neighbor, was very fond of
them. She would play with them, feed them,
take their hands for a promenade, and slap
them, too, if they did not please her.
One morning we saw her come up behind
them, take them one by one under the arms, and
jump them up and down several times. They
seemed to like it, too.
I soon found I did not enjoy keeping a me-
nagerie, so I sent the four to the Philadelphia
Zoodlogical Gardens, where they all died one
after another of consumption, as do nearly all
the monkeys that come here. I sent also the
ocelot, who had grown too big to be a pleasant
pet in a house.
OF course I never thought of parting from
Gila, and now I gave away most of my parrots,
so as to devote myself wholly to her. But she
did not revive as I hoped she would. She had
never been the same monkey since the day she
was put into a cage.
Now I hoped she would be well again, but I
soon noticed that she was evowing thin, and her
appetite was most dainty. I sent for the choicest
fruit, white grapes and everything I could think
of to tempt her, but it was all of no use.
144 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
Before this she had ceased to go out of the
house, and now she took to being wrapped in a
shawl. She had the liberty of the house, and
was only happy when lying in the sunshine,
or held in some one’s arms. She rapidly grew
worse, and before long could not leave her pil-
low, on which she would lie close to the fire,
insisting on having company.
She was not happy unless some one sat by her,
on the last day, and put a hand on her or held
her hand. This may sound like exaggeration,
but every word is true. I never saw more “ hu-
man nature’? than poor Gila manifested in her
last hours. If she could have spoken, her wishes
would not have been more plain, nor her good-
byes better understood. And when she had
turned her last loving glance on us, and gone
gently to her last sweet sleep, you will not
think it strange that a whole family shed tears
over her body, and even buried her tenderly in
the garden with flowers about her.
VI.
GILA THE SECOND.
Ir is hard to take a monkey seriously. His
business in life seems to be to amuse and enter-
tain everybody who comes near him.
Whether he is so funny in his own native
forests as he is when we get him with us, is not
really known, but it is supposed that while young
all monkeys are playful. Years and the respon-
sibilities of life soon bring gravity to the most
frivolous. To support life, and to preserve the
same in the midst of enemies, is certainly a so-
bering process.
Taken from his wild life, tamed, protected and
surrounded with comfort in his own climate, the
monkey throws himself into his part with an en-
thusiasm and relish that leaves all other animals
behind, and makes him the drollest, as he is gen-
erally the dearest, of pets.
We change all that, however, when we intro-
duce him to a climate where he must always
shiver. A monkey in our part of the world is
no more like his brother in the tropies than a
calm, fur-clad Kskimo is like his hot-headed,
unclad fellow-man of latitude nothing.
146 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
It is a curious fact that, to the homesick
dweller among strangers, a human being with
foreign tongue seems not so near akin as an
animal, whose nature-language is as intelligible
in Patagonia as in Podunk.
My comforter and dearest friend in Nicara-
gua, said the same daughter of New England
who had owned Gila, was a spider monkey, and
the happiest hours of my banishment from hore
were spent with an oddly assorted group of our
little brothers in fur, whose frolics amused, while
their fondness consoled me.
The scene of this true tale was the court and
surrounding corridor of a certain girls’ school in
the city of Grenada, where pets were as plenty as
pickaninnies, and grave and gay alike delighted
in them. Fancy an absorbed business man of
hurrying New York lavishing time and senti-
ment on a monkey or an armadillo, and conceive
—if you can — of a bustling Northern lady with
a tame jaguar at her heels, or a society maiden
bearing a tiny marmoset or squirrel - monkey
always on her shoulder. In that city of the far
south, these were daily sights which no one
thought of noticing. Nor was it many weeks
after I began my work of teacher before my
affectionate scholars had, for my sake, peopled
the silent court with a motley family of beasts
and birds.
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 147
First in my heart was the spider monkey, one
of the most loving of her emotional race, yet so
prone to mischief that five minutes of freedom
was as disastrous in the court as a cyclone. To
find herself at liberty, was to fling herself with
fatal instinct upon the choicest tree or plant.
She wasted no precious seconds in deciding what
to do, she simply did it, and two minutes was
amply sufficient to strip a small tree of flowers
or fruit and leaves, and turn to the next. Her
ingenuity in planning, and her promptness m
carrying out her plans, were truly marvelous.
Yet how could I blame her? In sight of the
tempting tropieal growth, the restless creature
spent long and tiresome days. With longing
soul and itching fingers she gazed upon tree and
shrub, plant and flower, doubtless planning a
programme of operations should she ever achieve
freedom. Success to the monkey was, however,
embarrassment to the mistress; the principal
looked annoyed, the gardener raged, and the
cook openly scolded.
Quarters were arranged for her in the corri-
dor, as they had been for her predecessor, and
she was as quickly as possible placed in them.
After carefully studying out all the possibili-
ties, she appeared perfectly contented with the
plan, the familiar association with people mak-
ing up to her for the restriction of her range.
148 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
The love and devotion of the monkey to his
human friend is to me no less strange than
it is touching. If gently treated, our four-
handed brothers would live with us contentedly,
and I believe could be trained to serve us as
faithfully as the dog.
The heart’s delight of my black-handed friend
was a hammock, of proper size for her, which
swung under the roof close to ours. More than
half the long, quiet hows of the day were passed
in that comfortable lounging place, one long,
thin leg hanging out to keep her in motion; and
so intelligent was she that, while everything else
that her mischief-loving fingers touched was re-
duced to rags, the hammock never received the
smallest injury. Strange to say, however, she
never slept in it, and the monkey-fashion of
sleeping is very different from that of man.
She slept in a ball, sitting on her three-inch
pole, held by a turn or two of her prehensile
tail, her knees drawn up, and her face and nose
buried in the fur between them. How she could
breathe is a mystery, and why she did not fall off
it is impossible to guess. The affectionate beast
did not, to be sure, scorn a human bed, provided
she could have a human bedfellow. Nothing
pleased her better, in the hottest night, than
snuggling up to somebody ; and when — on rare
occasions —she succeeded in freeing herself at
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 149
night, she whisked into the first bedroom she
came to, over the low slat-door common in that
hot climate, and in a few minutes somebody
awoke to find herself exceedingly uncomfortable,
with a very warm but very happy monkey be-
side her.
Excepting for her warmth, she was not an
unpleasant bedfellow, for she was as dainty in
person as the best-bred cat. It must never be
forgotten that a monkey, of her family at least,
is a different creature, when at home, from the
unfortunate menagerie beast with no means and
no heart for the niceties of the toilet. My pet
received a daily bath and brushing, that kept
her long, silky, golden-brown fur like a lady’s
hair. She could never endure sticky or soiled
fingers, as we discovered to our cost when she
used our dresses as a napkin, and a bad odor is
so intolerable to her whole race, that it is com-
monly insisted upon that a monkey will die of
one.
VII.
FROLICS IN THE CORRIDOR.
In the choice of friends my monkey was ca-
pricious, and beasts and birds enjoy friendships
and feel dislikes as well as man. The family in
the corridor at this time, besides the people, con-
sisted of another spider monkey, of a disposition
so gentle that she was never confined, a baby
tiger (or ocelot), a tame deer, a squirrel, a kink-
ajou, several parrots, and a young dog. From
this queer party, all of whom were at liberty,
Madame Gila selected her friends and playmates,
the dog, and, strangely enough, the squirrel. Her
overtures were well received, and the three be-
came intimate associates, enjoying daily frolics,
into which no other animal, however playful,
ever intruded.
Nothing could be more comical than the an-
ties of this remarkable trio. The clever monkey
showed herself almost human in adapting her
ways to her playmates. She could play with the
dog in dog-fashion, with the squirrel in the
squirrel way, and then make the two submit to a
monkey frolic. How she reveled in those games !
