apes and monkeys.
the forest life of the simiæ—excellent climbers, bad pedestrians—similitude and difference between the human race and the ape—the chimpanzee—chim in paris—the gorilla—the uran—the gibbons—the proboscis monkey—the huniman—the wanderoo—the cercopithecus—a plundering party—parental affection of a cercopithecus—the maimon—‘happy jerry’—the pig-faced baboon—the derryas—wide difference between the monkeys of both hemispheres—distinctive characters of the american monkeys—the stentor monkey—the spider monkeys—the saïmiri—friendships between various kinds of monkeys—nocturnal monkeys—squirrel monkeys—their lively intelligence—the loris and makis.
in the midst of tropical vegetation, the simiæ lead a free forest-life, for which they might well be envied. the green canopy of the woods protects them at every season of the year from the burning rays of a vertical sun, flowers of delicious fragrance embalm the air they breathe, and an endless497 supply of fruits and nuts never allows them to know want, for should the stores near at hand be exhausted, an easy migration to some other district soon restores them to abundance. with an agility far surpassing that with which the sailor ascends the rigging, and climbs even to the giddy top of the highest mast, they leap from bush-rope to bush-rope, and from bough to bough, mocking the tiger-cat and the boa, which are unable to follow them in their rapid evolutions. formed to live on trees, and not upon the ground, they are as excellent climbers as they are bad pedestrians. both their fore and hind-feet are shaped as hands, generally with four fingers and a thumb, so that they can seize or grasp a bough with all alike.
buffon erroneously remarks of the chimpanzee, that he always walks erect, even when carrying a weight; but this ape, as well as the other anthropomorphous simiæ, proves by the slowness and awkwardness of his movements, when by chance he walks upon even ground, that this position is by no means natural to him, or congenial to his organisation. man alone of all creatures, possesses an upright walk; the ape, on the contrary, always stoops, and not to lose his equilibrium when walking, is obliged to place his hands upon the back of his head, or on his loins. thus, in his native wilds, he rarely has recourse to this inconvenient mode of progression, and when forced by some chance or other to quit the trees, he leans while walking upon the finger-knuckles of his anterior extremities, a position which in fact, very much resembles walking on all-fours.
it is, indeed, only necessary to compare the long, robust, and muscular arms of the chimpanzee with his weaker and shorter hind-feet, to be at once convinced that he was never intended for walking. but see with, what rapidity, with what power and grace, he moves from branch to branch, his hind-legs serving him only as hold-fasts, while his chief strength is in his arms. the tree is, without all doubt, for him what the earth is for us, the air for the bird, or the water for the fish.
the simiæ of the old world are all distinguished by the common character of a narrow partition of the nose like that of man, and by the same number of teeth, each jaw being provided with ten grinders, two canine teeth, and four incisors, as in the human race. the large apes, or tailless monkeys, resemble us besides in many other respects, as well in their external498 appearance as in their anatomical structure; and form, as it were, the caricature of man, both by their gestures and by glimpses of a higher intelligence.
creatures so remarkably endowed have naturally at all times attracted a great share of attention, for if even the lowest links in the chain of animated beings lay claim to our interest, how much more must this be the case with beings whose faculties seem almost to raise them to the rank of our relations. the question how far this similarity extends has naturally given rise to many acute investigations and been differently answered, according as naturalists were more or less inclined to depress man to the level of the ape, or to widen the gulf between them. the former, pointing to the brutality of the lowest savages, would willingly make us believe that we are nothing but an improved edition of the uran, while the latter cite in favour of their opinion, the incommensurable distance which exists between even the most degraded specimens of humanity and the most perfect quadrumana. man alone is capable of continually progressive improvement; in him alone each generation inherits the acquirements of its fathers, and transmits the growing treasure to its sons, while the ape, like all other animals, constantly remains at the same point. the lowest savage knows how to make fire; the ape, though he may have seen the operation performed a thousand times, and have enjoyed the genial warmth of the glowing embers, will never learn the simple art. his hairy skin is a sufficient proof of his low intellect, an infallible sign that as he never would be able to provide himself with an artificial clothing, nature was obliged to protect him against the inclemencies of the cold nights and the pouring rain. as man advances in age, his mind acquires a greater depth and a wider range. in the ape, on the contrary, signs of a livelier intelligence are only exhibited during youth, and as the animal waxes in years, its physiognomy acquires a more brutal expression; its forehead recedes, its jaws project, and instead of expanding to a higher perfection, its mental faculties are evidently clouded by a premature decline.
both in africa and asia, we find large anthropomorphous apes, but while the chimpanzee and the gorilla exclusively belong to the african wilds, the uran and the gibbons are confined to the torrid regions of south asia.
