SOCIAL AND MENTAL QUALITIES 51 



never even saw him so much as doze in any other 

 position. 



I may here call attention to one fact concerning 

 the arboreal habit. There appears to be a rule to 

 which this habit conforms. Among apes and 

 monkeys the habit is in keeping with the size of the 

 animal. The largest monkeys, as a rule, are only 

 found among the lowest trees, and the smaller 

 monkeys among the taller trees. It is a rare thing 

 ever to see a large monkey in the top of a tall tree. 

 He may venture there for food or to make his 

 escape, but it is not his proper element. This same 

 rule appears to hold good among the apes them- 

 selves. The gibbon has this habit in a more pro* 

 nounced degree than any other true ape. The 

 orang appears to be next ; the chimpanzee then 

 comes in for a third place, and the gorilla last. It 

 must not be understood that all of these apes do not 

 frequently climb, even to the tops of the highest 

 trees ; but that is not their normal mode of life any 

 more than the top of a mast is the proper place on a 

 ship for a sailor. 



The chimpanzee is nomadic in habit, and, like the 

 gorilla, seldom or never passes two nights in the 

 same spot. As to his building huts or nests in trees 

 or elsewhere, I am not prepared to believe that he 

 ever does so. I hunted in vain, for months, and 

 made diligent inquiry in several tribes, but failed to 

 find a specimen of any kind of shelter built by an 

 ape. I do not assert that it is absolutely untrue, but 

 I have never been able to obtain any evidence,. 



