The Character of Moses--He Learns a Human Word--He Signs His Name to a
Document--His Illness--Death
I know of nothing in the way of affection and loyalty among animals
that can exceed the devotion of my Moses. Not only was he tame and
tractable, but he never tired of caressing me and being caressed by
me. For hours together he would cling to my neck, play with my ears,
lips, and nose, bite my cheek, and hug me like a last hope. He was
never willing for me to put him down from my lap, never willing for me
to leave my cage without him, never willing for me to caress anything
else but himself, and never willing for me to discontinue caressing
him. He would cry and fret for me whenever we were separated; and I
must confess that my absence from him during a journey of three weeks
hastened his sad and untimely death.
From the second day after we became associated he appeared to regard
me as the one in authority. He would not resent anything I did to him.
I could take his food out of his hands, but he would permit no one
else to do so. He would follow me and cry after me like a child. As
time went by, his attachment grew stronger and stronger. He gave every
evidence of pleasure at my attentions, and evinced a certain degree of
appreciation and gratitude in return. He would divide any morsel of
food with me. This is, perhaps, the highest test of the affection of
any animal. I cannot affirm that such an act was genuine benevolence,
or an earnest of affection in a true sense of the term; but nothing
except deep affection or abject fear impels such actions in animals;
and certainly fear was not his motive.
There were others whom he liked and made himself familiar with; there
were some that he feared, and others that he hated; but his manner
towards me was that of deep affection. It was not alone in return for
the food he received, for my boy gave him food more frequently than
I did, and many others from time to time fed him. His attachment was
like an infatuation that had no apparent motive; it was unselfish and
supreme.
The chief purpose of my living among the animals being to study the
sounds they utter, I gave strict attention to those made by Moses.
For a time it was difficult to detect more than two or three distinct
sounds, but as I grew more and more familiar with them I could detect a
variety of them, and by constantly watching his actions and associating
them with his sounds I learned to interpret certain ones to mean
certain things.
In the course of my sojourn with him I learned one sound that he always
uttered when he saw anything that he was familiar with,--such as a man
or a dog,--but he could not tell me which of the two it was. If he
saw anything strange to him, he could tell me; but not so that I knew
whether it was a snake, or a leopard, or a monkey; yet I knew that it
was some strange creature. I learned a certain word for food, hunger,
eating, etc., but he could not go into any details about it, except
that a certain sound indicated “good” or “satisfaction,” and another
meant the opposite.
Among the sounds that I learned was one that is used by a chimpanzee
in calling another to come to it. Some of the natives assured me that
the mothers always use it in calling their young to them. When Moses
wandered away from the cage into the jungle, he would sometimes call me
with this sound. I cannot express it in letters of the alphabet, nor
describe it so as to give a very clear idea of its character. It is a
single sound, or word of one syllable, and can be easily imitated by
the human voice. At any time that I wanted Moses to come to me I used
this word, and the fact that he always obeyed it by coming confirmed my
opinion as to its meaning. I do not think that when he addressed it to
me he expected me to come to him, but he perhaps wanted to locate me in
order to be guided back to the cage by means of the sound. As he grew
more familiar with the surrounding forest he used it less frequently,
but he always employed it in calling me or the boy. When he was called
by it he answered with the same sound; but one fact that we noticed
was, that if he could see the one who called he never made any reply.
He would obey the call, but not answer. He probably thought that if
he could see the one who called he could be seen by him, and it was
therefore useless to reply.
The speech of these animals is very limited, but it is sufficient
for their purpose. It is none the less real because of its being
restricted, but it is more difficult for man to learn, because his
modes of thought are so much more ample and distinct. Yet when one is
reduced to the necessity of making his wants known in a strange tongue
he can express many things in a very few words. I was once thrown among
a tribe of whose language I knew less than fifty words, but with little
difficulty I succeeded in conversing with them on two or three topics.
Much depends upon necessity, and more upon practice. In talking to
Moses I used his own language mostly, and was surprised at times to
see how readily we understood each other. I could repeat about all the
sounds he made except one or two, but I was not able in the time we
were together to interpret all of them. These sounds were more than a
mere series of grunts or whines, and he never confused them in their
meaning. When any one of them was properly delivered to him, he clearly
understood and acted upon it.
It had never been any part of my purpose to teach a monkey to talk;
but after I became familiar with the qualities and range of the voice
of Moses, I determined to see if he might not be taught to speak a
few simple words of human speech. To effect this in the easiest way
and shortest time, I carefully observed the movements of his lips and
vocal organs in order to select such words for him to try as were best
adapted to his ability.
I selected the word _mamma_, which may be considered almost a universal
word of human speech; the French word _feu_, fire; the German word
_wie_, how; and the native Nkami word _nkgwe_, mother. Every day I
took him on my lap and tried to induce him to say one or more of these
words. For a long time he made no effort to learn them; but after
some weeks of persistent labor and a bribe of corned beef, he began
to see dimly what I wanted him to do. The native word quoted is very
similar to one of the sounds of his own speech, which means “good” or
“satisfaction.” The vowel element differs in them, and he was not able
in the time he was under tuition to change them; but he distinguished
them from other words.
In his attempt to say _mamma_ he worked his lips without making any
sound, although he really tried to do so. I believe that in the course
of time he would have succeeded. He observed the movement of my lips
and tried to imitate it, but he seemed to think that the lips alone
produced the sound. With _feu_ he succeeded fairly well, except that
the consonant element, as he uttered it, resembled “v” more than “f,”
so that the sound was more like _vu_, making the “u” short as in “nut.”
