The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-08-12
HUNTING AFTER MONKEYS,
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS IN
THE SEARCH.


she Metropolitan Museum.
AT the American Museum of Natural
History in New York there has arrived
almost the last installment OF the two
hundred species Of quadrumana, or mon
keys, spes baboons etc, which Mr.
Morris X. Jessup, a wealthy resident Of
the metropolis, at his own expense, au-
thorized DR. II. A. Ward, of Rochester,
to collect from every quarter of the globe.
DIR. Ward told Times reporter of his
efforts on both hemispheres in collecting
the 9uadrumana;
"There are two hundred aud twenty
four species of quadrumana in all, and |
was instructed by Mr.. Jessup not to stop
until every one was secured. Ihave now
delivered something over 'one hundred
species, and have little hope of obtain
ing the rest, on account of the difficulty
of reaching them. The family of le-
murs, for instance, comprise tifty-one
species, thirty-three of which alone come
from Madagascar. Now that island is at
war with France, and French fleet has
it in state of siege. The consequence
is that all foreigners are taken for French
men, and on my recent trip there | couR
trouble to 90 to France and have
both the United States minister
and the foreign department of that
country certify that l was an
American and wished TO visit Madagas-
car for purely scientific purposes. The
scheme did not work, and l was assured
on arrival that if l attempted exploration
on the island my life couldn't be insured
for a cent However, set trader there
at work, and he may do something for
us. By various means | have managed
. to secure thirty species of the lemurs.
The remaining twenty-one are divided
among Madagascar, the interior of Africa,
Siam, and Ceylon."
"It is said that some incident in your
career caused you to give up shooting
animals
'Well, that is perhaps true. When
arrived at that state of mind / was in
Nicaragua. Here is a species of monkeys
called the howlers, which have a trumpet
apparatus in the throat by which they
make terrible noise that can be heard
for miles. One day l observed one of
these howlers up in tree which seemed
to have strange swelling on the neck.
this seeming lusus natur9 meant, / shot
the animal. Down it came with heavy
bump. AS it fell little one was released
and dropped to the ground. 1t had been
clinging to the mothers neck. and had
appeared in the distance like freak of
nature. When the mother touched the
ground she just reached over to
the little one, clasped it to her
breast and died. This act was
so human and touching that it af-
fected me more than can tell, and for
life. In British Guiana these howlers
are used for food. The natives broil
their arms, which are about as long as
and very much resemble human arms.
The taste is very good. To see lines Of
these arms hanging up in native vii
lage causes strange sensations to the
traveller in British Guiana.
"Any one who will examine old spec
linens of the gorilla in museums will find
on inspection that their hands and feet
are made of plaster. For long time it
was almost impossible to find gorillas in
the wild state in possession of these
limbs. 1t seems that the natives of
Gaboon, Africa, recognized them as
their natural enemies. So, instead of
killing them off, they caught the young
and cut off their hands and feet. We
had to teach the natives the difference
in the value between whole and frag-
mentary animal. When they learned
the lesson we began to get specimens
that were whole and the natives more
value in return.
"New- Workers seem to have much fun
with Mr.. Crowley, this chimpanzee in
Central park, and we'll they may. These
animals come from West Africa and are
hard to secure. Much less is known
about them than the gorillas. They are
smaller and more intelligent Mr.. Crow
ley's hands are pink on the inside, but
they will turn dark when he gets older.
In Sumatra / secured the slender gibbon.
They are peculiar anthropoid ape and
are great fellows to swing. / have often
seen them swing on limb like gymnasts
on trapeze until they had secured
sufficient momentum, when they would
jump to another limb and 90 back and
forth from limb to limb in that way.
''Pernaps the only attempts which have
been made to civilize the monkey is in
Alalabar, India. A fine species indi.
geneous in this quarter is the Nelligher.
ry langur The natives here have fan
ming machines called the punka. In
other days the punka, which consists Of
movable frame, covered with canvas.
and suspended from the ceiling, wai
kept in motion by slave pulling cord
An English officer conceived the idea o.
teaching the langur to work He tool
one of the species and tied its hands t.
Al L
cord the machine was kept in motion
The movement of the cord is up anC
down, and of course the monkey
hands being tied to it, went up anC
down, and the animal saw the machin,
move. Its master patted its head anS
fed it with candy, and the langur sool
learned to think it fun to work the ma
chine. When was in Malabar securin;
specimens of this species, l saw thous
ands of them working the punka, the In
dians having Immediately mt fhe ami