[Illustration: R. L. Garner.]
APES AND MONKEYS
_THEIR LIFE AND LANGUAGE_
BY
R. L. GARNER
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
EDWARD EVERETT HALE
BOSTON, U.S.A., AND LONDON
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
The Athenæum Press
ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL
COPYRIGHT, 1900
BY GINN & COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
24.12
PREFACE
This volume is the natural product of many years devoted by the author
to studying the speech and habits of monkeys. That naturally led him
up to the study of the great apes. The matter contained in this work
is chiefly a record of the tabulated facts gleaned from his special
field of research. The aim in view is to convey to the casual reader a
more correct idea than now prevails concerning the physical, mental,
and social habits of apes and monkeys and to prepare him for a wider
appreciation of animals in general.
The favorable conditions under which the writer has been placed, in the
study of these animals in the freedom of their native jungle, have not
hitherto been enjoyed by any other student of nature.
A careful aim to avoid all technical terms and scientific phraseology
has been studiously adhered to, and the subject is treated in the
simplest style consistent with its dignity. Tedious details are
relieved by an ample supply of anecdotes taken from the writer’s own
observations. Most of the acts related are those of his own pets. A
few of them are of apes in a wild state. The author has carefully
refrained from abstruse theories or rash deductions, but has sought
to place the animals here treated of in the light to which their own
conduct entitles them, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions.
The author frankly confesses to his own belief in the psychic unity of
all animate nature. Believing in a common source of life, a common law
of living, and a common destiny for all creatures, he feels that to
dignify the apes is not to degrade man but rather to exalt him.
Believing that a more perfect knowledge of these animals will bring
man into closer fellowship and deeper sympathy with nature, and with
an abiding trust that it will widen the bounds of humanity and cause
man to realize that he and they are but common links in the one great
chain of life, the author gives this work to the world. When once man
is impressed with the consciousness that in some degree, however small,
all creatures think and feel, it will lessen his vanity and ennoble his
heart.
THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xi
CHAPTER I
Monkeys, Apes, and Men--Comparative Anatomy--Skulls--The
Law of Cranial Projection 1
CHAPTER II
Early Impression--What is Speech?--First Efforts--The Phonograph--The
First Record of Monkey Speech--Monkey Words--Phonetics--Human
Speech and Monkey Speech 12
CHAPTER III
Monkey Friends--Jokes--The Sound of Alarm--Jennie 24
CHAPTER IV
Monkey Ethics--Sense of Color--Monkeys Enumerate--First
Principles of Art 30
CHAPTER V
Pedro’s Speech Recorded--Delivered to Puck through the
Phonograph--Little Darwin Learns a New Word 38
CHAPTER VI
Five Little Brown Cousins: Mickie, McGinty, Nemo, Dodo, and
Nigger--Nemo Apologizes to Dodo 45
CHAPTER VII
Meeting with Nellie--Nellie was my Guest--Her Speech and
Manners--Helen Keller and Nellie--One of Nellie’s Friends--Her
Sight and Hearing--Her Toys and how She Played with
Them 52
CHAPTER VIII
Caged in an African Jungle--The Cage and its Contents--Its
Location--Its Purpose--The Jungle--The Great Forest--Its
Grandeur--Its Silence 60
CHAPTER IX
Daily Life and Scenes in the Jungle--How I Passed the Time--What
I Had to Eat--How it was Prepared--How I Slept--My
Chimpanzee Companion 73
CHAPTER X
The Chimpanzee--The Name--Two Species--The
Kulu-Kamba--Distribution--Color and Complexion 85
CHAPTER XI
Physical Qualities of the Chimpanzee--His Social Habits--Mental
Characteristics 92
CHAPTER XII
