Uncle Thomas tells about the Baboons, and their Plundering
Excursions to the Gardens at the Cape of Good Hope, also about Le
Vaillant's Baboon, Kees, and his Peculiarities; the American
Monkeys; and relates an amusing Story about a young Monkey deprived
of its Mother, putting itself under the Fostering Care of a
Wig-Block.
"Oh, Uncle Thomas, I saw such a strange looking creature to-day. It was
so ugly. It seemed to be a very large monkey, it was as big as a boy."
"I heard of it, Boys, though I did not see it. It was a baboon, and one
of the largest of the species.--It was what is called the dog-faced
baboon."
"Where do such animals come from, Uncle Thomas."
"From Africa, John, and I believe they are not to be found elsewhere.
They are very fierce and mischievous creatures, and are said sometimes
even to attack man, but this I believe to be an exaggeration. Immense
troops of them inhabit the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Cape of
Good Hope, whence they descend in bands to plunder the gardens and
orchards. In these excursions they move on a concerted plan, placing
sentinels on commanding spots to give notice of the approach of an
enemy. On the appearance of danger, the sentinel utters a loud yell,
upon which the whole troop retreats with the utmost precipitation."
"Do they carry the spoil with them when they are thus disturbed, Uncle
Thomas?"
"When disturbed they are said to break in pieces the fruit which they
have gathered, and cram it into their cheek pouches--receptacles with
which nature has furnished them for keeping articles of food till they
are wanted.
"Le Vaillant, a traveller in Africa, had a dog-faced baboon which
accompanied him on his journey, and he found its instinct of great
service to him in various ways. As a sentinel he was better than any of
the dogs. So quick was his sense of danger, that he often gave notice of
the approach of beasts of prey, when every thing else seemed sunk in
security. He was also very useful in guarding the people of the
expedition from danger, from using unwholesome or poisonous fruits. The
animal's name was Kees. Here is the very interesting account which his
master gives of him.
"Whenever we found fruits or roots, with which my Hottentots were
unacquainted, we did not touch them till Kees had tasted them. If he
threw them away, we concluded that they were either of a disagreeable
flavour, or of a pernicious quality, and left them untasted. The ape
possesses a peculiar property, wherein he differs greatly from other
animals, and resembles man,--namely, that he is by nature equally
gluttonous and inquisitive. Without necessity, and without appetite, he
tastes every thing that falls in his way, or that is given to him. But
Kees had a still more valuable quality,--he was an excellent sentinel;
for, whether by day or night, he immediately sprang up on the slightest
appearance of danger. By his cry, and the symptoms of fear which he
exhibited, we were always apprized of the approach of an enemy, even
though the dogs perceived nothing of it. The latter at length learned to
rely upon him with such confidence, that they slept on in perfect
tranquillity. I often took Kees with me when I went a hunting; and when
he saw me preparing for sport, he exhibited the most lively
demonstrations of joy. On the way he would climb into the trees, to look
for gum, of which he was very fond. Sometimes he discovered to me honey,
deposited in the clefts of rocks, or hollow trees. But if he happened to
have met with neither honey nor gum, and his appetite had become sharp
by his running about, I always witnessed a very ludicrous scene. In
those cases, he looked for roots, which he ate with great greediness,
especially a particular kind, which, to his cost, I also found to be
very well tasted and refreshing, and therefore insisted upon sharing
with him. But Kees was no fool. As soon as he found such a root, and I
was not near enough to seize upon my share of it, he devoured it in the
greatest haste, keeping his eyes all the while riveted on me. He
accurately measured the distance I had to pass before I could get to
him; and I was sure of coming too late. Sometimes, however, when he had
made a mistake in his calculation, and I came upon him sooner than he
expected, he endeavoured to hide the root, in which case I compelled
him, by a box on the ear, to give me up my share. But this treatment
caused no malice between us; we remained as good friends as ever. In
order to draw these roots out of the ground, he employed a very
ingenious method, which afforded me much amusement. He laid hold of the
herbage with his teeth, stemmed his fore feet against the ground, and
drew back his head, which gradually pulled out the root. But if this
expedient, for which he employed his whole strength, did not succeed, he
laid hold of the leaves as before, as close to the ground as possible,
and then threw himself heels over head, which gave such a concussion to
the root, that it never failed to come out.