They were her resource during the long school-
THE SPIDER MONKEY. * 151
hours when her human neighbors were hard at
their books and it was not time for dinner. If
the dog — who was about half grown — made
his appearance, she came out of her hammock
like a flash, and pounced upon her friend, when
the two rolled over and over on the floor, growl-
ing and snapping, pretending to be very savage,
and no one could tell that it was not a big dog
and a little dog at play.
Tiring of dog-play, she next insisted on his
submitting to her sort of fun, which was to be
swung by the tail or leg, to be held in her arms
like a baby, and, above all, to be hugged. The
dog endured honorably and with as good grace
as he could for a while, but if it grew irksome he
ran away, rejoicing doubtless that his too exact-
ing friend could not follow.
When the squirrel joined in the romp, it
assumed still another character and became a
chase, after the custom of the nut-cracker tribes.
Around and around went the three strange com-
rades in mad race, the squirrel leading, with long
bounds, and tail undulating like waves behind
him; the monkey galloping on all-fours, tail
straight up in the air; and the dog running
hither and thither, barking at the top of his
voice. The affair always ended in a general
clinch, and tangle of fur and legs and long tails,
and barks and growls and chatters, so mixed up
152 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
it looked as if they could never be straightened
out.
But the heap speedily pulled itself apart, each
of the three coming out with what belonged to
him, and, though all had sharp teeth and knew
how to use them, not a bite was given; nor did
the two free ones run out of the monkey’s reach,
which proved that it was pure fun on all sides.
From the monkey point of view, the most
valuable possession of the spider monkey was un-
doubtedly the long prehensile tail. Her bounds
were well-defined, and not much mischief was
possible, until the hot weather drove the family
out of doors, and the corridors became break-
fast and tea room as well as lounging place in
general. After this change, came more or less
opportunity for her to take a hand in affairs, and
never was she known to miss her chance or shirk
the responsibility.
Moved with pity for the solemn-faced, appar-
ently drooping prisoner, some tender - hearted
pet-lover would now and then unclasp the chain,
and lead the sly rogue up and down the corridor
for a walk. Meekness itself she appeared as
she trotted along beside her friend, but under
that indifferent exterior was a soul burning for
action ; every finger was alive, and that decep-
tive tail, swinging idly behind her, actually
seemed to think and see for itself. Let it but
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 153
touch the corner of a table cloth, and instantly
there followed a crash of china, and the cover
and its contents lay on the floor. Should a
bottle fall into her clutches, the cork was drawn
with the dexterity of a professional butler, and
the contents, cologne or catsup, ink or ammo-
nia, scattered abroad over whatever and who-
ever it might concern.
A few catastrophes of this nature usually
hardened the most sentimental heart to her
coaxing, and after a while the table was estab-
lished at a safe distance, books were no more
left on the chairs, nor pillows in the hammocks.
But one hope was left to agitate the captive’s
heart, and that could not be removed. It was a
small window opening upon the eorridor from
the room of the portress, Donna Louisa. By the
utmost stretch, the monkey could just lay hold
of the sill with one of her hinder hands and
cling, while the crafty long tail made an inde-
pendent tour of inspection within.
The owner of the room had often been
warned, and was usually on her guard against
the artful enemy, but one day there arose in the
court a hue and ery that instantly brought the
whole family wpon the scene. Tere on the floor
was the portress, there on the roof the monkey ;
on one side raving, shrieking, dancing about,
and cries, “O my Sunday gown!†on the other
154 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
calmness, serenity, peace. If a monkey ever
smiled in triumph at the happy result of long
scheming, that rogue far out of reach on the
roof did so, as she indulged in close examination
of the precious finery fluttering in the morning
breeze.
No one, except the raving owner of the treas-
ure, could avoid laughing at the picture. But
when the monkey began deliberately to tear her
prize to pieces, the prank assumed a more seri-
ous aspect in the eyes of the monkey’s mistress,
whose purse would suffer for the fun. Com-
mands were useless, coaxing unavailing, against
such a pleasure; a ladder and a man were called
in and the garment recovered, somewhat the
worse for her handling.
These were pleasures that the monkey could
enjoy while chained, but if by any chance she
got loose, a wider field opened before her, of
which she was quick to take advantage. There
was the garden, a constant annoyance before
her eyes, — so flourishing, so orderly, so plainly
satisfactory to the gardener. How her fingers
itched to take a hand in affairs out there! The
instant she was free she rushed at it. She knew
her time was short; she made the most of it.
To destroy a full-grown banana plant took her
perhaps ten minutes; to strip a small tree of
leaves and twigs, not much longer; and five
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 155
minutes was enough for her to pull plants and
vegetables up by the roots, upset flower-pots,
and turn order into chaos generally. Never was
Gila the Second so happy as when engaged in
this particular piece of work.
To dine, and to dine well, was the one im-
portant matter of the day with that dear four-
handed torment. She ate what we did, had
her individual tastes, and was as capricious and
fussy as any chronic invalid who thinks of no-
thing but the next meal. The moment the table
was spread in the corridor she decided what
she would have, and have it she always did,
no matter what it might be; for she brought
her copious vocabulary of screams and cries to
her aid, and made herself so very disagreeable,
that no one could eat in peace till she was
attended, and served as if she were the Great
Mogul. She must have her coffee in the morn-
ing with us, and she insisted upon a part of
every glass of lemon or orangeade drank in her
presence.
However wearing the trials and annoyances of
the day, we always forgave our poor little four-
handed friend at night, for darkness brought her
nothing but terrors. Never was beast so timid ;
a shadow—even her own — startled her, an
unusual noise drove her wild, she screamed at
a bat as if it were a tiger. The dark itself
156 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
appeared to fill her with horror; she crouched
and trembled and chattered; and a thunder-
storm seemed to her the end of all things. One
would think she had been brought up in a con-
vent, rather than in a forest full of sounds and
shadows.
VIII.
BROTHER LONGLEGS. |
No nickname was ever more aptly chosen
than that given by the natives of Guatemala to
the spider monkey, — Brother Longlegs. His
limbs are the most conspicuous part of him.
Somebody has said that he looks like four legs
tied together in a knot in the middle, the knot,
of course, being his small body. With his
sprawling and grotesque motions, he is the de-
light of the menagerie, and the ease and rapidity
with which he can travel the treetops of his na-
tive forest make him the despair of the ordinary
hunter.
There is hardly a position possible to so large
an animal that he does not sooner or later put
himself into with the greatest ease. Sometimes,
in their native woods, according to Humboldt, a
cluster of spider monkeys may be seen, hanging
by the legs, arms, and tails to each other, like
some enormous overgrown and very lively fruit,
swinging, chattering, and frolicking together, all
suspended by the tail of one stout fellow who
must have begun this queer sport.
The coaita, the best known of the family, is
158 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
an attractive-looking animal, clothed in rather
long, coarse hair, of a glossy black color, with
large eyes and a reddish flesh-colored face quite
human in expression. Ie belongs to a branch
named scientifically “ Thumbless,†because what
should be thumbs on his hands are in fact
merely stumps or single joints, although, to
make up for this, he has very good thumbs on
his feet, or hinder hands (which they really
are). Perhaps the most useful member is nei-
ther foot nor hand, but tail. Not only is it
strong enough to su:tain the weight of a cluster
of monkeys as mentioned above, but it is deli-
cate enough to take birds’ eggs out of a narrow
opening. It is a help in walking, for the coaita
is a tolerable walker, stepping carefully on the
outside edge of his feet, never on the sole or
pahn, and steadying himself on his way by taking
hold, with his tail, of every object within reach.
