DR. TH. NEUMANN. 196 



withdraw. Tired of bothering the little monkeys, every 

 now and then the mandrill would be quiet. Then a 

 little monkey would peep out, give a certain cry, as 

 much as to say : " The big brute is asleep now, come 

 along, you fellows," and out would troop the small 

 ones. The instant the mandrill began to annoy one of 

 them, another and a different crjT- would be heard, and 

 away would scamper the whole party out of his reach. 

 But that was not all. There came suppressed cries from 

 the hidden chamber where the monkeys were huddled 

 and then no one budged. 



" I sat hours by that cage," said Mr. Garner, "re- 

 volving that scene in my mind — the fright of the mon- 

 keys, their signalling, the difference of the vocal sounds. 

 I was lost in a daze of thought. Had those monkeys lan- 

 guage 'i Why should it be regarded as strange that they 

 could talk ? Do they not enjoy the senses and faculties 

 of man in all things else ? Then why should speech be 

 the one faculty withheld from them? If the voluntary 

 sounds they make do not mean anything, why may 

 those creatures not as well be dumb ? If they do mean 

 anything, let us determine what the meaning is. My 

 mission was to find out, and from that hour and day be- 

 gan my particular study." 



The first effort made by Mr. Garner was to produce by 

 our alphabet the sounds he heard, and to memorize them. 

 The difficulties were immense. The subjects themselves 

 were not ready at hand. The toil was constant. He vis- 

 ited all zoological collections, and as he expressed himself : 

 " I am on speaking acquaintance with every monkey in 

 the United States." Superintendents of zoological gar- 

 dens or keepers were not always courteous. For him to 

 say, " I want to hear your monkeys talk," was sure to be 

 met with a rebuff. Evidently the supposition was enter- 

 tained that it was not safe to allow a man bent on such an 

 errand in too close proximity with monkeys. 



151 



