824 THE MENTAL CAPACITIES AND 



gained his point by stratagem when he found that 

 violence was of no avail." 



An instance of this animal's Intelligence is given which 

 is very interesting: — 



*' Among various articles in Mr. Bennett's cabin a piece of soap 

 greatly attracted his attention, and for the removal of this soap he 

 had been once or twice scolded. One morning Mr. Bennett was 

 writing, the Siamang being present in the cabin, when, casting his 

 eyes towards the animal, he observed him taking the soap. ' I 

 watched him,' says the narrator, ' without his perceiving that I 

 did so; he occasionally cast a furtive glance towards the place 

 where I sat ; I pretended to write ; he, seeing me busily engaged, 

 took up the soap and moved away with it in his paw. When he 

 had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke quietly, without 

 frightening him. The instant he found I saw him, he walked back 

 again, and deposited the soap nearly in the same place whence he 

 had taken it: thus betraying both by his first and last actions a 

 consciousness of having done wrong." 



M. Duvauncel says : — " If a young one be wounded, the 

 mother, who carries it or follows it closely, remains with 

 it, utters the most lamentable cries, and rushes upon the 

 enemy with open mouth ; but being unfitted for combat 

 knows neither how to deal nor shun a blow. It is," 

 he adds, " a curious and interesting spectacle, which a 

 little precaution has sometimes enabled me to witness, to 

 see the females carrying their young ones to the water, 

 and there wash their faces in spite of their childish 

 outcries — bestowing a degree of time and care on their 

 cleanliness which, in many cases, the children of our 

 own species might envy." 



In the conformation of their brain the Chimpanzee, 

 the Gorilla, and the Orang approach, as we have seen, 

 most closely to that of Man; but it must never be forgotten 

 that although in general shape, in the disposition of its 



