50 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
of which have such very human-looking faces and most baby-like skulls. Being covered for the 
most part, and especially oil the top and sides of the head, with long black hairs, it is called the Black 
Chimpanzee, or Troglodytes Niger . 
It was a sight worth seeing to be present in the Monkey House of the Zoological Gardens, in 
London, when the keeper paid an early morning visit to his attached friend, the Chimpanzee. If he was 
not quite awake, or lazily inclined, and snugly covered up in his little wooden house, and the keeper 
called him, a commotion was heard inside, and then a round little figure with a large head came tumbling 
out, and rushed to the iron wicket. He creeps along at a great rate on all-fours, but the body is half 
erect, for the fore limbs are long, and the knuckles, or rather the back parts of the second joints of the 
fingers, are allowed to touch the ground and support the frame in front, whilst the elbows are kept 
straight. The hind legs, being short, move one after the other as in a canter, and it is readily 
noticed that although the feet touch the ground on their outer edges they can rest flat on the soles. 
There is much joyful recognition, and after he has put his arms around the keeper’s neck, he 
enjoys being tickled and laid on his back in the straw. Making grunts and little laughs, he shows 
his fine set of teeth, and his fine liazel-coloured eyes twinkle with fun. Then he rushes off, tumbling 
head over heels, scampers over the straw, and with a jump clasps one of the horizontal wooden bars 
in the cage, and swings himself up and on to it with an ease and grace which many a gymnast might 
envy. Running along this, and just balancing himself with the assistance of the back of his hand, he 
nears a rope, and then, after seizing it, swings with arms out at full length, now catching hold of 
others or of the wire lattice-work with his feet and toe-thumb, or suddenly coming to the ground with 
a great bounce. This is usually preparatory to coming to the spectators, and he then squats down, 
folds his arms, and moves his shoulders from side to side in a quick and restless manner. Another 
scamper brings him to his house on the ground-floor, into which he looks, and then taking a lot of 
biscuit, he gives a jump on to its shelving top, sits down, and begins to eat. He sits upright enough, 
and puts the biscuit into his mouth, but rather clumsily. He does not take it between the tips ot 
his lingers and the thumb, but between the thumb and the side of the first finger, for the thumb is 
short. Hence, as the food disappears, lie appears to be cramming the knuckle of his first finger into 
his mouth. * 
One is struck with the colour of the face, which is nearly hairless, for the tint of its skin is a dirty 
yellow-oclire ; but it is relieved by the beautiful white teeth, the hazel eyes, and the long hair which 
conies down from the top of the head in front of the ear like a lock. I ho upper lip has no furrow 
running down from the small and flat nose, but it is very large, and the mouth looks like a slit in the 
face when both lips are together. He has distinct eyelids ; and when he sits and looks forwards, the 
chin reaches below the top of the breast and hides the neck. The palm of the hands is flesh-coloured, 
or darker, and the foot looks very strange, for the hair is long over the ankle and very black, and it 
ceases suddenly, so that the heel and all the sides and the sole are naked and flesh-tinted. I he 
absence of hair on the face — there being a little straggling beard only — is possibly an ornament, and it 
is noticed in many Monkeys ; but its absence from the under part of the hand and foot, of course, is 
of use, for it gives a greater power of grasp and a finer sense of touch. The front hair comes to a 
peak over the forehead, and the curve on either side is as graceful as that of a Queen s Counsel s wig , 
then it covers a broad low head, which looks very big behind and decidedly over-burdened with two 
great ears, larger than those of the Gorilla, and 'which are close neighbours to the high shoulders. Long 
black hair, with the ears peeving through, covers all the back and sides of the head and the wide 
shoulders and very short neck, and is continued down the back, which shows no sign of a waist, and 
only becomes smaller just above the thighs. Here, then, is another instance of the frog-like body 
shape, and it is produced by the same general internal arrangements which have been noticed in the 
great Apes already described. That is to say, large lungs, and a great stomach and digestive appa- 
ratus, are more important than a slim and elegant figure; and good short back-bones, and at least thirteen 
ribs on either side are more satisfactory possessions in an African forest than long bones and a weak 
spine. 
The arm, fore-arm, and fingers, as a limb, are long, and the tips of the fingers reach just below 
the knee. This is consistent with the scheme of the construction of the animal, and its adaptation 
* This interesting animal died during the publication of this chapter. 
