156 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



on the first indication of the new light in which 

 he was regarded, gained the tilt of the waggon 

 at one bound, there to ponder over his surprise 

 and disgust. 



Here the ape sat and held a monologue, the 

 purport of which doubtless was the mutability of 

 mundane affairs, more particularly of apes. Mr. 

 Jumbo's character I knew so thoroughly, that I was 

 well aware that it was not the loss of his late 

 companions' friendship he regretted, nor was it 

 fear for his own personal safety he dreaded no ! 

 no such thing ! but that he was ever, in the vast 

 future, to be deprived of the best-stocked hunting- 

 field of well-fed edible game that he had possessed. 

 But the breach was made, and this noble African 

 gentleman, " all of the olden time," would not, or 

 could not, see his way to closing it. Bribery might 

 have done it, but this member of a .family so aris- 

 tocratic, that its origin was doubtless coeval with 

 Adam's, would not stoop to so unbecoming a course, 

 although he had daily the example of man before 

 him, using this means to such an end and justify- 

 ing it by the result. 



No. Jumbo was a thorough upholder of the 

 exalted hereditary position his family occupied : to 

 servile manual labour he would never descend, not 

 even when his own personal comfort demanded 

 such a sacrifice. Thus, if he was almost frozen to 

 death, he would not light a fire, or, even when his 



