Year: 1876

The dog and the elephant seem often
to possess a distinct conscience, to do
right or abstain from wrong out of love
or respect for a higher being than them
selves. But a monkey appears to have a
pleasure in mischief for mischiefs sake,
and to torment and vex his friends or
his master is an object for which he will
give himself much trouble, much more
his enemies.


For instance, on board an English man
of-war there was large black monkey
with a long tail, for which the master
had a particular aversion; he was con-
vinced that it would some day get at and
iniure the chronometer of which he was
in charge, and he always kept his room
fast looked One day, however, the
monkey crept in, carried off the chro-
nometer, and rushed up the rigging with
it in his hand, the poor master following
with the tears in his eyes, while all the
sailors in the ship were set to try and
catch the thief. Higher and higher they
climbed, but still the monkey kept above
them, and when they were within an
inch of him he dropped from one part of
the rigging to another, with only
glancing hold on the ropes, where
nothing but a fourarmed beast with a
prehensile tail could follow. At last one
active fellow climbed closer and closer
there was no outlet right or lett, above
or below his hand was almost seizing
the creatures leg, when suddenly the
beast, seeing he was brought to bay,
waved the chronometer viciously over
his head, raised his arm as high as posi-
BILE, and then flung it as far as he could
into the sea.


A monkey on board another English
ship fell overheard in very bad weather.
the sea was SO high that the captain re-
fused to allow a boat to be lowered but
the feeling of the sailors for their pet was
so great that at last he gave way. They
rowed round in vain, and were returning
sadly up the ships side, when they saw
the monkey, which had climbed up by
the chain of the rudder, mocking and
grinning at them for there useless pains,
as he sat on the fgure-head.


Another monkey, one Jocko, much
petted by the sailors, was excessively
Jealous of a white kitten which divided
their affections with himself. One day
the man on the bridge saw him creeping
very stealthily round to where the kit
ten lay asleep in the netting; suddenly
he stretched out his hand and chucked
her overheard before any one could in
terfere "Jocko," said the narrator, an
grily, "was an abominable beast. could
not bear him; he used to get drunk and
play underhand tricks; still he was not
altogether bad. A spaniel on board had
had puppies, with which Jocko was ex-
tremely anxious to play; the mother.
however, would have nothing TO say to
him, and would not allow him to enter
her den. One day, however, she had left
her children alone for a moment, and
coming back found Jocko sitting nursing
all the puppies together in his arms,
great, fat, heavy, numbering Jumps which
he could hardly lift" After this proof
of good intention, the dog mother used
to take her walks about the ship, con-
tentedly leaving her children in his
charge, Jocko seeming to consider him
self regularly installed as nurse


The malice of the monkey is quite as
often shown to his own class as that OF
man above him. 1t is painful to see the
intense pleasure in teasing and hurting
shown by the large and strong to the
weaker and smaller monkeys. Other
animals are cruel and revengeful, but it
is always for some object-to obtain food
or to revenge some injury. In the
monkeys case it is the mere pleasure of
being spiteful. An ape will push a bit
of apple or bun through the cage bars
Just within reach of his neighbor. and
draw it back before he can get at it,
going on for an hour at time for the
mere delight of seeing the anger and dis.
tress and longing of the poor little vic
tim. No other beast seems TO have the
wit or the desire to imagine and enjoy
evil in this manner.


Most of the stories of monkey wit may
be traced to his power of initiating man,
a faculty which he alone possesses among
brutes. The accurate copy of our ges-
lures and actions which enables a mon
key to work out screw with long pains
and care, alter he has seen it inserted. is
a sort OF cleverness in one sense higher
than that of the elephant or the dog,
but it is one purely useless and object