50 THE MONKEY TRIBE 



skin, which seemed to afford it almost complete happiness. 

 A French traveller relates something similar concerning a 

 little monkey which he removed from its dead mother in 

 Dutch Guiana. When it was forced to release its parent it 

 sprang upon a wig which was standing upon its block near 

 at hand ; and not until the end of three weeks did it 

 voluntarily allow the peruke to be worn by its owner. 



A marked characteristic of the female Orang is its affec- 

 tion for its young, as exemplified in the following unpleasant 

 incident that occurred when a distinguished scientist was 

 endeavouring to procure a specimen. 



In some trees, removed from the dense forest, a female 

 Orang, with a young one in her arms, was discovered, and 

 the pursuit commenced. In the ardour of the moment, and 

 excited by the hope of possessing an animal so rare, the 

 gentleman forgot everything but the prize before him, and 

 urged on his men by the promise of a reward should their 

 exertions be successful. The animal, encumbered with her 

 young one, made prodigious efforts to gain the dense and 

 intricate recesses of the wood, springing from tree to tree, 

 and endeavouring by every means to elude her pursuers. 

 Several shots were fired ; and at length one took fatal effect, 

 the ball penetrating the right side of the chest. 



Feeling herself mortally wounded, and with the blood 

 gushing from her mouth, she from that moment took no 

 care of herself, but summoned up all her dying energies to 

 save her young one. She threw it onwards over the tops of 

 the trees and from one branch to another, taking the most 

 desperate leaps after it herself, and again facilitating its 

 progress, until, the intricacy of the forest being nearly 

 gained, her chances of success were sure. All this time the 

 blood was flowing ; but her efforts were unabated. It was 

 only when her young one was on the point of attaining to 

 a place of safety that she rested on one of the topmost 

 branches of a gigantic tree. True to her ruling passion, 

 even in death, she turned for a moment to gaze after her 

 young one reeled, and pitched head foremost to the 

 ground. 



The sight was so touching that it called forth the 

 sympathy of the whole party. The eagerness of the chase 



