74 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



all comers in a way meant to be terrifying, but which is 

 only comic. As soon as his mate is in safety he takes 

 his turn in climbing the tree, at a tremendous pace, and 

 hiding in his hut. Now keep perfectly quiet, and you 

 will soon see a most charming sight. Hearing nothing 

 further, the male soon sticks out his naturally surprised- 

 looking phiz and looks around with an inquisitive glance. 

 Nothing to be seen — evidently the enemy has departed ; 

 the soft breeze gently waves the palra leaves, the gray 

 squirrels bound from branch to branch, and the great 

 white herons fan the air with heavy, silent wings; the 

 danger has passed, and the moment for enjoyment has 

 come. At the door of his aerial house stands the chimpan- 

 zee uttering little encouraging calls to his family ; then, 

 with the grace of a gymnast and an unequalled strength, 

 he seizes the end of the nearest branch and swings him- 

 self off, as on a trapeze, hanging by one hand, and with 

 a leap is in the top of the tree, where his mate and such 

 of the young as are strong enough promptly join him. 

 Then the party indulges in the wildest gambols and the 

 forest resounds with their joyful cries. 



Our climate is not favorable to the chimpanzee, and it 

 is with great difficulty that they are kept alive in our 

 menageries. They always succumb sooner or later to a 

 trouble of the stomach. Although so easily taught when 

 young, they seem as they grow older to lose this char- 

 acteristic, and become cross and unsociable, so much so 

 that they often have to be killed. I saw one once be- 



