MOSES LEARNS A HUMAN WORD 137 



more ample and distinct. Yet when one is reduced to the 

 necessity of making his wants known in a strange tongue 

 he can express many things in a very few words. I was 

 once thrown among a tribe of whose language I knew 

 less than fifty words, but with little difficulty I succeeded 

 in conversing with them on two or three topics. Much 

 depends upon necessity, and more upon practice. In talk- 

 ing to Moses I used his own language mostly, and was 

 surprised at times to see how readily we understood each 

 other. I could repeat about all the sounds he made except 

 one or two, but I was not able in the time we were together 

 to interpret all of them. These sounds were more than a 

 mere series of grunts or whines, and he never confused 

 them in their meaning. When any one of them was 

 properly delivered to him, he clearly understood and 

 acted upon it. 



It had never been any part of my purpose to teach a 

 monkey to talk ; but after I became familiar with the 

 qualities and range of the voice of Moses, I determined to 

 see if he might not be taught to speak a few simple words 

 of human speech. To effect this in the easiest way and 

 shortest time, I carefully observed the movements of his 

 lips and vocal organs in order to select such words for him 

 to try as were best adapted to his ability. 



I selected the word mamma, which may be considered 

 almost a universal word of human speech ; the French 

 word feu, fire ; the German word wie, how ; and the native 

 Nkami word nkgwe, mother. Every day I took him on my 

 lap and tried to induce him to say one or more of these 

 words. For a long time he made no effort to learn them ; 



