Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

diameter, and two feet deep. They are always full of a very falt water, but never ran over. Dip out as much as you pleate, there is no apparent diminution; the deficiency is inftantly fupplied: and about ten feet lower down the hill, there ises a fpring of pure and fresh water. When thefe regions become peopled, the trantportation of this rock-falt will be perfectly eafy, by means of the Arkanfas. Experience has proved it to be prefer able to every other kind in curing proviLions.

St. Louis of the Illinois,
March 1805.

For the Monthly Magazine. OBST RVATIONS on the STRATAGEMS, &c. of APES and MONKIES, in a WILD STATE, and in CAPTIVITY. NDEPENDENTLY of the general form of these animals, and of their exterual and internal organization, which in many refpects prefent a ftriking and hunutrating refemblance to thofe of men, their playfulness, their frolics, and game bols, have in all ages attracted the notice of mankind. Some naturalifts have afferted, that they are capable of reafontar and reflecting; and that they are guided by an inftinétive fagacity much foperior to that of the brute creation in general. They are, however, certainly deftitute of every effential faculty of man: incapable as well of thought as of fpeech, there is an immenfe interval betwixt the creature formed in mind after the image of God, and these mere brutes, bearing fome rude traits of the elemental parts of the human frame.

Every one will acknowledge that, in general, both apes and monkies are excetively ugly. Their limbs are pecularly strong; and they have great delight in breaking, tearing in pieces, or ftealing whatever comes in their way. In all their operations and manoeuvres, their agility is attonithing. Whenever any thing offends or throws them into a paffion, they indicate their rage by chattering violently with their teeth. Many of them, if beaten, will figh, groan, and weep, like children; but most of them, on thefe occafions, utter dreadful fhrieks of diftrefs. They make fuch ridiculous grimaces, place themselves in fuch ftrange and whimsical attitudes, and in other respects conduct themfelves fo fingularly, that few perfons, even of those who moft dilike them, can on thefe occafions refrain from fmiling, and nearly all must be manufed by them.

It is faid, that there are fome races of monkies which keep up a certain difcipline among themfelves. Though active in the highest degree in pillaging plantations and cultivated grounds, they feldom go on important expeditions for this purpose but in numerous troops. If they meditate an attack (for inftauce) on a melon bed, a large party of them enters the garden. The animals range themfelves, if poffible, under a hedge or fence, at fome diftance from each other, and throw the melons, from hand to hand, with aftonishing rapidity. The line they form ufually terminates in a mountain or foreft, and all their operations are executed during the most profound filence.

Water tells us, that when he was on flore in the island of Gorgonia, he obferved feveral monkies (of the four-fingured fpecies) come down, at low water, to the rocks of the fea coaft, for the purpofe of devouring oyiters. They got at the food contained within the hells, by placing one oyfter on a stone, and beating it in pieces with another. The malbrouk of Bengal (Simia Faunus of Linnæus) is reported to do the fame.

Many of thefe animals, and particularly the preacher, and four-fingered monkies (Simia beelzebul and Simia panifcus of Linnæus), have fometimes dreadful contentions, in which great numbers on both fides are frequently flain. They employ weapons in their combats; and often arm themfelves with tones and pieces of wood, which they throw with fure aim, and aftonishing violence, at each other. They have, on thefe occafions, neither deferters nor ftragglers; for in times of danger they never forfake each other. They run along the plains, and even leap from tree to tree, with furprizing rapidity.

The inflincts and fagacity of thefe animals are, in many inftances, fuch as not to be injured or diminished even by captivity. In fome houfes we fee the wanderu (Simia Silenus of Linnæus), a cunning and audacious monkey, much inclined to ridicule and grimace. He may be taught to drefs and undrefs himfelf, to fpin, to poke the fire, to puth s wheel-barrow, or play on a tambourine. He will wath earthen veffels or glaffes without breaking them, and carry light burthens from place to place, whenever he is ordered to do fo. A monkey of this fpecies has been obferved to turn a fpit with one hand, whilft with the other he held a piece of bread under the meat

to

to receive the gravy: it is perhaps needlefs to remark, that he immediately afterwards devoured it.

A wanderu was exhibited at Bourdeaux, in the year 1762, which by his actions excited much aftonishment in the spectators. When mounted on an extended cord, he first firetched out each of his feet to have them chalked; then, taking in his hand a pole weighted at each end (fimilar to the balance employed by rope-dancers), he walked backward and forward, cut capers, and executed numerous other tricks, with infinitely greater eafe and celerity than the moft expert rope-daucer that had be

fore been feen.

The monkies, however, that are train ed and educated by fome of the Indian buffoon, are reported to be by far the moft agile and ad:oit of all animals that are reared in captivity.

