2.; 2 THE MONKEY TRIBES 



stretching its legs in every direction, always finding a ttift of hair to 

 grasp, llie resemblance to its mother must have been too striking, 

 for, as it was quite a young animal, it soon began to try to suckle. 

 The result was unfortunate, for only it got its mouth full of wool, 

 upon which it became very- hiuch disgusted and screamed violently; 

 and, having on one occasion been nearly choked, its owner was obliged 

 to take the counterfeit i)arent away. Apes do not have many enemies 

 besides man, particularly those species of such large size as the gorilla 

 and its allies. In Borneo, where one of the largest species dwells, the 

 orang-outang, Wallace states that the natives declare it is never 

 attacked by any animal in the forest, with perhaps two rare exceptions, 

 these being the crocodile and the i)ython. The way in which he 

 meets the former is explained as follows : When the fruits fail in the 

 forests, he goes to the riven-side to seek for young shoots of which he 

 is fond, or for any such fruits as grow near the water. There the 

 crocodile attempts to seize him, but according to native testimony the 

 orang-outang gets upon the reptile, beats with his hands, tears it, and 

 pulling open its jaws, rips up its throat and soon kills it. Should a 

 python or boa constrictor attack him, the Mias, as he is called in 

 Borneo, seizes the serpent in his hands, bites it, and kills it without 

 difficulty. Such are the powerful though usually peaceful animals to 

 whose family the one depicted in the illustration belongs. 



The chimpanzee and the gorilla are often confused in the minds 

 of some. Yet we must remember the gorilla is the largest of the apes. 

 The difficulty in keeping these creatures alive when captured has been 

 the chief reason why they have not, in common with other apes, been 

 imiiates of our menageries; for once deprived of the fruits to which 

 they are accustomed in their native wilds, or exposed to the colder 

 climates of northern lands, they soon droop and die. Should any 

 one, therefore, be desirous of seeing this unamiable-looking creature 

 enjoying his free life, he must go to the interior of Africa, in those 

 regions where civilization is unknown, and where but few Europeans 

 have ever ])enetrated. In the pathless tracts of those ancient woods, 

 distant even from the ])riniitive abodes of hardly less savage men, in 

 company with the fierce inmates of the jungle, the gorilla dwells 

 surrounded by his family. Peacefully they pass the day, seeking the 