More than this, the tail is able to hold objects,
and even to carry them off, and as a swing it
cannot be equaled. So strong is its holding-on
power that even after death it will firmly sus-
pend the dead body for days. Nearly the whole
length of the tail is covered with fur, like the
rest of the body, but for several inches at the
tip the under side is bare, and covered over with
thick, black skin, which eminently fits it for its
work. The old story of monkeys bridging a
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 159
river, by hanging to each other in a long line,
and swinging themselves back and forth until
the lower one is able to grasp a tree on the other
side, and thus forming a bridge for the rest to
pass over, has been affirmed and denied till it is
difficult to decide whether true or not; it cer-
tainly shows no more intelligence than many
actions of the spider monkeys.
It may easily be -seen, that to catch a coaita
in his native forest is a hopeless task. With
four hands and a tail to seize the branches and
liana stems among which he lives, and with
power to swing his light body five yards at each
throw, as Dy. Oswald says, neither man or beast
can follow him. The spider monkey, says the
writer just quoted, “is nimble to a degree which
makes one smile at the readiness with which
that word is applied to such creatures as rats
and raccoons.†Nimble as he may be, however,
strongly as his tail may hold, and many as are
the devices by which this animal protects him-
self against his enemies, he cannot escape the
worst of them,—man. The jaguar seeks his
body to eat; the large black and white eagle is
said also to prey upon him; but man has more
wishes than inerely to satisfy his hunger.
Not only is the unfortunate coaita possessed
of savory meat upon his bones, but his skin is
valuable, and, above all, he is in great demand
160 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
asa pet. The people of the countries in Central
and South America, where the spider monkey is
found, are the greatest pet-keepers in the world.
Not only monkeys of every sort, and interesting
sinall animals, share their homes and their affec-
tions, but every live creature, from a stupid-
looking tapir down to a mouse, may be found
living with people in the most amicable way.
The coaita is a favorite, partly because of his
droll performances and amusing antics, where-
ever he may live; but much of his popularity
is the result of his gentle manners and amiable
disposition. He is extremely affectionate and
social in his tastes; being alone almost breaks
his heart; and abusive or even unkind words
make him very unhappy, all of which has been
shown in the story of Gila.
Then, too, he is as fond of pets as the natives
themselves. Other monkeys, even dogs or cats,
readily become the objects of his loving-kindness,
and have to endure hugs, not always agreeable
to them, which they sometimes resent violently.
Besides his gentleness, this creature is very in-
telligent and easily tamed, becoming so attached
to his owner that he will follow like a dog. He
is not so restless as other monkeys of that coun-
try, but he is ingenious in his devices, and per-
severing in carrying out his plans.
One traveler tells of the interesting way in
THE SPIDER MONKEY. 161
which the spider monkeys managed to throw
down upon his party large branches of trees, so
many of them, indeed, that it was dangerous to
pass beneath. A monkey first selected a dead
branch in a convenient position, then, grasping
with feet and tail a stout living branch near
the former, he braced himself and pushed with
his hands against the dead branch, using all his
force, and generally succeeding in splitting it
off, when it fell with a crash to the ground.
As to their perseverance, Waterton speaks of
finding cases containing Brazil nuts, which are
hard round objects somewhat larger than a
croquet-ball and very hard to break, which the
monkeys had worn smooth by the hands, in their
efforts to break them open. They knew very
well what was inside, for their fingers had been
thrust through the small opening in the top, and
their nails had picked and broken the corners of
the nuts tightly packed away within. He knew
it was the work of the monkeys, for he came
upon them in the very act of pounding the cases
on branches and on fallen tree-trunks, and one
that he secured was dropped, in his haste to
get away, by an unfortunate creature who had
already spent many hours upon it. It was most
curious, says the writer, to hear the pounding
noise made by a party of spider-monkeys trying
to break these hard cases.
VII.
THE OCELOT.
I. NICO.
Wuite the strange friendship between my
spider monkey and her chosen companions was
progressing, a curious attachment sprang up
between a pair even more incongruous, natural
enemies in fact. These were a deer not fully
grown, and the baby-tiger or ocelot already men-
tioned.
This personage had come upon the scene at a
very tender age, a few weeks it was supposed,
and his entry ‘was sensational. He was fero-
ciously hungry; and though he did not know
how to eat, he knew too well how to make him-
self heard. He cried and made such a disturb-
ance that he was not welcome anywhere, till he
fell into the hands of the spider monkey’s mis-
tress.
This lady, who had carried to that land of
ease-loving people something more than gram-
mar and arithmetic, namely, her New England
“faculty,†soon devised a way to feed the riot-
ous infant, by soaking a sponge in milk, and
THE OCELOT. 168
then presenting it to his eager lips. He tasted,
found it good, and settled at once to his meal,
while his foster-mother had a chance to look at
hun.
A tiger “kitten†is a pretty little beast in
gray and black fur, and he looked something
like one of our familiar pussy’s babies when five
or six weeks old. But it was plain that this
youngster lying so peacefully in her lap, and
taking his milk from a sponge, was not intended
to live in a house beside the fire and be cod-
dled. His body was long and lank, for he must
be able to run great distances in hunting, and
to jump when he saw his prey; his paws were
enormous, for they must pull down and handle
his meat for him ; his head was big and clumsy,
and in every way he showed that he was born
to live in the woods, to dine upon monkeys, and
to catch them first.
But how his fate was changed when he went
toa boarding school —a lady’s pet. Food came
to him without a hunt; a warm bed was his for
the taking; anything he wanted he had only to
demand, for the human race whom he feared
and hated had become his servants. Te was
satisfied ; he sheathed his claws once for all,
and became a gentle, affectionate little beast, as
tame — almost — as pussy herself.
T say almost, for he had one or two wild
164 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
notions that were not so easy to get over. One
was a fancy for something to suck, even after
he had teeth and could eat. It was strange,
but he never seemed to forget the comfort he
got out of that sponge in the first place; and
he quickly discovered that nothing was quite so
much to his taste as human flesh. So long as
one would allow him to hold finger or toe, or a
bit of arm or neck in his mouth, he was happy,
and would lie and purr like any old cat. But
he drew the flesh more and more into his mouth,
his sharp teeth were dangerously near; and no
one could help thinking that if he should happen
to break the skin and taste the blood he might
forget he was a tame tiger at a boarding school,
and suddenly show his wild side. So his friends
were a little nervous about indulging this taste
of his, and would not allow it.
Did he give it up? not he! Giving up isn’t
the way to get anything, and the thought of
going without what he desired never came into
his head. He turned cunning ; he watched his
chances. One lying in a hammock with arm
hanging out, or a school girl in the dormitory
with foot uncovered, became his victim. When-
ever he found a sleeper, he stole quietly up to
her, and began a very gentle licking, so soft as
not to disturb the lightest sleeper. Gradually
he went further and got the toe or finger into
THE OCELOT. 165
his mouth, and then he was in bliss, till his vic-
tim awoke and disturbed him, when he resisted,
and growled and behaved like a naughty child.
Of this trick he was never cured.
Another wild taste that made trouble in the
household was the desire to have his food fresh
and raw, and to select it himself. Half the fun
of having something to eat was — in his eyes —
the pleasure of hunting it. Not that he refused
to be fed from the table; he had what our
grandmothers used to call “a growing appetite,â€
but when he wanted a little “sport†he knew
how to get it.
One way was to waylay the cook. When that
important person came in, with a pan on her
head containing the meat for dinner, Master
Nico, the tiger, knew that his chance had come.
He was usually on the watch indeed, for he
knew the hour the meat came as well as she did.
As she entered, holding her head up, of course,
he stole in behind her, and followed so closely
and so lightly on his slippers of fur that she
neither heard nor suspected him.
