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Darwin
Vindicated
Establishing a Close Relation Between the Human and the Monkey
Anonymous. 1880. Darwin Vindicated. Establishing a Close Relation Between the Human and the Monkey. The National Police Gazette 36(147): 7. [Mimicry leads to monkey's untimely demise]Goldsboro, N.C., July 2. -- One of the most novel executions that ever occurred in this section took place here to-day, the victim of which was a monkey owned by Mr. Rockwell Syrock. The animal was quite a favorite with all the children for miles around and knew most of them. For several years past Jocko's owner has been in the habit of visiting all of the hangings in this portion of the State, taking the mischievous animal with him, who always seemed to take an especial interest in the horrible details of such proceedings.
On the 25th of June Alex. Howard, a negro, was to have been executed here for the murder of an old man, but the Governor respited him. The gibbet was erected, and all the preliminary arrangements made for carrying out the negro's sentence, when the Executive interfered and postponed it. Syrock visited the jail with the monkey and examined these preparations. The animal seemed to be unusually cautious, and watched the scaffold and traps with wistful eyes. Since that time he has been playing hanging in his master's barn. This morning he was found dead, suspended by a clothes line to one of the rafters of the building.
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Anonymous. 1851. Death from the Bite of a Monkey. News of the World, March 23 1851. p. 2
[Infanticidal monkey in Lancashire]An inquest has been held at the Grey Mare Inn, Rochdale, on the body of a child, the son of Mr. Gaskell, the landlord of the above house. It appeared that Mr. Gaskell had purchased a monkey for 18s, and not anticipating any danger from permitting the animal to remain in the house, sufficient caution was not exercised, until a serious disaster happened. The monkey, quite unexpectedly, made a sudden spring, and alighting on the head of the child, bit it so severely, that, notwithstanding the utmost attention of the medical man, the child died from the wound. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned. The monkey has since been destroyed. LANCASHIRE
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Anonymous. 1900. Monkeys Go Hopping. News of the World, August 26, 1900, p.4
[Escaped monkeys hide out in hop fields]An amusing hunt took place in some hop fields, near Tunbridge Wells. As a circus was proceeding along the Hastings-road, several full-sized monkeys escaped from the carriage, and disappeared in the hop fields on either side of the highway. the attendants, a number of cyclists, and some farm hands with dogs pursued the animals for several hours, and the chase proved as diverting as it was novel. The monkeys appeared to be thoroughly at home among the hops, and they were not captured until quite exhausted by the long run they had given their pursuers.
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Anonymous. 1900. -- untitled -- News of the World, Nov. 11, 1900, p. 6
[Should a professor pay the cab fare for his stuffed apes?]Among the many stories told at the New College Jubilee, which has been celebrated by old students from among the Congregational ministry, one of the best was that told by the Rev. Alfred Rowland. It appears that Dr. Lankester had undertaken to explode the hideous suggestion that the origin of man was the monkey, and, with a view to a lecture on the gorilla, brought to the college three stuffed specimens. At the gate a quarrel ensued between the Doctor and the cabman, who demanded four fares! In explaining afterwards Dr. Lankester said: -- "It was not that I objected to pay; but it was the impudence of the fellow in insisting that these gorillas, brought for the purpose of showing they were not our relatives, were yet to be treated as paying guests."
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Anonymous. 1900. Rector and His monkey. Weekly Dispatch, Feb 11, 1900, p.8
[A priest's monkey bites child]Is a monkey domesticated or a wild animal? This was made a test point in a case before Judge Emden in the Lambeth County court on Thursday.
The Rev. J.W. Horsley, rector of St. Peter's, Walworth, has established in his churchyard a menagerie for the amusement and instruction of his parishioners. A monkey in the collection slipped his collar the other day and bit a child named Kates, whose father sued for damages. Mr. Horsley paid medical expenses, and said he was prevented from giving compensation by the bullying of the father.
It was stated that the monkey was tame when first taken to the menagerie, and would "shake hands and even kiss a person." Of course, explained Mr. Horsley, he might have altered his ways since.
The judge said he must hold that a monkey was a wild animal. Mr. Horsley was let off with 6s damages.
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[6] Anonymous. 1900. Italian's Frightful Fall News of the World, April 22 1900, p. 2
[An Italian falls to his death try to catch his monkey]An itinerant Italian met with a terrible death at Hastings. A monkey which he had in his possession escaped and took refuge on the side of the cliff at East-hill. The owner endeavoured to recover the animal, but in doing so lost his balance and fell headlong on the rocks several hundred feet below. When his remains were recovered they were mutilated beyond all recognition.
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Anonymous. 1856. Baboon Hunt in a Ship's Rigging News of the World, July 20 1856, p.7
[A baboon leads sailor on a multi-ship chase.]On Wednesday an exciting chase took place among the shipping in the Wapping-dock, Liverpool, after a long-tailed baboon, which had escaped from the brig Shark, arrived there a few days since from South Africa. It appears the animal had been bought by a naturalist, who went on board the vessel in the morning for the purpose of taking possession of his slippery purchase; but the baboon seemed to have taken a sudden dread to terra firma, for in trying to lead it on shore it managed to escape, and at once darted up the brig's rigging. The hue-and-cry was immediately raised, and an exciting chase commenced, to the great amusement of the lookers-on. The men employed in the different vessels in the dock at once ascended in hot pursuit, but the cunning animal managed to elude its pursuers for several hours, for no sooner was it too hotly pressed on one vessel that it took refuge in the rigging of another. One man who had ascended the mainyard, and who had made sure of securing the runaway, was doomed to disappointment, for the baboon, after allowing him to approach to within a few feet, made a sudden spring on to the stays of an adjoining ship, where it hung for some time in mid-air, suspended by its tail; but at last, after going through a number of antics, and finding that its pursuers had wearied of the chase, Jocko descended, and took refuge in the cabin of another ship. As he entered quite unannouced, he so stratled the poor steward that he rushed on deck, exclaiming that the devil had got on board! The animal was at last secured by a sack being thrown over it, and was carried off in triumph by its owner, who had given up all hopes of ever coming into possession of his property. This curious specimen of the monkey tribe stands about 8.5 feet in height, in its natural state, walks upright, has long straight black hair, with a white face, is of a rare species, and seldom brouhgt to this country.
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Anonymous. The Balloon Nuisance. News of the World, August 17, 1851, p. 6
[A monkey balloonist and parachutist]On Tuesday Dr. Gill and Mr. Lovelock, of St. George's Villa, Canonbury-square, and Mr. Gardner and other inhabitants of Northhampton-terrace, Islington, attended at this court, for the purpose of soliciting the advice and assistance of Mr. Tyrwhitt under the following circumstances: -- It appeared from their statement, that on Monday evening last a balloon ascended from some gardens in the neighbourhood of Islington, and on its arrival at a certain altitude, a parachute, which contained a monkey, was separated, when it descended at a rapid rate and alighted in the garden of Mr. Lovelock. Immense crowds of ruffians assembled, and the houses of applicants were besieged and entered which caused great alarm to the ladies and other inmates. Mr. Lovegrove, jun., proceeded to the garden to take possession of the monkey, which was concealed in a wire cage. He was immediately attacked in a violent manner and was severely injured by the parties who claimed the monkey, and were anxious to obtain possession of it. Although this disgraceful outrage continued for three quarters of an hour, there was not a single policeman to be seen on the spot nor to be found in the neighbourhood. Mr. Gardner, feeling that not only the lives, but the property of himself and neighbours was at stake, he rode off in a cabriolet to the station-house to request assistance; but on his return he waited in vain for the arrival of the police, and when the riot was over only two constables made their appearance. Applicants complained generally of the absence of the police in the above neighbourhood, and of monkeys being let down in parachutes, to the damage and injury of their property. Several robberies had been committed in Canonbury-square, and very recently one lady had her gold spectacles taken from her nose, and another lady was robbed of her gold watch, and not a single policeman could be found on or near the spot. -- In answer to a question, applicant said the monkey was not attached to Mr. Hampton's balloon, which ascended on Monday evening, but to a fire balloon. Such balloons were frequently sent up, to the danger of the neighbourhood -- Mr. Tyrwhitt could not see how he could assist them. If their property was injured by monkeys being let down in parachutes, the owners of the balloons, who profited by such expeditions, were the parties to proceed against. It was cruel in the extreme to take up poor creatures, and send them down as described. With reference to any neglect on the part of the police, they ought to apply to the Commissioners of Police in Scotland-yard. -- Mr. Lovegrove said the unfortunate monkey was swollen and affrighted. The real owners offered a reward of 5s, to take the monkey back to them; and they (applicants) were continually annoyed in this way. They thanked the worthy magistrate and left the court, expressing their determination to apply to the Commissioners of Police. CLERKENWELL
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Anonymous. 1870. Comic Zoology. The Monkey Tribe. Punchinello, June 4, 1870, p. 150 [A comic survey of the monkey tribe.]Of this genus there are countless varieties, differing widely in the cut of their monkey jackets, as the untravelled American naturalist will doubtless have observed on traversing his native sidewalk. The educated specimens met with in our cities are upon the whole well Organized, and appear to have music in their soles. For its feats à pied, the tame monkey is indebted to a Piedmontese who accompanies him.
To behold the monkey race in their glory, however, they must be seen in their native woods, where they dwell in genteel independence, enjoying their entailed estates and living on their own cocoa nuts. There will be found the Gibbon, whose Decline and Fall when yielding the Palm to some aspiring rival is swifter than that of the Roman Empire; the Barberry Ape, so called from feeding exclusively on Barberries; the Chimpanzee -- an African corruption of Jump-and-see, the name given to the animal by his first European discoverers in compliment to his alertness; the Baboon, a melancholy brute that, as you may observe from his visage, always has the blues; to say nothing of a legion of Red Monkeys, which are particularly Rum Customers.
Some men of science have advanced the theory that man is the climactic consequence of innumerable improvements of the monkey; the negro as he now exists being the result of the Fifteenth Amendment. These philosophers erect a sort of pyramid of progress, placing an Ape at the base and a Caucasian at the Apex. This wild hypothesis of a monkey apotheosis can of course only be regarded Jockolarly, in other words with a grin. Nevertheless the Marmoset is sufficiently like a little Frenchwoman to be called a Ma'amoiselle, and there are (in New-Zealand for instance) human heathen with a craving for the Divine, to whom the Gorilla, though not a man, is certainly a brother. Possibly the Orang Outang, if able to express his thoughts in an harangue, might say with Mr. DICKENS, "I am very human." He certainly looks it.
There is a strong facial resemblance among the simious races -- Simia Similibus. This likeness does not, however, extend in all cases to the opposite extremity. Some monkeys have no tails. Of the tailless Apes it is said that they originally erased their rear appendages by too much sitting -- perhaps as members of the "Rump" in some Anthropoid Congress. Be that as it may, the varieties that have retained their tails seem disposed to hang on them, and will doubtless continue to do so by hook or by crook.
The natives of Africa believe that the monkeys would converse with them if they were not afraid of being set to work; but it is quite apparent that they are not averse wither of labor or conversation, inasmuch as among themselves they frequently Mow and Chatter.