Some of the apes, fuch as the oran otans, the patas, and the dog-faced apes, are faid always to place a centinel on the top of a tree, or on fome other clevated fituation, to keep watch when the reft are either about to fleep or to engage in any marauding expedition, The motions or the cry of this animal are a fignal of danger, and immediately the whole troop fcampers off with the utmoft rapidity. It has been afferted, but few perfons will be inclined to credit the affertion, that the centinels are often punished with death for neglecting their duty.

The Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope fometimes catch young apes by ftratagem, or by previoufly killing their dam, and bring them up with care for the purpofe of rendering them afterwards ferviceable. When they have attained their growth, they are taught to guard the houfe of their owner, during the night, and on all occafions of his abfence. This they do with great fidelity; but as they increafe in age, their mifchievous propenfities develope them felves, and they oftentimes become extremely ill-tempered and ferocious. Thefe apes, which are of the urfine fpecies, are fo much inclined to imitation, that they feldom fee any thing done without attempting to do the fame. Some of them are very flubborn and perverfe; but many are readily fufceptible of edu cation, learning, without difficulty, almost every thing that is taught them.

Condamine and Bouger law, in Peru, fome domefticated monkies of large uze,

which had been admitted into the apartments of the academicians, during the time they were employed in making obfervations in the mountains. Thefe animals greatly excited the astonishment of the academicians, by afterwards, of their own accord, going through a feries of imitations. They planted the fignals, ran to the pendulum, and then immediately to the table, as if for the purpofe of committing to paper the oblervations they had made. They occafionally pointed the telescopes towards the heavens, as if to view the planets or ftars, and performed numerous other feats of a fimilar nature.

The whimfical occurrence which took place before the troops of Alexander the Great, is too fingular and too amuting to be paffed over in filence. The foldiers under command of this monarch always marched in order of battle. They happened one night to encamp on a mountain, that was inhabited by a numerous tribe of monkies. On the following morning, they faw at a diftance what appeared to be an immenfe body of troops approaching them, as if with the intention of coming to an engagement. The commanders, as well as the foldiers, were in the utmoft aftonishment. Having entirely fubdued the prince of the country, they could not conceive from whence this new force could have come; they had not previously been informed of any thing of the kind. The alarm was immediately given, and in a fhort time the whole Macedonian army was drawn up in battle-array, to combat with this unexpected enemy. The prince of the country, who was a prifoner in the camp, was interrogated refpecting it. He was surprised to be informed of fuch a force in the neighbourhood, and requefted permiflion to behold it himself. He fmiled at the mistake; and the Macedonians were not a little chagrined that they thould have been fuch fools as to take a troop of thefe imitative animals for a band of armed men.

All the apes and monkies are reported to entertain a natural averfion and antipathy to the crocodile. It is faid, that fome of them will even faint at feeing or fmelling the ikin of one of thefe frightful reptiles.

The animals of that fubdivifion of the tribe denominated japajous have long tails, which they cau coil up, and employ (in fome refpects, but particularly in defcending trees,) as a hand. By means

of

of their tails, they are alfo able to fwing themfolves backward and forward amongit the branches of trees.

Monkies are feldom known to produce young ones, except in hot climates. The Barbary apes, however, (Simia inuus of Linnæus), which are found wild at Gibraltar, bring young ones in great abundance amongit the inacceflible precipices of the rock. A female of this fpecies has also been known to produce offspring in a ftate of captivity, at one of the hotels in Paris. A ftriated monkey (Simia jacchus) brought forth young ones in the houfe of a merchant at Libon, and another in that of a lady in Paris. Female monkies generally carry their young ones nearly in the fame manner as negreffes do their children. The little animals cling to the back of their dam by their hind feet, and embrace the neck with their paws. When the females fuckle them, it is faid that they hold them in their arms, and prefent the teat as a woman would to a child.

Moakies ufually live in much more extentive troops than apes. The troops of patas, or red monkies of Senegal, are reported to amount fometimes to as many as three or four thoufand. Some naturalifts believe that they form a fort of republic, in which a great degree of fabordination is kept up; that they always travel in good order, conducted by chiefs, the ftrougett and most experienced animals of their troop; and that, on thefe occafions, fome of the largest monkies are likewife placed in the rear, the found of whofe voice immediately filences that of any of any of the others that happen to be too noify. The or derly and expert retreat of thefe crea tores from danger, is an amufing fight to Europeans, unaccustomed to the native manners of fuch animals. The negroes believe them to be a vagabond race of men, who are too indolent to conftruct babitations to live in, or to cultivate the ground for fubfiftence. They fometimes commut dreadful havoc in the fields and gardens of perfons who inhabit the countries where they abound.

