AARON AND ELISHEBA
Four days after the death of Moses I secured a passage on a
trading-boat that came into the lake. It was a small affair, intended
for towing canoes, and not in any way prepared to carry passengers
or cargo; but I found room in one of the canoes to set the cage I
had provided for Aaron, stowed the rest of my effects wherever space
permitted, and embarked for the coast.
Our progress was slow and the journey tedious, as the only passage
out of the lake at that season was through a long, narrow, winding
creek, beset by sand-bars, rocks, logs, and snags, and in some places
overhung by low, bending trees. But the wild, weird scenery was grand
and beautiful. Long lines of bamboo, broken here and there by groups
of pendanus or stately palms; islands of lilies and long sweeps of
papyrus, spreading away from the banks on either side; the gorgeous
foliage of aquatic plants drooping along the margin like a massive
fringe, and relieved by clumps of tall, waving grass, formed a perfect
Eden for the birds and monkeys that dwell among those scenes of an
eternal summer.
After a delay of eight days at Cape Lopez, we secured passage on a
small French gunboat, called the _Komo_, by which we came to Gaboon,
where I found another _kulu-kamba_ in the hands of a generous friend,
Mr. Adolph Strohm, who presented her to me; and I gave her to Aaron
as a wife, and called her Elisheba, after the name of the wife of the
great high-priest.
Elisheba was captured on the head-waters of the Mguni river, in about
the same latitude that Aaron was found in, but more than a hundred
miles to the east of that point and a few minutes north of it. I did
not learn the history of her capture.
It would be difficult to find any two human beings more unlike in
taste and temperament than these two apes were. Aaron was one of the
most amiable of creatures; he was affectionate and faithful to those
who treated him kindly; he was merry and playful by nature, and often
evinced a marked sense of humour; he was fond of human society, and
strongly averse to solitude or confinement.
Elisheba was a perfect shrew, and often reminded me of certain women
that I have seen who had soured on the world. She was treacherous,
ungrateful, and cruel in every thought and act; she was utterly devoid
of affection; she was selfish, sullen, and morose at all times; she was
often vicious and always obstinate; she was indifferent to caresses,
and quite as well content when alone as in the best of company.
[Illustration: A NATIVE CANOE]
It is true that she was in poor health, and had been badly treated
before she fell into my hands, but she was by nature endowed with a
bad temper and depraved instincts.
It is not at all rare to see a vast difference of manners,
intelligence, and temperament among specimens that belong to one
species. In these respects they vary as much in proportion to their
mental scope as human beings do; but I have never seen, in any two
apes of the same species, the two extremes so widely removed from one
another.
While waiting at Gaboon for a steamer I had my own cage erected for
them to live in, as it was large and gave them ample room for play and
exercise. In one corner of it was suspended a small, cosy house for
them to sleep in. It was furnished with a good supply of clean straw
and some pieces of canvas for bed-clothes. In the centre of the cage
was a swing, or trapeze, for them to use at their pleasure.
Aaron found this a means of amusement, and often indulged in a series
of gymnastics that would evoke the envy of the king of athletic sports.
Elisheba had no taste for such pastime, but her depravity could never
resist the impulse to interrupt him in his jolly exercise. She would
climb up and contend for possession of the swing until she would drive
him away, when she would perch herself on it and sit there for a time
in stolid content, but would neither swing nor play.
Frequently, when Aaron would lie down quietly on the straw during the
day, she would go into the snug little house and raise a row with him
by pulling the straw from under him, handful at a time, and throwing
it out of the box till there was not one left in it.
No matter what kind or quantity of food was given them, she always
wanted the piece he had, and would fuss with him to get it; but when
she got it, she would sit holding it in her hand without eating it, for
there were some things that he liked which she would not eat at all.
When we went out for a walk, no matter which way we started she always
contended to go some other way; and if I yielded, she would again
change her mind, and start off in some other direction. If forced to
submit, she would scream and struggle as if for life.
I cannot forego the belief that these freaks were due to a base and
perverse nature, and I could find no higher motive in her stubborn
conduct.
Aaron was very fond of her, and rarely ever opposed her inflexible
will. He clung to her, and let her lead the way. I have often felt
vexed at him because he complied so readily with her wishes.
The only case in which he took sides against her was in her conduct
towards me.
When I first secured her she had the temper of a demon, and with the
smallest pretext she would assault me and try to bite me or tear my
clothes. In these attacks Aaron was always with me, and the loyal
little champion would fly at her in the greatest fury. He would strike
her over the head and back with his hands, bite her, and flog her till
she desisted. If she returned the blow he would grasp her hand and
bite it, or strike her in the face. He would continue to fight till she
submitted, when he would celebrate his victory by jumping up and down
in a most grotesque fashion, stamping his feet, slapping his hands on
the ground, and grinning like a mask. He seemed as conscious of what he
had done and as proud of it as any human could have been; but no matter
what she did to others, he was always on her side of the question. If
any one else annoyed her, he would always resent it with violence.
About the premises there were natives all the time passing to and fro,
and these two little captives were objects of special interest to them.
They would stand by the cage hour after hour and watch them. The ruling
impulse of nearly every native appears to be cruelty, and they cannot
resist the temptation to tease and torture anything that is not able
to retaliate. They were so persistent in poking my chimpanzees with
sticks, that I had to keep a boy on watch all the time to prevent it;
but the boy could not be trusted, so I had to watch him.
In the rear of the room that I occupied was a window through which
I watched the boy and the natives both from time to time, and when
anything went wrong I would call out from there to the boy. Aaron soon
observed this, and found that he could get my attention himself by
calling out when any one annoyed him, and he also knew that the boy
was put there as a protector. Whenever any of the natives came about
the cage he would call for me in his peculiar manner, which I well
understood and promptly responded to. The boy also knew what it meant,
and would rush to the rescue. If I were away from the house and the boy
was aware of the fact, he was apt to be tardy in coming to the relief
of the ape, and sometimes did not come at all, in which event the two
would crawl into their house and pull down the curtain so that they
could not be seen. Here they would remain until the natives would leave
or some one came to their aid. Neither of them ever resented anything
the natives did to them unless they could see me about, but whenever
I came in sight they would make battle with their tormentors, and if
liberated from the big cage, they would chase the last one of them out
of the yard.
Aaron knew perfectly well that they were not allowed to molest him or
his companion, and when he knew that he had my support he was ready
to carry on the war to a finish. But it was really funny to see how
meek and patient he was when left alone to defend himself against the
natives with a stick, and then to note the change in him when he knew
that he was backed up by a friend upon whom he could rely.
Mr. Strohm, the trader with whom I found hospitality at this place,
kept a cow in the lot where the cage was. She was a small black animal,
and the first that Aaron had ever seen. He never ceased to contemplate
her with wonder and with fear. If she came near the cage when no one
was about he hurried into his box, and from there peeped out in silence
until she went away. The cow was equally amazed at the cage and its
strange occupants, though less afraid, and frequently came near to
inspect them. She would stand a few yards away with her head lifted
high, her eyes arched and ears thrown forward, waiting for them to come
out of that mysterious box; but they would not venture out of their
asylum while she remained, until tired of waiting she would switch her
tail, shake her head, and turn away.
When taken out of the cage, Aaron had special delight in driving the
cow away, and if she was around he would grasp me by the hand and start
towards her. He would stamp the ground with his foot, strike with all
force with his long arm, slap the ground with his hand, and scream at
her at the top of his voice. If she moved away, he would let go my
hand and rush towards her as though he intended to tear her up; but if
the cow turned suddenly towards him, the little fraud would run to me,
grasp my leg, and scream with fright.
The cow was afraid of a man, and as long as she was followed by one
she would continue to go; but when she would discover the ape to be
alone in the pursuit, she would turn and look as if trying to determine
what manner of thing it was. Elisheba never seemed to take any special
notice of the cow except when she approached too near the cage, and
then it was due to the conduct of Aaron that she made any fuss about
it.
On board the steamer that we sailed in for home, there was a young
elephant that was sent by a trader for sale. He was kept in a strong
stall, built on deck for his quarters. There were wide cracks between
the boards, and the elephant had the habit of reaching his trunk
through them in search of anything he might find. With his long,
flexible proboscis extended from the side of the stall, he would twist
and coil it in all manner of writhing forms. This was the crowning
terror of the lives of those two apes: it was the bogie-man of their
existence, and nothing could induce either of them to go near it. If
they saw me go about it, they would scream and yell until I came away.
