182 APES AND MONKEYS 



all in the town. I do not know to what extent those 

 natives ma}" have played upon my credulity, but so far as 



I could discern, their statements concerning the animal 

 were verified. 



I proposed to buy the ape, but the price asked was nearly 

 twice that of a slave. I could have bought any child in the 

 town at a smaller cost. I have never seen any other chim- 

 panzee that I so much coveted. When standing in an 

 upright position, he was quite four feet in height, strongly 

 built and well proportioned. He was in a fine, healthy 

 condition and in the very prime of his life. He was not 

 handsome in the face, but his coat of hair was of good 

 color and texture. He was of the common variety, but a 

 fine specimen. 



Mr. Otto Handmann, formerly the German consul at 

 Gaboon, had a very fair specimen of this same species of 

 chimpanzee. He was a rough, burly creature, but was well 

 disposed and had in his face a look of wisdom that was 

 almost comical. He had been for some months a captive 

 in a native town, during which time he had become quite 

 tame and docile. Bv nature he was not humorous, but he 

 appeared to acquire a sense of fun as he grew older and 

 became more familiar with the manners of men. 



On my return from the interior I was invited by the 

 consul to take breakfast with himself and a few friends ; but 

 owing to a prior engagement, I was not able to be present. 

 It was proposed by some one of the guests that my vacant 

 seat at the table should be filled bv the chimpanzee. He 

 was brought into the room and permitted to occupy the 

 seat. He behaved himself with becoming gravity and was 