The Speech of Chimpanzees--A New System of Phonetic Symbols--Some
Common Words--Gestures 108
CHAPTER XIII
Moses--His Capture--His Character--His Affections--His Food--His
Daily Life--Anecdotes of Him 117
CHAPTER XIV
The Character of Moses--He Learns a Human Word--He Signs
His Name to a Document--His Illness--Death 134
CHAPTER XV
Aaron--His Capture--Mental Powers--Acquaintance with Moses--His
Conduct during Moses’ Illness 144
CHAPTER XVI
Aaron and Elisheba--Their Characteristics--Anecdotes--Jealousy
of Aaron 153
CHAPTER XVII
Illness of Elisheba--Aaron’s Care of Her--Her Death--Illness
and Death of Aaron 167
CHAPTER XVIII
Other Chimpanzees--The Village Pet--A Chimpanzee as Diner-Out--Notable
Specimens in Captivity 175
CHAPTER XIX
Other Kulu-Kambas--A Knotty Problem--Instinct or Reason--Various
Types 202
CHAPTER XX
The Gorilla--His Habitat--Skeleton--Skull--Color--Structural
Peculiarities 211
CHAPTER XXI
Habits of the Gorilla--Social Traits--Government--Justice--Mode
of Attack--Screaming and Beating--Food 231
CHAPTER XXII
Othello and Other Gorillas--Othello and Moses--Gorilla
Visitors--Gorilla Mother and Child--Scarcity of Gorillas--Unauthentic
Tales 247
CHAPTER XXIII
Other Apes--The Apes in History--Habitat--The Orangs--The
Gibbon 266
CHAPTER XXIV
The Treatment of Apes in
Captivity--Temperature--Building--Food--Occupation 278
INDEX 287
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PORTRAIT OF R. L. GARNER Frontispiece
PELVIS OF THE CHIMPANZEE 5
DIAGRAM NO. 1 (CRANIO-FACIAL ANGLES) 8
DIAGRAM NO. 2 (CRANIO-FACIAL ANGLES) 9
DIAGRAM NO. 3 (CRANIO-FACIAL ANGLES) 9
DIAGRAM NO. 4 (CRANIO-FACIAL ANGLES) 10
MONKEY LEARNING TO COUNT 33
NATIVE VILLAGE AT GLASS GABOON 61
A NATIVE CANOE 63
THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 65
IN THE JUNGLE 67
WAITING AND WATCHING IN THE CAGE 69
STARTING FOR A STROLL 74
A PEEP AT MY CAGE 75
PREPARING FOR THE NIGHT 83
KANJO NTYIGO-CHIMPANZEE DANCE 103
NATIVE CARRIER BOY 119
A STROLL IN THE JUNGLE--MR. GARNER, MOSES, AND NATIVE
BOY 127
ELISHEBA AND AARON 169
NATIVE VILLAGE, INTERIOR OF NYANZA 176
CONSUL II RIDING A TRICYCLE 194
MR. CROWLEY, LATE OF THE NEW YORK ZOÖLOGICAL GARDEN 199
SKULLS OF GORILLAS--FRONT VIEW 220
SKULLS OF GORILLAS--PROFILE VIEW 220
NATIVES SKINNING A GORILLA 222
YOUNG GORILLA WALKING 226
SALLY JONES (YOUNG GORILLA) CAUGHT NAPPING 243
GORILLA MOTHER WITH YOUNG 257
PLAIN AND EDGE OF FOREST IN THE COUNTRY OF THE APES 271
YOUNG ORANGS 275
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Garner’s book needs no introduction. By this I mean that I think
that no intelligent person will open into it without wishing to read
more and more. The book is its own introduction.
I write these lines, not so much to explain what the book is as to
introduce Mr. Garner himself to people who do not know him, that they
may thank him for the step forward which he has made and is making.
It is hardly half a century since one of the highest authorities in
the Church of England told us that animals have no rights whatever,
and that men should be kind to them simply for the reason that it was
desirable that men should improve their own characters. If I tied a tin
pail to a dog’s tail, I injured my character. If I patted the dog on
the head, I improved my character. “See all things for my use,”--this
was really the motto of a book of ethics somewhat famous in its day.
Happily the world has lived beyond such a crusty selfishness as
this,--happily, perhaps, not for mankind only. Happily for our thought
of the universe in which we live, men have found out that they have
duties towards animals as they have duties towards each other,--say
that in a certain sense we are the gods of animals, to whom they look
up as we look up to our Father in heaven; let us, at least, treat them
as we would be treated.
How shall we do this? How shall we come at some understanding of their
life, of their needs, of their hopes and fears? How can we be just to
them?