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Anonymous. 1900. This "Monk" is a Scrapper. The National Police Gazette, 77(1206): 14 [A baboon assaults a police officer]"Come with me to the station house. I arrest you as a disorderly character," said a Chicago policeman the other day to a "gypsy queen," who was encamped on Cottage Grove avenue. The officer grabbed his prisoner by the arm and then there was a strange sound. Screeches, growls and other noises sometimes heard in the Jungle followed. The air about the policeman's head was as agitated as the business end of a funnel shaped cloud. Fur, hands, feet, a policeman's club, a helmet and various and sundry articles flew through the air. Jocko, a baboon who fills the office of the gypsy queen's cup bearer, was busier than he had been since he came from Rangoon. He had been concealed behind her majesty when the officer tried to arrest the woman, and undertook to take her part.
The baboon, the policeman, the queen and a little two-year-old princess had the atreet to themselves. Somebody telephoned to the Hyde Park station that the wild man of Borneo had just come to town, and a wagon load or officers was sent at once.
When the officers arrived they found the policeman on his back in the gutter kicking and shouting "Fire!" His uniform was scattered about the corners and brass buttons glistened in the sunlight. Jocko was trying vainly to pluck a handful of locks from the policeman's head.
When the officers captured Jocko and bundled him into the patrol wagon with his mistress and daughter, the baboon's fighting spirit again asserted itself. He managed to free his hands and attacked the driver with a vicious impetuosity which caused the startled driver to drop the reins. A runaway was in prospect when two strong men fell upon the baboon and again succeeded in tying his hands.
All the way to the station the struggle was continuous, with few intermissions for breath. Some of the police preferred to walk, and the driver all but gave up his job.
The gypsy, her child and baboon were all locked in one cell at the police station. An attempt was made to place the fierce huboon in another cell, but the animal commenced to make hostile demonstrations, aand for the peace of the station it was decided to lock the trio up together. Once in the cell with his mistress, the baboon was docile enough.
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Anonymous. 1900. A Bad Monkey. The National Police Gazette, 46(397): 14 [Organ grinder's monkey taken to court for a dime and a scratch]Thomas Barco, au Italian organ-grinder of 85 Mulberry street, and his fantastically-dressed monkey. Jocko, were taken to the Tombs Court the other morning. Half an hour earlier Barco was playing his organ in Mott street, when little Jenny McCabe leaned out of a window with a dime in her band. Jocko saw the dime, and, thinking it was for him, snatched it away, and put it in the pocket of his jacket. Jenny began to cry, and made a clutch for Jocko's pocket, but she didn't get the dime. Her hand was scratched, and a policeman took Jocko and his master to the Tombs Court.
Jocko was very humble, indeed, upon being taken before Justice Patterson. He put his paw upon his chest, and with downcast eyes, sat upon the Justice's big desk. Mrs. McCabe said she wanted the monkey killed. She was afraid her girl would die of hydrophobia. The organ-grinder and the monkey both protested excitedly.
"Take the monkey off, Eye-talian," said the Court, giving the dime back to Jenny. "Mrs. McCabe, your girl won't suffer from hydrophobia."\
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[15] Anonymous. 1867. Poor Jocko. Hours at Home. A Popular Monthly of Instruction and Recreation, 4(3): 272-279. [Incidents from the life of a rather stubborn monkey]In the last number of this magazine mention was made of a monkey which accompanied me from Panama. Jocko in that instance was held up before the public in rather an unenviable and unpleasant light, as a ravisher of nests, as a disturber of domestic peace; a wretch, in short, whom it were base flattery to call a coward. Little did I then think that he was so near to that undiscovered country referred to in a quotation with which the reader is perhaps familiar. Had a suspicion of the sad truth dawned upon me, had a shadow of the coming event so much as cast its pale penumbra upon the disk of the future, I should have tempered justice with mercy, and while chronicling his failings have confessed the sweet and saving amenities of his nature, setting forth his graces and virtues with a tenderness which should have redeemed him from utter reprobation in the eyes of a critical community.
But as with men, so with monkeys; justice is often denied them until they have passed away from the immediate sphere of action and their ear-drums are numb and dumb to the tap of honest praise. Let me pay to Jocko dead that desert which was denied him living. A brief record of his life and services, public and private, should not prove uninteresting even to the reader who vociferously disclaims a common humanity. And, though it serve no other end, it will surely comfort and interest the survivors of the family, contributing a sort of beacon-light for other monkeys to steer by, reminding them that they too, departing, may leave behind them tracks upon the sands of time for the encouragement of men and brothers. Very many biographies are written with no better motive, I fancy.
I first met Jocko de Panama on the Isthmus. The cars which were to whirl us across that narrow neck of land which partitions the two oceans were about starting, and I was looking through them to find a seat. The passengers as usual on railway trains looked wearisomely alike, dusty, dirty, and disagreeable. But one face and form broke the monotony. After this prelude it is needless to say that the face and form were those of Jocko. He sat as any other traveler might and probably would, occupying one seat with his body and another with his tail -- he had no carpet-sack, nor shawl, nor Saratoga trunk to file a preemption claim with -- and altogether evincing as little regard for the rights and convenience of others as he could had he been human. Notwithstanding that the seat on which he was sprawled was plainly enough meant for two, he could not have shown less intention of making room for me had he been a city merchant riding out to his suburban villa at Yonkers, or a lady with a plenitude of skirts and flounces. By way of hinting to him that I desired a seat, I planted the box I carried upon his tail, whereupon he drew it into him with a growl, while I took immediate possession of the recovered territory.
His face was intelligent and decidedly prepossessing, though not such a one, perhaps, as a sentimental girl would fall in love with at first sight. The brow was neither very lofty nor expansive, but the nose, besides being excessively characteristic, was quite delicately chiseled. His eyes were quick and piercing, but so red and restless withal that no novelist, probably, would ever feel justified in treating of them as "grand and beautiful orbs."" His mouth, though it might not have been considered good for a man, was excellent for a monkey. It was not "a rosebud mouth," perhaps, but I make bold to aver that it was a very good fruit and sugar mouth, as was amply demonstrated on our voyage. So much by way of personal description.
Deeming it one's bounden duty to make some attempt at sociability and agreeability even in a railway car, I at once made overtures to my neighbor. But a moment before I had succeeded in carrying on quite a pleasant flirtation with a most unpromising-looking parrot by scratching her head. So, reasoning by analogy that what pleased Poll must needs please Jocko, I put out my hand. His head disappeared from view as completely as though he had swallowed it, and nothing was to be seen but mouth -- mouth -- mouth -- open, defiant, and expectant. Declining to gratify his whim by putting a finger or even my foot in, I drew back, and after musing a moment on the ingratitude and inconsistency of men and monkeys, turned my attention to the scenery without. Palms, palms, palms -- nothing but palms so far as eye could reach; thick, impenetrable palms, of every variety and size, their trunks wound and bound together by an undergrowth through which a weasel could scarcely make way without the constant and most wearing use of teeth and claws. It seemed strange to be whirling through such a savage solitude in a regular passenger train, quite as close and uncomfortable as those with which we are familiar in the highest civilization. There was a strange blending of tame and wild in the scene and surroundings. Palm-trees brushed the top of the smoke-stack with their leaves, and parrots from the branches peered down the fuliginous funnel, clattering away on noisy wings with shrill shrieks when the shriller whistle was released to notify tigers and terrapins along the route that the engine was coming and the track must be cleared at the risk of their lives. On one side of me sat a monkey; on the other, a little dandy, wearing patent-leather boots, and his hair parted in the middle. In front of me sat a New-England girl eating bananas and remarking upon the long apples of the country, while behind me lolled a returning Californian, who evidently held to the orthodox belief that a successful miner should neither shear nor shave, but always wear a slouched hat and his boots outside his trowsers. An old gentleman a seat or two distant was cracking fresh Brazil-nuts with false teet! Every thing, in fact, was anomalous, and not the least of tho anomalies was the composure with which I turned from a contemplation of the wild and beautiful, the strange and unaccustomed, betaking myself to sleep, as though the train was only whirling us past farm-yards where pullets cackled and cows lowed about red barndoors.
Murder! what was that? And I sprang from my seat with a yell which rose clear and shrill above the rattle and thump of the train. A sensation as though a pair of red-hot nippers had taken hold of my solid flesh, and never intended to let go. By accident I had trod on Jocko's tail, which hung pendent to the floor, and snap, through some of the best and thickest cloth which ever loom wrought or tailor cut, went his white and glittering teeth. Never did Durham cow closer cling to her calf than clung that monkey to mine. His owner came to the rescue, and, vicious and snarling, he let go his hold. Punishment, prompt and weighty, followed. So terrible, however, were his shrieks, and so pleading his supplications, that I begged for his pardon and procured it. I do not know that I deserve any special credit for magnanimity on the occasion, since, after having been bitten and stung by the jiggers, mosquitoes, and gallinippers of those latitudes, the bite of a monkey is rather a pleasant relief. Jocko seemed to appreciate my interference in his behalf; at least he curled himself up in my lap, and sobbed himself to sleep like a repentant child.
On the passage up from Aspinwall I saw him frequently. He was a study to me. In some things he was very human indeed. All memory of subsequent kindness seemed to have passed away, and he only remembered that once I trod on his tail. I tried to revive some recollection of my generous interference in his behalf, but this could only be accomplished by "tipping" him a lump of sugar. Another monkey was on board, and a greater contrast than existed between these two can not well be imagined. The one was lively and jolly as a fire-cracker on the Fourth of July, jumping about and swinging his tail, for want of a hat, in one perpetual jollification. But tho other -- my Jocko that became -- was sullen and morose. He seemed to look upon every one who approached him as his natural enemy, and to view the world at large as a great ball of dirt, against which he entertained a grudge of long standing. If one attempted to do him a kindness, he suspected that some sinister motive lay beneath. He must have been betrayed, I think, in early life. The object of his young affections, perhaps, took up with some other monkey that had a higher roost, and knew where there were more bananas and cocoa-nuts, or perhaps he was an aspirant for political preferment which was denied him. The theory that it was grief at leaving his native woods which jangled the sweet bells of his temper so sadly out of tune I discredit and deny. But whatever may have been the cause the effect was indisputable. Like Byron, he did not love the world, nor the world him. The treatment he received from the sailors, perhaps, had something to do with confirming him in his morose views of life and the eternal unfitness of things; for it certainly could not conduce much to amiability of temperament to have tobacco-juice squirted into his eyes, while his neighbor was fed and fêted with gingerbread from the cabin. In some cases discipline hardens rather than softens. Poor Jocko! I think of his trip from Aspinwall hither with sorrow and regret, for emphatically his hand was against every man, and all hands were against him. For the time he was the Ishmael of the seas, and received in deed what is proverbially said to be "monkey's allowance" -- more kicks than halfpence. He could not have been worse treated had he been a cabin-boy.
Judge of my surprise when on reaching New-York his owner came up, and, putting the raw-hide thong which bound him into my hand, said, "Me presentez you." What moved my Spanish friend to the generosity? Had he noticed that someway there was a sympathetic feeling between us? That I, too, was naturally of a rather unhappy turn of mind, viewing the world through dyspeptic and bilious glasses, shrinking from specie and my species, and preferring solitude to the busy hum of the masses, folding sorrow to my breast and brooding over a secret grief? Verily, I know not; but whatever were the motives which inspired the don the thing was done, and a tableau in which I stood as the central figure was the result.
In my astonishment I fear that I forgot to return thanks, or even signify a gracious acceptance of the gift. And the man was gone and the monkey mine. There was a position for a stranger to occupy, landing after an absence of years in the metropolis of America. I thought of the man who drew the elephant in the lottery; of Bulwer's What will He do with It? and contemplated a small work myself, to be entitled Too Much by Half. But there was no help for it; and with a resignation worthy of the politest Parisian I prepared to "accept the situation." To a certain extent Jocko was a foundling thrust upon my hands, and I could not conscientiously abandon him to the cold charities of the world.