She passed into the kitchen and set down the
pan, when like a flash the baby-tiger was upon
it, teeth and claws every one buried in the piece
of meat he had selected as he jumped. There
he held on for dear life, for well he knew his
claim would be disputed, and he braced himself
166 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
for the storm. It came; shaking, scolding, and
even beating did not stir him. He had to be
actually torn away by main strength, but he
earried part of the meat with him, and he had
his excitement. The next day, or as soon as
cook forgot to be on her guard, he repeated the
performance, and never tired of it. Nor did he
ever resent the rough treatment he received ; he
knew he was in mischief.
Another plan that he devised, to secure fresh
fowl, was to look up the hens after they had gone
to roost, kill one with a bite, suck its blood, and
then leave it. One day the fowls were actually
brought to his very nose, and though this tame
way lacked the excitement of adventure, he did
not refuse to accept.
A country woman came into the court to sell
chickens, which she carried tied by the feet,
and hanging from a pole across her shoulder,
Nicaragua fashion. The cook proceeded to buy
some, and buying anything in that land of lei-
sure means talking half an hour over it. The
ocelot meanwhile observed the defenseless chicks
and also the absorbed traders. He crept up one
side and seized one. The fowl remonstrated ;
the peddler shrieked, and demanded pay; and
Nico slipped out of sight.
The cook, used to paying damages for the
work of pets, agreed to the demand, but began
THE OCELOT. 167
haggling about the price, when the wily tiger —
having been disturbed before he had finished —
returned stealthily, went to the other side, and
snatched another chicken. Upon this second
capture the cook hurried the vender out of the
court, and concluded her bargain in another
place.
II.
TIGER TRICKS.
Fonp as he was of fresh blood, the loyal beast
never showed tooth or claw to his playmates on
the corridor, the squirrel which he might have
crushed with one blow, and the puppy almost as
easily killed. On the contrary they had many
fine frolics together. The squirrel ran over
him, and played off his saucy squirrelish tricks
on him, and Master Nico often laid his paw on
the little fellow to hold him, but he never hurt
him in the least.
To be fed on “scraps and leavings†was not
at all to the taste of this savage baby. In the
woods the tiger is king, and that it could be
otherwise anywhere else never occurred to him.
Intelligent as he was, he could never be taught
to eat at the second table.
One day three lady teachers sat at dinner,
one of them knife in hand, about to carve a
particularly tempting roast chicken. Now Nico
had marked that morsel for his own, and while
the carver paused to make a remark, fork just
ready to descend upon the fowl, there was a
sudden bound, a snatch, a whisk of gray fur,
THE OCELOT. 169
and Nico and the chicken vanished together.
Nor could they be found, though the premises
were well searched. The chicken indeed was
never seen again, though the tiger appeared
after an hour or two, with an air of childlike
innocence, not at all hungry, and quite ready to
“kiss and make up.’’
Blood will tell, according to the old saying ;
and in spite of the fact that the days were all
play and no work for the young ocelot, that he
had always enough to eat, every comfort, and
petting and spoiling to his heart’s content, and
that he had never known anything different in
his life, he was never frolicsome like his domes-
tic cousin the cat. He appeared always to look
upon life as a very serious matter. He let the
squirrel frisk about him; he even seemed to like
it, laid himself flat on his stomach and watched
the pranks of his playmate with interest. Some-
times too he would lie on his back in his mis-
tress’ lap, and kick with his hind feet, like pussy ;
though even then the wild taste showed in his
trying to get his teeth down beside her finger-
nails.
If not much given to frolic he seemed to have
a kind of humor. He liked to hear girls scream,
and servants scold, and to rouse the household
generally. One way that he secured a pleasing
hubbub was by knocking down the lamp chim-
170 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
neys. The girl who took care of the student
lamps usually placed the chimneys together in a
little grove, preparatory to cleaning them. This
was an irresistible opportunity to Nico; the
moment he saw them he walked in among them,
swinging his tail, and knocking them right and
left in fine confusion. The chimneys were im-
ported, and costly, and many a hard-earned dol-
lar his mistress paid for this mischief.
The only thing the baby tiger did that seemed
like genuine play was in imitation of the ways of
his own grown-up relations, for although he was
brought up-in a school — anda quiet girl’s school
at that — and had never seen wild ocelot life, he
had a very clear notion of what it was like.
This little fun of his was a make-believe hunt,
and his prey was a tame deer that liked to
run and exercise himself by bounding around
the edge of the court. Though his intentions
toward his fellow-captive were most friendly,
yet something in the movement evidently stirred
his wild instincts. Creeping up one day cau-
tiously, to a row of flower pots which the deer
passed every time on its round, he crouched un-
seen, in true cat-fashion, and waited. As the
“game†rushed by he gave one wild leap, and
landed on its back, as neatly as though he had
been taught by a savage mamma, instead of
being the pupil of a gentle, peace-loving school-
THE OCELOT. 171
mistress. The deer was startled, of course, but
very quickly saw that it was only fun, and day
after day the queer little play at wild life was
reénacted, the deer seeming to enjoy it as well
as his playfellow.
The story of the little tiger is like the story of
all wild pets. At first they are very interesting,
and the people about them, in trying to make
them contented and happy, really become slaves
to them. As they grow older they expect the
same treatment.
he is the size of a cat will expect the same
when he is as big as a calf.
The happy life in the corridor, like everything
else that is pleasant, —and no less everything
unpleasant, which we sometimes forget — came
at last to an end. The ocelot grew exacting as
well as cunning with age, until in his twelfth
month his demands became so troublesome that
it. was resolved, in solemn family conclave, to
put him out in the country to board till the ap-
proaching vacation, when he should accompany
his doting mistress to New England. That land,
however, he was destined never to shock with his
own lawless manners and customs, for in a mo-
ment of playfulness he tried the hunting trick
ona big dog. The beast did not like it, he re-
sented the liberty, and the baby tiger paid for
his joke with his life.
172 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
The monkey, too, the merry, happy-hearted
queen of the corridor, became ill before she left
her native country, and her mistress had neither
the pleasure nor the pain of taking her pet to
her New England home.
VIII.
MONKEY BABIES.
I. THE COAITA AND THE ORANG-UTAN.
THE grown-up coaita is not hard to tame, but
the baby is never anything else than tame. Of
course a youngster cannot be caught except on
the death or severe injury of its mother, for it
is never alone an instant, always riding on her
back, and holding on from the first with four
hands that never let go. A baby coaita of a
month old is a lank, ungainly creature with long
black hair. When by the death of its mother
it falls into the hands of men, it does not fail,
at least among the natives, to get most tender
care, even sometimes to the extent of sharing
the native baby’s natural food, it is said.
Its great want at this age is warmth, and I
heard of one owned in our part of the world
which was kept alive through a cold winter by
being bagged, literally, every night with a pair
of fluffy puppies. A. large bag half full of straw
and wool was the bed in which, not on which,
the three strange bedfellows passed the night.
Their owner opened the bag, dropped puppies
174 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and monkey together into the bedding, then
closed the mouth of the sack and tied it, to
make sure that no one escaped. Throwing the
curious bag-load into a barrel, he covered that
up closely as well.
They did not smother, they throve and grew
fat on it, which proves, I am sure, that fresh
air, or even any air, is quite unnecessary to
babies of the monkey and dog families.
The monkey baby is very much like a human
youngster ; but sooner than our little folk he
learns to go alone and care for himself, and by
the end of two years, it is said all the funniness
is out of a monkey. Rev. Samuel Lockwood
tells the story of one who lost his fun all in a
moment, and from being full of tricks and very
happy, became a sad, joyless creature, because of
his lost faith in man. It happened in this way.
He lived in a shop of basket-makers, and among
other tricks was expert at catching sticks that
men threw to him. When this ceased to be a
novelty, and the workmen were tired of playing
with him, they took to teasing, and the cruel
thing they did was to throw a hot poker to him.
He caught it, but it ended his fun for life.