499 the chimpanzee (simia troglodytes) attains a height of about five feet, but seems much smaller from his stooping attitude. he inhabits the dense forests on the west coast of africa, particularly near the river gaboon, and as his travels are facilitated by his fatherland not being too far distant from europe, there is hardly a zoological garden of any note that does not exhibit a chimpanzee among its lions. one of the finest specimens ever seen was kept a few years since in the jardin des plantes in paris, where the mild climate, agreeable diet (he drank his pint of bordeaux daily), and lively society of the french maintained him in wonderful health and spirits.
‘the last time i saw him’ (may 1854), says an accomplished naturalist,40 ‘he came out to inhale the morning air in the large circular inclosure in front of the monkey palace, which was built for our poor relations by m. thiers. here chim began his day by a leisurely promenade, casting pleased and thankful glances towards the sun, the beautiful sun of early summer.
rufous coatimondi
‘he had three satellites, coatimondis, either by chance or to amuse him, and while making all manner of eyes at a young lady, who supplied the singerie with pastry and cakes, one of the coatimondis came up stealthily behind, and dealt him a small but malicious bite. chim looked round with astonishment at this audacious outrage on his person, and put his hand hastily upon the wound, but without losing his temper in the least. he walked deliberately to the other side of the circle, and fetched a cane which he had dropped in his promenade. he returned with majestic wrath upon his brow, mingled, i thought, with contempt, and taking coati by the tail, commenced punishment with his cane, administering such blows as his victim could bear without permanent injury, and applied with equal justice on the ribs at either side. when he thought enough had been done, he disposed of coati, without moving a muscle of his countenance, by a500 left-handed jerk, which threw the delinquent high in air, head over heels.
‘he came down a sadder and a better coati, and retired with shame and fear to a distant corner. having executed this act of justice, chim betook himself to a tree. a large baboon, who had in the meantime made his appearance in the circle, thought this was a good opportunity of doing a civil thing, and accordingly mounted the tree, and sat down smilingly, as baboons smile, upon the next fork. chim slowly turned his head at this attempt at familiarity, measured the distance, raised his hind foot, and as composedly as he had caned the coati, kicked the big baboon off his perch into the arena below. this abasement seemed to do the baboon good, for he also retired like the coati, and took up his station on the other side.’
the body of the chimpanzee is covered with long hair on the head, shoulders, and back, but much thinner on the breast and belly. the arms and legs are not so disproportionate as those of the uran, the fore-fingers not quite touching the knees when the animal stands upright. the upper part of the head is very flat, with a retiring forehead, and a prominent bony ridge over the eye-brows, the mouth is wide, the ears large, the nose flat, and the face of a blackish-brown colour.
from this short notice it will be seen at once that friend chim has not the least claim to beauty, but yet he is far from equalling the hideous deformity of the gorilla, whom m. du chaillu has so prominently introduced to public notice. this savage animal, which is covered with black hair like the chimpanzee, and resembles it in the proportion of its body and limbs, though its form is much more robust, unites a most ferocious and undaunted temper with an herculean bodily strength, and is said to hold undisputed dominion of the hill-forests in the interior of lower guinea, forcing even the panther to ignominious flight.
to kill a gorilla is considered by the negroes as a most courageous exploit; and dr. savage, an american missionary on the coast of guinea, who, in a memoir published at boston in the year 1847, was the first to point out the generic differences between this formidable ape and the chimpanzee, tells us that a slave having shot a male and female gorilla, whose skeletons501 afterwards came into his possession, was immediately set at liberty and proclaimed the prince of hunters.
m. du chaillu’s description of his first encounter with an adult gorilla, shows that this distinction was by no means unmerited, and that it requires all the coolness and determination of an accomplished sportsman to face an animal of such appalling ferocity and power. ‘the under-bush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. he had gone through the jungle on his all-fours, but when he saw our party he erected himself, and looked us boldly in the face. he stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight i think i shall never forget. nearly six feet high (he proved four inches shorter), with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely glaring, large deep-grey eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to me like some night-mare vision; thus stood before us the king of the african forest. he was not afraid of us. he stood there and beat his breast with his huge fists, till it resounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their mode of offering defiance, meantime giving vent to roar after roar. the roar of the gorilla is the most singular and awful noise heard in these african woods. it begins with a sharp bark like an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll which literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which i have been sometimes tempted to take it when i did not see the animal. so deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch. his eyes began to flash deeper fire as we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunderous roar.
