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Volume 2157
Georges Dodds'
The Ape-Man: his Kith and Kin
A collection of texts which prepared the advent of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Presents
Some feral human accounts
from old newspapers (mostly US)

Atchison Champion (Atchison, KS) Aug. 9, 1890, no. 106, p. 3, col C.

A Real, Live, Wild Boy.

The Humane society of Pittsburg has turned up a genuine wild boy. He is colored, aged 18, and his name is supposed to be Harry Allen. He was brought from the mountains of Virginia because his parents, who lived there in a semi-civilized state could not keep him at home. He would run away ever since he was old enough to climb up the moun­tain side. Sometimes he would be in the woods alone for a month at a time. He lived on berries, roots and live birds, which he could catch with the facility of a cat. These birds he always ate raw. His hands are like claws, and the pupils of his eyes dilate like those of a cat.--Exchange.

Atchison Champion (Atchison, KS) June 10, 1891, no. 4217, col F

A full grown wild boy, aged about six­teen years, has been captured at Enoch's Point, Australia. His body Is said to be covered with hair four inches long, the hair of his head being four feet long and his nails five inches long.


Boston Daily Advertiser 23 October, 1876, no. 97, col E

The town of Gaston (VT) is excited over a wild boy, a modern "Casper Hauser." He was seen on the mountain by a party of hunters, but on the approach of the men fled with the swiftness of a deer, and all efforts to capture him were unsuccessful. Who he is and where he came from is a mystery.


San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. August 19, 1860, no. 87, col D

Hunting a Wild Boy.--The inhabitants of Carroll county, Ohio, are very much excited by a male child, from seven to ten years old, that has been seen several times in the woods, but has not as yet been taken. It has approached children quietly, but flees from the approach of a man or woman. A place has been found where it had slept the preceding night and had eaten a frog. Several hundred persons, regularly organized, are out on the hunt.


Daily National Intelligencer (Wash., D.C.) July 10, 1821, no. 2649, col D

FREDONIA, (N.Y.) JULY 3.

Wild Boy -- A few days since, a boy, almost naked, was seen in the woods, in the town of Ellicott, in this county. He was first seen by a wo­man and a boy, who gave information of the same, when nearly two hundred of the neighbors turned out and scoured the woods, but, after one or two days spent in diligent search, they were unable to discover him. Some time since, a party of Indians came into the above named town, bringing with them a white boy, about ten or twelve years old, whom they offered to give to any person that would take him. As no person would take the boy, the Indians went off with him, and in a few days returned without him. On being interrogated what they had done with the boy, they refused to give any account of him. It is probable that the Indians, not being able to get rid of the boy otherwise, had left him in the woods, and is the same boy which was lately seen. It is said that he has been seen since the search, some distance from where he was first discover­ed. We give this information as we had it, from a person who was engaged in the search.

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. May 23, 1857, no. 76, p. 380, col A.

THE WILD GIRL OF CHAMPAGNE.

The story of the Wild Girl of Champagne is detailed by a trustworthy French writer, M. de la Condamine. One evening, in September, 1731, the people of the village of Songi were alarmed by the entrance into the street of a girl, seemingly nine or ten years old, covered with rags and skins, and having face and hands black as those of a negro. She had a gourd leaf on her head, and was armed with a short baton. So strange was her aspect that those who observed her took to their heels and ran in-doors, exclaiming, "The devil! the devil!" Bolts were drawn in all quarters, and one man thought to insure safety by letting loose a large bull-dog. The little savage flinched not as the animal advanced in a fury, but throwing herself backwards on one limb, and grasping her club with both hands, she discharged a blow at the head of the dog, as it came nigh her, with such force and celerity as to kill it on the spot. Elated with her victory, she jumped several times on the carcass; after which she tried in vain to enter a house, and then ran back to the wood, where she mounted a tree and fell asleep. Thirst, it was supposed, had led her to the village.

THE WILD GIRL KILLING THE BULL-DOG

The viscount D'Epinoy, then in the country, was quickly told of this apparition, and a search being made early next morning, the little wanderer was observed at the top of a lofty tree.


THE WILD GIRL SLEEPING IN THE TOP OF THE TREE



Supposing that she was thirsty, they brought a pitcher of water and set it below the tree. The wild girl, after cautiously looking all around, came down and drank; but being startled, she reascended the tree before she could be approached. In the hope of startling her less, a woman and child were then directed to offer food to her, and entice her down. This plan was successful, and the savage was caught.


TRYING TO CATCH THE WILD GIRL



She struggled violently, but was carried to the house of M. D'Epinoy. In the kitchen, fowls were being dressed at the moment, and she instantly flew on one of them, tore it up pieces and ate it. An unskinned rabbit was placed before her, which with amazing rapidity and voracity she also skinned and devoured.

It was soon found that if the little savage possessed any speech whatever, it was merely a word or two in some foreign or instinctive tongue. The usual sound uttered by her was a wild scream, not articulated, but formed entirely in the throat. If any one approached to touch her, she grew wild and shrieked violently. She had blue eyes, and, strange to say, it was speedily discovered that her skin was really white, or nearly so, a black paint having been apparently laid on her face and hands. It was noticed that her thumbs were very large, and this was afterwards explained by her as arising from her habit of springing like a squirrel from tree to tree, by resting upon them.


THE WILD GIRL SPRINGING FROM TREE TO TREE LIKE A SQUIRREL.



Being placed by M. D'Epinoy under the care of a shepherd, she at first gave much trouble by scraping holes in her place of confinement, and flying to the tops of trees or the house-roof, where she was as much at home as on the level ground. She could run with immense speed, and, some time after she was taken, frequently showed her powers by catching rabbits and hares at the request of her patrons.


WILD GIRL HUNTING RABBITS.



Her food had been raw flesh, fish, roots, fruits, branches and leaves; and she never chewed her meat, but swallowed it whole. It was found extremely difficult to wean her stomach from the taste for raw food. When first taken, she was allowed by M. D'Epinoy to cater for herself about his ponds and ditches. She swam like a duck, and was extremely dexterous in diving for and catching fish, which she brought ashore in her teeth, and then gutted and ate.


WILD GIRL CATCHING FISH.



Frogs were a peculiar dainty to her. One day, when presented to a dinner-company at Mr. D'Epinoy's, she looked around at the table, and seeing none of her own good things, she suddenly ran out to the nearest ditch, where she speedily gathered an apronful of frogs. These she brought into the dining-room, and, before the guests knew her drift, she had spread her collection over the whole of their plates.


THE WILD GIRL AND THE FROGS AT THE COUNT'S DINNER PARTY.



It may be guessed what consternation was caused by the leap-frog game which then took place. When she had learned to express her ideas in speech, she informed her friends that she had had a companion, a girl somewhat older than herself, and black, or painted black. They had quarrelled about a chaptet, dropped by some one. The elder girl struck the younger one on the arm, and the younger one returned the blow by a violent stroke of the baton on the brow, which felled the other to the ground, and "made her red," that is, drew blood.


WILD GIRL WOUNDING HER COMPANION.



Sorry for her companion afterwards, the younger took the skin of a frog and spread it over the wound. They parted, however, each taking separate directions. Before this happened, the pair had crossed a river, which must have been the Marne, three leagues from Songi. It had been their custom to sleep all day in trees, which they could do with perfect safety. The elder girl alluded to was sought for, but was never found. A rumour went that a black girl had been found dead not many leagues from the spot where the other was taken; but as it was long ere the latter could tell the story, the affair could not be unravelled at that distance of time.Le Blanc, as the little savage was named, had a distinct recollection of being at sea, and of latterly escaping with her companion from a ship by swim[m]ing. From her statement, it was conjectured that LeBlanc, at least, was from the coast of Labrador, and had been kidnapped and carried to the West Indies. Failing to sell her by the trick of coloring her as a negro, the kidnapper seems to have brought her to some coast near to France. The hazy recollections of Le Blanc, which had reference partly to canoes and seals, and partly to sugar-canes, confirm this conjecture. How long the wanderers had been in Europe it is impossible to say, but it is evident that Le Blanc had been long familiar to solitary as well as savage habits. The attempts made to accustom her to cooked food nearly cost her her life, and her acquired voracity could not be overcome. At the hospital of Chalons, and subsequently in a convent, where she spent much of her after life, she was civilized, however, in every respect. The Duke of Orleans, and many great people were kind to her. She was, of course, an object of great curiosity to all. The period of her death is unknown to us, but in 1765 she was still living in Paris. Some peculiarities marked her through her whole life, and particularly a certain rolling motion of the eyes, acquired when she wandered in the woods, and had to guard against surprise. She knew then no fear, however, and hesitated not to front the wolf or wildcat. Besides the bludgeon mentioned, which she said she brought from her own country, she had for defence a stick pointed with iron, which she brought, she said, from the hot country.

THE STORY OF PETER THE WILD BOY

The connection she had had with society in early life may be supposed to have in some measure cultivated the intellect of this extraordinary creature. Not so with another noted savage, called Peter the Wild Boy. "He was found in the year 1725, in a wood near Hameln, about twenty-five miles from Hanover, walking on his hands and feet, climbing trees like a squirrel, and feeding on grass and moss; and in the month of November was conveyed to Hanover by the superintendent of the House of Correction at Zell At this tune he was supposed to be about thirteen years old, and could not speak. This singular creature was presented to King George I., then at Hanover, while at dinner. The king caused him to taste of all the dishes at the table; and in order to bring him by degrees to relish human diet, he directed that he should have such provision as he seemed best to like, and such instruction as might best fit him for human society.

"Soon after this, the boy made his escape into the same wood, where he concealed himself among the branches of a tree, which was sawed down to recover him. He was taken over to England at the beginning of 1726, and exhibited to the king and many of the nobility. In that country he was distinguished by the appellation of Peter the Wild Boy, which he ever afterwards retained.

