OUR FOUR-HANDED RELATIVES. 37 



up and go to sleep again. When the blasting com- 

 menced, an infant capuchin-monkey always became the 

 centre of an excited group : his senior relatives crowded 

 around him with a sudden appearance of eagerness to 

 protect the jabbering brat. 



The study of a certain peculiarity in the character of 

 men and monkeys may have induced that shrewd old 

 Theban Epaminondas to reorganize the army of his 

 native state by a division into clans and brotherhoods. 

 The primates of the animal kingdom become heroic in 

 defence and in the presence of their friends. If a single 

 boy be caught on the wrong side of an orchard-wall he 

 will give up at once, and generally manage to propitiate 

 the wrath to come by an unconditional capitulation : a 

 pair of chums in the same predicament are almost sure 

 to make matters worse by their defiant sauciness. The 

 same with monkeys : defiance of human authority by 

 means they would never dare in defence of their own 

 lives they will risk for the sake of their companions. It 

 is said that a man can make his own dog bite him ; but 

 the experiment might fail to succeed with several spe- 

 cies of monkeys: a macaque, I believe, would rather die 

 than use his teeth in vindication of his private wrongs 

 against the dread chief of the primates ; yet this same 

 Macacus will fly like a bull-dog at any man or any num- 

 ber of men who dare to molest his favorite companion. 

 The above-mentioned young capuchin has a full share 

 of the squealing propensities of his species, and if I lay 