‘and now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream-creature; a being of that hideous order, half-man, half-beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some representations of the infernal regions. he advanced a few steps, then stopped to utter that hideous roar again, advanced again, and finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. and here, just as he began another of his roars, beating his breast in rage, we fired and killed him. with a groan which had502 something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, he fell forward on his face. the body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, and then all was quiet—death had done its work, and i had leisure to examine the huge body. it proved to be five feet eight inches high, and the muscular development of the arms and breast showed what immense strength he had possessed.’
deep in the swampy forests of sumatra and borneo, lives the famous uran, or ‘mias’ as he is called by the malays. he is less human in his shape than the chimpanzee, as his hind-legs are shorter and his arms so long that they reach to his ankles, but in intelligence he is supposed to be his superior. the jaws are more projecting, and the thick pouting lips add to the brutal expression of his physiognomy. while in a well-proportioned human face the distance from the chin to the nose forms but a third of the total length, it amounts to one-half in the uran. but little of the restlessness of the monkey is to be seen in him. he loves an indolent repose, and the necessity for procuring food seems alone capable of rousing him from his laziness. when satiated, he immediately resumes his favourite position, sitting for hours together upon a branch, with bent back, with eyes immovably staring upon the ground, and uttering from time to time a melancholy growl. he generally spends the night on the crown of a nibong-palm or of a screw pine: he often also seeks a refuge against the wind and cold among the orchids and ferns which cover the branches of the giant trees. there he spreads his couch of small twigs and leaves, for he distinguishes himself from all other apes by his not sleeping in a sitting position, but on the back or on one side, and in inclement weather he is even said to cover his body with a layer of foliage. the dyaks affirm that the mias is never attacked by other animals, except by the crocodile and the tiger-snake. when there are no fruits in the jungle, he goes to the river banks, where he finds many young shoots which he likes to eat, and fruits which grow near to the water. then the crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the mias springs upon it, lacerates and kills it. an old dyak chieftain told mr. wallace that he had once witnessed a combat of this kind, in which the mias is invariably the conqueror. when attacked by a tiger-snake, he seizes the reptile with his hands503 and kills it with a vigorous bite. the mias is very strong, stronger than any other animal of the jungle.
rajah brooke, who observed the sluggish urans in their wild state, relates that even when chased and alarmed by the shouts of men and the firing, they never went from tree to tree faster than a man might easily follow through the jungle below. in general they sought the very summit of a lofty tree, and often remained seated without changing their position whilst several shots were discharged at them. the dyaks catch them in the following manner. having discovered the animal in a tree, they approach without disturbing him, and as quickly as possible cut down all the trees around the one he is in. being previously provided with poles, some with nooses attached to the ends and others forked, they fell the isolated tree, and noosing and forking down the uran, soon make him their captive.
the series of the large anthropomorphous apes closes with the gibbons. their arms, which reach to the ankle joints when the animal is standing erect, are longer than those of the uran; their brain, and consequently their intelligence, is less developed; and moreover, like all the following simiæ of the old world, they possess callosities on each side of the tail. their size is inferior to that of the uran, and their body is covered with thicker hair, grey, brown, black, or white—according to the species—but never party-coloured, as is the case with many of the long-tailed monkeys.
to the gibbons belong the black siamang of sumatra—who, assembled in large troops, hails the first blush of early morn, and bids farewell to the setting sun with dreadful clamours—the black, white-bearded lar of siam and malacca, and the wou-wou (hylobates leuciscus), who, hanging suspended by his long arms, and swinging to and fro in the air, allows one to approach within fifty yards, and then, suddenly dropping upon a lower branch, climbs again leisurely to the top of the tree. he is a quiet, solitary creature of a melancholy peaceful nature, pursuing a harmless life, feeding upon fruits in the vast untrodden recesses of the forest; and his peculiar noise is in harmony with the sombre stillness of these dim regions, commencing like the gurgling of water when a bottle is being filled, and ending with a long loud wailing cry, which resounds throughout504 the leafy solitude to a great distance, and is sometimes responded to from the depths of the forest by another note as wild and melancholy.
besides the uran and the gibbons, asia exclusively possesses the semnopitheci and the macaques, while africa, besides the chimpanzee and the gorilla, enjoys the undivided honour of giving birth to the families of the cercopitheci, mangabeys, colobi, magots, and baboons.
