THE MONKEY FAMILY. 



59 



remarking that the sunken eye of the orang-outang, 

 every now and then, was fixed on something 

 outside of the apartment. I remarked this to the 

 keeper, who was standing in the crowd at a short 

 distance. He pointed to a young stripling of a 

 coxcomb. "That dandy," said he, "has been 

 teasing the orang-outang a little while ago ; and 

 I would not answer for the consequence could the 

 animal have an opportunity of springing at him." 



This great ape from Borneo, exhibited a kind 

 and gentle demeanour, and he appeared pleased 

 with my familiarity. 



Having fully satisfied myself, how completely 

 the natural propensities of a wild animal from the 

 forest, may be mollified, and ultimately subdued by 

 art, and by gentleness on the part of rational man, 

 I took my leave of this interesting prisoner, 

 scraping and bowing, with affected gravity as I 

 retired from his apartment. 



Up to this time, our ape had shewn a suavity of 

 manners, and a continued decorum truly astonishing 

 in any individual of his family ; I say of his 

 family : because in days now long gone by, when 

 our intercourse with Africa was much more frequent 

 than it is at present, I have known apes, baboons 

 and monkeys brought over from Guinea to Guiana, 

 notorious for their forbidding and outrageous 



