THE MONKEY TRIBE. 13 



Gardens of England and Paris, many anecdotes have 

 been related, evincing great intelligence. One of the 

 latter used to sit in a chair, lock and unlock his door, 

 drink tea with a spoon, eat with a knife and fork, set 

 out his own dinner, cry when left alone, and delight in 

 being apparently considered one of his keeper's family. 



It is in equatorial Africa that the most powerful of all 

 the Quadrumana live, far exceeding the Oran Outang, 

 and even the Pongo of Borneo. Mr. Bovvdich and my- 

 self were the first to revive and confirm a long-forgotten 

 and vague report of the existence of such a creature, 

 and many thought, as we ourselves had not seen it, that 

 we had been deceived by the natives. They assured us 

 that these huge creatures walked constantly on their 

 hind feet, and never yet were taken alive; that they 

 watch the actions of men, and imitate them as nearly 

 as possible. Like the ivory hunters, they pick up the 

 fallen tusks of elephants, but not knowing where to 

 deposit them, they carry their burthens about till they 

 themselves drop, and even die from fatigue ; that they 

 build huts nearly in the shape of those of men, but live 

 on the outside ; and that when one of their children 

 dies, the mother carries it in her arms till it falls to 

 pieces ; that one blow of their paw will kill a man ; 

 and that nothing can exceed their ferocity. 



A male and female, of an enormous species of chim- 

 panzee, were brought to Bristol by the master of a 

 vessel coming from the river Gaboon. He had been 

 commissioned to bring them alive; but as this was 

 impracticable, he put the male into a puncheon of rum, 

 and the female into a cask of strong brine, after they 

 had been shot. The person who had ordered, refused 

 to take them, and Professor Owen secured them for the 



