Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-09
THE DIANA MONKEY.

Inns nat1Ve OF w eStern Africa 1nnaD-
its the woods of the Guinea Coast, and
of the banks of the Congo, and it is
found in the island of Fernando Pc. 1t
was known to European naturalists be-
fore the year 100, and it has always
been priced for its pretty fur and gay
temper. The goddess Diana has been
honored by being associated with this
monkey, on account of q crescent
shaped white band of long hair stretch
ing across the forehead (she being god
dess of the crescent-shaped moon). 1t
is about eighteen inches long when full
grown, the tail is longer than the body,
and the fur is very pretty. The cres-
cent of white hairs has dark edges, and
the top of the head is broad and dull
gray, spotted with green: the ears are
dark and the face also; the beard and
whiskers are white, and the first of these
projects like a goats. AS another
monkey from the same region has
white band across the forehead, the
Diana has been COMPOUNDED with it.
Even F. Culver jumbled the Diana and
the Diadem monkey together. Very
little is known about them in their wild
state, and in captivity they show very
adverse dispositions. Sometimes they
are gay and full of fun, and at others
they are morose and snappish. We
once saw one in its cage in the Zoolog-
zeal Gardens pull its mate, a small
Sykes monkey, from the top to the bot
tom, by well-drected pull of its tail,
and the proceeding reminded one of a
very energetic mistress, whose servants
were inattentive, Juggling at bell-rope.
The pulle, was chattering and grimac-
ing at his visitors all the time that the
pulled was hanging on to everything
that came in its way during its forced
descent; and when it came to the bot
tom, it scrambled about and rushed up
to its little house again, as if it were a
frequent and unwilling exercise. The
Diana also stole it's companions food,
such as piece of apple, by putting her
arms around its neck. and squeezing the
morsel against it's nose, SO that it was
obliged to drop it.
Mrs Bowditch, in describing her voy-
age from Western Africa, gives an in
teresting account of Diana monkey
which was On board. eve made ac-
quaintance,' she says, every suddenly,
and to me disagreeably, for l had not
till then conquered the foolish aversion
with which these animals always in
spired me. 1t was a dead calm, the
wheel was dashed, and all save myself
below, nothing around us but sea and
sky, and had sheltered myself with q
book in a corner protected from the
equatorial sun. Suddenly, and without
noise, something leaped upon my Shout
ders, and the tail which encircled my
throat convinced me that Mr.. Jack was
my assailant. My first impulse was to
beat him off, in which case / should
probably have received some injury,
but fortunately sat perfectly still, and
twisting himself around, he brought his
face to mine, and stared at me, l en-
deavoring to speak kindly to him, upon
which he grinned and chartered, seat
ed himself on my knees, and carefully
examined my hands. He then tried to
pull off my rings, and was proceeding
to bite for this purpose, when l gave
him some biscuit which happened to be
beside me, and making bed for him
with handkerchief, he settled himself
comfortably to sleep, and from that
moment we were sworn allies.
The amusement furnished to me and
others by Jack made him tolerated
when his mischievous propensities would
otherwise have condemned him to per-
petual confinement. He was often
banished to an empty hen-coop, but as
this made no impression upon him, l
always tried to prevent it, which he
knew so well, that when he had done
wrong he either hirshimself or sought
refuge near me. Much more effect was
produced by taking him in sight of the
panther, who always seemed most will
ing to devour him. On these occasions
l held him by the tail, in front of the
cage, but long before l reached it,
knowing where he was going, he pre-
tended to be dead; his eyes were closed
quite fast, and every limb was as stiff
as if there were no life in him. When
taken away he would open one eye a
little to see whereabouts he might be,
but if he caught a glimpse of the cage,
it was instantly closed and he became
as stiff as before. He clambered into
the hammocks, stole the mems knives.
tools, handkerchiefs, and even the
nightcaps off their heads, all of which
went into the sea. When biscuits were
toasting between the bars of the ca
boose. and the dried herbs boiling in the
tin mugs, he would take the former out
and carry it way, and take out the lat
ter and trail them along the planks; if
he burnt his hands, he desisted for a
day or two, and he often RECALLED the
parrots with the biscuit, biting it in
small pieces, and feeding them with the
utmost gravity. At other times he
would knock the cages over. lick up
the water thus spilled, eat the Jumps of
sugar, pull the birds tails, and in this
manner he killed beautiful green
pigeon belonging to the steward,
specimen Of which I never saw in any
collection. For this he was logged
and imprisoned three days; and half an
hour after he was let out I
met him scampering around the
deck with two blue-faced mon