Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-08-10

would suppose that half the wild beasts
OF the forest were collecting for the
WORK OF carnage. Now it is the t:e-
mendous roar OF the jaguar, as he
springs on his prey; now it changes to
MS deep-toned growlings as he is
pressed on all sides by superior force;
and now you hear his last dying
moan beneath a mortal wound"
Other travellers tell us that
the din which these animals
maintain necessarily throughout the
night can be heard at a distance of full
ly two miles. The males are the prin-
clpal vocalists, aud seem to endeavour
TO outvle one another in the harshness
and power of their utterances, while
the females chime in at intervals in
gentler fashion, like an undercurrent
OF chorus accompanying the main
chaut.
A year or two ago, in a picture ap-
pearlng In one of our leading illus
trated newspapers, group of monkeys
were represented as performing an
act of which do not believe that any
monkey can be justly accused that,
namely. of pelting an offending travel
ler with stones. The artist hims self
described in the accompanying letter
press the scene which he had repre-
sented with his pencil: doing so with q
clrcumstantiality strangely at variance
with the fact that, although the adven-
ture In question was said to have taken
place In India, every monkey In the
sketch Is aspider monkey. And spider
monkeys are peculiar to AmericaI
l subloin the account
Il had started in the early morning
on a march between Barrrmoola and
Muree. The road led along the side
of the mountains, and in many places
was mere path hewn out of the solid
rock. In one part there was a pro-
| lecting rail at the edge of the track; on
the right was sheer drop of several
hundred feet; on the left rose an al
most perpendicular cliff. As l ad-
vanced along the path l saw two large
monkeys seated on the rall. One of
them when he saw me jumped up on
to the rock. just for fun. picked up
small stone and threw 1t at the other,
when he. too, bounded up the cliff and
disappeared. l thought no more of
the incident, but before 1 had gone
forty yards a couple of sto nes whistled
close by my head. I looked up. and
there on a ledge of rock were about
dozen monkeys, all busy throwing
stones at me. They seemed to "shy"
them Just as q mas would do, and very
fairly straight, so much SO that 1
thought it wise not to stay to make q
very critical examination"
The illustration in this case is obvi-
ously incorrect, possibly the narrative
may be so also. For no authenticated
case is on record in which u monkey
IN I'M IN hA
strict sense of the term, to throw.
Even in the case of mankind the faculty
of throwing is altogether an acquired
one, which only comes by much prae-
t1ce, and by many is never learnt at all.
And probably no monkey, living or
dead, has been much more successful
in this respect than a baboon which
lived for some years in the monkey
house at the Crystal Palace, and whose
performances l have myself repeatedly
witnessed.
He was an ill-tempered brute, as
baboons mostly are in captivity, aud,
in order to prevent him from injuring
a number of smaller monkeys which
inhabited the same cage, he was fast
ened in one corner by a chain, which
allowed him to roam over about one
| fourth of the whole available space.
| His fellow-prlsoners were perfectly
aware of the exact limits within which
1t was safe to venture, and used to ag-
! gravate their tyrant intensely by sit
ting just about two inches outside the
magic boundary, and ostentatiously
eating the nuts, &c, supplied to them
by the visitors. This proceeding al
ways reused the insulted baboon to
| furious anger, and, after spluttering
out quantity of what L imagine was
monkey bad language, he would gather
i up quantity of straw from the floor
of the cage, and hurl it with all his
might at the offending ANIMALS. For
this operation, however, he invariably
employed both hands; and therefore it
could not be properly described as a
throw.
Certain monkys are considered as
sacred in India to this day; and it is in
ter esting to find that balloons we're
among the animals held in special rev.
erence by the srcient Egyptians. who
even in some cases elevated them to
the rank of actual gods. Sometimes"
says Sir Gardner Wilkinson, ''a Cyno-
cephatus 4. e., dog headed baboon)
placed on a throne as q god holds a
sacred ibis in its hand; and in the judg-
ment scenes of the dead it frequently
occurs seated on the summit of the
balance as the emblem of 1hoth, who
Lad an important Office on that occa-
sion, and registered the account of the
actions of the deceased. The place
where this aniaal was particularly
sacred was Hermopolis, the city of
Thoth. Thebes and the other towns
also treated it with the respect due to
the representative of the Egyptian
Hermes, and in the metropolis of the
capital of Upper Egypt particular
spot was set aside as the cemetery Of
the sacred apes. Mummies Of tho
| Cyno cephalus were put up in sitting
posture, which is usually that given to
the animals in the sculptures when
representing the god Thoth; and its
head forms one of the covers of the
four sepulchral vases depicted in the
tCmbs of the dead"
I HABTTUAL drunkards are cared for in
singular and withal effective manner