"When Kees happened to tire on the road, he mounted upon the back of one
of my dogs, who was so obliging as to carry him whole hours. One of
them, which was larger and stronger than the rest, hit upon a very
ingenious artifice, to avoid being pressed into this piece of service.
As soon as Kees leaped upon his back he stood still, and let the train
pass, without moving from the spot. Kees still persisted in his
intention, till we were almost out of his sight, when he found himself
at length compelled to dismount, upon which both the baboon and dog
exerted all their speed to overtake us. The latter, however, gave him
the start, and kept a good look-out after him, that he might not serve
him in the same manner again. In fact, Kees enjoyed a certain authority
with all my dogs, for which he perhaps was indebted to the superiority
of his instinct. He could not endure a competitor; if any of the dogs
came too near him when he was eating, he gave them a box on the ear,
which compelled him immediately to retire to a respectful distance.
"Serpents excepted, there were no animals of whom Kees stood in such
great dread as of his own species,--perhaps owing to a consciousness,
that he had lost a portion of his natural capacities. Sometimes he heard
the cry of the other apes among the mountains, and, terrified as he was,
he yet answered them. But if they approached nearer, and he saw any of
them, he fled, with a hideous cry, crept between our legs, and trembled
over his whole body. It was very difficult to compose him, and it
required some time before he recovered from his fright.
"Like all other domestic animals, Kees was addicted to stealing. He
understood admirably well how to loose the strings of a basket, in order
to take victuals out of it, especially milk, of which he was very fond.
My people chastised him for these thefts; but that did not make him
amend his conduct. I myself sometimes whipped him; but then he ran away,
and did not return again to the tent, until it grew dark. Once as I was
about to dine, and had put the beans which I had boiled for myself upon
a plate, I heard the voice of a bird, with which I was not acquainted. I
left my dinner standing, seized my gun, and run out of my tent. After
the space of about a quarter of an hour, I returned, with the bird in my
hand; but to my astonishment, found not a single bean upon the plate.
Kees had stolen them all, and taken himself out of the way. When he had
committed any trespass of this kind, he used always, about the time when
I drank tea, to return quietly, and seat himself in his usual place,
with every appearance of innocence, as if nothing had happened; but this
evening he did not let himself be seen; and on the following day, also,
he was not seen by any of us; and in consequence, I began to grow
seriously uneasy about him, and apprehensive that he might be lost for
ever, but on the third day, one of my people, who had been to fetch
water, informed me that he had seen Kees in the neighbourhood; but that
as soon as the animal espied him, he had concealed himself again. I
immediately went out and beat the whole neighbourhood with my dogs. All
at once, I heard a cry, like that which Kees used to make when I
returned from my shooting, and had not taken him with me. I looked about
and at length espied him, endeavouring to hide himself behind the large
branches of a tree. I now called to him in a friendly tone of voice, and
made motions to him to come down to me. But he would not trust me, and I
was obliged to climb up the tree to fetch him. He did not attempt to
fly, and we returned together to my quarters; here he expected to
receive his punishment; but I did nothing, as it would have been of no
use.
"When exhausted with the heat of the sun, and the fatigues of the day,
with my throat and mouth covered with dust and perspiration, I was ready
to sink gasping to the ground, in tracts destitute of shade, and longed
even for the dirtiest ditch-water; but after seeking long in vain, lost
all hopes of finding any in the parched soil. In such distressing
moments, my faithful Kees never moved from my side. We sometimes got out
of our carriage, and then his sure instinct led him to a plant.
