The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-13

solution.
| went next to the Cincinnati garden.
When the visitors had left the monkey
mouse approached the cage of a capuchin
monkey, and found him crouched in the
rear OF his cage. spoke to him in his own
tongue. using the word which | had called
"milk"
He rose, answered me with the same word,
and came at once to the front of the cage
he looked at me as if in doubt, and / re-
peated the word; he did the same, and
turned at once to a small pan in the cage
which he picked up and placed near the
door at the side, and returned to me and ut
tered the word again. asked the keeper
Tor milk, which he aid not have, however,
out brought me some water.
ALSO MEANT WATER
The efforts Of my little simian friend TO
secure the glass were very earnest, aud the
pleading manner and tone assured me of
his extreme thirst. | allowed him to dip
MS hand into the glass and he would suck
his fingers and reach again. I kept the
glass from reach of his hand and he would
repeat the sound and beg for more. was
Thus convinced that the word | had trans
lated milk" must also mean "water,n and
from this and other tests [ at last deter
mined that 1t meant also drink" and prob>
ably "thirst."
that did not use these two words. The
sounds are very soft and not unlike flute;
very difficult to initiate and quite impos,i-
BILE TO write They are purely vocal, ex-
cept faint traces of "h" or "whn as in the
word who; very feeble "w," and here
and there slight gutteral Sch"
To initiate the word which l interpret
food. hx the mouth as if to whistle draw
the tongue far back into the mouth, and try
to utter the word "whon by blowing The
pitch OF sound is a trifle higher than the
coolng of q pigeon, and not wholly unlike IT,
The phonics appear to me to be "wh-u-w,n
with the consonant elements SO faint as to
be almost imaginary.
In music the tone is + sharp, and this
seems to be the vocal pitch of the entire
species, though they have wide range of
voice.
The sound which l have translated
drink" or thirst is nearly uttered by re-
Taxing and parting the lips and placing the
tongue as 1t is found in ending the German
word "ich, }" and in this position try to utter
"ch-e-u-w." making tho 'ch" like SIX"
blending the 'e" and ''u" like 'slurredn
notes in music and suppressing the Nv" as
in the first case. The consonant elements
can barely be detected, and the tone is about
an octave higher than the word used for
'food."
THE "CRY OF ALARM"
Another sound suspected was q menace
or "cry of alarm }" but was unable to utter
1t, except with the Photographs; but during
February had access to fine specimen OF
the capuchin IN Charleston, s. G. On my
first visit to him found him very gentle,
and we at once became friends He ate
from my hands and seemed to regard me
very kindly. The next day, while feeding
him, | uttered the peculiar sound of
nj ~ xxyha he nj 81.
perch in the top of his cage, aud as con-
tinued the sound he seemed almost frantic
wit fright.
/ could not tempt him by any means TO
come down. / then retired some twenty
feet from the cage. and bis MASTER (of whom
he is very fond induced him TO come down
from ths perch, aud while he was fondiIng
him gave the alarm from where stood.
He jumped again to his perch aud nothing
would induce him to leave ii while I re-
manned in sight.
The next day, on my approach, he fed to
his perch. and l could not induce him on
any terms to return. 1t Is now some time
since began my visits, and have never,
since his first fright, induced him to accept
anything from me, and only with great
patience can get him to leave his perch at
all, although have not repeated this pecul
lar sound since my third visit, nor can
!
word for flood" or drink"
This sound may be fairly initiated by
placing the back Of the hand very gently to
the mouth and kissing it, drawing in the
air, aud producing snrill, whistling sound,
prolonged and slightly circumfsxed.
MADE WITH VOCAL ORGANS.
It's pitch is the highest F sharp on the
piano. 1t Is not whistled, however, by q
monkey. hut is made by the vocal organs.
While this is the highest vocal pitch of
capuchin, thsre are other sounds more diff
cult to initiate or describe. 1t must be
remembered that an attempt to spell
sound which is almost an absolute vowel
can at best convey only an imperfect idea
of the true sounds or the manner Of utter
ing them.
have access also to another specimen of
the same variety, with which l am expert.
menting. but have never tried the "aiarm"
on him, as did not wish TO lose his friend
ship. He uses all the words / know in his
language and speaks them well.
My work has been confined chiefly to the
capuchin monkey, because he seems to have
one of the best defined languages of any of
his genus, besides being less vicious and more
willing to treat one civilly.
So far as have seen, tine capuchin is the
Caucasian OF the monkey race. The Chin
panzee has strong but monotonous voice,
confined to q small range of sounds, but
affords fine study while in the act of talk
ing. have not gone far enough with him
as yet to give much detail of his language.
There are only three in America now, and
they talk but little aud are hard to record.
| have recorded but one sound made by a
sooty monkey, three by maudril, five by
the white-faced sapaJou and q few of less
value. But from the best proof l have
found have arrived, as | believe, at some
strange facts which shall here state.
ALL CHORD WITH F SHARP.
/. The simtan tongue has about eight or
nine sounds, which may be changed by
meditation into three or four times that
number.
Q They seem to be half way between a
whistle and purely vocal sound and have
a range of four ootaves, and so far as have
tried they all chord with sharp on a
piano.
g. The sound used most is very much like
''un 100" In shoot. The next one something
like ''en in "be." SO far find no a, or o.
L. Faint traces of consonaut sounds can
be found in words of low pitch, but they
are q few and quite feeble; but have had
cause to believe that they develop in small
degree by a change Of environment.
5. The present state Of their speech has
been reached by development from lower
form.
g. Each race or kind has its own peculiar
tongue, slightly shaded into dialects, and the
radical or cardinal sounds do not have the
same meaning in all tongues.
z, The words are monosyliaoic, amolgu-