4-34 HISTORY or 



she then alters their position ; and that which has been fed gives 

 place to the other, which she takes in her arms. It often hap- 

 pens that slie is unable to leap from one tree to another, when 

 I thus loaden ; and upon such occasions their dexterity is very 

 surprising. The whole family form a kind of chain, locking tail 

 in tail, or hand in hand, and one of them holding the branch 

 above, the rest swing down, balancing to and fro, like a pendu- 

 lum, until the undermost is enabled to catch hold of the lower 

 branches of some neighbouring tree. When the hold is fixed 

 below, the monkey lets go that which was above, and thus comes 

 undermost in turn ; but, creeping up along the chain, attains the 

 next branches, like the rest ; and thus they all take possession of 

 the tree, without ever coming to the ground. 



When in a state of domestic tameness, those animals are very 

 amusing, and often fill up a vacant hour, when other entertain- 

 ment is wanting. There are few that are not acquainted with 

 their various mimicries, and their capricious feats of activity. 

 But it is generally in company with other animals of a more 

 simple disposition, that their tricks and superior instincts are 

 shown ; they seem to take a delight in tormenting them ; and I 

 have seen one of them amusing itself for hours together, in im- 

 posing upon the gravity of a cat. Erasmus tells us of a large 

 monkey, kept by Sir Thomas More, that, one day diverting it- 

 self in his garden, where some tame rabbits were kept, played 

 several of its usual pranks among them, while the rabbits scarcely 

 well knew what to make of their new acquaintance : in the mean 

 time, a weasel, that came for very different purposes than those 

 of entertainment, was seen peering about the place in which the 

 rabbits were fed, and endeavouring to make its way, by removing 

 a board that closed their hutch. While the monkey saw no dan- 

 ger, it continued a calm spectator of the enemy's eflbrt ; but just 

 when, by long labour, the weasel had effected its purpose, and 

 had removed the board, the monkey stept in, and, with the ut- 

 most dexterity, fastened it again in its place; and the disaj?- 

 pointed weasel was too much fatigued to renew its operations. 

 To this I will only add what Father Carli, in his history of 

 Angola, assures us to be true. In that horrid country, where 

 he went to convert the savage natives to Christianity, and met 

 with nothing but distress and disappointment ; while his health 

 was totally impaired by the raging heats of the climate, his pa- 