the semnopitheci are characterised by a short face, rounded ears, a slender body, short thumbs, and a strong muscular tail, terminated by a close tuft of hair, and surpassing in length that of all the other quadrumana of the old world. to this genus belongs the celebrated proboscis monkey (semnopithecus nasicus) of borneo, who is distinguished from all other simiæ by the possession of a prominent nasal organ, which lends a highly ludicrous expression to the melancholy aspect of his physiognomy. ‘when excited and angry,’ says mr. adams, who had many opportunities of examining this singular creature in its native woods, ‘the female resembles some tanned and peevish, hag, snarling and shrewish. they progress on all-fours, and sometimes, while on the ground, raise themselves upright and look about them. when they sleep, they squat on their hams, and bow their heads upon the breast. when disturbed, they utter a short impatient cry, between a sneeze and a scream, like that of a spoilt and passionate child; and in the selection of their food they appear very dainty, frequently destroying a fruit, and hardly tasting it. when they emit their peculiar wheezing or hissing sound, they avert and wrinkle the nose, and open the mouth wide. in the male, the nose is a curved, tubular trunk, large, pendulous, and fleshy; but in the female it is smaller, recurved, and not caruncular.’
under the ugly form of the huniman (semnopithecus entellus), the hindoos venerate the transformed hero who abstracted the sweet fruit of the mango from the garden of a giant in ceylon, and enriched india with the costly gift. out of gratitude for this service, the hindoos allow him the free use of their gardens, and take great care to protect him from sacrilegious europeans. while the french naturalist duvaucel was at chandernagor, a guard of pious brahmins was busy scaring away the sacred animals with cymbals and drums, lest the505 stranger, to whom they very justly attributed evil intentions, might be tempted to add their skins to his collection.
the semnopitheci are scattered over asia in so great a multiplicity of forms, that ceylon alone possesses four different species, each of which has appropriated to itself a different district of the wooded country, and seldom encroaches on the domain of its neighbours. ‘when observed in their native wilds,’ says sir j. e. tennent, ‘a party of twenty or thirty of the wanderoos of the low country, the species best known in europe (presbytes cephalopterus), is generally busily engaged in the search for berries and buds. they are seldom to be seen on the ground, and then only when they have descended to recover seeds or fruit that have fallen at the foot of their favourite trees. in their alarm, when disturbed, their leaps are prodigious, but generally speaking their progress is made not so much by leaping as by swinging from branch to branch, using their powerful arms alternately, and when baffled by distance, flinging themselves obliquely so as to catch the lower bough of an opposite tree; the momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to cause a rebound, that carries them again upwards till they can grasp a higher branch, and thus continue their headlong flight. in these perilous achievements wonder is excited less by the surpassing agility of these little creatures, frequently encumbered as they are by their young, which cling to them in their career, than by the quickness of their eye and the unerring accuracy with which they seem to calculate almost the angle at which a descent would enable them to cover a given distance, and the recoil to elevate themselves again to a higher altitude.’
the african colobi greatly resemble the asiatic semnopitheci, but differ by the remarkable circumstance of having no thumb on the hands of their anterior extremities.
the cercopitheci likewise possess a large tail, which is, however, not more or less pendulous, as in the semnopitheci, but generally carried erect over the back. they have also a longer face, and their cheeks are furnished with pouches, in which, like the pelican or the hamster, they are capable of stowing part of their food; an organisation which seems to denote that they are inhabitants of a country where the forests are less extensive. they are not devoid of intelligence, but extremely restless and noisy. many that were mild and amiable while young, undergo506 at a later period a complete change of character. the only way, according to m. isidore geoffroy, to curb the temper of one of these full-grown monkeys is to extract the sharp and formidable canine teeth, with which it is capable of inflicting the most dangerous wounds. when disarmed, it immediately alters its manners, as it now feels its impotence. several of the monkeys belonging to this group are distinguished by the lively colours of their fur; that of the diana monkey (cercopithecus diana) among others, which is a native of congo and guinea, sells for a considerable price.
nothing can be more amusing to the disinterested spectator or more provoking to the proprietor than to witness the operations of a troop of cercopitheci while plundering a dhourra or maize field. under the guidance of an old and experienced male, the impudent robbers set out on their foraging expedition. the female monkeys carry with them their young ones, who, clasping their mother’s neck with their fore-feet, sometimes also wind their little caudal appendages as an additional support round her tail. at first the band approaches with great caution, the leader constantly at its head, and the others following from branch to branch. sometimes he climbs to the top of a high tree for the purpose of reconnoitring, and finding all safe, a few tranquillising guttural sounds make known to his followers the satisfactory results of his inspection. alighting from the tree nearest to the field, a few leaps bring them to the scene of action, where their first care is to stuff their wide cheek pouches with provender as fast as they can. this done, they allow themselves more leisure and at the same time become more choice in the selection of their food. every ear of maize or dhourra after having been plucked from the plant is now carefully examined, and if not approved of, thrown away. when a monkey has an abundance of food at his disposal, he will spoil at least ten times more than he eats. the troop now feeling itself thoroughly secure, the mothers allow their young, who are generally kept under strict control, to leave them and amuse themselves with their play-fellows. the little creatures, who by the bye are intensely ugly, have been so well brought up that at the first sound of alarm they immediately return to their mothers, who, like all other members of the band, implicitly rely upon the watchfulness of the leader.
