22 
THE CHIMPANZEE . 
animals (the name evidently being a corruption from our own word Baboon), make use of 
clubs, staves, and other rude weapons, and that they can use them with great address. Cer- 
tain it is, that the adult Chimpanzee has been known to snap with a single effort branches so 
thick, that the united strength of two men could hardly bend them. But whether the animal 
would possess sufficient intellectual power to make use of a weapon thus obtained, is not so 
certain. 
It is said that they have a sufficient amount of knowledge to be aware that the strength 
of a man lies in his weapons, and not in his muscles only ; and that if a hunter should draw 
on himself the vengeance of the troop, by wounding or killing one of their number, he can 
escape certain death by flinging down his gun. The enraged apes gather round the object that 
dealt the fatal stroke, and tear it to pieces with every mark of fury. While they are occupied 
with wreaking their vengeance on the senseless object, the owner of the fatal weapon escapes 
unnoticed. 
The strength of arm with which this animal is endowed, has already been shown. But 
although the hinder limbs are not possessed of that gigantic muscular strength which is given 
to the arms, yet they are powerful to a degree that would be remarkable in any animal less 
athletic than the Chimpanzee. One of these creatures has been seen to lower itself backwards 
from the bar on which it was sitting, and to draw itself up again, merely by the grasp of the 
hinder feet. 
The age to which the Chimpanzee attains in its wild state, is as yet unknown.' But to 
judge by the length of time that elapses before the animal reaches maturity, its life cannot be 
very much less than that of the human inhabitants of the same land. Nine or ten years are 
spent by the Chimpanzee before it has reached the perfection of its development ; and it is 
well known that the inhabitants of the tropical regions attain to maturity at a very early age 
indeed. 
A peculiarly fine specimen of the Chimpanzee, which was tamed and domesticated in its 
native country, lived to the age of twenty-one years. This animal was possessed of gigantic 
strength, and on one occasion was intercepted in the act of carrying a soldier into the tree to 
which he was chained. This ape might, however, have been a specimen of the gorilla. 
One great and almost radical objection to the weapon-using powers of the Chimpanzee, 
may be found in the difficulty which these animals experience in standing erect. In order to 
use a weapon effectively, the hands and arms must be at liberty, and the feet planted firmly 
on the ground. A defect in either of these conditions, is fatal to the right handling of iht 
weapon. Now, as the Chimpanzee has much difficulty in preserving even a semi-erect position, 
and is forced to aid itself by placing the backs of its hands on the ground, it w ill be at once 
seen that a club would not give very much assistance to the creature. It might certainly 
launch stones with force and effect ; but a weapon that requires the full and independent use 
of both sets of limbs, would be of small benefit. 
Besides, the creature is already so terribly armed by nature with formidable fangs, and 
limbs of Herculean strength, that it needs no artificial means of offence, and would probably 
be rather embarrassed by them than otherwise. 
Still, it is not improbable that these inquisitive animals have seen their human neighbors 
armed with sticks, and in that irresistible spirit of imitation to which monkey nature seems to 
be a victim, have armed themselves in similar manner, though with certain detrimental results. 
Should they really have recourse to these artificial and useless weapons, when brought into 
collision with human foes, it may be a providential means of depriving them of those terrible 
natural weapons, which would be truly formidable, and so causing them to be the more easily 
overcome by man. Judging from the familiar instances of their imitative nature, we may 
safely allow that the Chimpanzees do carry sticks, although we may infer that such weapons 
would be worse than useless to their bearers. 
In common with the orang-outan, and several other members of the same family, the 
Chimpanzee is possessed of extremely mobile lips. In the lips, indeed, the whole expression 
of the face seems to be concentrated ; and by the lips, the animal expresses the various emo- 
tions of fear, astonishment, hatred, rage, or pleasure, that agitate the ape’s brain. Those lips 