"He appeared to have scarcely any ideas, was uneasy at being obliged to wear clothes, and could not be induced to lie on a bed, but sat and slept in a corner of the room, whence it was conjectured that he used to sleep on a tree for security against wild beasts. He was committed to the care of Dr. Arbuthnot, at whose house he either was, or was to have been, baptised; but notwithstanding all the doctor's pains, he never could bring the wild youth to the use of speech, or the pronunciation of words. As every effort of this kind was found to be in vain, he was placed with a farmer at a small distance from town, and a pension was allowed him by the king, which he enjoyed till his death." Lord Monboddo, whose researches led him to interest himself in Peter, visited him at Berkhampstead in 1782, when the Wild Boy had become an old man of above seventy. The poor creature looked "sagacious for a savage," his lordship says, but could only articulate a word or two. In youth he was peculiarly strong and nimble, but an illness weakened him. He had learned to eat and dress like others, but in many respects he seemed out of the pale of humanity. "He retains so much of his natural instinct, that he has a fore-feeling of bad weather, growling and howling, and showing great disorder before it comes on. If he hears any music, he will clap his hands and throw his head about in a wild frantic manner. He has a very quick sense of music, and will often repeat a tune after once hearing. When he has heard a tune which is difficult, he continues humming it a long time, and is not easy till he is master of it.

"Till the spring of 1782, which was soon after his illness, he always appeared remarkably animated by the influence of the spring, singing all day, and, if it were clear, half the night. He is much pleased at the sight of the moon and stars: he will sometimes stand out in the warmth of the sun, with his face turned up towards it in a strained attitude; and he likes to be out in a starry night, if not cold. He is extremely good tempered, excepting in cold and gloomy weather, for he is very sensible of the change of the atmosphere. He is not easily provoked, but when made angry by any person, he would run after him, making a strange noise, with his teeth fixed in the back of his hand.

"Of the people who are about him, he is particularly attached to his master. He will often go out into the field with him and his men, and seems pleased to be employed in anything in which he can assist them; but he must always have some person to direct his actions, as may be judged from the following circumstance: Peter was one day engaged with his master in filling a cart. His master had occasion to go into the house, and left Peter to finish the work, which he soon accomplished; but as Peter must be employed, he saw no reason why he should not be as usefully employed in emptying the cart as he had before been in filling it. On his master's return, he found the cart nearly emptied again, and learned a lesson by it which he never afterwards neglected." Peter died in 1783 at the farm in Hertfordshire.

THE STORY OF VICTOR, THE SAVAGE OF AVEYRON.

Another authentic case of a boy surviving alone in the woods is that of Victor, the savage of Aveyron. "Towards the end of the year 1798, a child, apparently about eleven or twelve years of age--who had several times before been seen in the woods of Caune in France, seeking acorns and roots, on which he subsisted—was caught by three sportsmen, who seized him at the moment he was climbing a tree to avoid them.

"How this unfortunate child was at first abandoned to a state of nature, could not be discovered. One circumstance affords room to conjecture that at the time when this took place an attempt had been made on his life. On the fore part of his neck was a scar of considerable extent, which appeared to have proceeded from a wound made by some sharp instrument. Some persons, more disposed than accustomed to acts of cruelty, had doubtless attempted the life of the child, who being left for dead in the woods, owed to the timely assistance of nature the cure of his wound. Besides this, he had, on various parts of his body, twenty-three scars, some of which appeared to have come from the bites of animals, and others from scratches and excoriations, affording incontestable evidence of the long and total abandonment of the unfortunate youth. From the testimony of the country people who lived near the woods in which he was found, he must have passed in absolute solitude seven years out of the twelve, which was supposed to be his age when caught in the woods of Caune.

"When he was first brought into society, he lived on acorns, potatoes, and raw chestnuts, eating husks and all. In spite of the utmost vigilance, he was frequently near escaping, and at first showed great unwillingness to lie in a bed. His eyes were without steadiness and expression, wandering from one object to another, without ever fixing on any. The organ of hearing was equally insensible to the loudest noises and the most harmonious music: that of voice was still more imperfect, for he could utter only a guttural and monotonous sound. He seemed to be alike indifferent to the smell of the most delicious perfumes and the most fetid exhalations; and his sense of feeling was limited to those mechanical functions occasioned by the dread of objects that might be in his way."

After many escapes, he was finally placed under the care of M. Itard, at Paris. It was found that he had all his senses and faculties, but that they were almost incurably dormant. His acquired freedom of will rendered him impatient under instruction. "His paroxysms of rage became more frequent and more violent, but his passion was directed less against persons than things. When in this humor he would gnaw not only his bedclothes but even the mantel-piece; throw the fire-irons, the cinders, and the hot coals, about the room and conclude the scene by falling into convulsions, with symptoms resembling those of epilepsy." The further history of this poor boy is not stated.

THE WILD MAN OF ST. LOUIS.

The wild man, of whom some accounts appeared in the papers, was caught lately and brought to St. Louis. He was surrounded in a sort of lair beneath a dense cluster of undergrowth, like the habitation of a wild beast, and filled with the bones and skin of cats, which seemed to have constituted his principal article of food. For this strange diet he had a peculiar penchant, and eschewed almost every other. He hunted cats with an avidity prompted by an extreme voracity, and it was in the pursuit and slaughter of these animals that he was first discovered. Frequent attempts were made to capture him, but his agility and speed was such that he appeared to run upon the tops of the bushes, and fences offered no impediment to his headlong course. At length a great number surrounded and secured him. He attempted battle, but was overcome. When brought to the Court House he presented the strangest appearance conceivable. His height was about five and a half feet, his hair was long, reddish brown and matted, his eyes large, gray, and restless, his finger nails as long as the claws of a tiger, his deportment crouching --half timid half threatening--and his garments consisted of a thousand tatters of cloths, barks, cat-skins, &c, bound together by catguts. He said he was from the State of New York, and had been in the woods thirty-six years. While he was being examined, and was permitted to stand unbound, he made a sudden spring over the heads of those who surrounded him, and darted away with the speed of the reindeer. The crowd pursued him, but in vain. Over the hills he fairly flew, before footmen and horsemen, until he was lost to them. Nothing has since been heard of him. He is certainly a strange being, and is literally a wild man. His age can hardly exceed forty, and yet he has lived so much away from the society of man that he has nearly forgotten his language and has the most vague recollection of things. He remembered New York, but did not know where he was, nor the form of government under which we lived. Dr. Knode was examining him when he escaped, and it is to be regretted that the doctor could not have had an opportunity of ascertelning the character of his mania.

