The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-04-04
W0RKTNG MONKEYS.

1t is one of the curious things in nature
that the animals nearest to man in the order
Of deveIopmeut are Of little or no use TO him
industriaIiy. There has never been a time
when strong races of men have not eompell-
ed their weaker brothers to work for them.
But, barring the Snowman and the organ
grinder, the meanest Of men have not been
able TO subjuga1e or enslave their simian
relatives, An ancient Arabic prOverb ac-
counts for the freedom of apes by the fact
that they shrewdly refuse to talk ''well
they know that were they to speak they
would be made to work so they wisely hold
their tongses."
The prcverbial prudence Of the monkey
appears to faIl in a measure, however, in the
land Of the white elephant An Austrian
resident at the Court of Siam reports that in
that country the monkey is trained to fish
for crabs with his tail, as comical pursuit
as can well be imagined except, perhaps, for
the worthy AMI intelligent ape engaged in it,
who sometimes gets bite from a monster
crab that he is totally unable to land, and
falls victim to the superior weight of his
Cancer Ferox, who drags him into the water,
browns, and finally devours him. The Sia-
nese ape is also stated TO be in great request
among native merchants as a cashier in their
counting houses. Vast quantities of base
coin obtain circulation in Siam, and the fac
ulty of discrimination between good money
and bad would appear to be possessed by
these gifted monkeys in such an extraordi-
narydevelopment that no mere human being,
however carefully trained, can compete with
no pna1itaffye1y-
into his mouth each coin presented to,him in
business payments, and tests it with grave
deliDeration. If it be genuine he hands it
over TO his master. If it be counterfeit, he
sets it down on the counter before him with
a solemn grimace of displeasure. His meth
Od Of testing is regarded in commercial cir
cles as iufallible and, as a matter of fact,
his decision is uniformly accepted by al
parties interested in the transaction. But,
though a true and invaluable servant to his
own particular master, it seems that his
moral character is not altogether irTeproach-
able. His depiorable passion for fruit rem
ders him the terror of Siamese market gars
deners, who find brute ferce inadequate to
restrain him from visiting their orchards,
and therefore have recourse to divers and
suudry stratagems. one of which is reported
to be successful as it is certainly ingenious.
A specially active and enterprising ape is
captured and carefully sewed up in the skin
of tiger cat He is then turned loose in
the orchard of his prediection, and straight
way chambers as we'll as he may, incumber-
ell by an unfamiliar garment, into the branch
es of fruit tree among his unclOthed fel-
lows. Scarcely do these latter set eyes upon
him with all his feline terrOrs thick upon
him when dreadful panic strikes them, and
they scramble away with piercing screeches
and agOnized gatherings. Never more do
they return to au orchard which they believe
to be infested by the deadlest enemy of
their race. The startling Intelligence is ra-
pidly disseminated throughout the monkey
society Of the ueighborhood, and the willy
gardener enjoys an absolute immunity from
depreciation forever afterward, for the very
thought Of tiger cat appaals the simian soul,
and doubtless the tail OF "the awful appari-
tion in Ting tses orchard" is handed down
in quadumaEous families from generation to
generation. Scientific AmerjcaH