Mr. Garner has set to work in this business with systematic
perseverance and a real comprehension of the position. Of all the
inferior animals, these monkeys and apes, it seems, have more machinery
for thought, if I may use so clumsy an expression, than have any
others. The book will tell the reader why it is easier to come at some
notion of the language of the Capuchin monkey than it is to apprehend
the method by which the horse communicates with the horse, or the
blackbird with the blackbird. With scientific precision, Mr. Garner has
availed himself of this fact, is availing himself of it at the moment
when I write. He has selected animals, which are certainly animals and
not men. He has selected these as those where his study can be precise,
and where it is most easy to arrive at correct conclusions; and it is
not in the study merely of speech and of listening; it is study of
what I may call the principles which underlie animal life, to which
this explorer in a new field has devoted himself. The reader of this
book will understand why it is that he gives up years of life to such
society as that his dear little Moses gave him; why he plunges into
The multitudinous abyss
Where nature joys in secret bliss,
that he may come at some of the secrets of those beings who are at home
there.
Mr. Garner does not ask himself, and I do not propose that the reader
shall ask, what changes may ensue in the trade of the world from his
discovery. He does not pretend that there will be more palm oil, or
more Manila hemp, because we understand monkeys and apes and gorillas
and orangs better than our fathers. But he believes, and those who
have followed him with sympathy believe, that we shall know more of
ourselves, that we shall know more of the universe in which we live,
that we shall know more of God, the I Am, who is the life of this
universe, than our fathers knew, if this brave explorer is able to
carry on farther such investigations as this book describes.
May his life be prolonged for such study; it has been long enough now
for us to owe him a large debt of gratitude for the lifelong sacrifice
and determination with which he has prosecuted these studies thus far.
EDWARD E. HALE.
October 26, 1900.
APES AND MONKEYS
CHAPTER I
Monkeys, Apes, and Men--Comparative Anatomy--Skulls--The Law of Cranial
Projection
From time immemorial monkeys have been subjects of interest to the old
and to the young. The wise and the simple are alike impressed with
their human looks and manners. There are no other creatures that so
charm and fascinate the beholder as do these little effigies of the
human race. With equal delight, patriarchs and children watch their
actions and compare them to those of human beings. Until recent years
monkeys have served to amuse rather than to instruct the masses. But
now that the search-light of science is being thrown into every nook
and crevice of nature, human interest in them is greatly increased and
the savants of all civilized lands are wrestling with the problem of
their possible relationship to mankind. With the desire of learning
as much as possible concerning their habits, faculties, and mental
resources, they are being studied from every point of view, and each
characteristic is seriously compared in detail to the corresponding one
in man. Concurrent with this desire, we shall note the chief points of
resemblance and of difference between them.
In order to appreciate more fully the value of the lessons to be drawn
from the contents of this volume we must know the relative planes
that men and monkeys occupy in the scale of nature. Within the limits
of this work, however, we can only compare them in a general way.
Since monkeys differ so widely among themselves, it is evident that
all of them cannot in the same degree resemble man; and as the degree
of interest in them is approximately measured by their likeness or
unlikeness to man, it is apparent that all cannot be of equal interest
as subjects of comparative study. But since each forms an integral part
of one great scale, each one is equally important in tracing out the
continuity of the order to which all belong.
The vast family of simians has perhaps the widest range of types of
any single family of animals. Beginning with the great apes, which
in size, form, and structure so closely resemble man, we descend the
scale until it ends in the lemurs, which are almost on the level of
rodents. The descent is so gradual that it is difficult to draw a line
of demarcation at any point between the two extremes. There is now,
however, an effort being made to separate this family into smaller and
more distinct groups; but the lines between them are not sharply drawn,
and the literature of the past has a tendency to retard the effort. But
we shall not here assume to discuss the problems with which zoölogy may
in the future have to contend; we shall accept the current system of
classification and proceed along that line.
In the language of the masses all the varied types that belong to the
simian family are known as _monkeys_. This term is so broad in its
application as to include many forms which are not to be considered in
this work, and many of them should be known under other names. Some
of these resemble man more than they resemble each other. By the word
_monkey_, we mean to refer only to those of the simian tribe that have
long tails and short faces, while the word _baboon_ refers only to the
dog-like forms having tails of medium length and long projecting faces.
The term _ape_ will be applied only to those having no tails at all.
While all of these animals are called simians, they are not all monkeys.