The voice of the coaita is soft and musical,
with those he is fond of, when in confinement,
and louder, with a wailing or mournful quality,
when calling to his fellows in freedom. He also
MONKEY BABIES. 175
utters a sort of barking grunt, and doubtless in-
dulges in many other cries that are not reported.
One would never look among the monkeys
for a solemn baby, yet the little Orang-Utan
is said to be as sober as his mamma. herself.
Never do the hunters, or the natives of Borneo,
where this baby lives, see troops of youngsters
at play together in the woods, as they do of other
young monkeys, but each young orang stays
quietly with his mother till he is able to care for
himself. Then he goes with the whole troop
through the trees, where their days are spent,
eating fruit, young leaves, buds, and tender
shoots, and drinking the water found in the
leaves, — unless it happens to be dry weather,
when they have to come down to a stream.
This baby does n’t like to come to the ground,
and he is as awkward there as men are upon
trees, hobbling along in a clumsy way. But
when he gets among the branches he is at home,
walking along on them nearly straight up,
though going on all fours, because his arms are
so much longer than his legs that he need not
bend over to use them.
Thus the ovang goes on till he comes to the
end of the branch, when he reaches a limb of
the next tree, swings himself over, and walks
on. He is said never to jump about from
branch to branch, as do some monkeys, but
176 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
always to hang on to one till he gets hold of an-
other; which proves him to be a very prudent
fellow, I am sure.
Like other monkeys, this little creature has
no special home ; and when night comes, and he
gets sleepy, his mother makes a bed for him
with her. She does it by breaking off branches
and laying them crosswise on other branches of
the tree. In a very few minutes she will make
as nice a bed as any monkey baby could desire.
The bed is made low down in the tree, and if
it rains, the natives say a big leaf is used as
a cover. Should one of the poor fellows be
wounded by men who want his skin, he hurries
to the top of the thickest tree he can find, and
makes himself a bed in which to die, or to lie
and get well if he can. He chooses his place so
well, and makes it so thick, that he cannot be
seen from below.
The baby orang has often been brought to our
menageries, and we know him well as a captive.
He is amiable enough when well treated and
indulged in his whims. Like a human baby,
_he likes to be “ coddled†and kept warm, held
in laps and nursed tenderly. Like them also, he
does n’t like to sleep alone, nor to wake up and
find his nurse gone ; and he is quite able to make
his likes and dislikes known, for he eries and
screams and roars, amazingly like a human baby.
MONKEY BABIES. 177
He has his notions, too, about his food ; some
things he likes and others he does not. He will
quickly push from his mouth the morsel not to
his taste, and, if another is given, scream and
kick like any two-handed infant.
Like all little people he is fond of toys, and,
in fact, he must have something to amuse him,
or he will roll on the floor, with all four hands
grasping at the air till he catches something —
no matter what, — when he holds on for dear
life. The thing he likes best to seize is hair,
and unfortunate is the man who lets him get
his fingers into his beard. very finger is bent
over at the last joint so that it makes a perfect
hook, and, once clutched into a thick beard, it is
almost impossible to get them out; especialy
as he is very strong, being able to break nearly
any cage or undo almost any chain.
In one thing, however, he is not in the least
like our dear little human babies; he does n’t
look like them. His face is wrinkled like a very
old man’s, and his eyes look wistful and care-
worn, When sick he weeps, actually sheds
tears, and moans; and when angry he pouts —
a pout that no girl or boy, however cross, can
equal. Ile makes his mouth almost into a
trumpet.
Though solemn, this baby is not stupid; he
readily learns to live on our food, and to eat
178 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
and drink in our way, using a spoon as well as
a cup for tea and coffee. A naturalist, who was
spending some time in Borneo, caught a baby
orang-utan a foot long, and kept it alive three
months. It acted very much like a young
human baby, cut two teeth, and was learning to
walk, when it died, because he could not get
proper food for it.
In color the orang-utan is a reddish chestnut,
and his name is Simia Satyrus.
I.
OTHER MONKEY BABIES.
THE baby gorilla is a strange little creature,
with jet-black face and hands, and a gray coat.
He is not pretty to look at,— according to our
notions, — with his big mouth, flat nose, and
head sunk in his shoulders; but he is very in-
teresting. This is partly because we haven’t
known much about him till lately, and partly
because he belongs to the largest and strongest
of the monkey race.
Of course this baby is of the greatest interest
to his mother, who pets him, caresses him, and
takes the best of care of him, letting him ride
on her back till he is old enough to look out
for himself. He never has a nursery, and his
mother’s back or arms form his only cradle.
With her he sleeps in the trees, anywhere they
happen to be when night comes on.
Ag soon as he is big enough he eats fruit and
leaves, and runs about on the ground on all-
fours. Ie looks very odd running about, for
he turns his foot over and treads upon the side,
and doubles his hands to tread on the knuckles,
where the skin grows thick and hard.
180 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
The truth is, he is most at home in the trees,
and one of his favorite amusements as a young-
ster, at home, is to swing on the branches, leap
or fling himself from one tree to another, in
games with his playmates, all shouting and
sereaming like so many playful girls and boys.
He is full of life and fun, and has gay times
till he grows up and looks on the serious side of
life. Then he becomes strong and fierce and
savage, —at least toward men. He can hardly
be blamed for that, however, for the men he
knows are either hunters trying to kill him, or
keepers forcing him to live in a cage, which of
course he hates, as does everybody with any
spirit.
There’s only one way that men can catch
this baby, and that is by shooting his mother.
When she falls he falls with her, for the first
thing he learns in the world is to hold on well;
for, of course, as she travels about in the trees
she uses her hands as well as her feet, and he
must cling for himself. He does, and not until
his mother is dead can he be secured, and then
when he is taken away he cries and screams like
a baby.
Tf the young gorilla is kindly treated he is
gentle and affectionate, very fond of play, and
as pleased to be petted as any human baby, as
well as dainty and neat in his manners. He will
MONKEY BABIES. 181
sit on one’s knee and lean against his breast,
aud become so much attached to a kind keeper
as to pine away and die if he leaves him.
Then, too, he is very fond of a frolic, clapping
his hands, thrusting out his tongue, romping
about a room, swinging and leaping, and gallop-
ing around on knuckles and feet, very much like
one of our own little folk. He is very good to
mind what he is told — when he understands —
and quick to learn what is wanted. The thing
he likes best to play with is a gentleman’s long
beard, and that you know our babies like, too.
One of these little fellows that was brought
from Africa—his native land — was cross so
long as he was shut up, but after he reached
the ship to go to England he was let out, and
then became as good-tempered and amiable as
anybody, played with the sailors, romped and
frolicked to his heart’s content. His special
favorite was a dog, a bull terrier, who was not
very good-natured, but happened to like the
gorilla baby, and they were great playfellows.
One writer who knows a good deal about
gorillas has said that even in babyhood this
animal is always ill-tempered and savage. No
doubt all that he knew were so, for every one he
had was either chained up, shut in a cage, or
wore a split stick over his neck ; probably, too,
they were beaten by servants. This is enough
182 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
to make anybody cross, especially a little wild
baby frightened out of his wits at being stared at.
One baby that this writer told about was
perhaps two years old, and so strong it took four
men to hold him. When he broke loose from
his cage, no one dared go into the room to catch
him, he was so savage. They opened the door
carefully and threw a net over him, and when
he was well tangled in it, they rushed in and shut
him up, in spite of his kicks and struggles. If
any one came near this very naughty baby, he
rushed at his visitor with yells, tried to seize
him, and acted as if he would tear him to pieces.
The gorilla baby is an anthropomorphous (or
man-shaped) ape, and his name is Zroglodytes
Gorilla.
III.
THE DROLLEST BABY.
Baxoons are almost the ugliest of the mon-
keys to look at. They have dog-shaped heads,
with eyes deep-set and close together, and their
faces have ridges and swellings and queer colors,
so that they are really hideous, to our notions.