There was some slight trouble at landing. The reader, perhaps, knows that a custom-house officer is stationed at the gangway of all vessels arriving under suspicion of having touched at foreign ports in their wanderings, whose business it is to overhaul baggage and ask passengers troublesome conundrums before permitting them to go ashore. To satisfy him that I had nothing contraband about me, and, at the same time, keep the frightened Jocko quiet, was more than one man could do. It was the monkey's first introduction to hack-drivers, and he was endeavoring to outchatter them. Some sympathizer approached him to offer an apple, but he, mistaking the overture for one of a threatening character, sprang from my arms, and seized the unprepared officer by the hair, at the same time that his tail wound round that astonished individual's neck like the folds of a small boa-constrictor. The startled man gave a nervous spring, which would have landed him over the rail and in the bay had not the monkey's tail held him in check as firmly and securely as a tugboat snubbed by a hawser. A wonderful prehensile force lurked in that tail of Jocko, let me here explain, and his first movement on effecting a change of base was to lasso the most convenient thing that offered. Lead him through a room and he would switch chairs along with him and overturn tables like a medium of forty Fox-girl power. The only time that I remember to have seen him fairly baffled in an attempt to garrote any thing animate or inanimate was when he curled his narrative round a red-hot stove, and attempted to drag that from its firm-set foundations. It was too heavy, and he let go in despair. But to return to my narrative.
We finally got ashore, Jocko clinging to me more closely than a brother; a carriage was chartered, and in a few minutes we were safely housed within the hospitable doors of the Metropolitan Hotel. "Entertainment for man and beast " does not appear upon the sign of that great caravansary, but in this case it was forthcoming. Jocko was turned over to the tender mercies of the freedmen connected with that bureau, and among them he seemed to feel perfectly at home. Indeed, he made himself so much at home that he hesitated not at all in inserting his teeth into a convenient leg or arm, and numerous complaints came to me of his conduct. I always made answer that they must not tease him; for it is a pleasant fiction to suppose that no animal will bite or scratch unless provoked to such unbecoming violence by unkind treatment. For all that, however, I don't know that I should like to caress one of those huge turtles which are found in the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands, or have the care of a wild-cat. On one occasion Jocko tore up an overcoat belonging to one of the porters. I have no doubt but that the man had poked sticks at the monkey a day or two before, and that this was merely one of those astonishing cases of instinct and revenge which are occasionally to be met with in natural histories; but for all that, I had to pay for the coat. I regret to record the fact, but there seemed to be quite a feeling of relief among the freedmen and our fellow-boarders when myself and the monkey took our departure.
The journey to the country-home which was to be the future scene of Jocko's life and usefulness was not performed without many trials on my part. He persisted in viewing every one who approached as an enemy, and scolded at the audiences which congregated round us in a way that was perfectly deafening. And his disregard for the rights of property was perfectly startling in its proportions. A clergyman, I remember, who sat in front of us, had opened a nice lunch-basket, and was regaling himself and [a] little boy with the cakes, provided probably by a careful wife and mother. Jocko, without tho least warning of his intention, reached over and snatched the whole affair from the old gentleman's lap, instantly and almost simultaneously swinging himself to the rack intended for the reception of bats and umbrellas. In that stronghold he intrenched himself, by the aid of that wonderful tendril of a tail, refusing to be dragged forth, and scolding and chattering like one possessed when a restitution of the plunder was peremptorily demanded.
It was at one of the stations where we changed cars that he made his first acquaintance with the great principle of caloric, as practically illustrated and set forth in a hot stove. Down on the Isthmus stoves are not in very general use, especially in the summer season, and at the hotel, owing to that unfortunate prejudice against color which some landlords entertain, he was put into a room without a fire. This morning it was biting cold, and there was a glowing fire in the station stove. The warmth was grateful to Jocko, and he cuddled up within its radiations. Being of an essentially investigating turn of mind, he was not willing to accept a good without understanding it; and so put forth his hand to feel the stove. He gave a short, sharp cry of pain and astonishment, looking first at his hand, then at me, and then at the stove for an explanation of the phenomenon. Neither myself nor the stove responded. Being but a child of the forest, the saying about a burnt child and the fire originally failed of exemplification in his case. He put out his hand again and patted the stove, as though he would disarm it of will to hurt by a caress. One howl and there was an end of all experiments; Jocko was satisfied. And I thought to myself how much better it would have been for him had he been satisfied before. Are there not as sweet influences in life which it is better to accept and be thankful for than attempt to grasp and analyze? On leaving, however, Jocko was reluctant to come with me, and on my attempting to drag him he as usual lashed out with his tail, and the stove being handy, selected that as his piece de resistance. You may be sure that he did not hold to it long, and this, as I have already remarked, furnishes the only instance in which I ever knew him to be thoroughly beaten and baffled in his great caudal trick.
Finally our destination was reached. The family rushed to the door to embrace the returned one. But Jocko was before them. Alarmed at the sudden demonstration and the shouts of welcome, he sprang upon my shoulder, curled his tail round my neck, and set up a series of the most discordant screams. It was impossible to dislodge him. Very few embraces fell to my lot, with Jocko thus claiming his full share of the endearments.
The paroquets which I brought home going to Fanny, the monkey, as a matter of course, fell to Willie. Frankly let me confess that Jocko's début in Little Pedlington created decidedly more sensation than did mine. Numerous calls came from both old and young, professedly upon me, but such speedy inquiries were made for the monkey that I very soon regretted having brought such a rival in popularity to thw village. I "had him" (the phrase is almost a classic one) on wealth, good clothes, and slightly on good looks, I flatter myself, but he had the great advantage, of novelty. One young lady kissed him and called him a "sweet creature." No such pleasant experience, I regret to say, fell to my lot. Some ragged shreds of his halo, however, fell upon me, for was I not his showman? The great exhibition was to show him eating an egg. This he took in his hand, biting off one end in his mouth and smoothing the edges till he had a perfect cup. He would then put it to his mouth and drink off the yellow lees as though it were the wine of life, and he privileged by letters patent to quaff the draught. Disturb him as you would, chase him even to the eaves of the barn, and still he carried that royal cup in his hand, never spilling nor wasting a drop. There was a great demand for this exhibition, but eggs being scarce and high, the head of the family put in a mild inhibition, and it was not often given, being reserved for special and great occasions. With the manner in which Jocko got up a show-piece with birds' eggs the reader has been made familiar in a previous number. His fondness for eggs gave Agnes, confessedly "the wit of tho village, " opportunity to make a bon-mot which has become traditional throughout all that northern country.
The question was asked, "What is his diet!"
"Oh! various," she replied with perfect composure.
A pole some twenty feet high was finally stuck in the ground, with a sliding ring on it, to which Jocko was secured by a chain. A rope or a leather string proved useless to confine him, as he would eat through either with almost a single snip of his teeth. At the base of the pole was a neat little cottage, comfortably bedded down with straw, and at the top was a sizable truck, made from the head of an oyster keg. Jocko had a choice of amusements. He could either sit in his house and indulge in reminiscences of the past, or he could climb to the top of the pole and busy himself with the present. It was indeed a sight to see him seated on that royal truck, contemplating the surrounding scenery and smoothing the kinks out of his tail. He looked like an astronomer looking out for a meteoric shower, or endeavoring to discover some planet which Herschel had overlooked. Down below, seated in the door of his house, so cynical was his whole air, that I was strongly reminded of Diogenes in his tub. Like Diogenes, too, Jocko fairly refused to believe in honest men. He was suspicious of all about the premises, and never tasted food without smelling to see if it were poisoned. It was strange to me that with all his sagacity he did not press the cat into his service as cup-bearer or king's taster. His keen, quick eye was never still, and his wrinkled face might be seen popping out of doors if a step was heard advancing toward his dormitory. Of the horse, "Old Mike," he entertained a comical horror, and if at any time he refused to climb for the benefit of guests, it was only necessary to open the stable door and let Mike put out his head, to send him hand over hand up the pole, like a sailor mounting the main-top gallant mast of a man-of-war.
The Canucks of the village took a special interest in him; and one day Willie received a note making some inquiries about the singe. He knew by internal evidence it referred to the monkey; but his lessons in French had been but few, and the singe troubled and puzzled him. On finding out that it meant monkey, he traced the derivation of the word to something connected with a singed cat, and I am not sure but that the boy was correct in his theory, since in many respects Jocko resembled that representative or rather comparative creature.
Fannie refused to join the train of Jocko's admirers. Besides destroying her birds' nests and eating the eggs, he pulled out what little tails her rabbits had, and this she did not like at all. One day, too, he made a rush at her kitten, and nearly tore the little thing's scalp off in an attempt to solve the mystery of its ears. The idea of husking a kitten's ears, as one might ears of corn, did not strike Fannie so comically as it did me, and her complaints were loud and many. She liked the bird I brought her better; but still her sympathy did not much incline to foreign pets, and to have heard that the monkey had calmly and peacefully died of a fit of indigestion, consequent from having eaten the parrot, would have filled her cup of happiness to overflowing, I think.
I rejoice to say, however, that Jocko improved in temper and habits, and promised at some day to become quite an ornament to society. He developed a degree of intelligence which was really surprising. One day, after I had whipped him for some outrageous misdemeanor, and was leading him to serve out a sentence of solitary confinement in the barn, he climbed to my hand by his chain, seized the switch which I was carrying, and threw it far away. At times so human was the expression of his face that I could scarcely believe but that it was a little wrinkled old man. If a switch was raised to punish him, down he would lie; and, raising his hands in the most supplicating way, beg for mercy as intelligibly as any human being could have done. Very often I am inclined to think that the Africans who claim that the monkey only refrains from speech through fear that he would be set to work if he betrayed his possession of the gift, are not so far out in their theory after all.
But cold weather came on apace, and then what to do with Jocko became a serious question. The barn was not warm enough for him, and he would scarcely be "a good thing to have in the house." After much cogitation I at length determined to ship him down to Barnum. In the great Museum, with all its wonders of vegetable and animal life, he might fancy himself in his own isthmus forests. There were the Giant and the Dwarf, types respectively of a higher and a lower life; the Albino woman, looking not unlike a female Chimpanzee; the Fat Boy, puffing and blowing like a river hippopotamus; and the Lightning Calculator, who would answer admirably for any kind of a bore -- constrictive or otherwise. Was there not, too, the Happy Family, and why should not Jocko join it? True, he was by no means of a happy disposition naturally, but so much the more reason for giving him cheerful domestic surroundings. I bethought me of the "pleasant family" that every now and then advertises to board one or two young gentlemen, giving them "the comforts of a home;" and though I have never availed myself of any of these opportunities, there was no reason why Jocko should not. So to Barnum I wrote. He curtly replied, "Send him to Greenwood." Surely there is some mistake, said I; he thinks I come to bury Jocko, not to praise him; and I wrote again. Answer came that Greenwood was the managing man of the Museum, and that the cemetery was not meant. Very soon, thereafter, a box was made, and in it Jocko was shipped, by express, duly provisioned for the voyage, and legibly labeled, "This side up with care."
"Send him to Greenwood!" Strange that my foreboding soul had not recognized the omen.
