Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-07
Prof. Carriers Third
Trip to Africa.
HE WILL GO OVER EARLY IN THE YEAR TO INCREASE HIS PRESENT
STOCK OF TEN MONKEY WORDS.

Professor Garner, of monkey talk fame,
has devoted all his spare time in a busy life
to learning the language of those animals:
and for three years he spent almost his en-
tire time in the heart of the African for
ests with no other object in view than to
listen to the chattering of these semi-human
creatures in all effort to make himself ia
miliar with their vocabulary.
AS a result of this he has learned ten
words of the monkey tongue.
We know about how many words the aT-
erage man uses in conversation. And when
that number is put alongside the limited
number of words Professor Garner has ac-
quired, after a life's work, one cannot help
wondering just how long it will be before
the gorillas and chimpanzees that hear the
professor talk will stop remarking to each
other that his conversation sounds like
the idiotic combinations of words in foreign
languages that are strung together at the
back of European guide books.
THE NEXT TRIP
Professor Garner intends making another
trip to Africa-his third one. He had con-
templated starting on this expedition in
May of last year, but the war made such
a thing inadvisable. To reach the place he
has chosen for his further Investigation OF
the monkey language he would have had to
pass through Spanish territory and live
under the protection of the French govern
UQeII. anu d lHdl llllIt liz IlSiISil 4
tude was an unknown quantity.
Now, however, these difficulties do not
exist, and the famous naturalist will start
in May for a three-years' stay in his former
camp, on the shores of Lake ~Farnanou1a,
about 100 miles south of the equator. in
western Africa. The specific purpose OF the
present expedition is to take q course in
the language of the chimpanzeeS and the
native pigmies.
According to Professor Garner, the Chin
panzee's dialect consists of 40 words. 1t Is
dialect" for Garner is authority for the
statement that each of the several Narie-
ties of the monkey tribes Of Africa have q
language of their own.
In his two previous visits, as he laid the
foundations of a knowledge of the CHM
panzee dialect, it seems probable that al
the end of the present three years eNpedi-
ton he will have acquired Il complete mas
terry of the tongue.
GARNER'S OUTFIT.
The professors outfit is rather different
from that of most explorers. In addition TO
the conventional OUTFIT of an African OK
plorer. his kit contains a huge wire cage;
a number of reed instruments that are not
unlike those which are classcd by musicians
when speaking of an orchestra as the
"wood-wind;'' ard a monograph.
Upon the photograph the professor lays
great stress, ana he counts upon it very
heavily to aid him IN fixing the sounds Of
the Silnian language.
The principal disappoir .ment of the last
expedition to professor Garner was inc an
sence Of a monograph, which had been
promised him. but which did not reach him
before he plunged into the wilderness. His
steel cage. which is a tritla over six feet
square, is still in good condition to be erect
ed in the chimpanzec country.
The reed Instruments he devised to pro-
duce some of the S.mian sounds which he
found impossible to produce with the hu-
mar vocal organs. Whether he will over
come this defect during the present trip
and he able to carry on q conversation
without the aid of his reed instruments is
of no little concern to those who believe in
his theory.
What may be called the Garnerian theory
about monkey talk may be summed III
thus:
GARNERS THEORY.
The sounds uttered by monkeys arc vol
untary, deliberate and articulate.
They are always used with the purpose o
being understood.
A monkey is conscious Of his own mean
ing, and expects that meaning to be under
stood by his interiOcutOr.
He understands the sounds made by otae
monkeys of his own species and respond
to them.
If a monkey does not get an answer t
the sounds that he utters he repeats tn
same sound until he is answered.