But, in spite of their looks they are most in-
teresting animals, because they are so fond of
each other, and so amiable and full of fun in
babyhood. Dreadful-looking old fellows, that
look as if they could easily eat up a baby, are
extremely fond of the little ones, and as tender
and careful as any human nurse.
Some droll stories are told of baboon babies
in menageries. In one place there were two
mothers with infants, and the others of the tribe,
when allowed to go in the cage occupied as a
nursery, gathered about the mothers, put their
arms fondly around them, and begged by their
actions to hold the baby a little. The mothers
allowed them to do so, and the little ones were
passed around among the visitors, each one
holding a baby a few minutes carefully, and
then passing it on. At last, after every one had
184 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
taken the child, it was given back to its mamma.
Such a performance among animals is very
extraordinary.
Another one that was in a menagerie in Paris
was in a cage alone with its mamma, and when
about eight days old papa was allowed to go in
to make a call. Ie embraced mamma and the
baby, and then sat down by her and took the
little one in his arms. Pretty soon the rest of
the baboon family were introduced to the inter-
esting cage, to call on the infant, which they
had been wild to do.
Each one wanted to take it, of course, but
this mother was not so obliging,
perhaps. She would not let any one touch it,
and if urged she gave the teaser a slap. They
all sat around her and moved their lips as
though talking.
The baboon baby has probably a better time
out of a menagerie. He sleeps in a den in
the rocks, rides on his mother’s back, and eats
berries and fruit and roots, besides insects.
Nothing is funnier than to see a party of these
wild youngsters at play. They are specially
fond of sliding down hill. They select a nice,
grassy place, and down they go, sliding and
rolling over and over like great balls of fur,
chattering and carrying on like a party of
children. They run about on all-fours on the
or so trusting,
MONKEY BABIES. 185
ground, and if in a hurry they gallop, but they
are not often seen on trees,
The little baboon is a jolly fellow, always
full of pranks and jokes, such as slyly pulling
the tail of some dignified old fellow. But this
performance turns out not so funny if he gets
caught, for a pinch or a bite is the pay he gets.
Like other little folk, the baboon baby some-
times loses his temper, and the ways he takes to
show his anger and to threaten the enemy are
very strange. He opens his mouth wide as if
yawning, or he pounds his fist on the ground as
a naughty child will do.
As they grow old, like many other animals,
and especially monkeys, they grow more savage
and cross, and of course are not so interesting.
But they are very cunning. They go in large
parties together, and often visit the crops of the
farmer. When they do this they keep watchers
on the lookout, and, though usually quite noisy
fellows, they are as quiet as any other thieves
who know they are taking what does not belong
to them. If an unlucky baby chances to make
a noise he gets a smart slap, and naturally he
soon learns to keep still when on an excursion
of that sort. This fellow lives in Africa, and
his name is Cynocephalus Hamadryas.
Iv.
THE MOST AMIABLE BABY.
THE most amiable and altogether lovely mon-
key baby that ever lived among people is the
baby chimpanzee. He is a roly-poly little fellow,
with a large head and long arms, and his face
looks like one of our babies’, for it is light-
colored and smooth, and the hair on his head is
longer than it is in most monkeys.
For two or three weeks, too, he is as helpless
as a human baby, and has to be carried every-
where; but then there begins to be a difference.
He tries to get about alone, and it is only a few
weeks before he can run around as well as any
of his family. He goes on all-fours, stepping on
the knuckles of his hands, and never laying them
out flat on the palm.
He grows up faster than our babies; at six
weeks old he begins to eat fruit, and long before
a human baby leaves off his milk diet, the baby
chimpanzee eats everything his mother does, and
is able to scramble about in the trees in a way
that no human baby, however old or skillful, can
ever do. He is quite grown up at nine or ten
years old.
MONKEY BABIES. 187
This baby is very fond of a frolic, like other
little folk. In their native woods in Africa
groups of young chimpanzees are sometimes
seen playing together like a party of children,
running after each other, turning somersets,
swinging, shouting and screaming, and, above
all, drumming on a log with a stick, which they
like to do as well as boys like to play on a reg-
war drum. When they are hungry they eat
fruit or plants. It is as a captive that the little
chimpanzee is best known, and here he behaves
curiously like a child. For one thing, he does n’t
like to be shut up in a cage, and he does like to
sit on the lap of his nurse and be “cuddledâ€
like a baby. Te will put his arms around her
neck and cry, when she puts him down. In fact
he sometimes makes a great fuss about it,
screams, and throws himself on the floor, and
kicks and rolls over. But this is not often.
Generally he is gentle and affectionate and full
of play, laughing when he is tickled, and giving
little grunts of pleasure, while his hazel eyes
twinkle with fun.
The most interesting thing about the young
chimpanzee is his desire to do as people do. He
greatly likes to get hold of clothes to wear. Ile
easily learns to eat with a spoon and. fork, to
dvink from a cup and saucer, and to enjoy our
food, even hot tea. When he grows older he
188 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
even goes so far as to like to smoke, and to
shake hands.
He is very cunning and full of curiosity, as
well as intelligent. He can thread a needle, and
lock and unlock doors or boxes, using a key as
well as anybody. Also, he likes to tease. One
in the London Zoological Garden had great fun
in jumping upon a cage where lived some mar-
mosets. These little creatures chattered and
crouched in a corner, and were frightened half
out of their wits. This much pleased Master
Chimpanzee, and in a few minutes, when they
had got over their fright, he would pounce on
them again. When denied what he wanted,
this little fellow pouted and made harsh bark-
ing sounds, but if very angry —as I said —
he screamed and rolled on the floor, opening his
mouth wide, and throwing his arms around to hit
everything he could reach. He was very affec-
tionate to other chimpanzees, putting his arms
around them, and he had great romps with an
orang-utan.
All monkeys — as well as children — are fond
of playthings, and the one I am telling about
was presented with a doll. He hardly knew at
first whether to be afraid of it or not, and it was
tied to the end of a rope. Then he could swing
it and jerk it, which he did with great glee,
laughing to see the antics of the thing. His
MONKEY BABLES. 189
laugh is not so hearty as ours, but a sort of loud-
whispered ‘ Ha! ha!â€
There has been a notion among people that a
monkey cannot smile, much less laugh, but that
has been proved a mistake. Close observers, as
Darwin and Buckland, affirm that the chimpan-
zee can do both.
The baby chimpanzee likes to play with chil-
dren, and whatever they do he does after them.
If the youngsters make up faces at him, he re-
turns the compliment, thrusting out his lips till
they look like a trumpet. Like the children,
too, he is fond of sweets and milk; and, unlike
them, he will wash his own hands and face.
He’s a droll little fellow, with high shoulders,
and big ears, and beautiful white teeth, and his
name is Troglodytes Niger.
IX.
MONKEYS WHO WORK.
Brrore I end this account of monkeys, I
want to say a little about some who have been
taught to work.
Monkeys are very much like people in their
ways. Whether the fact pleases us or not, we
are obliged to admit it.
The baby monkey — droll little bundle of fur
that it is — acts wonderfully like the darlings of
our nurseries. It puts its fingers in its mouth,
and it creeps on the ground; it plays with toys,
and it laughs when tickled; it weeps when
grieved, and it screams when angry; it moans
when ill, coos when caressed, and squalls when
left alone, — exactly as do human little folk.
When it is a little older it plays and quarrels,
drums on hollow logs to make a noise, jumps,
swings, and performs feats of strength, so like
those in which our own youngsters delight as to
be amazing to one who sees them.
Yet they are “full of mischief,†we always
say; and people chain them up or shut them in
cages, where they fret themselves nearly wild.
tt is pitiful to see the restless creatures with
MONKEYS WHO WORK. 191
nothing to help pass away the tedious hours;
and it is not necessary that it should be so.
