The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-18

1892. remaining in the jungle for two
years. His second visit was in 1895,
and this time he has been away about
two years, but only six months of that
period was spent in the jungle.
widest Part of French Congo.
His cage was situated In the widest
part of the Frencho Congo. Great care
was exercised not to place 1t on the ele-
plant tracks. lest the big beasts should
become too curious, for the professors
bars were not elephant proof. The
hardships undergone by the scientist
were terrible. Often he was without
food, and he had fever thirty-one times
in eleven months. Sickness and pri-
vations reduced his weight almost 100
pounds, but he told a reporter for the
North American yesterday that he had
regained his normal health.
People must not expect too much OF
the monkey language" said the profess
sor. Thought must exist before the
speech is invented to express II. and
necessarily the monkeys range of
thought is limited
Speech is only the oral expression
of thought, and so | was studying the
simian thoughts as we'll as language.
For purposes of comparison separate
thought. To the human perception
there are something like 125 concepts.
To the monkey conception there are
seven. That shows the difference be-
tween the monkey intellect and the
human intellect, and should also con-
vey some idea of the extremely crude
condition of their language"
Prof. Garner says that the monkeys
are not at all grammatical. Their
xNs.. n1a aFA ~ taf In nh acAo NJ
sentences, but they are sticklers on
pronunciation. You never hear CHM
panzee dropping his RS" or sighting
his his for instance. The language
is Volapuk among that species of NOM
key, but there Is no general language
for the different species or for the
monkeys and the birds or the leopards
or the snakes.
Chimpansee Next to Man.
During his last visit Prof. Garner
confined his attention almost entirely
to the chtmpanzee, which, he says. is
next to man in point of reasoning pow
er. He did not have much luck with
the gorilla. The gorilla, he says, Is
the Indian of the Jungle He is ex-
tremely tactiturn and stoical, and never
speaks unless II Is absolutely neces-
sary, and then as IL 1t were a great
effort. For this reason the professor
had little or no conversation with them.
If chimpanzee wants to say:
Come, let us go unto the river and
drink" he doesn't say 1t in so many
words but he merely gives peculiar
grunt which means water, thirst, and
come along IL you want to. If he de-
sires to remark to a neighbor that IL
is dinner time, he gives another grunt,
which the professor has registered In
his photograph. and which means that
he is about to begin search for
cocoanut, or an ant or anything else
that will allay the pangs of hunger.
The chimpanzee is very polite mon
key. If you give him something he
Is particularly anxious to get he VIII
calculate "Nwa" pronounced short a.
with a French accent, although the
professor does not claim any relation
ship between the languages). meaning
thank you" If he acquires the OBJ
ject through his own exertions, he Will
also say "Nwa," the professor inter-
preting this to mean that he rs either
grateful to himself, or that the word
when used in that connection signifies
good" or 'hurrah,' or some similar
expression of gratified emotion.
.,Nwa. Means Mother.
The natives have a word, "Nwe,"
(short Cd, which means mother and
they insist that the monkey "Nwa"
means mother, too, but the professor
scouts this Interpretation. He did not
say so, but 1t is generally believed that
his pet chimpanzee, Jose, told him
that there was no truth in 1t. He adj
mits however that "NWa"--goOd,
thank you. hurrah"-may be a deriv-
alive of "Nwe,-mother-in the sense
that all good things come from mother.
The professor expects to make an
other trip to the French Congo in the
near future, He thinks he will have
himself Gagged at the same place, ow.-
ing to the fact that he is acquainted
there.