192 FO UB— HANDED FOLK. 



baboons, or dog-headed monkeys ; and although 

 when young the baboons are good - tempered 

 enough and easily taught, their experience of 

 life makes them cross, so that an old baboon is 

 one of the ugliest of animals. 



Monkeys in our own days do such wonders, 

 that perhaps we have no reason to doubt the 

 story, told by an old writer, of one which used 

 to be sent regularly to buy wine. This animal 

 was a coaita, one of the spider monkeys, which 

 are able to walk upright without much trouble. 

 When sent on his errand, he had the jug in one 

 hand and the money in the other, and he was 

 wise enough to keep the money till the wine was 

 ready, when he would pay for it and carry it 

 home. 



Nothing is harder work than playing for the 

 amusement of other people ; and more than two 

 hundred years ago monkeys were taken to Eng- 

 land, to perform there in shows. They were 

 dressed in fine clothes, in the fashion of the day, 

 and they behaved with perfect propriety. They 

 saluted the guests and one another by taking 

 off their hats and bowing politely ; they danced 

 together the stately minuet and other fashiona- 

 ble dances, and they imitated many other social 

 ceremonies. 



They also did other things more difficult, if 

 not quite so dignified. They performed on the 