On coming down to the city a few weeks since, my first visit was to the Museum. I expected to hear that the last addition had strangled the happy cat, bitten the happy little dog's nose off, and devoured two or three of the happy hens. But no; no such report met me. His behavior had been good in the main, though the keeper did not think he was quite as fond of gayety and gymnastics as some monkeys he had seen. I visited that third floor -- easily traceable by its smells -- where the Happy Family has its abiding-place. Sure enough there sat Jocko, but a more unhappy-looking fellow never saw I. He was perched up most unsociably by himself, holding no communion with his kind, and in no way manifesting any interest in the abounding happiness which surrounded him. The beatific monkeys swung themselves by their beatific tails, and rolled themselves and their echoes from polo to pole of the cage; the beatific cock crowed, and the beatific owl winked its wise eyes, but no attention to any of them paid Jocko de Panama. In memory I still see that grim Saul sitting among the prophets, silent and solitary as Tara's harp, within those happy walls. I spoke to him, but -- strange commentary on the affection of animals -- he evidently knew me not. His eye did not brighten at sound of either my step or my voice. In my most winning way spoke I to him again, but again there was no sign of recognition. He scratched himself, but made no sign. The keeper said he was sick, but would be well in a day or two. I asked what ailed him, and the reply was, "A little cough." Little cough indeed! it is so that all anxious friends of a patient are cheated. Once or twice Jocko coughed, and I noticed that the sound was hollow as though it came from a sepulchre. There was a narrowness about his shoulders too, and he sat in a stooping attitude, looking more like a wrinkled little old man than ever. But there was no hectic flush upon his cheek to speak of consumption, nor did I then know that the disease is one to which his transplanted race is subject, though I have since been told that it works fearful ravages among monkeys in this northern climate. With an adjuration to the keeper to be kind to my old pet, and a small gratuity to insure such a result, I took my leave, promising to look in again in a few days.
Alas! when I again looked in, Jocko had stepped out; the Happy Family was destitute of its unhappy member. On inquiring for him I was answered only by the monosyllable, "Dead." The particulars of his death which I was enabled to ascertain were very vague and meagre indeed. Cod-liver oil was given him, but I've an idea that he did not take kindly to it. Had eggs been good for the consumption, there would have been no difficulty in persuading him to take medicine, but oil was another thing. "His decline was very rapid indeed," so said the keeper. And I do not doubt that he spoke the words of truth; for it has been whispered to me by an attaché of the establishment that when a bird or beast is pronounced incurable, whether the complaint be consumption, dropsy, trichina, or what not, it is forthwith taken out from its cage and knocked on the head.
I do not know that I am so sorry for Jocko's fate as I should have been had he enjoyed life more. But, like King Felix, I fear he was only destined to ring the "happy bell" in death; and I have sometimes thought that the happiness around him had quite as much to do with driving him to death as any pulmonary complaint. For Mr, Barnum, who scarcely had time to get his money back, I have some sympathy; but, after all, I do not really think he will suffer from this death what might well be called a dead loss. I expect to see that monkey stuffed and doing duty as a merman at no very distant day. Knowing that some use would be made of his skin, I made no application for the body. But depend upon it that on the green banks of Lake Champlain a cenotaph shall be erected. And on a palm-leaf, sculptured above the monumental mound, shall be written:
TO THE MEMORY
OF
JOCKO DE PANAMA,
whose premature decease was occasioned by
the rigors of a northern climate,
and too much
Happiness in one Family."After life's fitful fever he sleeps well."
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Anonymous. 1854. An Episode in Monkey Life. The Albion, A Journal of News, Politics and Literature 13(51): 603.
[Indian monkeys take revenge on the boa which killed and ate one of their own]I have had some experience of what a jungle-life in India is, and cannot therefore ignore a certain amount of familiarity with a class of animals which, from the days of Eve's temptation, has acquired a character for cunning, malignity, and spite, from which its aspect -- at times, indeed, the very beauty of ugliness -- by no means exonerates it. Emblems of the revolting and the terrible have serpents always been, and yet who can deny that a certain singular fascination belongs to them, which renders the slenderest details about them strangely interesting, even to those who regard them with utter abhorrence? Not only in the kingdom of Snakedom have I freely wandered, without, alas! having acquired that magical masterdom over the reptile race of which George Borrow naturally boasts, but I have also had some ongoings with the monkey-tribe; and the other day, as I was hunting up a parcel of old manuscript journals for some records of my ancient soldiership, I came upon a page or two that contained anecdotal reminiscences of facts which I had myself witnessed in reference to both snake and monkey, of sufficient singularity to warrant publication. Let it not be supposed that I am a naturalist, a scientific judge of the creatures of the woods, be they crawlers or catamounts, mice or monkeys. I intend simply to relate what fell under my own observation, without pretending to describe classically, or even to classify methodically, the peculiar races to which the individuals of my text belonged. A soldier from early youth, rudely trained in camp and cantonment, I was far more eager to study the gazels and rekhtas of the love-sick Hindoo poets, as chanted by the sweet-voiced dancing-girls of the Deccan, than to acquire even a superficial knowledge of that useful branch of natural history which would have taught me to distinguish at sight a poisonous from a harmless reptile, a useful and edible from an unwholesome or deleterious vegetable.
Many years ago, in the year 1823, I happened to be with my regiment -- a battalion of Madras native infantry -- on the march from Bangalore, in Mysore, to Kulladghee, in the Doab. We had reached the hill-forts of Badaumy, in the province of Bejapoor, where we halted for a day; and at any place more strikingly picturesque we had not stopped during the three hundred and odd miles we had traversed. Yet it has curiously escaped the observation and description of which it is worthy: as far as I know, the only mention of Badaumy on record are the few lines in Hamilton's Gazetteer, that give it a lat. 16° 6' N., a long. 75° 46' E., and term it a place of some strength, which can be taken only by a regular siege, which would require a heavy equipment. To this scanty and vague account I will only add, that not only from its position, on and among strangely shaped mountains, and the capabilities it possesses, and which have been taken advantage of by the Mahrattas, as a fortified station; but likewise from its being a noted stronghold of Hindoo idols, in caves and temples, and mysterious crypts, reached only by winding subterranean stairs and passages cut through the cliffs, it deserves a close survey and scrutiny from some individual willing and able to describe, fully and truthfully, the place and the marvels it contains.
I have never witnessed the wonders of Elora or Elephanta, but though on a diminished scale, the lions of Badaumy are of the same nature, and compel admiration from the least enthusiastic observer. The hill-forts themselves, comprising two different sides or peaks of the same mountain-ridge in whose recesses the small town is built, are specimens of what art can do when nature has prepared the foundation for its labours. At the very top of the steepest precipice, a pool of excellent water supplies that element from sources which no amount of heat has ever exhausted; and down in the narrow valley, amongst the houses of the village, a large and well-built talab, or tank, of delicious water -- cool and wholesome, though of a bright smaragdus green -- affords unfailing refreshment. On each side of this pond are houses or gardens, and over two ends of this mountain-gap lower the twin-fortalices, opposite each other -- the highest precipice, called Kunmundle, being grotesque in shape, and terrific in gloomy grandeur. Encamped outside the town, no sooner had night descended upon us, ere the reports we had heard of the number of sacred monkeys that abounded in the neighbourhood were confirmed. Had we reached the place at night, ignorant of this fact, we might have concluded that we had fallen upon some terrible Armageddon, haunted by rebellions ghouls and afrits in venomous conflict; for from every peak and jutting promontory arose such a discord of monkey-voices, as, in other circumstances, one would have been only too ready to ascribe to diabolic agencies. Yells, shrieks, hootings, indescribably wild, detained us as if by a spell for more than an hour; and presently when the moon rose, we could distinguish the imp-like creatures springing from tree to rock, and from stone to stone, up among the cliffs, and, as we supposed, exercising some warlike evolutions, or engaged in some fierce gala of animal life, until by dint of observation we really came to think they had got up a dramatic representation for our peculiar amusement. We were afterwards informed, that the opposite ridges of the mountains were severally occupied by two distinct families or clans of monkeys -- the very Montagues and Capulets of the order Simia -- between whom regned a perpetual feud, which often terminated in blood and death.
Some months after our arrival at Kulladghee, I applied for a few weeks' leave; which being granted, I resolved to revisit Badaumy. I reached it at a season when the surrounding country was arrayed in the brightest livery of summer; and in addition to the attractions supplied by the wild windings and subterranean passages to the hill-forts, with the cavernous temples in the rocks, containing the whole Hindoo Pantheon in beautifully carved images of an amazing size, I found great pleasure in traversing the jungles around, climbing the rocks, and penetrating into the ravines, in search of plants and wild-berries, whose nature aud native names were revealed to me by my faithful Mussulman moonshee, or teacher, who had consented to accompany me. To this truly-excellent man, Noor-ood-Deen, I owe my first introduction to the art of simple-gathering; and in after-days, during a campaign, when the Addition of a single wholesome vegetable to our wretched meals became av rare luxury, I bad reason to remember with gratitude that his advice and teachings had suggested the utility as well as loveableness of the study of botany.
He taught me likewise to observe the habits of those very monkeys, whose nocturnal orgies had startled us on our first arrival at Badaumy, as well as to distinguish the speckled gray and white tree-snake, which is so fatal, from the spotted brown and green one, which haunts the same bowery recesses, yet is harmless. He told me that venomous serpents are generally marked by a greater width of cerebral formation behind, which gives to the neck the appearance of being smaller than it really is; and he warned me to beware of dark and briery paths, where the track of snails was discernible -- such being a sure indication of the vicinity of snakes. From him I learned, that some of the deadliest, when taken unawares, roll themselves up spirally, the head elevated, when suddenly uncoiling, they spring forward on their disturber, man or beast, with surprising velocity. Strange things he related of the dawa, or revengeful feeling, retained by the cobra da capello against any individual who has pursued, or tried to kill it; and of the odd antagonistic feeling of the ape against the cock, the serpent, and the apparently harmless tortoise. A monkey has, indeed, a ridiculous horror of the latter; and I have often tested its more legitimate terror of the viper, by enclosing one in a chatty, or earthen-pot, with a covered lid, placed near poor Jacko. Ever inquisitive, he instantly flies to scrutinise the contents of the vessel: but the moment he slowly and cautiously raises the lid, and the serpent's head becomes visible, it is ludicrous to watch the mixture of dread and prudence which agitates him. With a quick motion, he shuts down the lid, screams, and makes the most hideous grimaces, dances round the pot, and presently returns to it, touches the lid, but too wise to lift it, makes a sudden exit from the scene.
But now I come upon that point in my sketch which bears upon my promised anecdote. The moonshee did not accompany me, as I set out one bright morning to ramble about my favourite rocks, where I found ample store of wild plants and flowers, whose names and qualities I better know now than I did then. Amongst the most striking of these may be mentioned the beautiful bael-tree (Aegle marmelos), which bears a hard, rinded, apple-shaped fruit, of aromatic smell, and covered with a slimy exudation. It has recently been introduced into medical practice in England, as an astringent of efficacy in diarrhoea. Up and around this fine tree clambered a magnificent parasite, the Casalpinia paniculata, festooning the glittering leaves of its supporter with a dark glossy foliage and gorgeous racemes of orange blossoms. A shrub, which seemed to be a favourite food of the monkey, yet which belongs to the deleterious oleander tribe, had a peculiarly striking appearance, from bearing at the same time a profusion of snowy blossoms and a grotesque fruit, not unlike twin-pods of a bean, their narrow extremities united together. The whole plant is full of a slimy milk; and if, as I conclude, it be the Nerium tinctorum of Roxburgh, and of the order Apocyneae, it possesses very powerful qualities as a medicine and as a dye. The Datura, too, abounded, scenting the air with an oppressive odour, too luscious for enjoyment. The seeds are frequently conveyed into the potions prepared by the Thug and the Dacoit to stupify their intended victim. But a long article might be made about these Oriental plants, whilst I must proceed with my story.
