94 



GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



tell me, but not so that I knew whether it was 

 a snake or a leopard or a monkey, yet I knew 

 that it was something of that kind. I learned a 

 certain word for food, hunger, eating, &c., but he 

 could not go into any details about it, except that a 

 certain sound indicated good or satisfaction, and 

 another meant the opposite. 



Among the sounds that I learned was one that is 

 used by a chimpanzee in calling another to come to 

 it. Some of the natives assured me that the mothers 

 always used it in calling their young to them. When 

 Moses wandered away from the cage into the jungle, 

 he would sometimes call me with this sound. I 

 cannot express it in letters of the alphabet, nor 

 describe it so as to give a very clear idea of its 

 character. It was a single sound or word of one 

 syllable, and easily imitated by the human voice. At 

 any time that I wanted Moses to come to me I used 

 this word, and the fact that he always obeyed it by 

 coming confirmed my opinion as to its meaning. I 

 do not think when he addressed it to me that he 

 expected me to come to him, but he perhaps wanted 

 to locate me in order to be guided back to the cage 

 by the sound. As he grew more familiar with the 

 surrounding forest he used it less frequently, but he 

 always employed it in calling me or the boy. When 

 he was called by it he answered with the same 

 sound ; but one fact that we noticed was that if he 

 could see the one who called he never made any 

 reply by sound. He would obey it, but not answer 

 it ; he probably thought if he could see the one who 



