New-York tribune., 1910-08-22
KNOWS ALL MONKEY TALK
Garner. After Seven Years Study
in Jungle, Tells of Experience.
TAUGHT ANIMAL ONE WORD
Chimpanzee Knew Fire and All
Distinguished Shades of Color
Brings Fine Specimen.

A modest student of human and near
human nature, with the patience OF the
proverbial Job, came back to civilization
last night on the French liner La Tour
aine after a sojourn of seven years with
gorilas in the wilds of Africa. He was
laughed at and ridicued for his enterprise,
he said. but he remained with the simians
for seven long years and was able yester-
day to tell some things of the hairy tribe
and to support them with practical demon
strations.
The unassuming traveller was Professor
r. L. Garner, of Philadelphia. He was ac-
companied by a gentle little travelling
companion named Susie. who was described
by the women passengers of the Touralne
as the dearest. cutest little monkey-lady
that ever came out of the jungle
Professor Garner was not eXtravagant In
his assertions about his studies in the
fronded African suburbs where the friends
and relatives of the missing link abound
He said he had found that the chimpanzees
and gorillas have language with Vo-
cabulary of about twenty or twenty-five
words; understand eventually sentences
spoken to them continually and are aple
to distinguish not only coloTs, but shades
of the same color. Practically all his as
sertions, he said, he could prove with the
little Seven-month-old chimpanzee, Susie
who accompanied him from Lake Fernan
Vaz, In the French Congo The only thlnS
which surprised Professor Garner during
the voyage from Havre was the realization
that the sweetest and cXest Susie made
love to Armand, the big French butcher,
on La Touraine.
Animals Answer His Calls.
Professor Garner set sail for Cape Lopez
or the " est African coast. some years ago.
He left Philadelphia on September 2S, 1908,
and throughout the seven years he mas
moved about among the monkey tribe, OBJ
serving them from within steel wire cage
of two cubic metres.
The wanderings of this modern Ulysses.
with two tribesmen and two rifles, led him
through wild sections for radius of about
one hundred miles. He lived on fruits and
vegetables exclusively, and, indeed, planted
a fine garden at Lake Fernan Vaz. which
served the double purpose of feeding him
and attracting the gorillas and CHM
panzees he wished to observe. He learned
something of their monkey business and
their monkey talk and was able to initiate
them. Often he would call out to his chat
tering neighbors and they would answer
him from the trees and underbrush. They
never came when he called, but they an
swered.
He made friends with many monkeys
taken when young, and while he seldom
locked them up they roamed about his
camp, making no attempt to escape into
the jungle. While moving about to a new
camp, however. he lost his steel cage, which
fell from an upturned canoe, and he had to
build another out Of bamboo and native
woods.
Professor Garner said yesterday that the
chimpanzee has some memory and much
affection, but that the gorilla has practi-
Cally no memory at all, and when in cap
tivity has to be kept under guard. He saw
three splendid specimens of gorilla, he said,
that were about six feet tall and averaged
about three hundred pounds in weight.
Teaches Chimpanzee One Word
He said he had a male chimpanzee called
Moses who could talk. His vocabulary
consisted OF one word. ''feu," which is
French for fire. The animal. he declared.
could say this word distinctly and would
always repeat it whenever he lighted a
match or held I'D blazing stick from the
camp fire.
ments. each covered with a lid Of green or
red or blue or yellow. he found that the
chmpanzee could distinguish color. He
said he often put a piece of sugar in the
compartment with a red lid and then turn
the box over TO the monkeys to open. Ac-
customed to finding the sugar under the red
lid, the little monkey pupils would invari-
ably open the right cover When he shifted
to green or yellow. according TO the color
used for the days experiments, the mon
keys would recognize the color under which
the sugar lay and get it.
Monkeys have a sense of ownership, he
said, and seldom intrude upon one another
families or particular dwelling places. Pro-
fessor Garner will take Susie to the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania within few days and
give demonstrations there of his obserVa-
tons in the jungle He has been studying
the monkey for twenty years.