Should pet monkeys, then, be allowed to
smash the vases, scrub the wax-dolls, choke the
baby, and perform the thousand other pranks
their four busy hands ache to do?
No, indeed! There’s a better way. They
can be cured of mischief, just as two-handed little
people are, — by giving them something to do;
by teaching them to work.
This is not so hard a task as one might think.
Monkeys that live with people are always imi-
tating what they see done, and work is as easy
to learn as mischief, — if one only thinks so.
Why, then, should they not be taught to work ?
Long ago in Egypt it was discovered that four
hands can be more useful than two, when prop-
erly trained. In those far-off days our four-
handed relative was employed in certain services
about the gardens. He it was, instead of a
clumsy man-servant, who was sent into the trees
to gather figs and other fruits. He handed them
down to his master below, as we learn from the
old sculptures; though, to be sure, the picture-
story does not fail to add that he did not entirely
forget himself, and that many a tempting mor-
sel found its way into his mouth. Would a boy
have done any better ?
This useful Egyptian servant belonged to the
192 t FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
baboons, or dog-headed monkeys; and although
when young the baboons are good - tempered
enough and easily taught, their experience of
life makes them cross, so that an old baboon is
one of the ugliest of animals.
Monkeys in our own days do such wonders,
that perhaps we have no reason to doubt the
story, told by an old writer, of one which used
to be sent regularly to buy wine. This animal
was a coaita, one of the spider monkeys, which
are able to walk upright without much trouble.
When sent on his errand, he had the jug in one
hand and the money in the other, and he was
wise enough to keep the money till the wine was
ready, when he would pay for it and carry it
home,
Nothing is harder work than playing for the
amusement of other people ; and more than two
hundred years ago monkeys were taken to Eng-
land, to perform there in shows. They were
dressed in fine clothes, in the fashion of the day,
and they behaved with perfect propriety. They
saluted the guests and one another by taking
off their hats and bowing politely ; they danced
together the stately minuet and other fashiona-
ble dances, and they imitated many other social
ceremonies.
They also did other things more difficult, if
not quite so dignified. They performed on the
MONKEYS WHO WORK. 193
tight-rope, and turned somersets with lighted
candles or baskets of eggs in their hands, with-
out putting out a light or spilling an egg. An
old English writer, Evelyn, who kept a diary,
tells about a visit he paid to these learned ani-
mals.
In our day the monkey has not escaped from
work, — in fact he is learning to do more every
day; and the time may perhaps come when
he will be a common worker. In one part of
Africa he is taught many useful tasks about a
house, — such as holding the torches, which are
used there to light up the room for a feast.
Several monkeys are placed on a bench, each
with his light to hold. There they must sit, and
see others eat and drink and have merry times,
while they dare not stir hand or foot lest they
put out the lights. If they are very good, when
the feast is over they have a supper themselves.
But sometimes one gets tired and impatient, and
flings his torch among the guests, and that mon-
key gets something else instead of his supper.
One of the most teachable of the race is the
chimpanzee. In their native land young chin-
panzees are caught when mere babies, and are
taught to be very useful. They are able to
carry pitchers of water on their heads as the
people do, and to keep a fire going, or to watch
the cooking. When they live among white peo-
194 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
ple, they learn to sweep and dust, to clean boots
and brush clothes.
Should they go to sea, they still contrive to be
useful at furling sails and hauling ropes with
the sailors; and if their home is with carpen-
ters, they become equally expert with tools, even
using hammer and nails properly.
Monkeys are quick to learn politeness and
refined manners, for nothing seems to please
them so much as to copy the ways of those about
them. It is easy to teach them to eat with knife
and fork, to drink from a cup or glass, and
to use a napkin; they like it, too, and soon
relish our food, and show likes and dislikes as
strong as the most notional “ spoiled child†in
America.
They take kindly to other ways of ours, —
they enjoy sleeping in beds, and soon learn to
“make them up.†They like to be warmly
dressed, and can readily learn to dress them-
selves ; and they have their own tastes in colors.
In the Island of Sumatra the common mon-
key is the bruh, or pig-tailed monkey, and he
becomes a docile and intelligent servant. What
he has to do is to gather cocoanuts. Of course
nothing is easier for a four-handed fellow than
to climb the tall trees and throw down nuts; but
the bruh does better than that; he selects the
MONKEYS WHO WORK. 195
nuts, gathering none but the ripe ones; and,
what is more, he picks only as many as his mas-
ter wishes.
So useful is this animal that gathering nuts
has become, one may say, his trade, in that part
of the world. A man, having captured and
trained a gang of them, marches them around
the country to get in the harvest, hiring them
out on different plantations. Then, when the
nuts are all picked, or the laborers too numer-
ous, gangs of them are taken to the English
colonies at Cape Town, and hired out like any
workmen, or coolies, as they are called.
A Siamese ape has reached a step higher, it
is said. The story is told by an Austrian who
lived in Siam that this ape is able to tell by the
taste whether coin is good or bad, and mer-
chants employ him for the purpose of detecting
counterfeits.
Within a few months a gentleman of India
has tried his hand at training monkeys, and he
reports to the Asiatic Society of Bengal his
success in teaching them to pull punkahs. A
punkah — perhaps you know — is an immense
fan, hung from the ceiling, and moved back and
forth by means of a rope outside the room. It
keeps a whole room cool, and in that climate
is necessary to enable a white man to eat or
sleep with any comfort. A monkey who can
196 FOUR-HANDED FOLK.
pull one, then, is as useful as a man, and is a
true worker.
Another valuable monkey is the chacma of
Africa. When young, this baboon is very
teachable, and is often kept by the Kaffirs as a
domestic animal. He takes the place of a dog,
growling when a stranger comes near; and if it
becomes necessary to defend his master’s prop-
erty, he is much stronger than any dog.
The chacma easily learns to blow the bellows
of a smith, and to drive horses or oxen; but his
greatest use in that country is to find water.
In the hot season, when the earth is parched
and springs and streams are dry, the owner of a
tame chaema takes him out to hunt for the water
they all must have.
The intelligent monkey seems to know what
is wanted, or perhaps he knows by his own feel-
ings what to look for, and he goes carefully over
the ground, looking earnestly at every tuft of
grass and eagerly sniffing the breeze on every
side. Whether he scents it or not is not known,
but if there is water in the neighborhood he is
sure to find it. It may be a deep spring, in
which case he sets to work digging down to it;
and it may be a certain very juicy root, which
often serves instead of water. He gets that out
also; and let us hope he has his full share of it,
to pay for his work,
MONKEYS WHO WORK. 197
Like the rest of the monkey family, the chacma
gets very ugly as he grows older. An English
gentleman who spent some time among the Kaf-
firs tells of an old chacma which liked to play
jokes, rushing at the women as they went by,
seizing them by the ankles, and acting as fiercely
as if he were about to eat them up.
The thing he liked best, however, was a little
animal—a young dog, for instance — to pet
and “play baby†with. He would hug it and
dandle it, as a girl does a doll, till the puppy —
made too much resistance, and then he would
seize one leg or the tail, swing his pet around
once or twice, and fling it far away.
The latest report of a monkey that works
comes from Florida. It is a chimpanzee, trained
to wait at table; and its owner says it does the
work of four negro waiters. It wears a livery,
and carries a napkin in a proper way. Its only
weakness is so irresistible a fondness for sweets
that it is obliged to take toll as it serves them.
INDEX.
cones ean the (Mr. Crowley),
03.
alone with him, 103.
baby next door, 106.
conduct to a tiny monkey, 113.
destructiveness, 113.
his bill of fare, 109.
his training, 107.
how he lived, 108.
illness, 108.
in a rage, 117.
intelligence, 119.
insulting an artist, 105.
Kitty’s reception, 115.
mischief, 113.
monkey pranks, 10-+4.
playmate procured, 115.
playthings, 118.
policeman’s gloves, the, 114.
popularity of, 103,
relapse into monkeyism, 111.
sleeping in a bed, 112.
splitting a coat, 116.
table manners, 109,
treatment of Kitty, 116.
tricks on spectators, 105.
wearing clothes, 112.
with a stick, 117.
Coaita, 157.
Crowley, Mr., 103.
Gila First, 120.
Gila Second, 145.
Kinkajou, my pet (Nipsey), 1.
description of, 18.
eating his supper, 9.
favorite retreat, 13.
friendliness to me, 20.
his name, 16.
how he spent the day, 4.
how he spent the night, 4.
last of my pet, 22.
making his toilet, 8.
manners of, 11, 19.
nervousness, 17.
playfulness, 17.
pranks at night, 6.
sleeping position, 15,
spice-box nest, 13.
strange position, 10, 14.
tail, uses of, 12.
the cage he lived in, 3.
tour of the room, 11.
making up for the evening, 7.
where I found him, 1.
Kinkajou (‘The Boarding School) :
breakfasting, 23.
curiosity, 23,
destroying a banana plant, 25.
destroying the ‘‘ Solar System,’?
exploits in the dormitory, 27.
sleeping, 23.
startling the principal, 26.
Koko, 38.
Lemur, the (Koko), 88.
acrobatics on the clothes bars,
53.
alertness, 44.
brushing, fondness for, 43.
bugle, examination of, 45.
chimpanzee, with the, 66.
description of, 38.
dressing his fur, 40, 56.
eating, ways of, 48, 49.
exploring the book case, 54.
favorite seat, 57.
fear of darkness, 44.
fire, fondness for, 56.
friendline rangers, 60.
funny pranks, 59,
going to bed, Gt.
insulted, 58,
inquisitiveness of, 45.
intelligence, 47.
lamp for a stove, 56.
looking for apples, 48.
manners of, 38, 39, 43.
mantels for playground, 53.
persistence of, 48.
200
piggish noises of, 62.
piteous cry of, 63.
play, 41, 49.
pranks on a lamp bracket, 50.
pranks with a newspaper, 52.
pranks with a window shade, 50.
professor, fun with the, 60.
savagery, 58,
sensitiveness of, 45.
sent away, 65.
sleeping arrangements, 64.
tail, expressions aud uses of,
43.
troublesome friendliness, 58, 62.
visit to Koko, 67.
when startled, 40, 42.
wiudow-casing for ladders, 54.
Living Balls:
Ant-Eater, the Scaly, 31.
Armadillo, the Ball, 28.
Aye-aye, the, 35.
Black Bear of Himalayas, 33.
Duckbill Platypus, the, 33.
Galagos, the, 34.
Hedgehiog, the, 32.
Koala of Australia, the, 34.
Marmosets (Ravini and Ravenini) :
capture of beetles, 90.
coaxing with candy, 88.
destruction of a rose, 89.
diiference in temperament, 94.
droll mistake, a, 85.
eating loaf sugar, 95.
fond of play, 94.
funny fight, a, 83.
living in a basket, 96.
looks, their, 87.
lost in a shoe bag, 93.
manners of the, 87.
my visit, 87.
on the mantel, 92.
postage stamps, the, 91.
pranks on a lead pencil, 93.
reception, their, 82.
refusing to live in a cage, 98.
sweet notes of, 90.
toilet of, 95.
Marmosets, another pair:
care of their tails, 98.
fun on the fence, 101.
going to bed, 101.
names of the, 100.
the cage, 98.
the kitten’s interest, 99.
with the door open, 100.
what the cats thought of it, 101.
Marmoset, the (Mephistopheles), 68.
breakfast, calling for, 78.
dog’s dislike, the, 72.
INDEX.
food of, 78.
footstool for, 81.
gentleness of, 75.
getting up, 77.
going to bed, 75.
his name, 72.
his wild relatives, 75.
inquisitiveness, 75.
looks of, 68, 79.
notions of, 73.
queer manners, 71.
song, 71.
speaking his mind, 70.
sweet cries, 77.
toilet of, 80.
untamed, 74,
visit to my table, 70.
where he lived, 69.
Mephistopheles, 68.
Monkey Babies, 173.
at home on trees, 175.
baboon baby, 183.
baby, most amiable, 186.
bed for a monkey, 176.
character of baboon, 183.
chimpanzee baby, 186.
coaita baby, 173.
cunning baboons, 185.
droll ways of baboons, 183.
fond of playthings, 188.
frolicksome babies, 187.
full of fun, 181.
good tempered, 180.
gorilla baby, 179.
his only cradle, 179.
home life, 184.
imitation of people, 187.
intelligence of chimpanzee, 188.
like a human baby, 174, 176.
naughty baby, a, 182.
one way to catch him, 180.
orang-utan baby, 175, 178.
sleeping with puppies, 173.
toys for a monkey baby, 177.
trick on a monkey, 174.
yoice of the coaita, 174.
Boeeye the smallest in the world,
Monkeys who work, 190.
pays monkeys like the human,
carrying pitchers, 193.
chacma, a pet, 197.
defending property, 196.
detecting bad money, 195.
driving horses, 196.
finding water, 196.
gathering cocoannts, 194.
gathering fruit, 191.
INDEX.
going for wine, 192.
manners, to learn, 194.
performing monkeys, 192.
pulling punkahs, 195.
taught to work, 191.
waiting at table, 197.
working in Africa, 193.
working in gangs, 195.
Nico, 162.
Nipsey, 1.
Ocelot, the (Nico), 162.
as a baby, 162.
bad habit, a, 164.
description of, 163.
end of, 171.
getting his meat, 165.
knocking down lamp chimneys,
170.
playing hunt, 170.
stealing a dinner, 168.
tameness, 163.
taste for raw meat, 165.
Spider Monkey, the (Gila First) :
a home provided, 123, 130.
baby, a pet, 129.
cowardice of, 137.
clearing the table, 121.
death of Gila, 144.
destroying a tree, 122.
dismay of the natives, 142.
disposing of the pets, 143.
fond of pets, 135.
friar monkey, a, 186.
frightening children, 128.
getting a drink, 126.
hammock for Gila, 130.
her bill of fare, 125.
her looks, 121, 122.
her name, 122.
illness of, 140.
intelligence, 124.
in the garden, 123.
jaguar skin, the, 182.
‘looking over’? the baby, 133.
201
mischief, 131.
monkey loose, a, 136.
monkeys for New England,
139.
neatuess of, 131.
ocelot to play with, 186.
panic in the cage, 142.
parrot and monkey, 127.
Polly’s revenge, 128.
reaching New York, 141.
recognizing a picture, 139.
riding a pig, 120.
table manners, 124.
teasing the kitten, 126.
tied to the fence, 142.
traveling cage, a, 140.
unhappiness of, 140.
useful tail, 121.
vegetable woman, the, 182.
voyage, the, 141.
| Spider Monkey, the (Gila Second),
45
Oe
drollest of pets, 145.
food, 155.
garden mischief, 154,
girl’s school, in a, 146.
love of mankind, 148.
manners suited to each, 150.
mischiet of, 147.
pets in the corridor, 150.
playful in youth, 145,
queer friends, 150.
sleeping ways, 148.
Sunday gown, the, 153.
terror at night, 155.
toilet of, 149.
useful tail, 152.
| Spider Monkey, the Wild (Coaita) :
character of the coaita, 160.
in a cluster, 157
monkey b
», a, 159.
nimbleness of, 159.
opening Brazil nuts, 161.
pets in Central and South
America, 160.
tail of, 158.
throwing at men, 161.
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