PECULIAR WALK 95 



adults. In early infancy all children are inclined to be bow- 

 legged. In their first efforts at walking they invariably press 

 most of their weight on the outer edge of the foot and curve 

 the toes inward, as if to grasp the surface on which the foot 

 is placed. The instinct of prehension cannot be mistaken. 

 It differs in degree in different races, and is vastly more 

 pronounced in negro infants than in white ones. 



There is another peculiar feature in the walk of the 

 chimpanzee. The arms and legs do not alternate in 

 motion with the same degree of regularity that they do in 

 man or quadrupeds. This ape uses his arms more like 

 crutches. They are moved forward, not quite, but almost 

 at the same instant, and the motion of the legs is not at 

 equal intervals. To be more explicit : the hands are placed 

 almost opposite each other ; the right foot is advanced 

 about three times its length ; the left foot is then placed 

 about one length in front of the right ; the arms are again 

 moved ; the right foot is again advanced about three 

 lengths forward of the left ; and the left again brought about 

 one length in front of that. The same animal does not 

 always use the same foot to make the long stride. It will 

 be seen by this that each foot moves through the same 

 space, and that, in a line, the tracks of either foot are the 

 same distance apart ; but the distance from the track of the 

 right foot to that of the left is about three times as great 

 as the distance from the track of the left foot to that of 

 the right. Or the reverse may be the case. The distance 

 from the track of either foot to the succeeding track of the 

 other is never the same between the right and left tracks, 

 except where the animal is walking at great leisure. 



