410 



ANIMALS OF 



India islands; for having been accustomed 

 to the cunning of man, it opposes its natural 

 distrust to human artifice. 



The monkey generally brings forth one at 

 a time, and sometimes two. They are rarely 

 found to breed when brought over into Eu- 

 rope; but of those that do, they exhibit a 

 very striking picture of parental affection. 

 The male and female are never tired of fond- 

 ling their young one. They instruct it with 

 no little assiduity; and often severely correct 

 it, if stubborn, or disinclined to profit by their 

 example: they hand it from one to the other; 

 and when the male has done showing his re- 

 gard, the female takes her turn. When wild 

 in the woods, the female, if she happens to 

 have two, carries one on her back, and the 

 other in her arms: that on her back clings 

 very closely, clasping its hands round her 

 neck, and its feet about her middle: when 

 she wants to suckle it, she then alters their 

 position ; and that which has been fed gives 

 place to the other, which she takes in her 

 arms. It often happens that she is unable to 

 leap from one tree to another, when thus 

 loaden; and upon such occasions their dex- 

 terity is very surprising. The whole family 

 form a kind of chain, locking tail in tail, or 

 hand in hand, and one of them holding the 

 branch above, the rest swing down, balancing 

 to and fro, like a pendulum, until the under- 

 most is enabled to catch hold of the lower 

 branches of some neighbouring tree. When 

 the hold is fixed below, the monkey lets go 

 that which was above, and thus conies under- 

 most in turn; but, creeping up along the 

 chain, attains the next branches, like the rest; 

 and thus they all take possession of the tree, 

 without ever coming to the ground. 



When in a state of domestic tameness, 

 those animals are very amusing, and often 

 fill up a vacant hour, when other entertain- 

 ment is wanting. There are few that are not 

 acquainted with their various mimicries, and 

 their capricious feats of activity. But it is 

 generally in company with other animals of 

 a more simple disposition that their tricks 

 and superior instincts are shown ; they seem 

 to take a delight in tormenting them ; and I 

 have seen one of them amusing itself for hours 

 together, in imposing upon the gravity of a 

 cat. Erasmus tells us of a large monkey, 



kept by Sir Thomas More, that, one day di- 

 verting itself in his garden, where some tame 

 rabbits were kept, played several of its usual 

 pranks among them, while the rabbits scarce- 

 ly well knew what to make of their new ac- 

 quaintance: in the mean time, a weasel, that 

 came for very different purposes than those 

 of entertainment, was seen peering about the 

 place in which the rabbits were fed, and en- 

 deavouring to make its way, by removing a 

 board that closed their hutch. While the 

 monkey saw no danger, it continued a calm 

 spectator of the enemy's efforts; but just 

 when, by long labour, the weasel had effect- 

 ed its purpose, and had removed the board, 

 the monkey stept in, and, with the utmost 

 dexterity, fastened it again in its place ; and 

 the disappointed weasel was too much fati- 

 gued to renew its operations. To this I will 

 only add what Father Carli, in his history of 

 Angola, assures us to be true. In that hor- 

 rid country, where he went to convert the sa- 

 vage natives to Christianity, and met with 

 nothing but distress and disappointment; 

 while his health was totally impaired by the 

 raging heats of the climate, his patience ex- 

 hausted by the obstinacy of the stupid natives, 

 and his little provisions daily plundered, with- 

 out redress, in such an exigency he found 

 more faithful services from the monkeys than 

 the men; these he had taught to attend him, 

 to guard him whilst sleeping against thieves 

 and rats, to comb his head, to fetch his water; 

 and, he asserts, that they were even more 

 tractable than the human inhabitants of the 

 place. It is indeed remarkable, that in those 

 countries where the men are most barbarous 

 and stupid, the brutes are most active and 

 sagacious. It is in the torrid tracts, inhabit- 

 ed by barbarians, that such various animals 

 are found with instinct so nearly approach- 

 ing reason. The savages, both of Africa and 

 America, accordingly suppose monkeys to be 

 men; idle, slothful, rational beings; capable 

 of speech and conversation; but obstinately 

 dumb, for fear of being compelled to labour. 

 As of all savages, those of Africa are the 

 most brutal, so, of all countries, the monkeys 

 of Africa are the most expert and entertain- 

 ing. The monkeys of America are, in gene- 

 ral, neither so sagacious nor so tractable, nor 

 is their form so nearly approaching that of 



