THE EXTERM IN A TION OF MON KE VS 113 
prohibited from entering for shooting purposes. There is also a 
proposal to establisli a reserve in Rhodesia, to be conducted on 
commercial principles. So that something has been done to 
stay the work of extermination. 
THE EXTERMINATION OF MONKEYS. 
HILST a great deal has been written and said with a 
view to checking the destruction of bird life, scarcely 
a voice has been lifted on behalf of many forms of 
animal life which are silently, yet rapidly, being wiped 
out of e.xistence. 
Some time back my attention was arrested by two small 
paragraphs in The Echo drawing attention to the slaughter of 
monkeys upon the Gold Coast, and with a view to ascertaining 
further facts I made a careful examination of the Reports to 
the Colonial Secretary, issued annually by Mr. F. M. Hodgson, 
Acting Governor of the Gold Coast. 
Mr. Hodgson refers in detail in his Reports to each article 
of export, and the remarks which he makes in reference to the 
export of monkey skins are clearly sympathetic in their bearings, 
so that I feel I cannot do better than give the extracts in his 
own words. 
In 1S92 he writes as follows: — “ One of the most remarkable 
exports is that of monkey skins. During the last five years an 
average of 175,000 monkey skins, valued at about /"3o,ooo, have 
been exported annually ; only skins in good condition and with 
few shot-holes are taken, and under the circumstances it may 
safely be asserted that at least 200,000 monkeys are massacred 
ever}^ year on the Gold Coast. The skins most sought after are 
those of the Colohus vallerosns, which are often as large as a big 
dog and have beautiful coats of long black silky hair.” 
Again writing in 1894 Hodgson says: “The slaughter 
of monkeys continues, no fewer than 168,405 skins, of the total 
value of ;^4i,ooi 14s. rod., having been exported from the Gold 
Coast during the year.” 
In 1896 Mr. Hodgson again reports as follows: — “Monkey 
skins are scarcer than formerly, the increasing warfare carried 
on against the unfortunate animals which supply this article of 
commerce having resulted in the extermination of the species 
in the less distant provinces. In 1894, 168,405 skins valued at 
;£^4 t,ooi were exported, whereas in 1896 the number fell to 
67,600, valued at ;^8,662.” 
And now they are giving out. In six years no less than 
884,768 monkey skins have been exported to the value of 
;^i95,3oo, and to obtain these skins, which must be in good 
condition, he estimates that not less than one million of monkeys 
have been massacred ! Yet nothing has been done, no close 
