VIII. 



MONKEY BABIES. 

 I. THE COITA AND THE ORANG-UTAN. 



The grown-up coaita is not hard to tame, but 

 the baby is never anything else than tame. Of 

 course a youngster cannot be caught except on 

 the death or severe injury of its mother, for it 

 is never alone an instant, always riding on her 

 back, and holding on from the first with four 

 hands that never let go. A baby coaita of a 

 month old is a lank, ungainly creature with long 

 black hair. When by the death of its mother 

 it falls into the hands of men, it does not fail, 

 at least among the natives, to get most tender 

 care, even sometimes to the extent of sharing 

 the native baby's natural food, it is said. 



Its great want at this age is warmth, and I 

 heard of one owned in our part of the world 

 which was kept alive through a cold winter by 

 being bagged, literally, every night with a pair 

 of fluffy puppies. A large bag half full of straw 

 and wool was the bed in which, not on which, 

 the three strange bedfellows passed the night. 

 Their owner opened the bag, dropped puppies 



