S6 VERTEBRATE. 



smh.v ; touched ray hand again ; and then applied hia lips and teeth to the surface of the glass; 

 looked behind again, aiul then returning to gaze, passing his hands h. hind it, evidently to feel if 

 there was any thing substantial there. A Bavage would have acted much in the same way, ju 

 in-- from the accounts given o( such experiments with the untutored natives of a wild and newly 

 ivered laud. 



•■ I broke a Bugared almond in two, and as he was eating one half, placed the other, while he was 

 wal bing me, in a little card-box, which I Bhut in his presence: as soon as he had finished the 

 ; almond which he bad, I gave him the box. With his teeth and hands he pulled off the 



. took <> it the other half, and then laid the box down. lie ate the kernel of this almond, 

 rejecting the greater part of the sugary paste in which it was incased, as if it had been a shell; 

 but he soon found out his . rror, for, another almond being presented to him, he carefully sucked 

 off the sugar, and left the kernel. 



•• 1 then pi I a wine-glass, into which I poured some racy sherry, and further sweetened it 



with Bunar. Be watched me with some impatience, and when I gave him the gloss, he raised it 

 with his hands to his lips and drank a very little. It was not to his taste, however, for h< 

 down the glass aim- II as he had taken it up; and yet he was thirsty, for I caused a teacup, 



with Bome sugared warm milk and water, to be handed to him, and he took the cup and drained 

 it to th- last drop. 



'• 1 presented him with a cocoa-nut, to the shell of which some of the husk was still adhering : 

 the tender bud was just beginning to push forth ; this he immediately bit off and ate. lie then 

 stripped off some of the husk with his teeth, swung it by the knot of adhering husk-fibers round 

 his lead, dashed it down, and repeatedly jumped upon it with all his weight. He afterward 

 swung it about, and dashed it down with such violence, that, fearing his person might sutler, I 

 had it taken away. A hole was afterward bored through one of the eyes, and the cocoa-nut was 

 again given to him. lie immediately held it up, with the aperture downward, applied his mouth 

 to it, and sucked away at what milk there was with great glee. 



" As I was making notes with a pencil, he came up, inquisitively looked at the paper and pencil, 

 an 1 then took hold of the latter. Before I gave it up, I drew the pencil into the case, foreseeing 

 that lie would submit the pencil-case to examination by the teeth. Immediately that he got it 

 into his possession, he put the tip of his little finger to the aperture at the bottom, and, having 

 looked at it, tried tie' case with his teeth. 



" \\ bile hi-- attention was otherwise directed, I had caused a hamper containing one of the 

 Pythons, or great Berp nt-, to be brought into the room, and placed on a chair not far from the 

 kitchen-dresser. Tie- lid was raised, the blanket in which the snake was enveloped was opened, 

 and soon after Tommy came gamboling that way. As he jumped and danced along the dn 

 toward tie- bask i, he was all gayety and life. Suddenly he seemed to be taken aback, stopped, 

 then cautiously a Ivanced toward the basket, peered, or rather craned over it, and instantly, with a 

 gesture of horror and aversion, and the eryof'Hoo! boo !' recoiled from the detested obj 

 jnmped back a- far as he could, and then sprang to his keeper for protection. He was again put 

 n, his attention diverted from the basket, and after a while tempted to its neighborhood by 

 tie- display of a line rosy cheeked apple, which was at last held on the opposite rim of the ham- 

 per. But, nol would evidently have done a good deal to get at the apple; but the gulf 

 whi rein the - rpi Ql lay was to be passed, and, after some slight contention between hunger and 

 horror, off be went, and hid himself. I then covered up the snake, and after luring him out with 

 tie- apple, placed it on the blanket. No! I then shut down the lid : still the same desire and 

 the same aversion. I then had the hamper, with the lid down, removed from the chair on which 



' l had I n placed to another part of the room. The apple was again shown to Tommy, and 



■■' ,,:i '•"' lid. lb- advanced cautiously, looking ba<-k at the empty chair, and then at the i 

 hamper: he advanced further with evident reluctance, but, when he approached near, he peered 

 forward toward the basket, and, as if overcome by fright, again ran back, and hid himself under 



h 



• I now caused the hamper with the Berpent to be taken out of the room. Our friend soon, 

 -•am.- forward. I Bhowed him the apple, and placed it on the chair. He advanced a little, and 1 



