LA\^GUAGE. lOI 



covered with blood, and held it out for me to see. I was so 

 much hurt at the time that it has left an impression never to 

 be effaced, and I have never since fired a gun at any of the 

 tribe. Almost immediately on my return to the party, before 

 I had fully described what had passed, a Syer came to inform 

 us that the monkey was dead. We ordered the Syer to bring 

 it to us ; but by the time he returned the other monke)'s had 

 carried the dead one off, and none of them could anywhere be 

 seen " (p. 475). 



And Sir William Hoste records a closely similar case. One 

 of his officers, coming home after a long day's shooting, saw a 

 female monkey running along the rocks, with her young one 

 in her arms. He immediately fired, and the animal fell. On 

 his coming up, she grasped her little one close to her breast, 

 and with her other hand pointed to the wound which the ball 

 had made, and which had entered above her breast. Dipping 

 her finger in the blood and holding it up, she seemed to 

 reproach him with having been the cause of her pain, and 

 also of that of the young one, to which she frequently 

 pointed. " I never," says Sir William, " felt so much as when 

 I heard the story, and I determined never to shoot one of 

 these animals as long as I lived " (p. 476). 



Lastly, as proof that the more intelligent of the lower 

 animals admit of being taught the use of signs of the most con- 

 ventional character (or most remote from any natural ex- 

 pression of their feelings and ideas), I may allude to the 

 recent experiments by Sir John Lubbock on " teaching ani- 

 mals to converse." These experiments consisted in writing 

 on separate and similar cards such words as "bone," " water," 

 "out," "pet me," &c., and teaching a dog to bring a card 

 bearing the word expressive of his want at the time of bring- 

 ing it. In this way an association of ideas was established 

 between the appearance of a certain number and form of 

 written signs, and the meaning which they severally betokened. 

 Sir John Lubbock found that his dog learnt the correct use 

 of those signs.* Of course in these experiments marks of 



• Nature, Ajiril lO, 1SS4, pp. 54>, 5j5i. 