It was quite as nearly perfect as most people of other tongues ever
learn to speak the same word in French, and, if it had been uttered in
a sentence, any one knowing that language would recognize it as meaning
fire. In his efforts to pronounce _wie_ he always gave the vowel
element like German “u” with the _umlaut_, but the “w” element was more
like the English than the German sound of that letter.
Taking into consideration the fact that he was only a little more than
a year old, and was in training less than three months, his progress
was all that could have been desired, and vastly more than had been
hoped for. It is my belief that, had he lived until this time, he
would have mastered these and other words of human speech to the
satisfaction of the most exacting linguist. If he had only learned one
word in a whole lifetime, he would have shown at least that the race is
capable of being improved and elevated in some degree.
Another experiment that I tried with him was one that I had used before
in testing the ability of a monkey to distinguish forms. I cut a round
hole in one end of a board and a square hole in the other, and made a
block to fit into each one of them. The blocks were then given to him
to see if he could fit them into the proper holes. After being shown a
few times how to do this, he fitted the blocks in without difficulty;
but when he was not rewarded for the task by receiving a morsel of
corned beef or a sardine, he did not attempt it. He did not care to
work for the fun alone.
In colors he had but little choice, unless it was something to eat; but
he could distinguish them with ease if the shades were pronounced. I
had no means of testing his taste for music or sense of musical sounds.
I must here take occasion to mention one incident in the life of Moses,
such as perhaps never before occurred in the life of any chimpanzee.
While it may not be of scientific value, it is at least amusing.
While living in the jungle I received a letter enclosing a contract to
be signed by myself and a witness. Having no means of finding a witness
to sign the paper, I called Moses from the bushes, placed him at the
table, gave him a pen, and had him sign the document as witness. He did
not write his name himself, as he had not mastered the art of writing;
but he made his cross mark between the names, as many a good man had
done before him. I wrote in the blank the name,
_His_
“MOSES X NTYIGO”
_mark_
(the cross mark being omitted), and had him with his own hand make the
cross as it is legally done by persons who cannot write. With this
signature the contract was returned in good faith to stand the test
of the law courts of civilization; and thus for the first time in the
history of the race a chimpanzee signed his name.
* * * * *
When I prepared to start on a journey across the Esyira country, it was
not practicable for me to take Moses along, so I arranged to leave him
in charge of a missionary. Shortly after my departure the man was taken
with fever, and the chimpanzee was left to the care of a native boy
belonging to the mission. The little prisoner was kept confined by a
small rope attached to his cage. This was done in order to keep him out
of mischief. It was during the dry season, when the dews are heavy and
the nights chilly; and the winds at that season are fresh and frequent.
Within a week after I had left him he contracted a severe cold. This
soon developed into acute pulmonary troubles of a complex type, and
he began to decline. After an absence of three weeks and three days I
returned and found him in a condition beyond the reach of treatment.
He was emaciated to a living skeleton; his eyes were sunken deep into
their orbits, and his steps were feeble and tottering; his voice
was hoarse and piping; his appetite was gone, and he was utterly
indifferent to everything around him.
During my journey I had secured a companion for him, and when I
disembarked from the canoe I hastened to him with this new addition to
our little family. I had not been told that he was ill, and, of course,
was not prepared to see him looking so ghastly. When he discovered me
approaching, he rose up and began to call me, as he had been wont to
do before I left him; but his weak voice was like a death-knell to my
ears. My heart sunk within me as I saw him trying to reach out his
long, bony arms to welcome my return. Poor, faithful Moses! I could not
repress the tears of pity and regret at this sudden change, for to me
it seemed the work of a moment. I had last seen him in the vigor of a
strong and robust youth, but now I beheld him in the decrepitude of a
feeble senility. What a transformation!
I diagnosed his case as well as I was able and began to treat him, but
it was evident that he was so far gone that I could not expect him to
recover. My conscience smote me for having left him, yet I felt that I
had not done wrong. It was not neglect or cruelty for me to leave him
while I went in pursuit of the chief object of my search, and I had
no cause to reproach myself for having done so. But emotions that are
stirred by such incidents are not to be controlled by reason or hushed
by argument, and the pain caused me was more than I can tell.
If I had done wrong, the only restitution possible for me to make was
to nurse him patiently and tenderly to the end, or till health and
strength should return. This was conscientiously done, and I have the
comfort of knowing that the last sad days of his life were soothed
by every care that kindness could suggest. Hour after hour during
that time he lay silent and content upon my lap. That appeared to be
a panacea to all his pains. He would roll up his dark brown eyes and
look into my face, as if to be assured that I had been restored to
him. With his long fingers he stroked my face as if to say that he
was again happy. He took the medicines I gave him as if he knew their
purpose and effect. His suffering was not intense, and he bore it like
a philosopher. He seemed to have some vague idea of his own condition,
but I do not know that he foresaw the result. He lingered on from
day to day for a whole week, slowly sinking and growing feebler; but
his love for me was manifest to the last, and I dare confess that I
returned it with all my heart.
Is it wrong that I should requite such devotion and fidelity with
reciprocal emotion? No. I should not deserve the love of any creature
if I were indifferent to the love of Moses. That affectionate little
creature had lived with me in the dismal shadows of that primeval
forest for many long days and dreary nights; had romped and played with
me when far away from the pleasures of home; and had been a constant
friend, alike through sunshine and storm. To say that I did not love
him would be to confess myself an ingrate and unworthy of my race.
The last spark of life passed away in the night. Death was not attended
by acute pain or struggling; but, falling into a deep and quiet sleep,
he woke no more.
Moses will live in history. He deserves to do so, because he was the
first of his race that ever spoke a word of human speech; because he
was the first that ever conversed in his own language with a human
being; and because he was the first that ever signed his name to any
document. Fame will not deny him a niche in her temple among the heroes
who have led the races of the world.