The diferent fpecies of monkies are fehlom known to intermix or affociate gether, but each tribe generally inhabits a different quarter. The negrocs who have not been taught the ufe of fre-arms, are faid to kill them by fhooting them in the face with arrows. But nt often imppens, when the fopajaus are flot, that in the act of falling from the tree they feize hold of a branch with MONTHLY MAC, No. 154.

their tail, and, dying in this fituation, continue fufpended even for a long time after death. When a monkey of fome of the larger fpecies is wounded, the reft will frequently collect together, and with great fury purfue the hunters to their huts or lodgments.

It was formerly fuppofed that man was the only animal which could be infected by the finall-pox and mealles; but it is now afcertained that monkies, kept in houles where thefe complaints prevail, are alfo liable to receive the infection.

In the year 1767, the inhabitants of Saint Germain-en-Laie, near Paris, were witnefs to a monkey's catching the fmallpox, by playing with children who were infected, and the animal bore the marks of it for a confiderable time afterwards. A circumftance nearly fimilar was obferved alfo at Paris. M. Paulet, a medical man of fome eminence, was called upon, in 1770, to attend a perfon who had the mealles. As the difeafe was contagious, he requested that every poffible precaution might be taken to prevent it from fpreading; and particularly that a monkey, accustomed to play with the children of the houfe, fhould on no account have any communication with the invalid. The request was made too late. One of the fick perfon's fifters, and at the fame time alfo the monkey, which had been accustomed to fleep at the foot of her bed, was attacked by the difeafe. The monkey, in confequence, was treated in the fame manner as a human fubject. M. Paulet, on examining the ftate of the animal's pulfe, found it fo quick that it was fcarcely poffible to count the pulfations. In the axillary artery, thefe were much more fenfible than in any other; and he declared that, as nearly as he could count them, they were about five hundred in a minute. We ought to remark, that this monkey was of very low ftature, and that, in all animals, the shorter they are the quicker is their pulfe. Thefe facts, which are well authenticated, fufficiently prove (independently of others) that the small-pox and meailes are not difeafes entirely confined to the human fpecies; but that animals, as well as men, are liable to receive the infection from them. Numerous inftances have occurred of the fmail-pox being communicated to ani from animals. Thofe from cattle are now well known. A fhepherd infected with the finall-pox has been known to communicate the difeafe to his theep, and thefe theep to thofe of another

R

flock,

leaft in fome degree) in their habits of

flock. A horfe has been obferved to be covered with the puftules of the fimall-life from thofe of the old world. The pox. Goats are fometimes attacked by it, and, when this is the cafe, great numbers generally perifh. (See Roder. à Caftro, lib. 4. de Meteor. Microc. cap. 6.) This dreadful contagion is likewife frequently known to extend to the flocks of rein deer in Lapland.

Such is a fuminary of the principal obfervations that have been tranfmitted to us by different travellers, refpecting the manners and habits of life of the animals which conftitute this interefting tribe; and from what has been faid, it appears that they have a nearer alliance than any other quadruped (in the general conformation of their bodies) to the human race. They confequently have the art of imitating human actions better than any others, fince they are able to ufe their fore-feet as hands. From the general organization of the monkies, they are likewife capable of an education ncarer allied to that of man, than any other animal. Some naturalifts have attributed infinitely too much fagacity to them, whilft others have certainly not allowed enough. The monkies feem to do thofe things which mankind do before their reafon is matured by age; and in this refpect there is no other quadruped which bears any refemblance to them. Moft animals feem at times to be actuated by the fpirit of revenge: by the different means that are employed to gratify this paffion, we may in a meafure judge of the different degrees of their inftinct; and every one knows how greatly the monkey exceeds all other brates in its vindictive malice. There appears, in fome measure, an analogy even betwixt the vices (if we may fo call them) of the monkies, and the difguiting brutality too often obfervable in the vicious and degraded part of mankind.

The animals of the monkey tribe differ very eflentially from each other in their general manners and habits of life. The oran otun is fufceptible of more confiderable attainments than any of the others. The fort muzzled monkies, with long tails, fuch as the greater part of the guenons, Japajous, and fagoins, are for the mott part exceedingly tractable, and receive a certain degree of inftruction without much difficulty. But fome of the apes, and baboons, with long muzzles, are fo lavage and ferocious as to be in capable of any education whatever.

The monkies of the new contineat, as might naturally be fuppofed, differ (at

Great Author of Nature has alligned to them feveral characteristics that are peculiar to themselves: fuch, amongst others, are the fituation and feparation of the nafal orifices; and the prefence of two additional grinders in each jaw. We, likewife, are acquainted with no fpecies of monkey, belonging to the ancient world, that has a preheutile tail, or the bony pouch obfervable in the throat of the preacher monkey and the arabata, (Simia beclacbul and Simia feniculus of Linnæus).