Frequently the stalk was fallen off, and then all his endeavours to pull
it out were in vain. In such cases, he began to scratch in the earth
with his paws; but as that would also have proved ineffectual, I came to
his assistance with my dagger, or my knife, and we honestly divided the
refreshing root with each other.
"An officer, wishing one day to put the fidelity of my baboon, Kees, to
the test, pretended to strike me. At this Kees flew in a violent rage,
and, from that time, he could never endure the sight of the officer. If
he only saw him at a distance, he began to cry and make all kinds of
grimaces, which evidently showed that he wished to revenge the insult
that had been done to me; he ground his teeth, and endeavoured, with
all his might, to fly at his face, but that was out of his power, as he
was chained down. The offender several times endeavoured, in vain, to
conciliate him, by offering him dainties, but he remained long
implacable.
[Illustration: DOG AND BABOON--Page 185.]
"When any eatables had been pilfered at my quarters, the fault was
always laid first upon Kees; and rarely was the accusation unfounded.
For a time the eggs which a hen laid me were constantly stolen away, and
I wished to ascertain whether I had to attribute this loss also to him.
For this purpose, I went one morning to watch him, and waited till the
hen announced by her cackling that she had laid an egg. Kees was sitting
upon my vehicle; but the moment he heard the hen's voice he leapt down,
and was running to fetch the egg. When he saw me he suddenly stopped,
and affected a careless posture, swaying himself backwards upon his hind
legs, and assuming a very innocent look; in short, he employed all his
art to deceive me with respect to his design. His hypocritical
manoeuvres only confirmed my suspicions, and, in order in my turn to
deceive him, I pretended not to attend to him, and turned my back to the
bush where the hen was cackling, upon which he immediately sprang to the
place. I ran after him, and came up to him at the moment when he had
broken the egg, and was swallowing it. Having caught the thief in the
fact, I gave him a good beating upon the spot; but this severe
chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing fresh-laid eggs again. As
I was convinced that I should never be able to break Kees of his natural
vices, and that, unless I chained him up every morning, I should never
get an egg, I endeavoured to accomplish my purpose in another manner: I
trained one of my dogs, as soon as the hen cackled, to run to the nest,
and bring me the egg without breaking it. In a few days the dog had
learned his lesson; but Kees, as soon as he heard the hen cackle, ran
with him to the nest. A contest now took place between them, who should
have the egg; often the dog was foiled, although he was the stronger of
the two. If he gained the victory, he ran joyfully to me with the egg,
and put it into my hand. Kees, nevertheless, followed him, and did not
cease to grumble and make threatening grimaces at him, till he saw me
take the egg,--as if he was comforted for the loss of his booty by his
adversary's not retaining it for himself. If Kees had got hold of the
egg, he endeavoured to run with it to a tree, where, having devoured it,
he threw down the shells upon his adversary, as if to make game of him.
In that case, the dog returned, looking ashamed, from which I could
conjecture the unlucky adventure he had met with.
"Kees was always the first awake in the morning, and when it was the
proper time he awoke the dogs, who were accustomed to his voice, and, in
general, obeyed without hesitation the slightest motions by which he
communicated his orders to them, immediately taking their posts about
the tent and carriage, as he directed them."
"What a delightful companion Kees must have been, Uncle Thomas!"
"He must at least have been an amusing one, Frank, and not an unuseful
one either. There are, however, great variations in this respect among
the monkeys; some of them are most lively creatures, seldom sitting
still for a couple of minutes, while others are retired and gloomy in
their dispositions, and some are most fickle and uncertain. The fair
monkey, though one of the most beautiful of the tribe, is of the latter
description, as the following story will testify:--
"An animal of this class, which from its extreme beauty and gentleness
was allowed to ramble at liberty about a ship, soon became a great
favourite among the crew, and in order to make him perfectly happy, as
they imagined, they procured him a wife. For some weeks he was a devoted
husband, and showed her every attention and respect. He then grew cool,
and became jealous of any kind of civility shown her by the master of
the vessel, and began to use her with much cruelty. His treatment made
her wretched and dull; and she bore the spleen of her husband with that
fortitude which is characteristic of the female sex of the human
species. And pug, like the lords of the creation, was up to deceit, and
practised pretended kindness to his spouse, to effect a diabolical
scheme, which he seemed to premeditate. One morning, when the sea ran
very high, he seduced her aloft, and drew her attention to an object at
some distance from the yard-arm; her attention being fixed, he all of a
sudden applied his paw to her rear, and canted her into the sea, where
she fell a victim to his cruelty. This seemed to afford him high
gratification, for he descended in great spirits."
