312 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



believe that I know them as well as anyone, and that I am justified 

 in pronouncing an authoritative opinion. For these reasons I select 

 the chimpanzee, in order to show to what height the mental power 

 of an animal may rise. 



The chimpanzee is not only one of the cleverest of all creatures, 

 he is a being capable of deliberation and judgment. Everything he 

 does is done consciously and deliberately. He imitates, but he does 

 so with intelligence and on due consideration; he allows himself to 

 be taught, and learns. He knows himself and his surroundings, and 

 he can appreciate his position. In association with man he yields 

 submission to superior intelligence; in his relations with animals 

 he exhibits a self-conceit similar to our own. What is merely 

 hinted at among other apes is quite pronounced in him. He regards 

 himself as better, as standing higher than other animals, even other 

 monkeys; he rates even human beings exactly according to their 

 standing; thus he treats children quite differently from grown-up 

 people; the latter he respects, the former he looks upon as comrades 

 and equals. He shows an interest in animals with which he can 

 form no friendship or other tie, and also in objects which have no 

 connection with his natural wants; for he is not merely inquisitive, 

 he is greedy of knowledge; an object which has attracted his atten- 

 tion increases in value in his eyes when he has found out its use. 

 He can draw conclusions, can reason from one to another, and apply 

 the results of experience to new circumstances, is cunning, even 

 wily, has flashes of wit, and indulges in practical jokes, exhibits 

 humours and moods, is entertained in one company and bored in 

 another, enters into the spirit of some jokes and scorns others, is 

 self-willed but not stubborn, good-natured but not wanting in inde- 

 pendence. He expresses his emotions like a human being. When 

 in a gay mood he smirks with satisfaction, when depressed his face 

 is drawn into wrinkles which speak for themselves, and he gives 

 utterance to his grief by plaintive sounds. In sickness he behaves 

 like one in despair, distorts his face, screams, throws himself on his 

 back, beats with his hands and feet, and tears his hair. To a 

 friendly voice he responds with sounds expressive of pleasure, to 

 chiding with cries of distress. He is active and busy from morning 



