22 THE CHIMPANZEE. 



animals (the name evidently being a corruption from our own word Baboon), make use of 

 clubs, staves, and other rude weapons, and that they can use them with great address. Cer- 

 tain it is, that the adult Chimpanzee has been known to snap with a single effort branches so 

 thick, that the united strength of two men could hardly bend them. But whether the animal 

 would possess sufficient intellectual power to make use of a weapon thus obtained, is not so 

 certain. 



It is said that they have a sufficient amount of knowledge to be aware that the strength 

 of a man lies in his weapons, and not in his muscles only ; and that if a hunter should draw 

 on himself the vengeance of the troop, by wounding or killing one of their number, he can 

 escape certain death by flinging down his gun. The enraged apes gather round the object that 

 dealt the fatal stroke, and tear it to pieces with every mark of fury. While they are occupied 

 with wreaking -their vengeance on the senseless object, the owner of the fatal weapon escapes 

 unnoticed. 



The strength of arm with which this animal is endowed, has already been shown. But 

 although the hinder limbs are not possessed of that gigantic muscular strength which is given 

 to the arms, yet they are powerful to a degree that would be remarkable in any animal less 

 athletic than the Chimpanzee. One of these creatures has been seen to lower itself backwards 

 from the bar on which it was sitting, and to draw itself up again, merely by the grasp of the 

 hinder feet. 



The age to which the Chimpanzee attains in its wild state, is as yet unknown. But to 

 judge by the length of time that elapses before the animal reaches matiirity, its life cannot be 

 very much less than that of the human inhabitants of the same land. Nine or ten years are 

 spent by the Chimpanzee before it has reached the perfection of its development ; and it is 

 well known that the inhabitants of the tropical regions attain to maturity at a very early age 

 indeed. 



A peculiarly fine specimen of the Chimpanzee, which was tamed and domesticated in its 

 native country, lived to the age of twenty -one years. This animal was possessed of gigantic 

 strength, and on one occasion was intercepted in the act of carrying a soldier into the tree to 

 which he was chained. This ape might, however, have been a specimen of the gorilla. 



One great and almost radical objection to the weapon-using powers of the Chimpanzee, 

 may be found in the difficulty which these animals experience in standing erect. In order to 

 use a weapon effectively, the hands and arms must be at liberty, and the feet planted firmly 

 on the ground. A defect in either of these conditions, is fatal to the right handling of the 

 weapon. Now, as the Chimpanzee has much difficulty in preserving even a semi-erect position, 

 and is forced to aid itself by placing the backs of its hands on the ground, it will be at once 

 seen that a club would not give very much assistance to the creature. It might certainly 

 launch stones with force and effect ; but a weapon that requires the full and independent use 

 of both sets of limbs, would be of small benefit. 



Besides, the creature is already so terribly armed by nature with formidable fangs, and 

 limbs of Herculean strength, that it needs no artificial means of offence, and would probably 

 be rather embarrassed by them than otherwise. 



Still, it is not improbable that these inquisitive animals have seen their human neighbors 

 armed with sticks, and in that irresistible spirit of imitation to which monkey nature seems to 

 be a victim, have armed themselves in similar manner, though with certain detrimental results. 

 Should they really have recourse to these artificial and useless weapons, when brought into 

 collision with human foes, it may be a providential means of depriving them of those terrible 

 natural weapons, which would be truly formidable, and so causing them to be the more easily 

 overcome by man. Judging from the familiar instances of their imitative nature, we may 

 safely allow that the Chimpanzees do carry sticks, although we may infer that such weapons 

 would be worse than useless to their bearers. 



In common with the orang-outan, and several other members of the same family, the 

 Chimpanzee is possessed of extremely mobile lips. In the lips, indeed, the whole expression 

 of the face seems to be concentrated ; and by the lips, the animal expresses the various emo- 

 tions of fear, astonishment, hatred, rage, or pleasure, that agitate the ape's brain. Those lips 