"Oh, what a wretched creature, Uncle Thomas. I wonder the sailors did
not throw him into the sea also."
"Stay, Frank, you are somewhat too hasty. He deserved certainly to be
punished; but I doubt whether it would have been proper to have put him
to death for his misdeed. All monkeys are not, however, equally cruel;
some of them, indeed, are remarkable for the instinctive kindness which
they evince towards their young. When threatened by danger, they mount
them on their back, or clasp them firmly to their breast, to which the
young creatures secure themselves, by means of their long and powerful
arms, so as to permit of their parent moving about, and springing from
branch to branch, with nearly as much facility as if she were perfectly
free from all incumbrance."
"Oh, I can readily believe that, Uncle Thomas. One day lately, at the
Zoological Gardens, I saw two monkeys clasping a young one between them,
to keep it warm. They seemed so fond of it."
"Yes, Frank, I have also seen them occupied in the same way. I was quite
delighted at such an unexpected exhibition of tenderness.
"Some of the monkeys which are natives of the American continent have
the singular characteristic of prehensile tales; that is, of tails which
they can more about, and lay hold of branches of trees with nearly as
much ease as they can with their hands. The facilities which this
affords them for moving about with celerity among the branches of trees
is astonishing. The firmness of the grasp which it takes of the tree is
no less surprising, for if it makes a single coil round a branch, it is
quite sufficient, not only to support the weight of the animal, but to
enable it to swing in such a manner as to gain a fresh hold with its
feet."
"That is very curious, Uncle Thomas. Is there any other animal which has
this power in the tail."
"Oh, yes, Frank, several of the lizards have the power, as well as some
other animals; the little harvest mouse, for instance; but none of them
are possessed of it in so high a degree as the American monkeys.
"I have now pretty well exhausted my stories about the monkey tribe. I
recollect only one more at present, and it occurred to the same
traveller to whom Kees belonged.
"In one of his excursions he happened to kill a female monkey, which
carried a young one on her back. The little creature, as if insensible
of its mother's death, continued to cling to the dead body till they
reached their evening quarters; and even then it required considerable
force to disengage it. No sooner, however, did the little creature feel
itself alone, than it darted towards a wooden block, on which was placed
the wig of Le Vaillant's father, mistaking it for its dead mother. To
this it clung most pertinaciously by its fore paws; and such was the
force of this deceptive instinct, that it remained in the same position
for about three weeks, all this time evidently mistaking the wig for its
mother. It was fed, from time to time, with goat's milk; and, at length,
emancipated itself voluntarily, by quitting the fostering care of the
peruke. The confidence which it ere long assumed, and the amusing
familiarity of its manners, soon rendered it a favourite. The
unsuspecting naturalist had, however, introduced a wolf in sheep's
clothing into his dwelling: for, one morning, on entering his chamber,
the door of which had been imprudently left open, he beheld his young
favourite making a hearty breakfast on a very noble collection of
insects. In the first transports of his anger, he resolved to strangle
the monkey in his arms: but his rage immediately gave way to pity, when
he perceived that the crime of its voracity had carried the punishment
along with it. In eating the beetles, it had swallowed several of the
pins on which they were transfixed. Its agony, consequently, became
great; and all his efforts were unable to preserve its life."
"Poor creature! How unfortunate, Uncle Thomas. It must, however, have
been a very stupid animal to mistake a wig for its mother."