THE BEAR WOMAN.

A few years ago there was exhibited in the States a strange and nondescript-looking being, named by the keepers the Bear Woman. She was covered all over with a coat of coarse, shaggy hair, and not a trait of the human being was perceptible in her exaggerated animal features, which were terrible in their expression of wild, savage cunning; her strength was said to be enormous, and fabulous accounts were related of her encounters and mastery of the huge beast from which she took her name, in the forest where she was captured. It was scarcely possible to guess her age; language she had none, but she was evidently a white woman, and we can only suppose that, lost when quite young, in some Indian foray, she gained her subsistence by that wonderful instinct which seems to gain instant development with the necessities of circumstances. The marvellous growth of hair can scarcely be accounted for by any known theory.

Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC) 26 September, 1820, no. 2404, col. B
Gentlemen: In your paper some time past I saw an account of "a wild woman found in the interiorof Java." History furnishes many instances of these "unfortunate commoners of nature," who have been exposed by design or accident. Comparatively few, we fear, have been brought to the domestic hearth; fewer still have been completely civilized. A book of travels, now almost obselete, states instances of this kind. A race of marauding Tartars, subjects of Russia, frequently attacked Polish villages, and carried off whole families: in conveying their captives home they had to pass the wild and intricate forest of Minsk, in Russian Lithuania, and there these unfortunate mothers lost, and were separated from their children. In after days, when this stupen­dous region was traversed, for other purposes than the nefarious one above mentioned, several human males were found in almost as barbarous a state as the native burghers of the forest, to whose ferocious instinct many of these innocents had doubtless fallen a prey.

Peter, the Wild Boy, excited much interest in his day. George the 2d, of England, found him whilst hunting in the woods near Hamelin, in the electorate of Hanover. Peter, when found, ran on all fours, like the quadrupeds amongst whom he had been raised. We might ask, why did the brutes of prey in this, as well as other instances, deviate from the voracious instinct planted in their nature? To accident we cannot refer it; and, after wearying our minds with conjecture, we can only end the difficulty by attributing it to that providential care which preserved Daniel in the lion's den. Peter never could be taught to articulate more than two words--his own name and George; but he learned, with facility and correctness, the notes of several tunes.
Lord Monboddo, of eccentric memory, men­tions in his narrative respecting Peter, that two children had been found in the same wild state--one in the island of Diego Garcia, and one in the Pyrennees. He also states that two wild children were found in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia.* This immense morass is yet in its inmost recesses, the refuge of wild animals of prey, particularly bears, panthers, and wild cats. During a fire in these swamps, 10 or 12 years ago, numbers were hunted down, who had fled before the rapid flames. A resident in that neighborhood informed me that he had seen 17 of these animals, some half burned, hang upon a single tree. In respect to the children noticed by Lord Monboddo, I cannot, in any history of either Virginia or North Carolina, find the least hint of such a circumstance having occurred; nor does the writer spe­cify the period when they were found. Is it not probable that these outcasts from society (admit­ting the noble author to be rightly informed) were the offspring of aboriginal females, compelled to seek shelter in these swamps from the invading colonist, or from some hostile tribe? Amongst the innumerable tribes of Indians in Virginia and North Carolina, the Tuskaroras were perhaps most powerful, and most immediately in the vi­cinity of this large tract. These aborigines were not all dispersed or destroyed until 1803, some of them living peaceably on the reserved lands. The main body of this tribe of Indians had migrated to New York state, and joined the Senekas, (one of the Six Nations,) many years preceding. Is it not probable, I again ask, that the young savages of Lord Monboddo did, in fact, inherit the name from their birth? I would ask, as a matter of curiosity, of yourselves, Messrs. Editors, or any of your correspondents, answers to the following questions: When were these children found? Of what age when discovered? By whom found? What became of them? Could they be taught the use of speech?

Lord Monboddo maintains that speech is not natural to man, and that the want of it is no proof that the Ourang Outang is not of the same spe­cies, as that animal only wants the artificial use of it. King John, of England,† held the same hypothesis upwards of five centuries before. Tra­dition (for such records are beneath the digni­ty of history) asserts, that this monarch imprison­ed two children (a male and female) in separate cells‡. When, at a certain age, they were brought before him, each of these little victims repeated a sarcasm on his folly in thus confining them. He considered his hypothesis as confirmed, but punished the keepers. The legend is here torn, & we do not learn (supposing it true) what became of the children, or what further progress they made in language. That man has the power, as well as the organs of speech, it appears an absurdity to deny; for what country has ever been discovered where the natives had not the means of communicating verbally with each other? In the earliest records of the world we find no sanction for such an opinion; for the Antediluvians were certainly not defective in the power or use of speech to convey their ideas. If we deny this we virtually acknowledge our belief that the Mosaic account of the creation is "a cunningly devised fable." After the Flood we cannot doubt that Noah and his descendants still spoke the language of Adam. "All the nations spoke one language." Lord Kaimes contends that, after the building of Babel, "men again degenerated into a savage state," which he attributes to the confusion of tongues, and the dispersion of the tribes. We are no where told that they lost or forgot the use of speech, which Lord Monboddo considers incidental to the savage state.