The simian family is divided into two great classes, known as _old
world monkeys_ and _new world monkeys_. The chief point of distinction
is in the structure of the nose. All of the monkeys belonging to the
old world stock have long, straight noses with vertical nostrils,
separated by a narrow thin wall, or septum, and from this fact they are
technically known as _catarrhini_. The new world stock have short, flat
noses with oblique nostrils set wide apart, and on this account they
are known as _platarrhini_. There are many other marks that distinguish
genera and species, but these are the two grand divisions of the simian
race. We shall not here attempt to classify the many genera and species
of either of these divisions. But we shall point out some of the most
salient anatomical features of men and apes, and then those of monkeys.
Among the simians, erroneously called monkeys, are the four kinds
that constitute the anthropoid, or manlike, group of apes. In certain
respects they differ from each other as much as any one of them differs
from man. The four apes here alluded to and named in the order of
their physical resemblance to man are: the gorilla, the chimpanzee,
the orang, and the gibbon; but if placed in the order of their mental
and social characteristics they stand as follows: the chimpanzee,
which is next to man, the gorilla, the gibbon, and, last, the orang.
It is possible, however, that it may yet be found that the gibbon is
intellectually the highest of this group.
As the skeleton is the framework of the physical structure, it will
serve for the basis upon which to build up the comparisons; and as, on
the whole, the chimpanzee is the nearest approach to man, we select and
use him as the standard of comparison. The skeleton of the chimpanzee
may be said to be an exact duplicate of that of man. The assertion,
however, should be qualified by a few facts of minor importance; but
since they are facts, they should not be ignored. The general plan,
purpose, and structure of the skeletons of man and chimpanzee are the
same. There is no part of the one which is not duplicated in the other,
and there is no function discharged by any part of the one that is not
discharged by a like part of the other. The chief point in which they
differ is in the structure of one bone. To this we shall pay special
attention.
Near the base of the spinal column is a large compound bone, known
as the _sacrum_. It is a constituent part of the column, but in its
singular form and structure it differs slightly from the corresponding
bone in man. The general outline of this bone has the form of an
isosceles triangle. It fits in between the two large bones that spread
out towards the hips and articulate with the thigh bones. In man,
about halfway between the center and the edge along each side is a row
of four nearly round holes. Across the surface of the bone is a dim,
transverse line, or seam, between each pair of holes, from which it is
seen that five smaller sections of the spinal column have anchylosed,
or grown together, to form the sacrum. The holes coincide with the
open spaces between the transverse processes, or lateral projections,
of the other bones of the spinal column above this. In the chimpanzee
this bone has the same general form as in man, except that instead of
four holes in each row it has five. They are connected by transverse
seams the same as in man, thus indicating that six of the vertebræ,
instead of five, are united. In compensation for this, the ape has one
vertebra less in the portion of the spinal column just above, which is
called the lumbar. In man there are five free lumbar vertebræ and five
united sections of the sacrum, while in the ape there are only four
free lumbar vertebræ and six united sections forming the sacrum. But
regarding each section of the sacrum as a separate bone and counting
the whole number of vertebræ in the spinal column there are found to be
exactly the same number in each.
[Illustration: Pelvis of the Chimpanzee
_A, sacrum; B, fourth lumbar vertebra; C, coccyx; D, ilium or hip bone;
E, femur or thigh bone._]
Some writers have put great stress upon the difference in the
structure of this bone, and have pointed out as impossible a common
origin for man and ape; but one fact remains to be explained, and that
is, that while these appear to be fixed and constant characteristics
of man and ape there are many exceptions known in human anatomy. In
the splendid collection of human spinal columns in the museum of the
Harvard Medical School are no less than eighteen specimens of the human
sacrum having six united segments; and I have found in the collections
of various museums a total of more than thirty others. These facts
show that this characteristic is not confined to the ape. It is true
that in some of these abnormal specimens there remain five _lumbar_
vertebræ. This seems to indicate that this portion of the spinal column
is the most susceptible to variation. I have never seen an instance,
however, of variation in the sacrum of the chimpanzee. In this respect
he appears to be, in his structural type, more constant than man.
