n8 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



bade the destruction of the monkeys, and gave directions as to their being counted 

 at regular intervals. "From that time," continues our author, " the register has 

 been very regularly kept by the signal-master. There were only four or five at this 

 time, and but three in 1863, when General Sir W. Codrington, who was then gov- 

 ernor, saved them from destruction by a fresh importation from Africa. The fol- 

 lowing note occurs in the Journal of the 26th of May 1863, 'Turned out four apes, 

 wild from Barbary, two males and two females, all young.' After some time the 

 newcomers made friends with the apes of the old stock ; and the band increased, but 

 very slowly, however, owing to the great preponderance of females, until the pres- 

 ent time, and it may be expected, as the signal-master observes, now that there are 

 two adult and rival males, that it will divide. Those who wish to see them will do 

 well to remember that their haunts on the rock are determined by the direction of 

 the wind. They prefer the ledges of the [to man] inaccessible abrupt escarpment 

 of the Mediterranean face ; but cannot stand the cold damp Levanter wind which, 

 as its name indicates, blows from the eastward, and compels them to resort to the 

 western slopes on the town side of the rock. At the bottom of Charles V.'s wall, 

 overhanging the Alameda Gardens, is a favorite spot. On the western side, the 

 Monkeys' Alameda, a small bushy plateau half-way down the precipice, is another 

 choice resort, as is also Monkeys' Cave, close to the sea. Of late years they have 

 become sufficiently confident in their friend and protector, the signal-master, frequently 

 to enter the enclosure of the station, especially in the summer drought, when they 

 come for water. In a letter to me, of the 3rd of May, Sergeant Brown [the signal- 

 master] says : ' The monkeys are sitting on the wall of the station as I write this 

 the first time this season that they have come up for water. ' 



" Their food consists of grass (the young blades of which I have seen them 

 eating with avidity), and of a variety of roots and bulbs ; those of the yellow Cape 

 oxalis being much sought after. The fruits of the palmetto monkey-dates, as the 

 Gibraltar urchins, who also much appreciate the little brown viscous clusters, call 

 them are greedily devoured when ripe. The signal-master has never observed 

 them take any food left in their way at the station but a few grapes, of which they 

 seemed very fond. 



" In Sergeant Brown's letters I find several notes concerning these interesting 

 animals, which may be here introduced. ' In the spring of 1872, two were shot by 

 a young officer, who had been but a short time in the garrison, and probably did 

 not know that the monkeys were so strictly preserved. He replaced them with 

 either two or three of the same kind from Barbary, but the rock monkeys killed 

 them. Some years ago, when first stationed at Gibraltar, I saw a very large male 

 monkey in captivity at the signal station. He had been captured in one of the 

 ammunition boxes in the enclosure, baited with fruit. It had taken the united 

 efforts of three artillerymen, who rushed upon him with their cloaks, to secure him. 

 After a while he got reconciled to his fate, but from his position, chained to the wall 

 and overlooking the eastern precipice, he was always scanning the cliffs in great 

 apparent anxiety and fear, which was quite unmistakable when his late comrades 

 appeared in sight. If he had rejoined them he would probably have been torn in 

 pieces. In June 1874,' says Sergeant Brown, ' a fire broke out on a Sunday after- 



