THE MONKEY TRIBE. 5 



ho suddenly stopped, and seemed to ask me to praise 

 the good-natured action which he was performing. He 

 was, however, jealous of all those of his brethren who 

 came in contact with me, and freed himself from two of 

 his rivals by throwing them into the sea. One of them 

 was a small Lion monkey, of great beauty and extreme 

 gentleness ; and immediately after I had been feeding 

 him, Jack called him with a coaxing, patronizing air ; 

 but as soon as he was within reach, the perfidious crea- 

 ture seized him by the nape of his neck, and, as quick as 

 thought, popped him over the side of the ship. We were 

 going at a brisk rate, and although a rope was thrown 

 out to him, the poor little screaming thing was soon left 

 behind, very much to my distress, for his almost human 

 agony of countenance was painful to behold. For this 

 Jack was punished by being shut up all day in the 

 empty hen-coop, in which he usually passed the night, 

 and which he so hated, that when bed-time came, he 

 generally avoided the clutches of the steward. He, how- 

 ever, committed so much mischief when unwatched, that 

 it had become necessary to confine him at night, and I 

 was often obliged to perform the office of nurse-maid. 

 Jack's principal punishment, however, was to be taken 

 in front of the cage in which a panther belonging to me 

 was placed, in the fore part of the deck. His alarm 

 was intense ; the panther set up his back and growled, 

 but Jack instantly closed his eyes, and made himself 

 perfectly rigid. I generally held him up by the tail ; 

 and if I moved, he cautiously opened one eye ; but if 

 he caught sight of even a corner of the cage, he shut it 

 fast, and pretended to be dead. His drollest trick was 

 practised on a poor little black monkey; taking the 

 opportunity when a calm, similar to that spoken of 



