The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-06
WHERE MEN TALK TO MONKEYS

From the London Standard.
 TT is the firm belief of Mir. James
 Stewart, the Scottish surveyor, who
 A has returned home after spending over three years in darkest Africa, that many of the natives can almost speak
 the monkey language. MT. Stewart travelled through Liberia and parts of the Upper Congo with party of surveyors, and during the> whole of their arduous
 march they killed their dinner every day Sometimes they travelled at the rate of 20 miles daily, sometimes the forests
 were so dense and the obstacles so nu-
 merous that they made no more than a few miles.
 During one of our marches" he said,
 in relating further experiences to a rep resentative, i've had to plough our way through a marsh that rose up above our knees. The boggy nature of some of the country was such that we were splashed
 from head to foot and it was the most
 tresome walk we had in the whole of our journeys. For miles the marsh stretched on all sides; the carriers told
 us that it had never been fully explored,
 and the only way to get to our destina-
 ton was to go through it as quickly as
 we could We went through it-but not quickly. Added to the inconvenience and sodden condition of the land was the ter rble smell of rotten and rotting vegeta- tion We lost one or two of our packages at this stage, for they fell of the heads of our carriers, who stumbled against submerged trees.
 One of them disappeared. too. He was in the rear, and had only light load, but suddenly he was missed from the caravan, and we had to search for him. The natives spread out In semi-circle. and did complete tour around us, sweeping the marsh for radius of about 300 yards. They never found him.
 It was when we were going down the rivers that we made the acquaintance of the monkeys. We could hear them in the forests chattering to each other and call ing plaintively, almost like human beings
 At first I could hardly believe they were monkeys. I thought they were tribes of natives, and some of their cries were
 like those of children who had been frightened It was the weirdest thing to see them swinging along one of the boughs of the trees, hand in hand or grasping each others tails. They would swing together in this fashion. forming bridge right across the stream, and then our carriers would get quite excited. They were very fond of monkey flesh. As we approached the animals the natives would ship their paddles and sit quiet, while the best marksman would hold
 gun so that he could have good aim.
 As rule, he would bring down one of
 the monkeys with a scvreech, and as
 soon as the result of the shot was seen
 some of the men would jump overheard
 and swim to the body. bringing it back
 to the boat in great glee.
 I am convinced that most of these men
 knew the monkey language, if there is such a thing. for their conduct proved it. More than once I have seen a carrier
 and companion go off into the bush car
 rying a gun and walking until they were
 within sight of some of the animals
 Then one would sit down on his launches
 and put his fingers to his lips and nose
 and makes cries which were certainly
 good limitations of the cries we had
 heard from the forest. In little while
 one or two monkeys would come hopping along towards the spot. also calling and
 when near enough the carrier who had
 the gun would fire. and another monkey would be added to the larder.
 More than once the party were saved from death by the natives who always
 kept a sharp lookout for snakes, Most I of these are poisonous, and on one oc- casion snake was found coiled up on
 one of the camp beds just before the owner retired for the night. A native carrier who entered the hut behind the explorer pulled the latter back as he
 was about to sit down on the bed, and.