507 from time to time this cautious ‘old gentleman’ will interrupt the most savoury repast, raise himself on his hind-legs, stand upright like a man, and look about him. a single inimitable gurgling tone of alarm gathers in a moment the troop of his followers; the mothers recall their young ones, and all are instantly ready for flight; each carrying with him as much provender as he can. the nearest tree is ascended in a trice, and from this starting point the hurried flight goes on from branch to branch. the expertness of the monkeys in climbing and springing is indeed wonderful, and surpasses that of all other animals. for them there is no impediment: the sharpest thorns, the thickest hedges—nothing retards them. the most daring leaps are executed with an admirable ease. seizing a high branch with its outstretched hand, a monkey will swing himself upon it, a feat which no cat or squirrel can imitate; or he will throw himself from the summit of a tree upon a branch far below, which bends under the sudden shock of his weight, and then makes use of the recoil to perform a mighty horizontal bound. while this precipitate flight is going on, the leader still directs the movements of the band, which only relaxes in its haste when he thinks proper. all this time they show not the least signs of confusion, and such is their presence of mind that it preserves them from all danger. in fact they have no enemies to fear but other monkeys and the serpents; for they easily get out of the reach of the larger beasts of prey, and no bird will attack them, as it well knows that it would be at once assailed by a whole band. thus a life as void of care as life can be, has fallen to the lot of these free denizens of the forest.
brehm relates an affecting instance of parental friendship in a tame male cercopithecus. koko (as the monkey was called) had adopted a young one of the same species, still very much in want of his mother’s assistance. he treated it with all the affection of a parent, watched over it while eating, and warmed it at night in his arms. he was constantly anxious about its welfare, got uneasy when it strayed away only a few paces, and called it immediately back again at the least apprehension of danger. when brehm tried to remove it, he got furious and defended his adopted child with all his might. thus both monkeys lived together several months, when the young one508 fell ill and soon after died. the sorrow of the bereaved foster-father was excessive, not like that of an animal, but similar to the grief of a deeply-feeling man. at first he took the stiffening body in his arms, caressed it in all possible manners, and attended upon it as before, with the tenderest care. he then placed it in a sitting posture before him, looked at it attentively, and uttered a plaintive cry when he saw it collapse. again and again he tried to recall it to life; and every time he uttered a loud cry when he saw that his favourite remained dead. the whole day he took no food, the dead little monkey occupied him constantly. at length brehm took away the body by force and threw it over the high wall of the courtyard into the garden. but in a few minutes the monkey had bitten the strong rope through to which he was fastened, sprang over the wall and returned with the body in his arms. brehm now again bound him fast, took the dead body away and threw it into a deep well. the monkey immediately freed himself once more from his bonds, remained for hours searching for the body, and then left the house for ever. in the evening of the same day he was seen on his way to the woods. ‘to call such and similar actions instinct,’ says brehm, ‘would be ridiculous. they are proofs of intellect and deep feeling. there are apes who surpass many obtuse members of the human race in sense, and their intelligence grows by experience, as i have frequently observed in tame monkeys. without hesitation we may rank the simiæ next to man as the most highly developed animals, not only in their physical organisation, but also in intelligence.’
the tribes of the mangabeys, macaques, magots, and cynopitheci form the links between the cercopitheci and the baboons. their shape is less slender than that of the former, their frontal bone is more developed, particularly above the eyebrows, and their face is longer. they are all of them provided with cheek-pouches. several of the macaques have a very short tail, and the magots, or barbary apes, and the cynopithecus of the philippine islands, have none, thus resembling the large anthropomorphous apes, but widely differing from them in other respects.
the magot is the only european species, and seems exclusively confined in our part of the world to the rock of gibraltar, though some authors affirm that it is found in other509 parts of andalusia, and even in the province of grenada. it would no doubt long since have been extirpated, if the british government had not taken it under its especial protection, and imposed the penalty of a heavy fine upon its wanton destruction.
the cynocephali (baboons and mandrills) show at once by their greek name that a dog-like snout gives them a more bestial expression than belongs to the rest of the monkey tribes, and that of all the simiæ of the old world they are most widely distant from man. in size they are only surpassed by the gorilla and the uran, and if in the latter the physiognomy becomes more brutal in its expression with advancing age, this degradation is much greater in the baboons.
their canine teeth in particular acquire a greater sharpness than those of almost every other carnivorous animal, so that these malignant and cruel animals, armed with such powerful weapons, may well be reckoned among the most formidable of the wild beasts of africa. as if to render them complete pictures of depravity, their manners also are so shamelessly filthy, that the curiosity they excite soon changes into horror and disgust.
