20 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



they took hold of them and began playing with 

 great familiarity and apparent pleasure. They 

 seemed to recognize the sound and to realize 

 that it had been delivered to them by myself. 

 Whether they regarded me as a great ape, mon- 

 key, or some other kind of animal speaking their 

 tongue, I do not know. But they evidently un- 

 derstood the sound, though up to this time I had 

 shown them no food or water. A little later I se- 

 cured some apples and carrots and gave them in 

 small bits in response to their continual requests 

 for food, and this further confirmed my belief that 

 I had translated the word correctly. 



This was gratifying to me in view of the fact 

 that I was accompanied by two gentlemen who 

 had been permitted to witness the experiment, 

 and it was evident to them that the monkeys 

 understood the sound. I placed the phonograph 

 in order and made a record of the sound, which I 

 preserved for study. After an absence of some 

 days, I returned to the park and went to the mon- 

 key-house. They recognized me as I entered the 

 door, notwithstanding there were many visitors 

 present. They began begging me to come to 

 their cage, which I did, and gave them my hand 

 to play with. One of them in particular, whose 



