40 



THE APES AND MONKEYS. 



came into the gardens. Even the Spaniards do not 

 know whether the animals originally were natives oi 

 Europe, or whether they were imported from Africa. 

 A. G. Smith's account of his personal experiences 

 in this respect is very interesting. In the first place, 

 he says that the existence of Monkeys in Europe 

 had so often been doubted, treated as a silly story 

 and denied by captains of ships frequenting Gibral- 

 tar, that he himself had lost all confidence in the 

 reports. But he came to know better, when one day 

 he made the ascent of the rock, to the flag-pole, to 

 enjoy the magnificent view. The sentinel guard of 

 the flag, in the course of conversation, chanced to 

 remark that "the Monkeys were moving." This led 

 to a careful questioning about them and he learned 

 the following particulars : 



MAGOT, BARBARY, OR TAILLESS APE. This is the onlj membei oi the Monkej familj that lives in 



Europe in the wild state, a colony of them being dwellers upon the Rock ol Gibraltar. It is about the size of a Setter 

 Dog and a very robust animal. It is also found in the Barbary States, always living in the hilly or mountainous coun- 

 try. In the Atlas Mountains these Monkey- are known as great thieves, making raids upon fields ol grain, where they 

 destroy far more than they eat or take away with them, [fnuus ecaudatus.) 



" The Monkeys gained a foothold on these rocks 

 a great many centuries ago ; how and when they 

 crossed the water is not easily determined, and the 

 Moorish story that to this day they pass to and fro 

 between Gibraltar and Morocco, through a sub- 

 marine passage, is a little too much for the credulity 

 of any one. It is a fact, though, that they live upon 

 the rocky elevation, although greatly reduced in 

 numbers. For a long time there were but four of 

 them. They are seldom seen, except when the wind 

 changes and they move to other quarters. They 

 are not very hardy animals and dread every change 

 of temperature, especially the shifting of the wind 

 from east to west and vice versa, and try to shelter 

 themselves from it behind the rocks. They are 

 active to a degree and preferably dwell on steep, 



rocky walls, where they are the sole occupants of 

 the many holes and uneven places in the loose 

 ground. It does not seem that they have to work 

 very hard for their living, for they look quite slick 

 and well-fed. They are commonly supposed to be 

 very shy and to flee at the slightest noise ; but the 

 sentinel denied this, and showed me a few rocks 

 from which they had stared at him that very morn- 

 ing, without being in the least disconcerted by his 

 English uniform and soldierly gaze. They remained 

 for quite a little while at the distance of twenty or 

 thirty yards and then retired very deliberately. Yet, 

 as one sees them so little, chiefly when they are 

 moving, it may be concluded that the}' are of a shy, 

 unsociable nature, for nobody ever pursues them ; 

 they are carefully guarded from all intruders.'' 



Posselt's Account A year 



of Gibraltar later Pos- 



Monheys. S e» t says 



about the same Monk- 

 eys: "On my passage 

 Erom Cadiz to Gibraltar 

 I had inquired after the 

 Monkeys and an English- 

 man residing in Cadiz 

 told me there were not 

 any. Arrived in town, I 

 learned that there were 

 from three to fifteen 

 Monkeys yet in exist- 

 ence; nobody knew the 

 exact number, as they 

 were shy and kept to 

 the steepest and most 

 inaccessible parts of the 

 rocks. Without a guide, 

 I slowly ascended the 

 main road leading to the 

 signal station, and after 

 having gone about two- 

 thirds of the way, I took 

 to the left and made for 

 the highest point on the 

 northern peak. The mag- 

 nificent view that spread 

 out before my eyes 

 quite engrossed my atten- 

 tion, and I forgot all 

 about the Monkeys, until 

 a sound resembling the 

 distant yelping of a little 

 Dog startled me. About 

 two hundred paces in 

 front of me was the first 

 battery with its huge can- 

 non pointing at Spain. On the brick platform of 

 the battery an animal, about the size of a Scotch 

 Terrier, was slowly running aw'ay from me, and from 

 it the sound had come. I stopped and saw that 

 it was a Monkey which had probably been standing 

 guard ; for on the farther end of the platform, nearer 

 the Mediterranean, two others were lying, lazily 

 basking in the sunshine. Step by step I cautiously 

 approached the interesting group, which drew to- 

 gether and attentively looked at me. At a distance 

 of about one hundred paces I stopped, and they 

 soon regained their composure. They resumed their 

 former occupation, and then started to play. They 

 hugged each other, ran around, and, sometimes, one 

 would enter the mouth of a cannon and come out 

 again. In a word, they seemed thoroughly tame, 



