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56 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



In the South Garden the ha-ha and glacis along the western 

 boundary were formed; the Three Island Pond was made, 

 and others were dug in the newly acquired area; a house 

 with outside cages for parrots, later used for small mammals, 

 was built ; and a good deal w^as done in the way of embellish- 

 ment, by laying out flower-beds and planting ornamental 

 shrubs. A system of deep drainage was carried out, and check 

 turnstile gates were erected at the entrance in 1834. Two 

 years later an exit gate was made into the Mall, as the Broad 

 Walk was then called; the site of this turnstile was near the 

 present entrance from the Park. 



Soon after the first monkey house was opened the following 

 letter was received by the Council: 



The front of the monkey house is constructed with taste and judgment ; 

 it is everything that could be wished for the exercise of the animals and the 

 amusement of the company, but the house or back part of the building is 

 low and defective, it is unhealthy and inconvenient ; there is not room 

 enough for the company ; they are suffocated from the confined air and the 

 stench of the animals, and the animals suffer in return. Ladies have fre- 

 quently their veils and dresses torn by being pressed too near the dens. 



A writer (not improbably Owen himself) in the Zoological 

 Magazine (1833, p. 96) suggested that Cross's plans should be 

 followed : 



His monkeys, for example, instead of being confined by twos and threes 

 in close cages, are preserved in a large space, well ventilated and heated, 

 and defended by a glass frame ; and here they can disport and exercise 

 themselves throughout the whole winter. 



Eventually a new house was erected on the site of the present 

 eagles' aviary in 1839, and outside cages were added in the 

 following year. 



An Indian elephant, a quagga, and a moose deer, with some 

 other animals, were purchased in 1831 ; while the Society 

 acquired by presentation a young Indian elephant from Ceylon, 

 and a " wild ass from Thibet," which figures in the List as the 

 Equus hemionus of Pallas. This last-mentioned animal lived 

 for about seven years in the Menagerie ; the ass was attacked by 

 a wapiti stag, which broke down the door between the stalls 

 and gored the animal so terribly that it was necessary to 

 slaughter it. Special interest attaches to this wild ass. If 



