Morning journal and courier., 1894-02-12

jury, and 1t is a common practice with
 them to destroy the hut when angered.
 But 1t may have occurred to Nikitin that
 his statement was too broad. He ex.
 plains, therefore, how monkeys are caught
 with impunity. They have great many children, ''and when a child is unlike Its
 father and mother 1t is thrown out on the high road. Thus they are taken by tho
 Hindus. who teach them every sort of l handicraft, or sell them at night, that they | may not find their way home" He men tions also that ct Shabsr, which appears to 1 have been somewhere near Madras, people | dare not travel at night in the woods for | fear of monkeys-which Is certainly not l exact, since these creatures never move af- l l ter sundown; but if there be a foundation | of truth in the legend, 1t is curious. We | are not aware that any Indian apes at this | day will attack passsr-by unless grsvely provoked. But there are plenty elsewhere | that will. When diamonds were first discovered in South Africa, Europeans hocking to that thinly psopled region became aware of an ! annoyance, not to say danger, which they
 had not reckoned among the chances of the | journey. Many a lonely kloof was frs- quented by a tribe of apes, which dwelt
 among the rocks above, and descended to
 feed-many do still, no doubt, but not on
 the beaten track. In summer weather dig
 gers campsd out and started at sunrise,
 rested during the heat, and resumed in the
 late afternoon-the feeding times. AS of-
 ten as not the big male epes gathered
 pr omptly o defend the pass. We never l beard of a serious accident on authority,
 though plenty are reported. The brutes
 are not less formidable in appearance than
 in fact, and when, at a flight of stones,
 they charge, roaring and screaming, trsv-
 elers are rarely SO stupid as to face them.
 In 1871 there was defile in the district of
 Albania which had bsen closed by apes for
 several years. Neither Boers nor Ecglish
 settlers willingly Rseail them, owing, we
 understand, to a belief that they avenge ) | themselves upon the crops of the aggres-
 sor. Unless MT. Manefeld Parkyns ex-
 sggerated the intelligence and discipline J of their kinsfo'k in Abyesinia this notion is not so absurd-if, as Is always proba- ble, the aggressor's crops were those near ! est to the colony.
 MT. Parkyns says that he often watched : them descending the rocks to feed. The old males go frst-some of them scout on
 either flank, and all climb every eminence l near the line of march, to aseure them selves that the route is safe. After recon 3 noitering, they gave orders in such diff , ferent tones of voice that each must have ! a special meaning. The elders are silent when advancing; but the main body, fe- males and young, keep up an incessant chatter, playing and feeding ss they go, 3 unlsss brought to an instantaneous halt by /; signal. Behind follows the rear guard of ! males, who drive loiterers on sharply t On reaching the corn-fields the scouts take
 ] posts all round, while ali the rest fall tt
 pluudering with the utmost expedition
 filling their cheek pouches as full as they
 will hold, and thsn tucking the heads o il corn under their srmpits." Mr. ParKyn 2 never saw a scout leave his place, whe @ h.
 cannot feed, until the foray is over and h.
 resumes his duties on the homswart r march. Evidently they must be allowed is share of the booty carried off. Au un " failing instinct tells them where to sesrol ,. for water, and they dig for it with thei
 hands, one relieving another if the wor y be prolonged. Lsopsrds are the great en y emy, but they seldom dare attack full r. grown animal. This species is not so pug :, nacious as the South African, perhaps bt y cause food Is more abundant and they ar T. more familiar with human beings. The st withdraw at sight of men, though they a D. tack dogs, and sometimes women, if slon' MT. Parkyns saw striking instance ( 7 their intelligence at Khartum. A shoV gs man there told him to watch, and then le Is his apo towards s basket of dates in tt s. market. The creature never looked st 1 but while performing edged olcser su AS closer. t'Suddenly he started up from u an ground on which he was lying, stretchs at ! like corpse, and uttefing a cry of pa sn or rage, fixed his eyes tull on the face Is the date seller, and then, without movir
 the rest of his body. stole ss many dat n- as he could hold in one of his hind hands la, The seller, being stared out of count ri. nanca, knew nothing of it This was re en son unquestionabIy, and of complex c ,ta der.