VII LANGUAGE OF MONKEYS 369 



concerning Macacus erythrrens, s. Ehesus, as follows : "In 

 fact, one learns to understand the language of animals in a 

 very short time. I understood the sound-language of each of 

 my monkeys, and knew exactly thereby the state of its feelings 

 at any particular time. As the requirements of the life of 

 animals are much simpler and less variable than ours, so is 

 their sound-language much more limited. But the homely 

 peasant speaks a language much poorer in words than that 

 of the cultivated member of town society. The vocal 

 expressions of the Ehesus were very simple, and consisted of 

 vowels, so that they most resembled the interjections of 

 human speech, although they had not exclusively the signifi- 

 cance of the latter. The utterance at different times varied 

 much in pitch, in force, and in quality, according to the 

 feelings of the animal, so that the monkeys were well provided 

 with means of expressing the temporary condition of their 

 emotions." 



The Ehesus expressed his feelings partly by voice and 

 partly by facial expression. When he desired a thing, he 

 cried " oh," or " o-oh," in the latter case the second syllable 

 being higher than the first. At the same time he laid his 

 ears close to his head, drew back his brows, and pointed his 

 lips. Joy and pleasure he expressed by a grunting or 

 gurgling throat -sound, which sounded like a hoarse "ah." 

 At the same time he laid back his ears for a short time, drew 

 back all the skin of his head for a moment with a jerk, his 

 eyebrows being thus also drawn back, and stretched out his 

 mouth with the lips narrowed. In extreme pleasurable 

 excitement, when he laughed, he disclosed his teeth as f\ir 

 back as the middle of the molar series, and uttered a slis^ht 

 tittering sound like " kikiki," and so on. 



Valuable results would certainly be obtained if students of 

 language would take up this subject, and would endeavour to 

 investigate what I think ought to be recognised as the speech of 



2 B 



