POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



427 



seemed to be in a deep sleep, she would look 

 up with signs of pleasure and utter a whim- 

 per of acknowledgment. When she had to 

 be whipped, she would give up at once when 

 caught, though never to any one but her 

 master; but if his wife was in the room, 

 she would run to her for protection, sound- 

 ing a note of triumph while the master was 

 looking out that she did not bite him in get- 

 ting away from him. She was always be- 

 trayed by her guilty consciousness when she 

 had done anything wrong, even if no one 

 had observed her ; and if detected, would 

 act as a child acts under the shame of guilt. 

 She was not greedy in eating except when 

 denied something; then she would seize 

 it with both hands, and stuff her cheeks 

 so full that it would take a considerable 

 time to eat what she had put away. At 

 her regular meals she ate slowly. If a 

 cup of milk was placed in the cage so that 

 the shadow of one of the bars of the cage 

 was thrown over it, she would look at the 

 shadow, grasp after it, and then look aston- 

 ished to find that she had not got hold of it, 

 and would not drink until she had examined 

 the cup from every side. In eating, she re- 

 jected the thinnest shells, the strings of 

 beans, and the skins of nuts. She was in- 

 duced to take medicine by pretending that 

 she must not have it. If her master wished 

 to give her rhubarb, he would play with a 

 piece of the drug while Chega looked on 

 wistfully ; then seem to snatch it away so 

 that she should not get it, and let it drop, as 

 if accidentally, out of his hand, when in an 

 instant it would be seized or swallowed ; or, 

 if not already swallowed, would be if an ef- 

 fort was pretended to take it away. Chega 

 was fond of her master's Spitz dog, and 

 had many frolics with him. Once they were 

 chasing each other between the sofa and the 

 table, when the ape got into a position be- 

 tween the two where the dog could not fol- 

 low her, but staid upon the table looking 

 at her. In an instant she took hold of the 

 table-cloth with both hands and brought it 

 down, with the dog in it, upon the floor. 

 While the astonished dog was trying to re- 

 lease himself from the folds of the cloth, 

 Chega ran to the window-sill and clapped 

 her hands in evident pleasure over the suc- 

 cess of her trick. Chega slept with her mas- 

 ter for three years, lying with one of her 



arms around his neck, while her other hand 

 was in his. To prevent her getting away in 

 the night, her master fixed a cord to her 

 neck, so that she should wake him when she 

 moved. She soon learned the secret of the 

 cord and how to unhitch it, and would un- 

 hook the neck-band, take out a pin, lay the 

 whole carefully aside, and spring up to go, 

 when she would be stopped. Chega seemed 

 to have dreams, as men and children often 

 do, of falling from a height, and would draw 

 up her limbs with the convulsive motion 

 that all are aware of. Herr Schneider be- 

 lieves that his pet exhibited in a wonderful 

 degree the faculties of reflection and com- 

 parison. Dr. Julius Falkenstein has given, 

 in his account of the German Loango Expe- 

 dition, a narrative of the early life-history 

 of the gorilla Mpungu, which was obtained 

 and bi'ought home by the expedition, and 

 was afterward exhibited in the Berlin Aqua- 

 rium. While in Africa, the young animal 

 was kept as free as possible from other than 

 natural influences, so that its habits might 

 be studied as accurately as was practica- 

 ble. Mpungu gave a contradiction to the re- 

 ports of the fierce and untamable character 

 of the gorilla, for he soon became accus- 

 tomed to the persons around him, showing a 

 real dependence upon them and confidence 

 in them, and was allowed to run about with 

 no more care than a child. He gave no evi- 

 dence of evil or malicious propensities, but 

 had a will of his own, and distinct tones of 

 voice in which to express his feelings. The 

 representations of Du Chaillu concerning the 

 gorilla's beating his breast were confirmed 

 by this animal. The action indicated an ex- 

 cess of physical good feeling, and was never 

 observed while the animal was in Europe, 

 because he never enjoyed good health there. 

 Pleasure in bodily vigor was also frequent- 

 ly exhibited in reelings and tumblings like 

 those of a drunken man. When anything 

 was given to the young gorilla in a cup or 

 glass, he would take it up carefully with 

 both hands, bring it to his mouth, and, hav- 

 ing drunk, set it down as carefully ; and 

 he was ndver known to break a dish. Yet 

 he was never taught how to use dishes. He 

 took in eating only as much food at a time 

 as he could hold between his thumb and 

 two fingers, and would observe the remov- 

 al of the mass of food with indifference ; 



