St. Landry democrat., 1879-04-19
THE MONKEY OF SLAM.

THE MONKEY OF SLAM.
| His skaBa i'm Detecting Rad Ceius and His
Passion for RobbEng OrchaEdz.
Monkeys" says an Arabic proverb
can talk perfectly we'll If they choose so
to do; but they are far too clever to let
US into their secret. Well they know
that were they to speak, they would be
made to work; SO they wisely hold their
tongues" If certain strange stories that
have recently reached our hemisphere
from the distant realm of Siam be founded
on fact, the i" incomplete man." as some
German psychologists describe cur res
pected ancestor, whose fondness forspples
is considered to have exercised considers
able influence upon the destiny Of hui"
manity, Is made to work in many several
ways, despite his affected ignorance Of
articulate language. His prudent silence
avails him naught in the domain of the
White Elephant and there are-at least
we are assured SO by an old Austrian
resident at the Siamese court-few pros
fessions which he may not Re taught to
practice with amazing skill and accurate
precision. He is trained to fish for crabs
with his tail, as comical pursuit as can
be imagined, except, perhaps, for the wor-
thy and intelligent ape engaged in it,
who sometimes gets a bite" from 81
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 Siamese ape is also
stated to be in request amoDg native
merchants as cashier in their counting
houses. Vast quantities of base coin Oh.
tain circulation in Siam, and the faculty
of discrimination between good money
and bad would appear to be possessed BY
these gifted monkeys in such an extraor.
binary degree of development that no
mere human being, however carefully
trained, can compete with them. The
cashier ape .meditatively puts into his
mouth each coin presented to him in
business payments, and tests it with
grave elaboration. II it be genuine, he
hands it over to his master. If it be
counterfeit, he sets it down on the couns
ter before him with solemn grimace of
displessure. His method of testing is
regarded in commercial circles as infal-
lible; and, as matter of fact, his decision
is uniformly accepted by all parties in
terested in the transaction. But, though
true and valuable servant to his own
particular master, it seems that his moral
character isnet altogetherirreproachable,
His deplorable passion fl fruit makes him
the terror of Siamese rket.gardeners,
who find brute force inadequate to res
train him from visiting theic orchards,
and therefore have recourse to divers
and sundry stratagems, one of which is
reported to be as success I'll as it is GER
tainly ingenious. A specially active and
enterprising ape is captured and cares
fully sewed up in the skin of tiger cat.
he is then turned loose in the orchard of
his prediction, and straightwsy clam
bers, as well as he may, incumbered by
an unfamiliar garment, into the branch
es OF fruit tree among his unclothed
fellows. Scarcely do these latter set
eyes upon him, with all his feline ter
rors thick upon him, when a dreadful
panic strikes them, and they scramble
away with piercing sc-eeches and agon>
izing gatherings. Never more do they
return to an orchard which they believe
to be infested by the deadliest enemy of
their race. The startling intelligence is
rapidly disseminated throughout the
monkey society of the neighborhood, and
the willy gardener enjoys an absolute i'm
munity from depreciation forever after.
ward, for the very thought Of tiger. cat
appals the simian soul, and doubtless the
tale of " the awful spparition in Ting
tse's orchard " is handed down in quad
rumanous families; from generation to
oeneratinn