the short-tailed mandrills inhabit the west coast of africa. the maimon is the most remarkable of the whole genus for brilliancy and variety of colour; its furrowed cheeks are magnificently striped with violet, blue, purple, and scarlet, so as more to resemble an artificial tattooing than a natural carnation. as the creature increases in age, the nose also becomes blood-red. on the loins the skin is almost bare, and of a violet-blue colour, gradually altering into a bright blood-red, which is more conspicuous on the hinder parts, where it surrounds the tail, which is generally carried erect.
even among the base mandrills there are some which maintain in confinement the milder character of their youth, and on whom education has had such influence as to allow them to be introduced into company without fear of a too flagitious breach of decorum. one of these pattern animals was ‘happy jerry,’ long kept in a london menagerie, and who gained such fame by his good manners as to be honoured by a special invitation to windsor. jerry knew how to sit upon a chair, and worthily to fill it, as he was nearly five feet long. he relished510 his pot of porter, which he used to drink out of a pewter can, and smoked his pipe with all the gravity of a german philosopher. but even jerry was not to be trusted out of the sight of his keepers.
mandrill (cynocephalus maimon).
pig-faced baboon.
the real baboons are distinguished from the mandrills by a long tail, terminated by a tuft of hair. the great baboon of senegal (cynocephalus sphinx) is by no means devoid of intelligence, and learns many tricks when taught from early youth. his temper, however, is brutal and choleric, though less so than the chacma (cynocephalus porcarius), or pig-faced baboon, which is found in the vicinity of cape town, among others on the celebrated table mountain. young chacmas are often kept as domestic animals, performing the offices of a mastiff, whom they greatly surpass in strength. thus they immediately announce by their growling the approach of a stranger, and are even employed for a variety of useful purposes which no dog would be able to perform. here one is trained to blow the bellows of a smith; there another to guide a team of oxen. when a stream is to be crossed, the chacma immediately jumps upon the back of one of the oxen, and remains sitting till he has no longer to fear the wet, which he loves as little as the cat.
in abyssinia, nubia, and south arabia we find the derryas (c. hamadryas), which enjoyed divine honours among the ancient egyptians. the general colour of the hair is a mixture of light-grey and cinnamon, and in the male that of the head and neck forms a long mane, falling back over the shoulders. the face is extremely long, naked, and of a dirty flesh-colour. this ugly monkey was revered as the symbol of thoth, the divine father of literature and the judge of man after death. formerly temples were erected to his honour, and numerous priests ministered to his wants, but now, by a sad change of511 baboon-fortune, he is shot without ceremony, and his skin pulled over his ears to be stuffed and exhibited in profane museums.
the monkeys of the new world differ still more widely from those of the old than the copper-coloured indian from the woolly negro. one sees at once on comparing them that whole oceans roll between them, that they have not migrated from one hemisphere to another, but belong to two different phases of creation. while the nasal partition of the old world simiæ is narrow as in man, it is broad without exception in all the american monkeys, so that the nostrils are widely separated and open sideways. the dental apparatus is also different, for while the monkeys of our hemisphere have thirty-two teeth, those of the western world generally possess thirty-six.
the tailless monkeys or apes, and the short-tailed baboons, are peculiar to our hemisphere, and it is only here that we find almost voiceless simiæ, while the american quadrumana are all of them tailed, short-snouted, and generally endowed with stentorian powers. finally, it would be as useless to look among the western monkeys for cheek-pouches and sessile callosities, as among those of the old world for prehensile tails.
in the boundless forests of tropical south america, the monkeys form by far the greater part of the mammalian inhabitants, for each species, though often confined within narrow limits, generally consists of a large number of individuals. the various arboreal fruits which the savage population of these immeasurable wilds is unable to turn to advantage, fall chiefly to their share; many of them also live upon insects. they are never seen in the open savannahs, as they never touch the ground unless compelled by the greatest necessity. the trees of the forests furnish them with all the food they require; it is only in the woods that they feel ‘at home’ and secure against the attacks of mightier animals; why then should they quit them for less congenial haunts? for their perpetual wanderings from branch to branch, nature has bountifully endowed many of them, not only with robust and muscular limbs and large hands, whose moist palms facilitate the seizure of a bough, but in many cases also with a prehensile tail, which may deservedly be called a fifth hand, and is hardly less wonderful in its structure than the proboscis of the elephant. covered with short hair, and completely bare underneath towards the end,512 this admirable organ rolls round the boughs as though it were a supple finger, and is at the same time so muscular that the monkey frequently swings with it from a branch like the pendulum of a clock. scarce has he grasped a bough with his long arms, when immediately coiling his fifth hand round the branch, he springs on to the next, and secure from a fall, hurries so rapidly through the crowns of the highest trees that the sportsman’s ball has scarce time to reach him in his flight.