Lord Kaimes appears to take it for granted that all the men then in existence were engaged in this stupendous and impious attempt to scale Heaven, and "make themselves a name." This idea is not conveyed by the sacred historian; it, therefore, appears probable that the tribes which continued together still spoke the original language and remained in one place, and as one people. I fear I have trespassed on your limits, but the subject arose from the preceding remarks. I conclude with reiterating my request respecting the children found in the Dismal Swamp.

ENQUIRER

*This great swamp, containing nearly 150,000 acres, lies more in North Carolina than Virginia. It is a marshy region, covered with a thick growth of cypress or juni­per, many of which trees are of a prodigious growth. These trees are occasionally intermingled with oak, poplar and maple. The annual fall of leaves, and the decay of trees, raise the surface above the original soil some feet, this part being completely saturaled with water. The improvements in agriculture have done much to drain this vast surface, and many parts are sufficiently dry for the shingle-cutters and stave-makers to pursue their avocations in spots of this dreary region.

†The Prince John of Ivanhoe, whom Hume characteri­ses as replete "with cowardice, inactivity, folly, levity, licentiousness, ingratitude, treachery, tyranny, and cruelty." What a tissue of crimes! And this was a King!

‡In Newark Castle, where John died in 1216.


Newark Advocate(Newark, OH) September 17, 1869, no.38, col. D

Wild Boy in Iowa

Considerable excitement exists in East Davenport.and Gilbert Town, in conse­quence of a wild boy who has been seen by several veracious individuats, prowl­ing about the woods at the back of Judge Grant's farm and on the river's bank and islands. About a week ago, a man returning from a shooting excursion, saw what he at first took for some wild ani­mal crouching by the bank of the river. It suddenly plunged in and emerged with a fish, which it devoured ravenously. Getting closer to it he saw that it was a boy apparently about fifteen or sixteen, en­tirely without clothes, and covered with light sandy hair of a silky appearance. He plainly saw the face, and describes it as revoltingly ugly and brutal in its aspect. He attempted to approach it, but the creature became alarmed, and, taking to the water, swam to a neighbouring island, and hid in the sedges. On return­ing home he gave information, and a close lookout has been kept. The creature, whatever it may be, has been seen twice since, and this wild boy of the woods will doubtless be shortly captured.

New York Spectator August 2, 1838, col. C

We cannot undertake to say how much of hoax there is in the subjoined story, but it is a pretty fair specimen of the marvellous, and will entertain some of our readers, perhaps, as much as a political essay, or a new "Indian fight" from Florida. We copy from the Montrose (Pa.) Spectator.

Strange Animal, or Food for the Marvellous

Something like a year ago, there was considerable talk about a strange animal, said to have been seen in the south-western part of Bridgewater. Although the individual who described the animal persisted in declaring that he had seen it, and was at first con­siderably frightened at it, the story was heard and looked upon, more as food for the marvellous, than as having any foundation in fact. He represented the annual, as we have it through a third person, as ha­ving the appearance of a child seven or eight years old, though somewhat slimmer, and covered entirely with hair. He saw it, while picking berries, walk­ing toward him erect, and whistling like a person. After recovering from the fright, he is said to have pursued it, but it ran off with such speed, whistling as it went, that he could not catch it. He said it ran like the "devil," and continued to call it after that name.

The same or a similar looking animal was seen in Silver Lake township, about two weeks since, by a boy some sixteen years old. We had the story from the father of the boy, in his absence, and afterward from the boy himself. The boy was sent to work, in the back wood near the New York state line.--He took with him a gun, and was told by his father to shoot any thing he might see except persons or cattle. After working a while, he heard some person, a little brother as he supposed, coming toward him, whistling quite merrily. It came within a few rods of him, and stopped. He said it looked like a human being, covered with black hair, about the size of his brother, who was six or seven years old. His gun was some little distance off, and he was very much frightened. He, however, got his gun, and shot at the animal, but trembled so that he could not hold it still. The strange animal, just as his gun went off, stepped behind a tree, and then ran off, whistling as before. The father said the boy came home very much frightened, and that a number of times during the afternoon, when thinking about the animal he had seen, he would, to use his own words, "burst out a crying."

Making due allowance for frights and consequent exaggeration, an animal of singular appearance has doubtless been seen. What it is, or whence it came, is of course yet a mystery. From the description, if an ourang outang were known to be in the coun­try, we might think this to be it. As no such ani­mal is known, (without vouching for the correctness of the story.) we shall leave the reader to conjecture, or guess for himself, what it is. For the sake of a name, however, we will call the strange animal" THE WHISTLING WILD BOY OF THE WOODS.--Why is not this story as good as that copied into the Volunteer of week before last, relative to the wild boy of Indiana? We acknowledge that the story has excited somewhat our propensity for the mar­vellous, and we give it, as much as any thing, to gratify the same propensity in others.