I was climbing one of the slanting ascents of the Bunmundle cliff, when I became aware that an unusual commotion reigned amongst my friends the monkeys, which had by this time got so familiarised with my appearance, that they seldom condescended to honour me with a snarl, or a bough flung towards me in sport. I was conscious that something went wrong with them; and as I knew that sentiments of superstition, if not of humanity, preserved them from the persecutions of the natives, I became curious as to the cause of the prevalent excitement. Creeping round a rock, behind which they appeared to congregate, and on which grew a large gum-arabic tree, completely golden with the abundance of yellow blossoms which covered it, and which, like Tennyson's lime-tree, was in sooth
A summer-home of murmurous wings--I at once found myself on the stage of a strange tragedy in simian life. In the voluminous folds of an enormous boa constrictor was being slowly inwrapped a beautiful brown monkey, whose last cries and struggles denoted that I came too late, even had I been prepared to do battle with the reptile in the cause of oppressed innocence. The monkeys, in evident alarm, ran hither and thither, moping and mowing, and chattering; but not one advanced near the spot, where presently their poor companion became almost quite hidden from view in the embraces of its destroyer. Determined to watch the process of the affair, I quietly sat down, until gradually the monkey had been moulded, as it were, into a proper condition for deglutition, for I could hear the bones crack as they broke beneath the pressure to which they were subjected; and erelong [sic], as the serpent began to untwist its folds, I could admire at leisure the magnificence of its glittering scales, that shone like some richly variegated metallic substance. I shuddered as I beheld its grand and awful head -- the prominent orbits of the eyes -- and the eyes themselves large, and luminous with a fiery light. The creature was at least twenty feet in length, and was apparently famished by a long fast. Perfectly heedless of the noise made by the monkeys, it unwound its coils till the victim, now an unrecognisable mass, lay before it lubricated and fit to be received into the destroyer's stomach.When the reptile had fairly commenced its repast, and the before flaccid body began to fill and swell, I retired from the arena of conflict and hall of banquet, desirous of summoning my friend Noor-ood-Deen to assist me in capturing the sated giant. I knew that when gorged to repletion, there would be no difficulty in making a prize of tbe serpent; and the moonshee entered into my plans right willingly. Accompanied by a stout lascar, bearing a strong cudgel and a sharp knife, for slaughter and skinning, we lost little time in reaching tbe scene, where, however, fresh marvels were being enacted, proving that the passion of revenge is not confined to the human breast. Keeping aloof, we resolve not to mar by any interference the by no means mystifying operations in which the monkeys were engaged.
The boa constrictor lay, thoroughly gorged and like a log of wood, beneath the same projecting mass of cliff where I had left it. On the summit of this rock a troop of monkeys had assembled, and three or four of the largest and strongest were occupied in displacing an immense fragment of the massive stone already loosened by time and the elements, from the rest of the ledge. This mass almost overshadowed tbe reptile. By enormous exertions, made in a silence that was rare with them, they at last succeeded in pushing it onwards until it hung over the boa's head when uttering a fierce yell, in which every separate voice mingled until it took a diapason of undescribable discord, by a vigorous movement they shoved it sheer down. The heavy mass fell right on the serpent's head, crashing it as if it were a cocoa-nut; and as the reptile lashed its fearful tail about in the final struggles of life, we could not refrain from joining in the singular chorus of rejoicing with which the monkeys now celebrated their accomplished vengeance. Truly, from the feats of the malicious baboon that gloried in the name of Major Weir, to the amiable creature of which Philip Quarles tells, I can remember of no recorded facts that surpass this evidence in favour of monkey-memmory and monkey-wisdom, and I vouch for its truth as far as it goes knowing well that my friend Noor-ood-Deen, still flourishing in the Black Town of Madras, will add his testimony to any applicant for confirmation of the anecdote.
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Anonymous. 1852. Donetti's Monkey Troupe. Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion 3(3): 33. [Description of a trained monkey act]We present below an engraving illustrating a scene from the famous and most remarkable performance of Donetti's trained animals, as they lately appeared at the Astor Place Opera House. Our descriptive sketch is taken from the programme of performance. M. Donetti, an Italian by birth, after a hard study of thirty years, has succeeded in training a number of animals, so as to make them do his bidding. But if they lose sight of him only for a moment, their savage instinct instantly returns to them. M. Donetti has triumphed over them only by the power of his eyes, and he seldom or never punishes them. It is by kindness alone he has obtained the wonderful results of which we give a description. In scene 1st, the curtain rises slowly and discloses a table, around which six well dressed monkeys of different species are sitting down, waiting for their supper. They sit with demure faces, excepting now and then a chattering which they hold together, resembling the chattering of men in a hurry to get their food. Mme. Kattafia, another monkey, dressed in a blue skirt and short gown, with cap on head, comes in with a pair of candles, which she places on the table, and retires to bring in the edibles, and with a quickness of motion and propriety of conduct, which ought to be copied by a number of our servants. Mme. Rattafia's son, a little tiny monkey, dressed as a cook, with white frock and white night cap, brings in a plate of salad, which is placed before the convivial party, which is soon devoured with gusto by the hungry crew; cakes, nuts, and other dainties are brought in, which follows the salad. Mme. Rattafia and her son bring in a basket of wine, each monkey receives his bottle, which he seems to enjoy. The whole scene is one which creates shouts of laughter. M. Donetti next introduces to the audience Le Magot d'Afrique, a handsomely-dressed monkey, who jumps on a slack rope, and performs evolutions on it which put to shame many a slack-rope- dancer, which we see in our circuses. The next slack-rope evolutionist introduced is La Superbe Madrille, who goes through the most surprising feats of tumbling and whirling on the rope, to the great enjoyment of the audience; such a happy set of faces as were present at the representation, are seldom met on any other occasion. General Jocko, with sabre in hand, riding on a beautiful dog, now comes in, followed by his army of monkeys on foot, the first of whom, as he follows on his hind legs, leans his head on the dog's tail, while the other three, also bending their backs, repose in like manner upon him and each other, performing several military evolutions. In another scene, Mlle. Minie, the great equestrienne, comes in, riding on a magnificent dog, and goes through her exercises in a creditable manner, jumping on and off her courier with the greatest agility, and performing in imitation of the circus riders, going through all her feats with a serious face, and with the greatest apparent satisfaction. M. Donetti next introduces the light-rope dancer, a mandrille of the largest size, who, in imitation of the rope dancer, has his feet chalked, and then commences his dancing and jumping on the rope with a balance pole in his hand. At the rise of the curtain, and at the sound of martial music, the Marchioness of Batavia enters, riding in her barouche, drawn by two beautiful white poodles. On the box, a monkey coachman sits with the reins in his hand, and cracking his wlnp. Behind the carriage, a monkey footman, in rich livery, rides. The noble monkey lady has occasion to descend from her carriage, and displays her rich costume. She remounts, and the carriage starts at a rapid rate, one of the linch pins gives way, the barouche is upset, the monkey lady falls out, but fortunately without sustaining any fracture, a chair is brought, on which she sits steadying her nerves until the footman, who has run about to repair the accident, has succeeded in recovering the wheel, and replacing it; all the time during the accident the coachman has been holding his dog coursers by the bridle, for fear of their running away. The carriage is repaired, and the monkey marchioness re-enters her carriage, when the whole equipage drives off. In the scene of "The Deserter," as represented below, a dog, dressed as a soldier, is seen walking on his hind legs, and carrying a musket on his shoulder, leading in a monkey, also dressed in uniform, with two large red epaulets. A monkey, dressed as a clergyman, with white bands projecting from his throat, brings in a placarded sentence of condemnation to death, to be shot by his comrades. While a bell is slowly tolling, the master ties a white handkerchief around the head of the culprit, who, as one of the dogs levels a gun at him and then fires it off, drops motionless. A mournful tune is heard, and a monkey, dressed as a grave-digger, in rusty black clothes, wheeling in a black cart, puts the dead monkey into it, and takes him off to perform the burial. The scene is altogether very unique.
Donetti's comic troupe of trained animals
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Anonymous. 1845. The Early Train to Versailles. A Baboon Passenger. The Anglo American, a Journal of Literature 5(1): 3-5. [An older lady tells the improbable story of a baboon taking the morning train to Versailles]"Droll people one meets travelling -- strange characters!" was the exclamation of my next neighbour in the Versailles train, as an oddly attired figure, with an enormous beard, and a tall Polish cap, got out at Sevres; and this, of all the rail-roads in Europe, perhaps, presents the most motley array of travellers. The "militaire," the shopkeeper, the actor of a minor theatre, the economist Englishman, residing at Versailles for cheapness, the "modeste," the newspaper writer, are all to be met with, hastening to and from this favourite resort of tho Parisians; and among a people so communicative, and so well disposed to social intercourse, it is rare that even in this short journey the conversation does not take a character of amusement, if not actual interest
"The last time I went down in this train it was in company with M. Thiers; and, I assure you, no one could be more agreeable and affable," said one.
"Horace Vernet was my companion last week," remarked another; "indeed I never guessed who it was, until a chance observation of mine about one of his own pictures, when he avowed his name."
"I had a more singular travelling companion still," exclaimed a third; "no less a personage than Aboul Djerick, the Arab chief, whom the Marshal Bugeaud took prisoner."
"Ma foi! gentlemen," said a dry old lady from the corner of the carriage, "these were not very remarkable characters after all. I remember coming down here with -- what do you think -- for my fellow traveller? Only guess. But it is no use; you would never hit upon it -- he was a baboon!"
"A baboon!" exclaimed all the party, in a breath.
"Sacre bleu! madame, you must be jesting."
"No, gentlemen, nothing of the kind. He was a tall fellow, as big as M. le Capitaine yonder; and he had a tail -- mon Dieu! what a tail. When the conductor showed him into the carriage, it took nearly a minute to adjust that enormous tail"
A very general roar of laughter met this speech, excited probably, more by the serious manner of the old lady as she mentioned this occurrence, than by any thing even in the event itself, though all were unquestionably astonished to account for the incident.
"Was he quiet, Madame?" said one of the passengers.
"Perfectly so," replied she -- "bien poli."
Another little outbreak of laughter at so singular a phrase, with reference to the manners of an ape, disturbed the party.
"He had probably made his escape from the Jardin des Plantes," cried a thin old gentleman opposite.
"No, monsieur; he lived in the Rue St. Denis."
"Diable!" exclaimed a lieutenant; "he was a good citizen of Paris. Was he in the Garde Nationale, madame?"
"I am not sure," said the old lady, with a most provoking coolness.
"And where was he going, may I ask?" cried another.
"To Versailles, monsieur -- poor fellow, he wept very bitterly."
"Detestable beast!" exclaimed the old gentleman, " they make a horrid mockery of humanity."
"Ah! very true, monsieur; there is a strong resemblance between the two species." There was an unlucky applicability in this speech to the hooked nose, yellow-skinned, wrinkled little fellow it was addressed to, that once more brought a smile upon the party.