If Aaron could get hold of me without getting too near it, he would
cling to me until he would almost tear my clothes to keep me away from
it. It was the one thing that Elisheba was afraid of, and the only one
against which she ever gave me warning.
They did not manifest the same concern for others, but sat watching
them without offering any protest. Even the stowaway who fed them
and attended to their cage was permitted to approach it, but their
solicitude for me was remarked by every man on board.
I was never able to tell what their opinion was of the thing. They were
much less afraid of the elephant when they could see all of him, than
they were of the trunk when they saw that alone. They may have thought
the latter to be a big snake, but such is only conjecture.
At the beginning of the voyage I took six panels of my own cage and
made a small cage for them. I taught them to drink water from a
beer-bottle with a long neck that could be put through a mesh of the
wires. They preferred this mode of drinking, and appeared to look upon
it as an advanced idea. Elisheba always insisted on being served first,
and being a female her wish was complied with. When she had finished,
Aaron would climb up by the wires and take his turn. There is a certain
sound or word which the chimpanzee always uses to express "good" or
"satisfaction," and he made frequent use of it. He would drink a few
swallows of the water and then utter the sound, whereupon Elisheba
would climb up again and taste it. She seemed to think it was something
better than she was drinking, but finding it the same as she had had,
she would again give way for him. Every time he would use the sound she
would take another taste and turn away, but she never failed to try it
if he uttered the sound.
The boy who cared for them on the voyage was disposed to play tricks on
them, and one of these ugly pranks was to turn the bottle up so that
when they had finished drinking and took their lips away, the water
would spill out and run down over them. For a time or two they declined
to drink from the bottle while he was holding it, but when he let it
go it would hang in such a position that they could not get the water
out of it at all. At length Aaron solved the problem by climbing up
one side of the cage, and getting on a level with the bottle, reached
across the angle formed by the two sides of the cage and drank. In
this position it was no matter to him how much the water ran out, it
couldn't touch him. Elisheba watched him until she quite grasped the
idea, when she climbed up in the same manner and slaked her thirst.
I scolded the boy for serving them with such cruel tricks, but it
taught me another lesson of value concerning the mental resources of
the chimpanzee, for no philosopher could have found a much better
scheme to obviate the trouble than did this cunning little sage in the
hour of necessity.
I have never regarded the training of animals as the true measure of
their mental powers, but the real test is to reduce the animal to his
own resources, and see how he will render himself under conditions that
present new problems. Animals may be taught to do many things in a
mechanical way, and without any motive that relates to the action; but
when they can work out the solution without the aid of man, it is only
the faculty of reason that can guide them.
One thing that Aaron could never figure out was what became of the
chimpanzee that he saw in a mirror. I have seen him hunt for that
mysterious ape for an hour at a time, and he broke a piece off a mirror
I had in trying to find it, but he never succeeded.
I have held the glass firmly before him, and he would put his face up
close to it, sometimes almost in contact. He would quietly gaze at the
image, and then reach his hand around the glass to feel for it. Not
finding it, he would peep around the side of it and then look into
it again. He would take hold of it and turn it around; lay it on the
ground, look at the image again, and put his hand under the edge of
it. The look of inquiry in that quaint face was so striking as to make
one pity him. But he was hard to discourage, and continued the search
whenever he had the mirror.
Elisheba never worried herself much about it. When she saw the image
in the glass she seemed to recognise it as one of her kind, but when
it would vanish she let it go without trying to find it. In fact, she
often turned away from it as though she did not admire it. She rarely
ever took hold of the glass, and never felt behind it for the other ape.
Altogether she was an odd specimen of her tribe, eccentric and
whimsical beyond anything I have ever known among animals, yet with all
her freaks Aaron was fond of her, and she afforded him company; but he
was extremely jealous of her, and permitted no stranger to take any
liberties with her with impunity. He did not object to them doing so
with him, and rarely took offence at any degree of familiarity, for he
would make friends with any one who was gentle with him, but he could
not tolerate their doing so with her.
She betrayed no sign of affection for him except when some one annoyed
or vexed him, but in that event she never failed to take his part
against all odds. At such times she would become frantic with rage,
and if the cause was prolonged, she would often refuse to eat for hours
afterwards.
On the voyage homeward, there was another chimpanzee on board,
belonging to a sailor who was bringing him home for sale. He was about
two years older than Aaron and fully twice as large. He was tame and
gentle, but was kept in a close cage to himself. He saw the others
roaming about the deck and tried to make up with them, but they evinced
no desire to become intimate with one who was confined in such a manner.