North American and Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA, July 9, 1849, no. 1668, col. G

A West Indian Orson.--We take the following strange story of a wild boy of the woods, lately fauna on the island of Jamaica, from the Kingston Journal of the 15th inst.:

Early on Wednesday morning last, the 13th in­stant, a black boy, of an insane and wild appear­ance, was discovered in one of the cane fields of Molynes's estate, St. Andrew's. He was taken to the overseer's house, where every means was used to get him to give an account of himself but all proved fruitless; he either being dumb or incapable of giving utterance to words, by which he could satisfy any one. When found he was in a complete slate of nudity, having every appearance of a wild boy of the woods, who bad been nearly all his life vegetating on whatever first came to hand; his chest, arms and legs, being covered with a white sort of substance proceeding from the cane trash, and which be must have long used for bed and secrecy. He ate some bread and drank two large calabashes of water, but refused the boiled victuals which were given to him when he was found by the wtachman on the property. The overseer sent him to Dr. Downer, who also tried every means to discover if he was dumb or insane, by showing him a piece of money and frightening him with a whip, but these had no effect upon him.--The doctor then sent him to the public hospital in this city, where, having been admitted, he was spoken to, but he still seemed not to understand, and appeared incapable of replying to any thing said to him. He is some ten or eleven years of age, of rather an emaciated appearance, and perfectly wild.

It is supposed that he is an African, and whilst being taken to some property in the parish, effect­ed his escape, and has been during the period living in the cane-pieces of Molynes's estate. It is not known, however, for what period of time he has been on the property in this state of wild savageness.


Rocky Mountain News, Denver, CO, December 1, 1887, col. D

The Wild Boy Again.

Special to The News.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb., Nov. 30.--Lon Mann, one of the men who discovered the wild boy on the river bottoms near Peru last Saturday, was in town this moraine to have a badly lacerated arm dressed, which he received in an effort to capture the monstrosity last night. It again escaped, but early this morning some twenty men followed the trail in the snow which led to the river where it was lost, and several hours' search failed to show any trace, as there was ice on the river, though very thin. Those men advance the theory that the monstrosity was either drowned or crossed the river in its effort to elude its pursuers. The neighborhood is greatly excited.


St. Louis Globe Democrat, November 30, 1887, no. 189, col G.

A MYSTERIOUS MONSTROSITY.

Strange Story Told by Nebraska Woodchoppers.

Special Correspondence of the Globe-Democrat.

NEBRASKA CITY. NEB., November 28. -- Two woodchoppers, named John Huff and Lou Mann, who have been at work on the Missouri River bottoms near Peru, Nemaha County, for several months past, were in the city last night, and related to the Globe-Democrat correspondent a strange story of their experience Saturday evening, in which an alleged wild boy figures. According to the story of Huff, and corroborated by Mann, for some weeks past their hut had been entered during their absence and the greater portion of their edibles either devoured or carried off. At first they blamed several other woodchoppers who were camped near by, but their denial and the frequent repetition of the depredations put them at a loss for a solution of the thefts. They securely barricaded their hut and the annoyance ceased. Then their neighbors began to complain of the same mysterious disappearance of their "grub," and a farmer near by accused the men of robbing his hen-roosts, and even said that one night he had seen one of the men running away from one of his corn-cribs on hands and knees. Last Saturday evening, as the men returned from work, they discovered that some one had made an attempt to break into their hut, and tracks in the fresh earth about the place indicated that their visitor had been there very recently, While Mann remained behind Huff went in search of the depredator, and looking about in the brush and undergrowth for more than an hour in all directions was about to give up the hunt and return home, when, as he say he almost stumbled over the form of the most frightful and hideous-looking creature that ever met the gaze of human eyes. The sight seemed to paralyze him and root him to the spot -- a mingling of fright and amazement; and not until the animal disappeared in the thick underbrush could he even find voice to call to his companion.

He describes it as undoubtedly of human form, in face and body, but so hideously deformed as to leave only a faint resemblance. The body, as far as he could observe, was entirely naked, black and rough. The head bore a slight resemblance to that of a negro. The eyes, a blood-red, protruded from their sockets, and fangs stuck out from a horribly-shaped mouth. In locomotion, the monstrosity went on all fours, using its arms from the elbows to where the hands should be as fore feet. The body was so horribly misshapen as to defy description.

The two men notified their neighbors, and together followed the direction taken by the nondescript, but gave up the hunt when night came on without finding a trace of it. Owing to the thick and entangled brush its capture is almost an impossibility, unless accomplished while out in search of food. The cold weather and heavy fall of snow of last night will undoubtedly drive it out, if it does not freeze or starve to death. Many persons are inclined to doubt the voracity of Huff and Mann, but people in the vicinity of the scene rather believe in their truthfulness and associate it with a colored family named Jacksing, who for several years lived on the bottoms and left last spring for Kansas. They were known to have had a boy of such hideous deformity as to be frightful in his ugliness. The boy was often known to have disappeared for weeks at a time, and his parents often expressed the wish that he would never return. It is believed he was left behind when the family went to Kansas, and that this deformed human and the creature seen by the wood-choppers are identical. Another hunt was to have been made to-day.