when the miriki (ateles hypoxanthus), the largest of the brazilian monkeys, sitting or stretched out at full length, suns himself on a high branch, his tail suffices to support him in his aërial resting-place, and even when mortally wounded, he remains a long time suspended by it, until life being quite extinct, his heavy body, whizzing through the air, and breaking many a bough as it descends, falls with a loud crash to the ground.
in general the american monkeys are distinguished by a much milder disposition than those of the eastern hemisphere, and retain at an advanced age the playful manners of their youth. they are commonly more easy to tame, and learn many little tricks which are taught with much greater difficulty to their restless asiatic or african cousins. their weakness, their short canine teeth, their good temper, render them harmless play-fellows, and thus they are generally preferred in europe to the old world monkeys, though they are not so lively, and constantly have a more or less dejected mien, as if they still regretted the primitive freedom of the forest.
the american monkeys may be conveniently divided into two large groups; with or without a prehensile tail. to the first great subdivision belong the howling monkeys or aluates (mycetes), the spider monkeys (ateles), the sajous, and several other intermediate genera.
the aluates are chiefly remarkable for their stentorian powers, which no other animal can equal or approach. when the nocturnal howl of the large red howling monkey (mycetes ursinus) bursts forth from the woods, you would suppose that all the beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of carnage. now it is the tremendous roar of the jaguar as he springs on his prey; now it changes to his terrible and deep-toned growlings as he is pressed on all sides by superior513 force; and now you hear his last dying moan, beneath a mortal wound. some naturalists have supposed that these awful sounds can only proceed from a number of the red monkeys howling in concert, but one of them alone is equal to the task. in dark and cloudy weather, and just before a squall of rain, the aluate often howls in the day-time; and on advancing cautiously to the high and tufted tree where he is sitting, one may then have a good opportunity of seeing the large lump in his throat, the sounding-board which gives such volume to his voice, move up and down as he exerts his stentorian lungs.
howling monkey.
the howling monkeys are the most robust of the american simiæ, and in spite of their long tail have a certain analogy with the urans, whom they may be said to represent in the new world. their various species range from paraguay to honduras, while the ateles or spider monkeys, thus named from their long slender limbs and sprawling movements, extend over the whole surface of tropical america. the marimonda (ateles belzebub) is even found on the eastern slopes of the andes at a height of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, an elevation attained by him alone of all the quadrumanous tribes. like the african colobi, the spider monkeys have no thumb on their fore-hands; their voice is a soft and flute-like whistling, resembling the piping of a bird. it is said that when a mother burthened with her young hesitates to take too wide a leap, paterfamilias seizes the branch she intends to reach, and swings himself to and fro with it, until his companion is able to attain it by a spring.
the second group of american monkeys, consisting of those with a non-prehensile tail, comprises the sakis, the saïmiris, the ouistitis, &c.
the sakis, or fox-tailed monkeys, are distinguished by their bushy tail, which, however, in some species, is very short. they usually live in the outskirts of forests, in small societies of ten or twelve. upon the slightest provocation, they display a morose and savage temper, and, like the howling-monkeys, utter loud cries before sunrise and after sunset.
514 the elegant ease of their movements, their soft fur, the large size of their brilliant eyes, and their little round face, entitle the saïmiris to be called the most graceful of monkeys. on speaking to them for some time, they listen with great attention, and soon lay their tiny hand upon the speaker’s mouth, as if to catch the words as they pass through his lips. they recognise the objects represented in an engraving even when not coloured, and endeavour to seize the pictured fruits or insects. the latter, and particularly spiders, which they catch most dexterously with their lips or hands, seem to be their favourite food. the weak little creatures are very fond of being carried about by larger monkeys, and cling fast to their back. at first the animal to which they thus attach themselves endeavours to get rid of its burden, but finding it impossible, it soon becomes reconciled to its fate, and after a short time an intimate affection arises between them, so that when the saïmiri is busy chasing insects, his friend, before leaving the spot, first gives him notice by a gentle cry.
the habits of the nyctopitheci, or nocturnal monkeys, bear a great resemblance to those of the bats or flying foxes. the shy and quiet little animals sleep by day, concealed in the dense thickets of the forest. their eye and motions are completely feline. those which von martius observed in his collection, crept by day into a corner of the cage, but after sunset their agility made up for their diurnal torpor.
