The Opelousas courier., 1889-06-01
MY PET.
a Small Orange utang and His
Amusing Tricks.

a Small orang- Outang and His
Amusing Tricks.
If you we're asked, reader, to CUES!
what my pet is, DR. rather Who he is
for he is. l hope, important enough tt
admit of my dispensing with the neu
ter gender-1 am sure you would moi
succeed in guessing. Well. then, !
may as well tell you that he is a small
orang-outang, or what should perhaps
be more correctly termed a "gibbon.'
There are not a few who do not know
what a gibbon is. Let those in igno'
rance-of what a funny little animal he
is, turn to that entertaining work called
Woods Natural History. where they
will find the gibbon most accurately
described. At the time, however, that
the work alluded to was written, the
gibbon of the island of Hainan Gin the
China sea) was unknown, and is not
therefore described in it. The white
faced gibbon of the Straits is men,
toned; but his jet-black relative with
bushy hair and handsome face was left
out. What a true prize a black gibbon
is! Most affectionate in his nature,
possessed of a pleasing voice and win
ming ways, he is truly a good compan-
ion.
My Office, in the last port where I
was stationed, looked over the sea,
and had a veranda outside it, which of
course was kept sacred. I was sitting
one day in my once-chair, looking out
over the bay beyond, to collect my
thoughts for a dispatch then in hand,
when espie5a Celestial coming along
the veranda with some dark object in
his arms. the dark object showing its
appreciation of the attention it was re-
ceiving by placing two arm of inordi-
nate length round the mans neck. /
naturally rose up to see what this phe-
nomenon was, and having been told
that it was a rare animal. / at once
! made overtures for his purchase. As
soon as negotiations were concluded, /
fastened my purchase-a black gibbon
Ito my copying-press, instead of send
ing him up to my house, being anxious
to introduce him myself to my two
dogs and to Joseph the cat. I could
not entrust aE)are animal to my serv-
ants, lest the introduction through
their agency to Joseph and the rest
| might result in some disaster. When
fastened the gibbon to the press I
took no account of the length of the ami
mars arms, and I was therefore not a
little surprised when a black hand took
possession of a Fd-and-blue pencil and
a black mouth began to eat it. Nature
is said. in her beneficence, to instruct
the lower animals what to eat and
what to avoid. That, no doubt, APP
plies to an animal i'm the wild state,
such animal being directed by instinct
where to find an antidote to any thing
deleteriow which it may have eaten.
An animal in captivity must, howeyN.
be treated differ ntly. and must not be
allowed to do as likes. So reasoned;
and as I had no herb ready to correct
the evil which I knew would result
from eating a pencil, / proceeded to
recover the stolen article. Though my
new pet did not mind being touched,
though he would jump into your lap
and make himself at home, hSstrongly
objected to part with any thing which
he had M got hold of, andea good
deal of diplomacy had to be used be-
fore | repossessed myself of the pencil.
Scarcely was this fun at an end, be-
fore some. black fingers were dipped
Unto the ink; and when the ink was re-
moved out of reach, the gum-bottle
was next turned over. the gum being
particularly appreciated. Thinking
that the animal might be thirsty, I put
a saucer of water before him; but
though easy to put the saucer down, it
was impossible to pick 1t up again,
even though there was not a drop of
water left in it. 1t seemed to me, on
reflection. that T had made a bad pur-
chase. I did not clearly see how I was
to feed an animal that was $50 intract-
able, and had serious misgivings that
my new pct would give me a lot OF
trouble. and quite likely would die in
three months. Monkeys are general
~ supposed to be troubled either with
heart-disease or with consumption,
and to endure captivity for a short
time only. Thus, / had given my glib
bon three months to live, and / fully
expected that before four months had
passed he would be under a glass case
in my drawing-room. am extremely
pleased to say that, at the time I write
he is still alive. though / must con-
Tess it has not been easy to rescue him
from the jaws Of death on several oc-
casions.
At first, the name of '.Sambo' was
given to the gibbon, on account of its
jet-black color; then this was changed
in course OF time to Samuel the
little fellow becoming too respectable
to be called Sambo. At the last port
at which / was stationed the lower
windows of my dwelling-house were
provided with iron bars-about FIVE
inches apart-as a protection against
thieves. These bars were great con-
v~enienee to me, as I could attach Sam
to them at meal-times, thus keeping
him out of mischief whilst giving him
plenty OF freedom. The question OF
EAA =.