"Was there no one with him, then? Who took care of him, madame?"
"He was alone, monsieur. The poor fellow was a 'garçon;' he told me so himself."
"Told you so -- the ape told you! -- the baboon said that!" -- exclaimed each in turn of the party, while an outburst of laughter filled the carriage.
"'Tis quite true -- just as I have the honour to tell you," said the old lady, with the utmost gravity; "and although I was as much surprised as you now are, when he first addressed me, he was so well-mannered, spoke such good French, and had so much agreeability, that I forgot my fears, and enjoyed his society very much."
It was not without a great effort that the party controlled themselves sufficiently to hear the old lady's explanation. The very truthfulness of her voice and accent added indescribably to the absurdity; for while she designated her singular companion always as M. le Singe, she spoke of him as if he had been a naturalized Frenchman, born to enjoy all the inestimable privileges of "La Belle France." Her story was this -- but it is better, as far as may be, to give it in her own words: --
"My husband, gentleman, is greffier of the Correctional Court of Paris; and although obliged, during the session, to be every day at the Tribunal, we reside at Versailles for cheapness, using the railroad to bring us to and from Paris. Now, it chanced that I set out from Paris, where I had spent the night at a friend's house, by the early train, which, you know, is at five o'clock. Very few people travelled by that train; indeed, I believe the only use of it is, to go down to Versailles to bring up people from thence. It was a fine cheery morning-cold, but bright -- in the month of March, as I took my place alone in one of the carriages of the train. After the usual delay, (they are never prompt with this train), the word 'en route' was given, and we started; but before the pace was accelerated to a rapid rate, the door was wrenched open by the 'conducteur'-- a large full-grown baboon, with his tail over his arm, stepped in -- the door closed, and away we went. Ah! gentlemen, I never shall forget that moment. The beast sat opposite me, just like monsieur there, with his old parchment face, his round brown eyes, and his long-clawed paws, which he clasped exactly like a human being. Mon Dieu! what agony was mine! I had seen these creatures in the Jardin des Plantes, and know them to be so vicious; but I thought the best thing to do was to cultivate the monster's good graces, and so I put my hand in my reticule and drew forth a morsel of cake, which I presented to him.
"'Merci, madame,' said he, with a polite bow, 'I am not hungry.'
"Ah! when I heard him say this, I thought I should have died. The beast spoke it as plain as I am speaking to you; and he bowed his yellow face, and made a gesture of his hand, if I may call it a hand, just this way. Whether he remarked my astonishment, or perceived that I looked ill, I can't say; but he observed, in a very gentle tone --
"'Madame is fatigued.'
"'Ah! monsieur,' said I, 'I never knew that you spoke French.'
"'Oui parbleu!' said he, 'I was born in the Pyrenees, and am only half a Spaniard.'
"'Monsieur's father, then,' said I -- 'was he a Frenchman?
"'Pauvre bete,' said he; 'he was from the Basque Provinces. He was a wild fellow.'
"'I have no doubt of it,' said I; 'but it seems they caught him at last.'
"'You are right, madame. Strange enough you should have guessed it. He was taken in Estremadura, where he joined a party of brigands. They knew my father by his queue; for, amid all his difficulties, nothing could induce him to cut it off.'
"'I don't wonder,' said I; 'it would have been very painful.'
"'It would have made his heart bleed, madame, to touch a hair of it. He was proud of that old queue; and he might well be -- it was the best-looking tail in the north of Spain.'
"'Bless my heart,' thought I, 'these creatures have their vanities too.'
"'Ah! madame, we had more freedom in those days. My father used to tell me of the nights he has passed on the mountains, under the shade, or some times in the branches of the cork trees, with pleasant companions, fellows of his own stamp, We were not hunted down then, as we are now; there was liberty then.'
"'Well, for my part,' said I, 'I should not dislike the Jardin des Plantes, if I was like one of you. It aint so bad to have one's meals at regular limes, and a comfortable bed, and a good dry house.'
"'I don't know what you mean by the Jardin des Plantes. I live in the Rue St. Denis, and I for one feel the chain about my ankles, under this vile "regime" we live in at present.'
"He had managed to slip it off this time, anyhow; for I saw the creature's legs were free.
"'Ah! madame,' exclaimed Le Singe, slapping his forehead with his paw, men are but rogues, cheats, and swindlers.'
"'Are apes better?' said I, modestly.
"'I protest I think they are,' said he. 'Except a propensity to petty pilfering, they are honest beasts.'
"'They are most affectionate,' said I, wishing to flatter him; but he took no notice of the observation.
"'Madame,' exclaimed he, after a pause and with a voice of unusual energy, 'I was so near being caught in a trap this very morning.'
"'Dear me,' said I; 'and they laid, a trap for you.'
"'An infernal trap,' said he. 'A mistake might have cost me my liberty or life. Do you know M. Laborde, the director of the Gymnase?
"'I have heard of him, but no more.'
"'What a "fripon" he is! There in not such a scoundrel living; but I'll have him yet, let him not think to escape me! Pardon, madame -- does my tail inconvenience you?
"'Not at all, sir. Pray, don't stir.'
"I must say that, in his excitement, the beast whisked the appendage to-and-fro with his paw, in a very furious manner.
"'Only conceive, madame, I have passed the night in the open air; hunted, chased, pursued -- all on account of the accursed M. Laborde. I that was reared in a warm climate -- brought up in every comfort -- and habituated to the most tender care -- exposed, during six hours, to the damp dews of a night in the Bois de Boulogne. I know it will fall on my chest, or I shall have an attack of rheumatism. Ah, mon Dieu! if I shouldn't be able to climb and jump, it would be better for me to be dead.'
"'No, no,' said I, trying to soothe him, 'don't say that. Here am I, very happy and contented, and couldn't spring over a street gutter if you gave me the Tuileries for doing it.'
"'What has that to say to it?' cried he, fiercely. 'Our instincts and pursuits are very different."
"'Yes, thank God,' muttered I below my breath, 'I trust they are.'
"'You live at Versailles," said he, suddenly. 'Do you happen to know Antoine Geoffroy, greffier of the Tribunal?'
"'Yes, parbleu!' said I,'he is my husband'
"'Oh, madame! what good fortune! He is the only man in France can assist me. I want him to catch M. Laborde. When can I see him?
"'He will be down in the ten o'clock train,' said I. 'You can see him then, Rue du Petit Lait.'
"'Ah, but where shall I lie concealed till then? If they should overtake me -- if they found me out, I should be ruined.'
"'Come with me, then. I'll hide you safe enough.'
"The beast fell on its knees, and kissed my hand like a Christian, and muttered his gratitude till we reached the station.
"Early as it was -- only 6 o'clock -- I confess I did not half like the notion of taking the creature's arm, which he offered me, as we got out: but I was so fearful of provoking him, knowing their vindictive nature, that I assented with as good a grace as I was able, and away we went, he holding his tail festooned over his wrist, and carrying my carpet-bag in the other hand. So full was he of his anger against M. Laborde, and his gratitude to me, that he could talk of nothing else as we wont along, nor did he pay the slightest attention to the laughter and jesting our appearance excited from the workmen who passed by.
"'Madame has good taste in a cavalier,' cried one.
"'There'll be a reward for that fellow to-morrow or next day,' cried another.
"'Yes, yes -- he is the biggest in the whole Jardin des Plantes,' said a third.
" Such were the pleasant commentaries that met my ears, even at that quiet hour.
"When we reached the Rue de Petit Lait, however, a very considerable crowd followed us, consisting of labourers and people on their way to work; and I assure you I repented me sorely of the good nature that had exposed me to such consequences; for the mob pressed us closely, many being curious to examine the creature near, and some even going so far as to pat him with their hands, and take up the tip of his tail in their fingers. The beast, however, with admirable tact, never spoke a word, but endured the annoyance without any signs of impatience -- hoping, of course, that the house would soon screen him from their view; but only think of the bad luck. When we arrived at the door, we rung, and rung, again and again, but no one came. In fact, the servant not expecting me home before noon, had spent the night at a friend's house; and there we were, in the open street, with a crowd increasing every moment around us.
"'What is to be done?' said I, in utter despair; but before I had even uttered the words, the beast disengaged himself from me, and, springing to the "jalousies," scrambled his way up to the top of them. In a moment more he was in the window of the second story, and then, again ascending in the same way, reached the third, the mob hailing him with cries of' Bravo Singe! -- well done apo! -- mind your tail, old fellow! -- that's it, monkey!' -- and so on, until with a bound he sprung in through an open window, and then, popping out his head, and with a gesture of little politeness, made by his outstretched fingers on his nose, he cried out -- 'Messieurs j'ai l'honneur de vous saluer.'
"If every beast in the Jardin dea Plantes, from the giraffe down to the chimpanzee, had spoken, the astonishment could not have been more general; at first the mob were struck mute with amazement, but, after a moment, burst forth into a roar of laughter.
"'Ah! I know that fellow -- I have paid twenty sous to see him before now.' -- cried.one.
"'So have I,' said another, 'and it's rare fun to look at him cracking nuts, and swinging himself on the branch of a tree by his tail.'
"At this moment the door opened, and I slipped in without hearing further of the commentaries of the crowd. In a little time the servant returned, and prepared the breakfast; and although, as you may suppose, I was very ignorant what was exactly the kind or entertainment to set before my guest, I got a great dish of apples, and a plate of chesnuts, and down we sat to our meal.
"'That was a ring at the door, I think,' said he, and as he spoke, my husband entered the room.
"'Ah! you here' cried he, addressing M. le Singe, 'Parbleu, there's a pretty work in Paris about you -- it is all over the city this morning that you are off.'
"'And the Director?' said the ape.
"'The old bear, he is off too.'
"'So thought I to myself -- it would appear the other beasts have made their escape too.'
"'Then, I suppose,' said the ape,'there will be no catching him.'
"'I fear not,' said my husband, 'but if they do succeed in overtaking the old fox, they'll have the skin off him.'
"Cruel enough, thought I to myself, considering it was the creature's instinct
"'These, however, are the orders of the Court, and when you have signed this one, I shall set off in pursuit of him at once.' So said my husband, as he produced a roll of papers from his pocket, which the ape perused with the greatest avidity.
"'He'll be for crossing the water, I warrant.'
"'No doubt of it,' said my husband. 'France will be too hot for him for a while.
"'Poor beast,' aaid I, 'he'll be happier in his native snows.'
"At this they both laughed heartily, and the ape signed his name to the papers, and brushed the sand over them with the tip of his tail.
"'We must get back to Paris at once,' said he, 'and in a coach too, for I cannot have a mob after me again.'
"'Leave that to me,' said my husband, 'I'll see you safely home -- meanwhile, let me lend you a cloak and a hat,' and, with these words, he dressed up the creature, so that when the collar was raised you would not have known him from that gentleman opposite.
"'Adieu,' said he, 'madame,' with a wave of his hand, 'au revoir, I hope, if it would give you any pleasure to witness our little performances.'
"'No, no,' said I, 'there's a small creature goes about here, on an organ in a three-cornered cock-hat, and a red coat, and I can have him for half an hour for two sous.'
"'Votre serviteur, madame,' said he, with an angry whisk of his tail; for, although I did not intend it, the beast was annoyed at my remark.
"Away they went, messieurs, and from that hour to this, I never heard more of the creature, nor of his companions, for my husband makes it a rule never to converse on topics relating to his business -- and it seems he was, somehow or other, mixed up in the transaction."
