I THE CHIMPANZEE 61 



"Biting is their principal art of defence. I have seen one 

 man who had been thus severely wounded in the feet. 



' 'The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult 

 would seem to indicate a carnivorous propensity ; but in no 

 state save that of domestication do they manifest it. At first 

 they reject flesh, but easily acquire a fondness for it. The 

 canines are early developed, and evidently designed to act the 

 important part of weapons of defence. When in contact with 

 man almost the first effort of the animal is to bite. 



"They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations 

 in trees. Their construction is more that of nests than huts, as 

 they have been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They 

 generally build not far above the ground. Branches or twigs ar^ 

 bent, or partly broken, and crossed, and the whole supported by 

 the body of a limb or a crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near 

 the end of a strong leafy branch twenty or thirty feet from the 

 ground. One I have lately seen that could not be less than 

 forty feet, and more probably it was fifty. But this is an un- 

 usual height. 



" Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in 

 pursuit of food and solitude, according to the force of circum- 

 stances. We more often see them in elevated places ; but this 

 arises from the fact that the low grounds, being more favourable 

 for the natives' rice-farms, are the oftener cleared, and hence 

 are almost always wanting in suitable trees for their nests. . . . 

 It is seldom that more than one or two nests are seen upon the 

 same tree, or in the same neighbourhood : five have been found, 

 but it was an unusual circumstance." . . . 



" They are very filthy in their habits. ... It is a tradition 

 with the natives generally here, that they were once members 

 of their own tribe : that for their depraved habits they were 

 expelled from all human society, and, that through an obstinate 

 indulgence of their vile propensities, they have degenerated into 

 their present state and organisation. They are, however, eaten by 

 them, and when cooked with the oil and pulp of the palm-nut 

 considered a highly palatable morsel. 



"They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their 

 habits, and, on the part of the mother, much affection for theii 