In fome countries monkies, even in their wild flate, are rendered ferviceable to mankind. It is faid, that in ditiricts where pepper and cocon grow, the inhabitants, availing themfelves of the imitative faculties and the agility of the monkies, are able to procure an infinitely greater quantity of thefe articles than they could do by any other means. They mount fome of the lowest branches of the trees, break off the extremities where the fruit grows, and then defcend and carefully range them together on the ground. The animals afterwards afcend the fame trees, ftrip the branches all the way to the top, and difpofe them in a fimilar manner. After the monkies have gone to rett, the Indians return and carry off the spoil.

In fome places, it is this inclination to imitate human actions which leads to their deftruction. The Indians carry in their hands veffels filled with water, and rub their faces with it, in the prefence of the monkies; then fubitituting a kind of glue instead of water, leave the veffels behind them, and retire. The obfervant creatures feize the veffels, and do the fame; when the glue, adhering frongly to their hair and eyelids, completely blinds them, and prevents every poffibility of their effecting an efcape.

In other places, the natives take to the habitations of the monkies a kind of boots, which they put on and pull off their legs feveral times fuccellively. Thefe are then rubbed over in the infide with a ftrong glue; and when the monkeys attempt to do the fame, they are unable to difengage themfelves, and, confequently are caught without difiiculty.

Sometimes the inhabitants carry in their hands a mirror, and appear to amufe themfelves by looking at it in different attitudes. In place of thefe they leave a kind of traps, not unlike

the glades in external appearance, which, when the animals take them up, feize and feme theid by the paws.

The inhabitants of St. Vinceut le Bane catch monkies in feveral kinds of traps and fhares. Sometimes, when they have caught the young ones, they put them into a cage, and appear to teaze and torment them, in order that they may likewife catch the parents.

The bunters of fome countries place near the haunts of monkies veffels containing trong and intoxicating liquors. The animals drink of them, and in a fhort time become fo drunk as to lie down on the spot and fall asleep.

Some of the Indians afcend to the firmmits of the mountains in which the and breed, and conftruct there a pile of wood, round the bafe of which they pread a quantity of maize. They place in the pile fome fubftance, which, on being expofed to heat, explodes with tremendous noife. This is contrived to explode during the time that the monkies aro employed in devouring the maize, and, in the terror and aftonifhment, the old animals fcamper off on all pides with the utmost rapidity, leaving their young ones a prey to the hunters.

The dexterity of moukies is fuch, that, although burthened by their offspring ringing to their backs, they can leap from tree to tree, if the diflance is not very great, and fecure their hold among the branches with the greatest certainty. When they perceive any perfon taking aim at them, either with or bow,

of these animals. We are affured by Condamine, that in Cayenne the monkies are the kind of gaine that is more frequently purfued than any other; and that the Indians of the country bordering on the river of the Amazon's are pe☛ culiarly foud of their fleth. Their fat is cftecmed a fovereign remedy for tiffness in the joints. In the Portuguefe fettlements in South America, powdered monkies' bones are contidered an excellent fudorific, and likewife as anti-venereal, In the gall-bladder of one or two of the Indian Species (but particularly of the doric and wanderu), a kind of gall-stone is fometimes found. Thefe, fays Tavernier, the natives have been known to fell for as much as a hundred crowns each. They will not, in general, permit then to be exported out of their country as articles of commerce, but chiefly preferve them as an invaluable prefent to foreign ambaladors residing amongst them. They are confidered to poffefs all the properties that have been attributed to the moft precious of the bezoar ftones.

[blocks in formation]

For the Monthly Magazine. ORATION delivered by BENJAMIN MILNE, ESQ. COLLECTOR of his MAJESTY'S CUSTOMS at BRIDLINGTON, on the first EXHIBITION of the NEW LIGHTS at FLAMBOROUGH-HEAD.*

OME, in the of power,

they cry out and grind their teeth lone R enriched with the plunder of cou

times in the mott horrible manner. They are often able to avoid the arrows that are thot at them, and fometimes they even catch them in their hands. When any one of their community is thot, and falls to the ground, all the reft fet up a difinal and tremendous howl, which makes all the adjacent mountains and woods refound. If a monkey is wounded, and does not fall, it frequently happens that his companions will feize and carry it off far beyond the reach of their enemy and miferable is the fate of that kater who is imprudent enough to venture near their haunts during that fame day. When the animals re-afcend the trees, they each carry a tone in their hands, and generally another in their this; and, in fuch cafe, thefe are thrown at their adverfary with a cor pectness of aim that is truly astonishing,

The talabitants of feveral countries dens a means of fubfiftence from the fleth

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »