Anecdotes of a Diana Monkey, 11 



rings with the most minute attention, and soon found the bis- 

 cuit which lay by my side. When I liked him well enough 

 to profit by his friendship, he became a constant source of 

 amusement. Like all other nautical monkeys, he was fond of 

 pulling off the men's caps as they slept, and throwing them 

 into the sea; of knocking over the parrots' cages to drink the 

 water as it trickled along the deck, regardless of the occasional 

 gripe he received ; of taking the dried herbs out of the tin mugs 

 in which the men were making tea of them ; of dexterously 

 picking out the pieces of biscuit which were toasting between 

 the bars of the grate ; of stealing the carpenter's tools ; in short, 

 of teasing every thing and every body : but he was also a first- 

 rate equestrian. Whenever the pigs were let out to take a 

 run on deck, he took his station behind a cask, whence he 

 leaped on the back of one of his steeds as it passed. Of 

 course the speed was increased, and the nails he stuck in to 

 keep himself on produced a squeaking; but Jack was never 

 thrown, and became so fond of the exercise, that he was 

 obliged to be shut up whenever the pigs were at liberty. Con- 

 finement was the worst punishment he could receive, and 

 whenever threatened with that, or any other, he would cling 

 to me for protection. At night, when about to be sent to bed 

 in an empty hen-coop, he generally hid himself under my 

 shawl, and at last never suffered any one but myself to put 

 him to rest. He was particularly jealous of the other monkeys 

 on board, who were all smaller than himself, and put two out 

 of his way. The first feat of the kind was performed in my 

 presence : he began by holding out his paw, and making a 

 squeaking noise, which the other evidently considered as an 

 invitation ; the poor little thing crouched to him most humbly,- 

 but Jack seized him by the neck, hopped off to the side of the 

 vessel, and threw him into the sea. We cast out a rope im- 

 mediately, but the monkey was too much frightened to cling 

 to it, and we were going too fast to save him by any other 

 means. Of course Jack was flogged and scolded, at which he 

 was very penitent ; but the deceitful rogue, at the end of three 

 days, sent another victim to the same destiny. But his spite 

 against his own race was manifested at another time in a very 

 original way. The men had been painting the ship's side with 

 a streak of white, and upon being summoned to dinner, left 

 their brushes and paint on deck. Unknown to Jack, I was 

 seated behind the companion door, and saw the whole trans- 

 action ; he called a little black monkey to him, who, like the 

 others, immediately crouched to his superior, when he seized 

 him by the nape of the neck with one paw, took the brush, 

 dripping with paint, with the other, and covered him with 

 white from head to foot. Both the man at the helm and 