North American and Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA, August 23, 1843, no. 1372, col. A

A Wild Boy, with a mane of hair growing down his back, was seen, afew days since, in Caldeon, Canada. His name is Thomas Speare, and he was lost in the woods on the night of the 30th Sept. 1841.


New York Herald June 21, 1836, no. 87, col. C.

The Hansag Morass Wild Boy.--The Hansag morass is remarkable for being the spot where the wild boy was found; and as his story may not be generally known, I shall give it in the words of the protocol transmitted by the authorities of the district to the government, which for accuracy may be depended upon. On the 16th of March, 1749, two Fishermen of Kapuvar, named Franz Magy and Michael Molnar, found in the Hansag morass, a being whose appearanee was that of a wild animal, but who bore an exact resemblance to the human form, except that his limbs were longer, the fingers and toes double the usual length, and his skin scaly and knotty, his he had was perfectly round, eyes small and sunk, hooked nose and mouth immoderately large. He was supposed to be about ten years of age, and when first caught it was impossible to induce him to eat any thing except grass, hay or straw, nor would he allow himself to be clothed,, and if at any time he was able to elude the vigilance of his guards, he invariably jumped into the moat surrounding the castle of Kapuvar, in which he was kept, and dived and swam about in it as if it was his native element. After having been confined about a year, he consented to wear clothes, and eat cooked victuals, in short he conformed in every respect to domestic habits, and was baptized, but it was found impossible to teach him to articulate a single syllable. In consequence of this apparent adoption to the manners of man, his guardians relaxed their vigilance, of which he took advantage and disappeared. It is supposed that he jumped into the River Rach, a short distance from the castle, and regained his old residence in the Hansag morass, for he was seen sometime afterwards by a party of fishermen among the reeds and rushes of the shore of the Konigsse, a small lake on the same morass, but, on perceiving them, he dived to the bottom, and disappeared. After a lapse of several years, he was again seen by another party of men and a second time disappeared.


St. Louis Globe Democrat, December 13, 1875, no. 208, p. 2, col. G

A Wild Boy.

A correspondent of the Greenup (Ky.) Independent, from Floyd county, says: "A boy, eight years old, who, eight months ago, was driven away from the sheltering roof of his parents by their cruelty, was lately discovered by a chestnut-hunter. The boy had been considered drowned during the high floods, and was nearly forgotten. He has now been restored to his family, who, we trust, will treat him more kindly. During these eight months, while living in the woods without seeing a human being, he nourished himself with birch, sap, sang, wild corn and grapes, and was in a fair way to turn completely wild when found."

St. Louis Globe Democrat, June 14, 1884, no. 24, col. G

A Wild Boy.

A "wild boy" has, according to the Monitor Republicano of Mexico, been lately captured in the Santa Rosa Mountains, in the vicinity of Tancanhuitz, and seems, by all accounts, to be a most unpleasant acquisition. He was, when caught carried to the town, and put for security in a well-fenced garden, where he greedily consumed fruit, lettuce, roses and the roots of several plants. He retained a remarkable taciturnity, never speaking to any one or appearing to notice the many persons who went to see him. He was considered to be pertectly harmless; and it he had continued simply to hold his tongue and confine himself to a vegetable diet, no fault would have been found with him. The other day, however, he showed a decided tendency to cannibalism, and behaved in such a manner as to call forth general anxiety and apprehension. A little child, only 3 years old, happening to come into the garden, he immediately pounced upon it and began to eat it. The child's cries attracted attention, but before assistance reached the spot the wild boy had devoured the flesh of the right arm of the infant and part of its face. On seeing that his prey was about to be taken from him he squeezed it to death in his arms, giving utterance at the same time to a horrible noise--something between a howl and a laugh. The untamable youth is now chained up; but his captors are at a loss to know what to do with him, and sincerely wish they had left him alone in the mountains.

St. Louis Globe Democrat January 22, 1884, no. 246, col. C

THE SANTA ROSA WILD BOY.

The wild boy who was captured some time ago in the Santa Rosa Mountain, in the State of San Luis Potosi, and was taken toTancanhuitz, appears to be untamable. He would neither learn to speak nor the customs of civilization. He has subsisted on vegetables and fruit and such roots as he could find, but the other day he seized a child 3 years old, and, choking it, devoured all its left arm and part of its face. When detected he tried to flee with his prey, but was captured. The child died of its injuries.

St. Louis Globe Democrat, January 25, 1876, no. 251, p. 4, col. F

WILD BOY

A Small Sensation Out in the Suburbs".

Webster Groves, the well-known suburban village, being still a part of the wilds, and having an interest in all things pertaining thereto, has felt a trifle piqued of late over the ignoring of its claims to recognition in the general "shake up" that is predicted by savants. Now she comes in with a sensation, which redeems her from past remissness as an important part of the universe, and which equals anything that has been brought to public notice for many a long day. Day before yesterday a wild boy, entirely destitute of clothing, made his appearance at one of the most respectable residences of that village. Several of the neighbors being promptly notified, succeeded, after some difficulty, in effecting his capture. He was evidently hungry, as his appeals in unintelligible cries indicated. The lady of the house feeling a deep interest in his forlorn condition, saw that he was at once properly fed and clothed, and it is understood as the intention of the lady and her most worthy husband to adopt him, and though they entertain but small hopes that he will ever be anything but a wild boy, they will labor that in time he may be civilized and Christianized.