"But, madame," cried one of the passengers, you don't mean to palm this fable on us for reality, and make us believe something more absurd than Aesop himself ever invented!"
"If it be only an impertinent allegory," said the old gentleman opposite. "I must say, it is in the worst possible taste."
"Or if," said a little white-faced fat man, with spectacles, "or if it be a covert attack upon the National Garde of Paris, as the corporal of the 95th legion of the 37th arrondissement, I repel the insinuation with contempt."
"Heaven forbid, gentlemen; the facts I have narrated are strictly true: my husband can confirm them in every particular, and I have only to regret that any trait in the ape's character should suggest uncomfortable recollections to yourselves."
The train had now reached its destination, and the old lady got out, amid the maledictions of some, and the stilled laughter of others of the passengers -- for, only one or two had shrewdness enough to perceive that she was one of those good credulous souls, who implicitly believed all she had narrated, and whose judgment having been shaken by the miraculous power of a railroad, which converted the journey of a day into the trip of an hour, could really have swallowed any other amount of the apparently impossible, it might be her fortune to meet with.
For the benefit of those who may not be as easy of belief as the good Madame Geoffroy, let me add one word as the solution of this mystery. The ape was no other than M. Gouffe, who, being engaged to perform as a monkey, in the afterpiece of "La Perouse" was actually cracking nuts in a tree, when he learned from a conversation in "the flats," that the director, M. Laborde, had just made his escape, with all the funds of the theatre, and six months of M. Gouffe's own salary. Several police officers had already gained access to the back of the stage, and were arresting the actors as they retired. Poor Jocko had nothing for it, then, but to put his agility to the test, and having climbed to the top of the tree, he scrambled in succession over the heads of several scenes, till he reached the back of the stage, where watching his opportunity, he descended in safety, rushed down the stairs, and gained the street. By immense exertions he arrived at the Bois-de Boulogne, where he lay concealed until the starting of the early train for Versailles. The remainder of his adventure the reader already knows
Satisfactory as this explanation may be to some, I confess I should be sorry to make it, if I thought it would reach the eyes or ears of poor Madame Geoffroy, and thus disabuse her of a pleasant illusion, and the harmless gratification of recounting her story to others as unsuspecting as herself.
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Anonymous. 1849. A Monkey Trick. Spirit of the Times. A Chronicle of Turf, Agriculture, Field Sports, Literature... 19(27): 317. [A monkey pulls a prank during a stagecoach trip]Mr. EDITOR -- I send you the following adventure, which took place during a journey I made between Southampton and London, on my return from the Cape of Good Hope in 1838; and if you deem it worthy of insertion in the "Spirit of the Times," it is at your service.
On my arrival from the "East"on leave of absence, I was landed at Cowes Isle of Wight, and after seeing my baggage passed through the custom house, I took the steamer to Southampton, where I arrived just in time to secure a place by that night's mail to London. I was delighted to find myself the only inside passenger, and having a travelling companion with me, in the shape of a tame monkey, (that I had purchased on my outward bound passage at one of the Cape de Verde Islands, where we anchored to take in a supply of fresh water,) fearful of any objections being made, I smuggled him into the coach by wrapping my cloak about him, and placed it on the seat beside me.
When I first got Jacko, as he was called, he was not much larger than a full grown rat, but he and I by this time had been together for many years, and he was now about the size of a dog. He had become so fond of me that he always fretted,and was unhappy in my absence, and on my return, he would put his paws, or hands, round my neck and embrace me like a human being. To strangers, however, Jacko showed a great dislike, and many is the scrape I have been near getting into from his attacking and biting them severely; after which he would retreat to my arms, and put his foes to defiance by grinning and chattering, and showing fight. Abroad, when I went out shooting, he always accompanied me, and followed me like a dog. It is, therefore, not surprising that I should be so careful of poor Jacko.
I had been busy the previous night, getting my "traps" in readiness to disembark at daylight, and being anxious once more to see the white cliffs of old England after so many years of absence, I never thought of retiring to bed. I was therefore no sooner seated in the coach than I was in the arms of Morpheus -- Jacko, still covered with my cloak, asleep along side of me.
I know not how far we had travelled, when I was roused up by a large, unwieldy old gentleman getting into the coach at one of the places where we changed horses. After he had hung his hat upon the straps at the top of the coach, he wrapped himself up in his great coat, pulled the collar well up, round which he tied a warm comforter, and then drawing his wig down over his ears, leaving only a part of his fat, red face, and small eyes visible, he threw himself back into the opposite corner to me, and soon, by his loud breathing and snoring, gave convincing proof of his having fallen asleep. I quickly followed the good example, and was dreaming of sieges, assaults, and repulses, when I was disturbed, and for a minute or two actually forgot where I was. At length I became conscious of a terrible outcry my fat neighbor was making, and the first words I could make out distinctly were -- "Murder! murder! The devil must be here! Guard! Coachman! coachman! stop the coach and let me out! For God's sake, some one come to my assistance! I am murdered! Stop! stop the mail! Holloa! Guard! Coachman! oh! oh! oh!"
By this time I was wide awake, and supposing he, like myself, was dreaming, I took hold of him by the shoulder, and giving him a hearty shake, demanded, "If he had been attacked by the 'night mare,' he was making such a confounded noise?' He paid no attention to me, but kicking out his feet and knocking away my hand, kept bawling out, "Murder, murder!"
I had now become much annoyed, not knowing what to think. I therefore again caught hold of him, exclaiming--"For God's sake, sir, tell me what has occurred to you? Are you awake or are you mad? I assure you there is no one here in the coach but you and I. Who could, therefore, have touched you? Surely, during my sleep, (for I acknowledge I have been dreaming of assaults,) I have not assaulted you, so as to make you suppose I intended committing murder." But I might as well have held my tongue, for devil a word would he answer or listen to, for he still continued crying out, "Murder! Stop,stop! Guard! Coachman!"
During all this time we had been rattling over a hard, rough, newly macadamized road, which made it difficult for the "stout gentleman's cries" to be heard outside. Now, however, we came to a smoother part, and, amidst much confusion outside, the coach came to a sudden halt. The guard and coachman dismounted, and each seizing hold of one of the lighted lamps, rushed to the coach doors, the former exclaiming--"For shame, gentlemen. There are only two of you, why do you quarrel?" and wrenched open the coach doors.
Having been aroused in such an extraordinary manner from my sleep, and afterwards kept in a continual state of alarm and agitation by the incessant uproar my fat friend was making, I had altogether forgot Jacko; but the instant the lights made "darkness visible," I had no difficulty in comprehending how matters stood; for such a sight met the anxious and frightened gaze of the guard, coachman, and myself, as dispelled all dread of the gentleman's safety, and caused us simultaneously to break forth into a roar of laughter. There the man was sitting, or rather lying, gasping for breath. His once florid, fat face, now pale with horror and apprehension, his eye distended to double their former size, and appearing as if about to start from their sockets, whilst streams of cold perspiration were rolling down the sides of his smooth and glossy head. Head, I say, for his wig had disappeared, and he was as bald as the palm of my hand. -- Just opposite to him sat Jacko with his wig in his clutches, which, in the gravest manner possible, he was trying to set upon his own head, ever and anon grinning and chattering, and apparently anxious to recommence hostilities upon the funny object before him. It was too rich a scene. I laughed until my sides ached, which annoyed the fat passenger more than ever;--for spattering and spitting, he sat bolt upright, bellowing out --
"I'll tell you what it is, sir, don't think to play your practical jokes upon me with impunity. I won't stand it, sir--for if law is to be had in England, sir, for money, I'll have you severely punished, sir, for bringing wild beasts inside one of Her Majesty's mails--that, you may depend upon, sir. As for you two grinning scoundrels," turning to the guard and coachman, who were yet laughing, (he appearing still more ridiculous in a rage without his wig,) the monkey imitating every gesture he made, and ready to fly at him, had I not held it back —- "As for you two grinning scoundrels, I'll inform your employers and have you turned away for this shameful and disrespectful conduct towards a passenger, -- that I will! Mind what I say. Depend upon it, I will report you!"
Here, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I attempted to apologize for Jacko's mischievous tricks, but, interrupting me, he cried --
"Tricks! -- mischievous tricks. Sir! Do you call it tricks to pull my wig off my head? bite a piece nearly out of my hand, and then throw my wig in my face? Tricks, indeed! Very pretty tricks! Amusing to you perhaps, but not to ME. If you are as sorry as you say, why do you laugh? Tell me that Sir?
I saw this was not the time to argue with, or explain to, an angry man the few weak points in my monkey's character, therefore remained silent; -- and as he insisted Jacko should ride the remainder of the journey out-side, I was compelled most unwillingly to comply.
Before we came to London, I am happy to say, my fat companion and I became good friends;--and, as sleep was banished from us both, I amused him with many anecdotes of Jacko's pranks on board ship, which made him laugh nearly as heartily as I had done at him a short time before. As he became more communicative, I inquired what the monkey had done to cause him to roar out so lustily. He said:—
"Before I fell asleep, it was in the full belief there was no other living creature in the mail but you and I, as I did not perceive your monkey, which lay wrapped in your cloak. I need not tell you, Sir, I am a very loud snorer, and it is more than probable that I may have disturbed Jacko, as you call him, who, perhaps, being anxious to find from whence those unnatural sounds came, crept from under his cover. The first thing I am conscious of, was something alighting with a thumb upon the top of my head, which suddenly awoke me, and, naturally enough, I put my hand up in order to feel what was there, when, to my horror, I came in contact with a hairy monster, which I seized. It set up a fearful scream, and immediately sent its teeth nearly through my hand. The agony I suffered from the pain of the bite was nothing to what I felt in trying to think what it could be that had thus so unceremoniously taken possession ot my hand and head. I pulled my hand down, but the devil, as I now took it to be, by its hind feet, held fast by my wig, and both at length came down together. I was nearly fainting before this from fright, but now a yell got up, and my wig was dashed with force into my face. The monster jumped on my knee, and again bore it away. I became quite frantic with terror, and roared out for the coach to stop, I believe -- but ---- in fact, I cannot remember anything I either said or did during this trying period."
I am, Mr. Editor, your obedient servant, ALABAMA.
August 4th, 1849.
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Anonymous. 1875. The Monkey and the Looking Glass. St. Nicholas; an Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks 2(8): 515. [A monkey reacts poorly to a mirror]A lady who knows that Jack likes to tell you true stories about animals, has sent me a letter with permission to show it to all my boys and girls. Here it is:
DEAR JACK: I want to tell you about Jocko, a bright, mischievous little monkey, which my friend, Mrs. G., brought from India. She says: "He liked going to sea, and was a great favorite with the sailors. He would run up the mast and look down with an air of triumph, as much as to say, 'See how much better I can do it than you!' I made him a suit of clothes, little blue trousers, red jacket and a sailor cap. He was delighted with it, and when I went on deck always came to meet me, ready for a frolic. He often played tricks upon the sailors, but never took any libertîes with me. One day, I carried a looking-glass on deck, and called Jocko to come and look in. He was wonderfully pleased to see what he supposed was another monkey. He jabbered at it, and expressed his delight in sundry contortions of his queer little face. Almost all animals are social in their nature, and suffer from loneliness when separated from their kind. At last he stopped his antics, and stretched his arm around the mirror to feel the back of it. The instant he discovered the deception he flew into a terrible passion. He seemed to understand at once that it was no living monkey, and he thought I meant to cheat him. I had to run to save myself from a terrible scratching. He never forgot it, and from that time we ceased to be friends, for monkeys are slow to forgive what they think an insult. Whenever I walked on deck the sailors had to keep him out of sight. I was sewing in my room one day, when he found his way there, and flew at me so furiously that, if my screams had not brought help, I think he would have killed me. Nevertheless, I mourned for Jocko when he died, for I never ceased to hope that we should be friends again in time." A.E.P.Newburyport, Mass.
