THE MONKEY TRIBES 
252 
stretching its legs in every direction, always finding a tuft of hair to 
grasp. The resemblance to its mother must have been too striking, 
for, as it was quite a young animal, it soon began to try to suckle. 
The result was unfortunate, for only it got its mouth full of wool, 
upon which it became very much disgusted and screamed violently; 
and, having on one occasion been nearly choked, its owner was obliged 
to take the counterfeit parent away. Apes do not have many enemies 
besides man, particularly those species of such large size as the gorilla 
and its allies. In Borneo, where one of the largest species dwells, the 
orang-outang, Wallace states that the natives declare it is never 
attacked by any animal in the forest, with perhaps two rare exceptions, 
these being the crocodile and the python. The way in which he 
meets the former is explained as follows: When the fruits fail in the 
forests, he goes to the river-side to seek for young shoots of which he 
is fond, or for any such fruits as grow near the water. There the 
crocodile attempts to seize him, but according to native testimony the 
orang-outang gets upon the reptile, beats with his hands, tears it, and 
pulling open its jaws, rips up its throat and soon kills it. Should a 
python or boa constrictor attack him, the Mias, as he is called in 
Borneo, seizes the serpent in his hands, bites it, and kills it without 
difficulty. Such are the powerful though usually peaceful animals to 
whose family the one depicted in the illustration belongs. 
The chimpanzee and the gorilla are often confused in the minds 
of some. Yet we must remember the gorilla is the largest of the apes. 
The difficulty in keeping these creatures alive when captured has been 
the chief reason why they have not, in common with other apes, been 
inmates of our menageries; for once deprived of the fruits to which 
they are accustomed in their native wilds, or exposed to the colder 
climates of northern lands, they soon droop and die. Should any 
one, therefore, be desirous of seeing this unamiable-looking creature 
enjoying his free life, he must go to the interior of Africa, in those 
regions where civilization is unknown, and where but few Europeans 
have ever penetrated. In the pathless tracts of those ancient woods, 
distant even from the primitive abodes of hardly less savage men, in 
company with the fierce inmates of the jungle, the gorilla dwells 
surrounded by his family. Peacefully they pass the day, seeking the 
