CHAPTER III 



Monkey Friends — Jokes — The Sound of Alarm — Jennie 



A FEW years ago there lived in Charleston, S. C, a 

 fine specimen of the brown Cebus. His name is 

 Jokes. He was naturally shy of strangers, but on my first 

 visit to him I addressed him in his native tongue, and he 

 seemed to regard me very kindly. He ate from my hand 

 and allowed me to handle and caress him. He watched 

 me with evident curiosity, and invariably responded to the 

 sound that I uttered in his own language. On one occa- 

 sion I tried the effect of the peculiar sound of "alarm " or 

 "assault" which I had learned from one of his species. 

 It cannot be spelled or represented by letters. While he 

 was eating from my hand I gave the peculiar, piercing 

 note. He instantly sprang to a perch in the top of the 

 cage, thence almost wild with fear he ran in and out of his 

 sleeping apartment. As the sound was repeated his fears 

 increased. No amount of coaxing would induce him to 

 return to me or to accept from me any overtures of peace. 

 I retired to the distance of a few feet from his cage, and 

 his master finally induced him to descend from the perch ; 

 but he did so with great reluctance. I again gave the sound 

 from where I stood, and it produced a similar result. The 

 monkev gave out a singular sound in response to my efforts 

 to appease him, but he refused to become reconciled. 



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