122 APES AXD MONKEYS 



if to see how I lifted my food with it. He did not seem 

 to notice that I used it in lifting meat instead of soup. 

 After repeating this three or four times he licked the fork, 

 smelt it, and then deliberately threw it on the floor, — as 

 if to say, "That's a failure.'' He then leaned over and 

 drank his soup from the plate. 



The only thing that he cared much to play with was a 

 tin can in which I kept some nails. For this he had 

 a kind of mania. He never tired of trying to remove the 

 lid. When given the hammer and a nail, he knew what 

 they were for, and would set to work to drive the nail into 

 the floor of the cage or into the table; but he hurt his 

 fingers a few times, and after that he stood the nail on 

 its flat head, removed his fingers, and struck it with the 

 hammer; but of course he never succeeded in driving it 

 into anything. 



A bunch of sugarcane was kept for Moses to eat when 

 he wanted it. To aid him in tearing the hard shell away 

 from it, I kept a club to bruise it. Sometimes he would go 

 and select a stalk of cane, carry it to the block, take the 

 club in both hands, and try to mash the cane ; but as 

 the jar of the stroke often hurt his hands, he learned to 

 avoid this by letting go as the club descended. He never 

 succeeded in crushing the cane, but would continue his 

 efforts until some one came to his aid. At other times he 

 would drag a stalk of the cane to the cage and poke it 

 through the wires, then bring the club and poke it through 

 to get me to mash the cane for him. 



From time to time I received newspapers sent me from 

 home. Moses could not understand what induced me to 



