THREE GREAT APES. 

 II. 



THE CHIMPANZEE. 



WILLIAM T. HORNADAY. 



The most incredible yarn ever seriously 

 put forth by a modern traveler, concerning 

 the chimpanzee, is one that was vouched 

 for by Emin Pasha — the Austrian doctor 

 in Equatoria whom Stanley went to rescue, 

 and found indifferent to the succor that was 

 thrust upon him. In " Darkest Africa," I., 

 page 449, Stanley quotes verbatim the fol- 

 lowing as one of the " natural history 

 facts " related to him by Emin: 



" The forest of Msongwa is infested with 

 a large tribe of chimpanzees. In summer 

 time, at night, they frequently visit the 

 plantations of Mswa station to steal the 

 fruit. But what is remarkable about this 

 is the fact that they use torches to light the 

 way. Had I not witnessed this extraordi- 

 nary spectacle personally, I should never 

 have credited that any of the Simians un- 

 derstood the art of making fire." 



Had I " witnessed this extraordinary 

 .spectacle personally," I should have sought 

 the nearest physician, and asked for a pre- 

 scription. 



The chimpanzee inhabits a wider terri- 

 tory than any other of the anthropoid 

 apes, great or small. It is found through- 

 out a wide belt of Equatorial Africa, ex- 

 tending from the West coast to the West- 

 ern shore of Lake Tanganyika, and the 

 Eastern limit of the great equatorial forest, 

 in Lon. 30 E., a total distance of 1,200 

 miles. Nowhere, however, is this creature 

 plentiful. In all Stanley's 4 journeys be- 

 tween the lake region and the West coast, 

 he never once saw a chimpanzee, though 

 several times he speaks of having heard 

 their hoarse, guttural cries coming from the 

 gloomy depths of the forest. 



All the writers of works on natural his- 

 tory agree in giving the gorilla the place 

 next to man, because of the fact that the 

 gorilla's arms are a trifle shorter, legs a 

 trifle longer, and feet a little more manlike, 

 than the corresponding members of the 

 •chimpanzee. Possibly we will live to see 

 the day when the authorities will find they 

 are entirely wrong; for a wise zoologist 

 changes often. It seems to me they attach 

 too much importance to the gorilla's legs 

 and arms, and entirely ignore his most seri- 

 ous defect — his brain. The cranium of a 

 gorilla strongly resembles that of a baboon; 

 but apparently even the dullest baboon has 

 more sense than the most intelligent goril- 

 la. In general brain capacity, in mental 



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for anything, he should be given the place 

 at the head of the line of lower animals. 



It is solely because of the superior intel- 

 ligence of the chimpanzee that he is the best 



MR. CROWLEY. 



known of all the great apes. Instead of 

 giving himself up to sulks and slothfulness, 

 as does the gorilla, and frequently the 

 orang-utan, also, the chimpanzee prompt- 

 ly decides to take the situation like a true 

 philosopher, and sets to work to harmo- 

 nize with his environment. He takes a 

 friendly interest in his keeper, and in doing 

 the gymnastic tricks which he has been 

 taught to perform when " showing off," he 

 works up an appetite that results in good 

 digestion and a fairly long life. 