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Anonymous. 1831. The Orang Outang. New-England Magazine Dec. 1831, p. 497. [An orang outang in Boston, MA writes home to Java]TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW-ENGLAND MAGAZINE.
I TAKE the liberty of sending you a letter written by the celebrated Orang Outang to one of her friends in Java, which may be interesting to your readers, as it contains the result of the inquiries of a vigilant and disinterested observer. You will, I trust, entertain no scruples in regard to the publication of private correspondence, when you remember how common the practice has become, and how much it tends to enlighten the public on subjects which they are naturally curious to know. Should any one be disposed to question the genuineness of the letter, the original shall be deposited with you for the public benefit; and the first inspection of the chirography will convince the most sceptical, that it is really and truly the production of an Orang Outang.
Respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
I know not, my dear Jocko, that I should have been tempted to break the silence, which wonder and sorrow impose upon me in this strange land, were it not for the foul slanders which are daily heaped upon me by those, who regard themselves as paragons of all that is polite and hospitable. It is but a few days since I read in the New-England Magazine, a publication, which, however attractive it may be in the eyes of men, has little in it that can gratify the taste of an Orang Outang, the pitiful speculations of some ignorant New-York Doctor upon my conformation and personal habits; but I know not whether any thing better was to have been expected from a member of a profession, of the state of which, in this country, a single anecdote will convince you. On my voyage hither, feeling slightly indisposed, I had recourse to what was universally called the chest of medicine; and what was my astonishment on learning, by melancholy experience, as I did within an hour afterwards, that I had taken poison, and that my life was in imminent danger! You will readily judge of the state of intelligence among a race, where poisons are used as panaceas, and where the same prescriptions are employed to preserve and to extinguish life. Protect me from such nurses! Better, far better, to fall headlong from the top-most branches of the teak-tree, better to be shot by the poisoned arrows of Macassar, than to place life and limb at the mercy of these infatuated pretenders!Boston, November 10th, 1831.
Indeed, my friend, whatever difference there may be between the Simian and Caucasian races, it is decidedly in favor of the former; and nothing, I am convinced, but the habitual arrogance of man, prevents him from acquiescing in the same conclusion; it is, in fact, impossible, on the principles of his own philosophy, to adopt any other. The moralist, the punicious doctor, and the philosopher, are perpetually calling upon men to follow nature; while their whole lives are spent in a continual effort to counteract and defy her. They regard themselves as compounded of body and soul, and are always talking of the latter, as by far their noblest part; but this I consider as a vain pretension; for it is wholly inconceivable, supposing this to be the fact, that every thought and effort should be engrossed by the care of the body, while the soul is treated with so little ceremony, that they have nothing, but what they call their own inward consciousness, to vouch for its existence; a sort of testimony, which, however satisfactory it may be to them, is not particularly convincing to a by-stander. We are told alike by reason and philosophy, that our wants should be few; but this strangely consistent people have discovered, that the true secret of happiness consists in multiplying them; and this they do, regularly and systematically, as if it were the chief end of their being. On this principle, you will perceive, that nothing is easier than to be happy; a famine would place them on the very pinnacle of felicity. But I ask you, my friend, whether a doctrine like this would not, at once, be rejected by the Orang Outang, who might chance to be philosophizing upon a nut a day? They pretend, however, to reconcile it with common sense, by insisting, that the more our wants increase, the more rapidly will the means of gratifying them increase also; but here is another inconsistency; for there are no greater foes to luxury, than these very moralists and philosophers, of whom I have just told you. Now take a single specimen of the two races, and see which bears himself with the most philosophical dignity. The Orang Outang partakes sparingly of the fruits most liberally dispensed to him by the influences of a delightful climate, and the perpetual vegetation of the tropics, without so much as thinking of a bird's nest; while the more ambitious biped cannot make a single meal without some exhibition of his cannibal propensities, or quench his thirst by any liquid which is not debased by some intoxicating element. In the morning, he collects around him the luxuries, as he calls them, of the Indies, both East and West; and, at noon, he demolishes some other animal as good as he, to satiate his raging appetite, and washes it down with the liquors of every foreign country.
There is another point, on which these people are very apt to pique themselves. They call it the gift of speech; forgetting, in their vainglory, that the same gift is enjoyed in high perfection by the parrot, and the cockatoo. Nay, I am credibly informed, that one of their own carpenters has actually made a creature, which plays chess, and converses with all the freedom which that game requires, as well as any human being of them all. What sort of a gift is that, which they can manufacture for themselves? Yet even in talking of the gift of talking, they are forever contradicting the maxims of their own philosophy. This blessing, if it be indeed a blessing, would seem to be held in very light esteem, by the manner in which they abuse it. When two men fall to quarreling, they forthwith begin to swear, and utter volleys of abuse, which it is very painful to an Orang Outang to hear; and it is only after their breath is fairly gone, that they proceed to fight in the common and only rational way. It is, however, in vilifying their friends and neighbors, that this same blessing becomes an instrument of the most potent efficacy. Now, in the name of all the nuts of Borneo, why are not the grimaces and the chatter of a monkey quite as useful for all these purposes, as the boasted faculty of speech? Silence, say their philosophers, is a virtue; then how superior in moral dignity is the Orang Outang, who practises this virtue on principle, and on all occasions, to the man or woman who would rather die out-right than hold his or her tongue for half an hour! I have recently heard of a woman, who cut off her tongue with a razor, by way of punishing it for its manifold sins, as well as to prevent, in the most summary way, any obliquities of the kind for the future; but, in my judgement, it is far more eligible, to be formed originally without any implement of the sort, than to be compelled to extract it, in order to conduct one's self with tolerable propriety.
I will not, however, pursue this topic farther; as I am sensible that the results of my observation here must be more interesting to you, than any general speculations, however important they may be. Suffer me simply to add, if any thing be wanting to convince you of the comparative superiority of our race, that the human intellect has so little expansion, as to estimate every thing, by comparing it with its own standard. I tremble with indignation while I write it -- these soul-and-body, want-multiplying, eternally talking people, have the impudence to call me ugly! Me -- the acknowledged beauty of the forests of Java -- in pursuit of whom hundreds were once ready to fly from tree to tree, and to whom the earliest fruit of the season was but a poor and unregarded homage! To you, who know what eyes of love and admiration were once cast upon me, how many double rows of teeth were formerly expanded with delight at my approach, I can expose the secret sorrows of my too sensitive heart. When I remember what beauty is, and compare it with what these people call beauty, I ought perhaps to disregard these suggestions of arrogance and folly; but to be despised as a miracle of deformity by those whose lives are spent in earnest but by no means unsuccessful efforts to deform themselves, is almost too much for an Orang Outang to bear.
If you could walk with me into Washington-street, a narrow passage through the chaos of brick and stone, which these people call a city, on a Sunday morning, you would soon ascertain what their notions of beauty are. Hundreds of women, some with huge piles of straw, others with vast erections of silk and flowers on their heads, are moving by you with the rapidity of lightning. Their robes, or gowns -- how can I describe them, but by telling you that their owners resemble the Bird of Paradise? On their arms, they wear what they call sleeves, articles of which your fancy would be inadequate to form the least conception. Their feet are covered with a box, which they call a shoe. Add to these, rows of white teeth, cheeks of clear red and white, and eyes which seem to pierce you through and through, and you have some idea of what the human race call beauty. "Out upon the barbarians"! -- I think I hear you exclaim -- "can creatures tricked out in this way pretend to climb a tree?" In the first place, my dear, there are very few trees here to climb; and the names of romp and hoyden would be the mildest terms of reproach applied to one, who should attempt such an exhibition, or whose habits should bear in any respect the least affinity to ours. When you think of the unadorned beauty of our own race, of their small but alluring eyes, their complexion like the mild obscurity of some overhanging cloud, their graceful movements, and light and agile limb, you laugh at their strange transformations; but you will learn to regard them rather with pity, when I tell you, that they are to be attributed solely to the influence of an invisible, but all-controling power, whom they call Fashion, and worship with the most sincere and persevering devotion. Wonders have been related to me of the influence of this extraordinary deity. It is, in fact, wholly in compliance with her injunctions, that the dazzling array of partycolored garments, you every where witness, is exhibited in the streets; but let her once read the charm backwards, and these bonnets and robes contract in an instant, like what the sailors of our vessel called a double-reefed topsail, while the sleeves collapse, at once, like a rent balloon. Happy Orang Outangs, who are misled by no such strange and fatal theism! Happy, that they can survey the grand and beautiful in nature without a bonnet or a veil, penetrate the wildest thicket without perdition to shawls and pelisses, and ascend the tree without the ridiculous claw-hiding incumbrances of stockings and shoes! And yet, I know not how it is, notwithstanding the many absurdities of my human female friends, one does in time get somewhat reconciled to their appearance. One of their bishops, I am told, who visited countries near to ours, pronounced the olive-colored race, the most agreeable of all to the eye; but I cannot help thinking, if he had extended his observation farther, he would have come to the conclusion, that a deep brown, combined with a proper infusion of slate color, was the beau ideal of feminine complexion.
Adieu. The fatigue of writing is too great, to allow me to tell you more of this strange race at present. Remember me, my friend, as truly and affectionately, yours.
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Anonymous. 1834. The Adventurous Boy. Atkinson's Casket April 1834, No. 4, p. 184-185. [A monkey leads a boy to climb a ship's rigging]While the fleet lay at anchor, one of the most heart-thrilling scenes occurred on board the Commodore's vessel, that my eyes ever witnessed. In addition to the usual appendages of a ship of war, there was a large and mischievous monkey on board, named Jocko, retained for the amusement and diversion of the ship's company. It was my watch on deck; and having retired to the side of the vessel, I was musing on the beautiful appearance of the fleet, when a loud and merry laugh burst upon my ear.
On turning to ascertain the cause of such an unusual sound on the frigate's deck, I perceived the Commodore's little son, whom the crew nicknamed "little Bob Stay," standing half way up the main hatch-ladder, clapping his hands, and looking aloft upon some object that inspired him with a deal of glee. A single glance explained the occasion of the merriment. As Bob was coming up from the gun deck. Jocko, the monkey, perceiving him on the ladder, and dropping suddenly from the rigging, leaped upon his shoulder, seized his cap, and running up the main-top-sail-sheet, seated himself on the main-yard.
Here he sat picking the tassel of his prize to pieces, occasionally scratching his sides, and chattering as if in exultation for the success of his mischief. Bob being a sprightly, active fellow, did not like to lose his cap without an effort to regain it. Perhaps he was the more strongly incited to make the chase after Jocko, from observing me smile at his plight, and hearing the loud laugh of Cato, a black man, who seemed inexpressibly delighted at the occurrence.
"Ha, you rascal, Jocko," said the black man, "hab you no respec for de young officer, den to steal his cap? We bring you to de gang-way, you black nigger, and gib you a dozen on de bare back, for a tief." The monkey looked down from his perch, as if he understood t