in guiana, schomburgk met with the nyctipithecus trivirgatus as a domestic animal. ‘a very neat little monkey, shy of light as the owl or the bat. a small round head, extremely large yellow eyes, shining in the dark stronger than those of the cat, and tiny short ears, give it a peculiarly comical appearance. when disturbed in its diurnal sleep and dragged forth to the light, its helpless movements excite compassion; it gropes about as if blind, and lays hold of the first object that comes within its reach, often pressing its face against it to escape the intolerable glare. the darkest corner of the hut is its seat of predilection, where it lies during day in a perfect asphyxia, from which it can only be roused by blows. but soon after sunset it leaves its retreat, and then it is impossible to see a more lively, active, and merry creature. from hammock it springs to hammock, generally licking the faces of the515 sleepers, and from the floor to the rafters of the roof, overturning all that is not sufficiently fastened to resist its curiosity.’
its hair, which is grey on the back and orange-coloured on the belly, is much thicker than that of the other monkeys, and somewhat woolly, thus being admirably suited to the colder temperature of its nocturnal rambles. it ranges over a great part of south america, but on account of its retirement during the day is very rarely caught. its voice is remarkably strong, and, according to humboldt, is said to resemble the jaguar’s roar, for which reason it is called the tiger monkey in the missions along the orinoco. it lives chiefly on nocturnal insects, thinning their ranks like the bat, but is also said to prey upon small birds like the owl. in the andes of new granada, in the large forests of quindiu, the n. lemurinus lives at an elevation of from four to five thousand feet above the level of the sea, and makes the woods resound during the night with his clamorous cry of ‘durucŭli.’
the ouistitis, or squirrel monkeys, are distinguished from all the other american quadrumana by the claws with which all their fingers, except the thumbs of their hands, are provided, and which render them excellent service in climbing. they have a very soft fur, and are extremely light and graceful in their movements, as well as elegant in their forms. the young are often not bigger than a mouse, and even a full-grown ouistiti is hardly larger than a squirrel, whom it resembles both in its mode of life, and by its restless activity, as its little head is never quiet. they use their tail, which in many species is handsomely marked by transverse bars, as a protection against the cold, to which they are acutely sensitive. their numerous species are dispersed over all the forests of tropical america, where they live as well upon fruits and nuts as upon insects and eggs; and when they can catch a little bird, they suck its brain with all the satisfaction of an epicure. they are easily tamed, but very suspicious and irritable.
the learned french naturalist, audouin, made some interesting observations on a pair of tame ouistitis, which prove their intelligence to be far superior to that of the squirrels, to whom they are often compared. one of them, while regaling on a bunch of grapes, squirted some of the juice into its eye,516 and never failed from that time to close its eyes while eating of the fruit. in a drawing they recognised not only their own likeness, but that of other animals. thus the sight of a cat, and what is still more remarkable, that of a wasp, frightened them very much, while at the aspect of any other insect, such as a cricket or a cockchafer, they at once rushed upon the engraving, as if anxious to make a meal of the object that deluded them with the semblance of life.
handed lemur.
in the forests of tropical africa and asia we find a remarkable group of animals, which, though quadrumanous like the monkeys, essentially differs from them by possessing long curved claws on the index, and also on the middle finger of the hinder extremities; by a sharp, projecting muzzle, and by a different dentition. the loris, remarkable for the slowness of their gait and their large glaring eyes, are exclusively natives of the east indies; the galagos, which unite the organisation of the monkeys with the graceful sprightliness of the squirrels, are confined solely to africa, where they are chiefly found in the gum-forests of senegal; the tarsii, with hinder limbs of a disproportionate length, are restricted to a part of the indian archipelago; but the large island of madagascar, where, strange to say, not a single monkey is found, is the chief seat of the family, being the exclusive dwelling-place of the short-tailed indri (whom, from his black thick fur and anthropomorphous shape, one would be inclined to reckon among the gibbons), and of the long-tailed lemurs or makis. all these gentle and harmless animals are arboreal in their habits, avoid the glaring light of day under the dense covert of the forest, and awaken to a more active existence as soon as night descends upon the earth. then the loris, who during the day have slept clinging to a branch, prowl among the forest-boughs in quest of food. nothing can escape the scrutiny of their large glaring eyes; and when they have marked their victim, they cautiously and noiselessly approach till it is within their grasp. the galagos have at night all the activity of birds, hopping from bough to bough on their hind limbs only. they watch the insects flitting among the leaves, listen to the fluttering of517 the moth as it darts through the air, lie in wait for it, and then spring like lightning upon their prize. the long-legged tarsii leap about two feet at a spring, and feed chiefly on small lizards, holding, squirrel-like, their prey in their fore-hands, while they rest on their haunches.