One bright Sunday morning, as we rode the calm waters near the Canary
Islands, I induced the sailor to release his prisoner on the main deck
with my own, and see how they would act towards each other. He did so,
and in a moment the big ape came ambling along the deck towards Aaron
and Elisheba, who were sitting on the top of a hatch and absorbed in
gnawing some turkey bones.
As the stranger came near he slackened his pace and gazed earnestly
at the others. Aaron ceased eating and stared at the visitor with a
look of surprise, but Elisheba barely noticed him. He scanned Aaron
from head to foot, and Aaron did the same with him. He advanced until
his nose almost touched that of Aaron, and in this position the two
remained for some seconds, when the big one proceeded to salute
Elisheba in the same manner, but she gave him little attention. She
continued to gnaw the bone in her hand, and he had no reason to feel
flattered at the impression he appeared to have made on her.
Aaron watched him with deep concern, but without uttering a sound.
Turning again to Aaron, he reached out for his turkey bone; but the
hospitality of the little host was not equal to the demand, and he drew
back with a shrug of his shoulder, holding the bone closer to himself
and then resumed eating.
A bone was then given to the visitor by a steward, and he climbed
upon the hatch and took a seat on the right of Elisheba, while Aaron
was seated to her left. As soon as the big one had taken his seat,
Aaron resigned his place and crowded himself in between them. The
three sat for a few moments in this order, when the big one got up and
deliberately walked around to the other side of Elisheba and sat down
again beside her. Again Aaron forced himself in between them.
This act was repeated six or eight times, when Elisheba left the hatch
and took a seat on a spar that lay on deck. The big ape immediately
moved over and sat down near her; but by the time he was seated Aaron
again got in between them, and as he did so he struck his rival a smart
blow on the back. They sat in this manner for a minute or so, when
Aaron drew back his hand and struck him again. He continued his blows
all the while, increasing them in force and frequency, but the other
did not resent them. His manner was one of dignified contempt, as if
he regarded the inferior strength of his assailant unworthy of his own
prowess.
It would be absurd to suppose that he was constrained by any principle
of honour, but his demeanour was patronising and forbearing, like that
of a considerate man towards a small boy.
One amusing feature of the affair was the half-serious and half-jocular
manner of Aaron. He did not turn his face to look at his rival as he
struck, and the instant the blow was delivered he withdrew his hand
as if to avoid being detected. He gave no sign of anger, but made no
effort to conceal his jealousy, and the other seemed to be aware of
the cause of his disquietude. The smirk of indifference on the little
lover's face belied the state of mind that impelled his action, and it
was patent to all who witnessed the tilt that Aaron was jealous of his
guest.
From time to time Elisheba would change her seat, when the same scene
would ensue.
The whole affair was comical and yet so real, that one could not
repress the laughter it evoked. It was the drama of "love's young
dream" in real life, in which every man, at some period of his young
career, has played each part the same as these two rivals. Every detail
of plot and line was the duplicate of a like incident in the experience
of boyhood.
[Illustration: AARON AND ELISHEBA]
Elisheba did not appear to encourage the suit of this simian beau, but
she did not rebuff him as a true and faithful spouse should do, and
I never blamed Aaron for not liking it. She had no right to tolerate
the attentions of a total stranger; but she was feminine, and perhaps
endowed with all the vanity of her sex and fond of adulation.
However, my sympathies for the devoted little Aaron were too strong for
me to permit him to be imposed upon by a rival, who was twice as big
and three times as strong as he was, so I took him and Elisheba away on
the after deck, where they had a good time alone.
Elisheba was never very much devoted to me, but in the early part of
her career she began to realise the fact that I was her master and her
friend. She had no gratitude in her nature, but she had sense enough to
see that all her food and comfort were due to me, and as a matter of
policy she became submissive, but never tractable. She was doubtless a
plebeian among her own race, and was not capable of being brought up
to a high standard of culture. She could not be controlled by kindness
alone, for she was by nature sordid and perverse. I was never cruel
or severe in dealing with her, but it was necessary to be strict and
firm. Her poor health, however, often caused me to indulge her in whims
that otherwise would have brought her under a more rigid discipline;
and the patient conduct of Aaron appeared to be tempered by the same
consideration.