The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1898-01-16
MONKEYS TODIGGOLD
CAPTAIN MOSS WILL WORK THEM IN
KLoNDlKE MINES.

" az RAftft hsAS <@bt+AAAAA NOAO kJENsheN IN
suits of Furs Some of the Advantages
In Using Them.
The strangest sight in the Klondike
this spring will be two dozen monkeys,
equipped with all the paraphernalia of
gold miners, which are now on their way
to the frozen treasure fields on the Yu-
kon under the care Of one of the wealth
lest mine owners in the British en-
pire. The name Of this millionaire who
is going to startle the Klondikers is Cap
tain Edward Moss, well known club
man III London, who is one Of the most
/ important operators Of goldfelds il
South Africa. He has secured large
interest in one of the Canadian mining
companies.
This corps of "a monkeys is intend
ed by Captain Moss to be but the van
guard Of an army of these animals. AS
soon as the first installnent is put to
work successfully on the claims his
syndicate controls he promises to have
more monkeys ready to do manual la
Dor, the duties of foreman and over
seers being performed as at present by
| trustworthy men.
While the idea of having monkeys
act the part of miners is startling in
America, Captain Moss says that he has
had them working right along on his
claims in the Transvaal for the past
four years. In an interview Captain
Moss said: "The advantages to mine
owner Of having his claims worked by
monkeys rather than by human laborers
| are many. Monkeys do not know enough
to be dishonest. They will not hide any
of the precious metal that they find, for
even if they were to steal it they would
not have any possible use for it. This
is by far the greatest advantage the EN-
ployment Of monkeys possesses over the
use of men.
The monkeys never attempt to hide
the metal they find, or to store it away
The hunt for gold seems to have a per-
feet fascination for them, and they
show a greedy rivalry in the rapidity
at which they can get up pile.
| In the second place, they work like
Trojans all the time they are allowed
to look for gold, and they need no urg-
ing from owner or from overseer. The
/ latter has 10 other matter to trouble his
mind than to pick out the spot where
he wishes tho monkeys to conduct opor-
ations.
"a third great advantage in tho en-
| ployment of monkeys is the immense
difference in cost. a human laboror de-
mands fabulously high wages. whether
he succeeds in finding good ore or not.
| Besides these high wages he insists up
on the best of food no matter what the
market conditions are and what prices
his employer is forced to pay for them.
| All this is different when monkeys are
| employed. They can be purchased out
| right for next TO nothing, and besides
requiring no wages they need much
less expensive food and seem thankful
! for whatever is given them.
again, the employment of monkeys
is more advantageous, because they are
steady workers and not liable to go off
on long sprees at critical moments when
| help is needed badly and no labor mar
let is at hand from which to re-enforce
the shift.
"With my experience of several years
with these animals have yet to learn
a single thing not in their favor, except
! the fact that it usually requires nearly
| four monkeys to do work equivalent to
that done by one man. Anticipate that
! the "a monkeys | am sending to the
| klondike Will do the work of seven
ablebodied men. They do class of
| ,,,Orly bo4 do
they. They often render valuable aid
when man is useless. They are very
diligent in gathering up the small pieces
| of quartz that would be passed unno-
| ticed by the worllmen and piling them
up in little heaps that can be easily
taken up with the shovel and thrown
/ into the mill. Their keen eyes are sharp
to see the small PARTICLES that the human
eye would pass over
The only monkey that is fitted for
mining in the klondilze, Captain Moss
/ claims, is the South African monkey
called the black orang, which bears a
! strong resemblance to man both in gen
eral stature aud length of limbs, as we'll
as the shape Of its head. Its arms are a
great deal longer than a man S, and its
hands have much more grasp and these
facts, together with the advantage the
black orang has of being perfectly at
home when lying on its stomach, make
it better equipped as Il successful miner
Its eyes can be kept closely to the
ground, its reach is longer, and it can
in many eases dispense with pick and
shovel on account Of its unusual hands.
Captain Moss is giving his monkeys
peculiar diet to inure them to the ex-
/ treme cold of the Klondille. Besides
fitting them up with fur clothing, they
will be kept fat on plenty of oily food
such as the Eskimos live upon chiefly
and which is abundant and cheap in
the arctic circle.
/ The way i'll which Captain Moss came
to have monkeys working on his South
African claims is interesting. He had
two monkeys that We're great pets.
/ Whenever he went to dig gold in the
mines, they were constantly following
him about the mines. One day he saw
them busily engaged in gathering up
r,ia.a1 Of ouaptr 1t,l ,,4,tyf,,t, 4t,,r,,