CHAPTER II 



CAGED IN AN AFRICAN JUNGLE 



It may be of interest to the reader to know the 

 manner in which I have pursued the study of 

 monkeys in a state of nature, and the means em- 

 ployed to that end. I shall therefore give a brief 

 outline of my life in a cage in the heart of an 

 African jungle in order to watch those denizens 

 of the forest, when free from all restraint. 



After devoting much time for several years to the 

 study of the speech and habits of monkeys in 

 captivity, I formulated a plan of going into their 

 native haunts, to study them in a state of freedom. 



In the course of my labours up to that time, I had 

 found out that monkeys of the highest physical type 

 had also a higher type of speech than those of 

 inferior kinds. In accord with this fact, it was 

 logical to infer that the anthropoid apes, being next 

 to man in the scale of nature, must have the faculty 

 of speech developed in a corresponding degree. 



As the chief object of my studies was to learn the 

 language of monkeys, the great apes appeared to be 

 the best subjects for that purpose, so I turned my 

 attention to them. 



