12 . THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



me many liberties, which the family assured me 

 he had uniformly refused to others. 



On one of my visits he displayed his temper 

 and made an attack upon me, because I refused 

 to let go of a saucer from which I was feeding 

 him some milk. I jerked him up by the chain 

 and slapped him sharply, whereupon he instantly 

 laid the side of his head on the floor, put out his 

 tongue, and made just such a sound as Jokes had 

 made a number of times before. It occurred to 

 me that it was a sign of surrender, and many 

 subsequent tests have confirmed this opinion. 



Mrs. M. French Sheldon, in her journey 

 through East Africa, shot a small monkey in a 

 forest near Lake Charla. She described to me 

 how the little fellow stood high up in a tree and 

 chattered to her in his sharp, musical voice until 

 at the crack of her gun he fell mortally wounded. 

 When he was laid dying at her feet, he turned 

 his bright little eyes pleadingly upon her as if to 

 ask for pity. Touched by his appeal, she took 

 the little creature in her arms to try to soothe 

 him. Again and again he would touch his 

 tongue to her hand as if kissing it, and seemed 

 to wish in the hour of death to be caressed even 

 by the hand that slew him, and which had taken 