One reason why this bone is so formed in the ape is this. At that point
the greatest weight and strain are laid upon the spinal column, and
the crouching habit of the animal has a tendency to depress the lowest
lumbar vertebra between the points of the hip bones and thus arrest
its lateral movement. Since the flexure of this part is lessened, the
cartilage that lies between the two segments becomes rigid and then
ossifies. The erect posture of man allows more play in the region of
the loins, and hence this motion prevents the two bones from uniting.
Another bone that may be said to vary somewhat is the sternum, or
breastbone. It is the thin, soft bone to which the ribs are joined
in the front of the body. In the young of both man and ape it is
a mere cartilage. This slowly ossifies as the animal matures. The
process appears to begin at five different segments, the first nucleus
appearing near the top. This bone never becomes quite perfect either
in man or ape. It always remains somewhat porous, and even in advanced
age the outline of the lower portion is not defined by a smooth, sharp
line, but is irregular in contour and merges into the cartilages that
unite the ribs to it.
In an adult human being this bone is usually found to be in two
segments, while in the ape it varies. In some specimens it is the same
as in man. In others it is sometimes found to be in three, four, or
even five sections. But the sternum in each is regarded as one bone,
and is developed from one continuous cartilage. The separate parts are
not considered distinct bones. The reason, no doubt, that this bone
remains in separate sections in the ape is due to the stooping habit
of the animal, by which the part is constantly flexed and alternately
straightened, and therefore discharges its function better than it
otherwise could.
With these trifling exceptions the skeletons of man and ape may be
truly said to be exact counterparts of each other, having the same
number of bones, of the same general model, arranged in the same order,
articulated in the same manner, and performing the same functions.
In other words, the corresponding bone in each is the same in design
and purpose. The frame of the ape is, as a rule, more massive in its
proportions than that of man; but while this is true of certain kinds
of apes, the reverse is true of others.
In man the sacrum is more curved in the plane of the hips than it is
in the ape, while the bones of the digits in man are less curved. The
arms of man are shorter than the legs, while in the ape the comparative
length of these features is reversed. In the cranial types it is
readily seen that the skull of man is more spherical and the face
almost or quite vertical. The skull of the ape is elongated and the
chin projects. Thus his face is at an angle from a vertical line. These
facts deserve more notice than the mere mention.
[Illustration: Diagram No. 1]
In the scheme of nature there appears to be a fixed law of cranial
projection. The cranio-facial angle in man, ABC (as shown in diagram
No. 1), is a right angle, and the gnathic angle ADE is approximately
the same. The line FG represents the axis of the facial plane, and
the line HI is the cervical axis. Reckoned from the vertical line KL
it will be seen that the angles formed by the facial axis FG and the
cervical axis HI are about the same on opposite sides of the vertical
line KL. It will be observed that these lines and angles are those of
man whose posture is upright. In diagram No. 2 it will be seen that
both the facial axis FG and the cervical axis HI form a greater angle
from the vertical line than in man. It will also be seen that the
cranio-facial angle ABC is increased by about one-half of the angle of
the facial axis GML. The gnathic angle ADE is increased in about the
same degree. These are the lines and angles of the anthropoid apes.
[Illustration: Diagram No. 2]
[Illustration: Diagram No. 3]
Diagram No. 3 represents the lines and angles of monkeys, in which the
angles widened in a degree measured by the tendency of the animal to
assume a horizontal posture.
In diagram No. 4 we have the lines and angles of reptiles. In these
it will be seen that the facial axis FG and the cervical axis HI are
almost horizontal. The cranio-facial and gnathic angles have been
correspondingly widened.
[Illustration: Diagram No. 4]
Man standing erect has the greatest range of vocal powers of any
animal. He also has the greatest control over them. In vocal range the
apes come next in order. As we descend the scale from man through apes,
monkeys, lemurs, and lemuroids, ultimately ending in the reptilian
forms, we find the vocal powers restricted in scope and degraded in
quality, until in the lowest reptiles they are lost in a mere hiss.
Concurrent with the variations described, the longitudinal, vertical,
and transverse axes of the brain also change their proportion in a like
degree. The angles formed by the plane of the vocal cords with the axis
of the larynx undergo a corresponding change. A just deduction from
these facts is, that the gnathic index ADE is a true vocal index.
This rough outline of the law of cranial projection does not purport
to be a full treatment of the many lines and angles correlated to the
powers of speech, but the suggestions may lead the craniologist into
new fields of thought.