The curious may obtain further particulars of Mr. Wilde, teller of the Mercantile Bank, as to weight, size, color of eyes, etc.


St. Louis Globe Democrat, July 31, 1875, no. 73, p. 2, col. G

A Wild Boy Caught.

[From the Austin (Texas) Statesman]
A gentleman arrived from Marcos yesterday, and brought the news of the capture of a wild boy a few miles from that place. The boy was first discovered wallowing in a pond of shallow water, and when approached he broke like a quarter-horse, running about a mile before he could be overtaken by men on ponies. Riding up near, the boy was lassoed, when a fierce contest ensued, the strange being striking, kicking and lunging about in the most fearful manner, and apparently being frightened almost to death. Finally he was overpowered, tied and taken to the house of the man who first discovered him. His body was covered with hair about four inches long, and from size and appearance he is supposed to be about twelve years old. He is unable to talk, but possesses reasoning power, and now follows his captor about like a dog.

Butterworth, Hezekiah. "Little Wild Children" The Congregationalist (Boston, MA) June 5, 1873, no. 23, p. 6, col. E

In all ages of the world we have records of wild children. However well they may have been instructed after their capture, they have always retained something of the character of the woods. Their condition has taught us that the mind must be trained with the growth of the body, to make a man the glorious being of which he is capable. They also illustrate the interesting fact that the very lowest orders of human beings are infinitely superior to the most intelligent animals, in that they have those moral faculties that are capable of expansion, that recognize God, and discriminate between right and wrong.

Several wild children who were found in the woods of Europe during the last century, in a condition that seemed but little better than the beasts, became pious before they died. In the year 1725 there was found in the woods near Hamelin, about twenty-five miles from Hanover, a boy who walked upon his hands and feet like an animal, ran up trees like a squirrel, and ate grass and moss. He could not speak, and he appeared to be much frightened at the sight of man. He was captured and presented to George III. of England. This lad became famous as Peter the Wild Boy.

Six years after the capture of this little wild boy near Hanover, a gentleman of rank was hunting at Songi, near the old French city of Charlons-sur-Marne, when he discovered two strange-looking objects swimming in the river, which he took to be large birds. He at once raised his gun and fired. The supposed birds in an instant disappeared beneath the water, but presently rose at a point near the shore. The nobleman was astonished to find that they were human beings.

They brought to the shore some fishes which they had evidently caught with their own hands by diving into the water. They began to tear these in pieces with their teeth, and to eat them without chewing. When they had finished their meal, they wandered along the banks of the river. At length one of them found something in the sand, which proved to be a rosary dropped by some devotee. She hid the treasure from her sister, but expressed her delight in exultant shouts. The other was angry at this, and a quarrel arose between the two, in which the possessor of the rosary dealt her opponent a severe blow on the head, bringing her senseless to the ground. She seemed to be struck with a feeling of pity after the deed was done. She bent over the prostrate form, threw back the long hair, and picking up some fish skins laid them upon the bleeding wounds. The poor creature at last revived, and seemed to resent deeply the injury she had received. She turned away, disappearing in the woods, and never was seen again. Like a hurt animal, she doubtless went away to die.

They were sisters, and the other went to Songi. Her hair was long and wavy, her skin was dark, and she was covered with loose pieces of fur, bound around the body.

The people of Songi were filled with terror as she appeared in the street. The men set a fierce mastiff on her, but she dealt him a blow with a stick that she carried in her hand that dropped him dead at her feet. At this the inhabitants took to their heels, and barred themselves within their houses.

She at last wandered into the open country, and climbed an apple tree, where she sat eating fruit. The Viscount d'Epinay was stopping at his country seat at Songi at this time. He pronounced the creature to be a wild girl, and offered a large reward for her capture. This had the effect of quieting the people's fears. They gathered around the tree, devising various plans for her capture. They first carried a bucket of water to the foot of the tree, thinking that when she became thirsty she would come down to drink. She did so when they had retired a little from the place, but quickly ran up the tree again when they came near.

A number of men at last hid themselves near the tree, and a woman carrying a little child in her arms came near, holding out to her some tempting fruit. The wild girl watched her for a time, the sight of the child seeming to give her confidence. At last she came down slowly and cautiously, when she was seized by the men, who carried her in triumph to the Viscount. The nobleman gave her to a shepherd to tame, and a terrible time the poor shepherd had. She was not dangerous, but sly. He could confine her nowhere. Anything that he could do, she could as quickly undo. He lost her once in mid-winter, and found her at last on the top of a forest tree, swinging in the wind, in a snow storm.

The Viscount named her Maria C. Blanc.

He once made a splendid feast, and allowed Maria to sit among the guests at the table. She seemed to wish to make herself agreeable to the fine people around her; and suddenly starting up, and speeding away with nimble feet, she was presently seen bringing something in her apron. She approached a lady of rank, and holding out a live frog by its leg, said, "Have some? Have some?" She made the same generous offer to other ladies, much to their horror, and even insisted upon putting some of these rather unquiet creatures upon their plates. She had collected them from a neighboring pond.

In her youth she was able to outrun the swiftest animals, even the hares and hounds. She was once employed on the occasion of a royal hunting party as the Queen of Sweden's dog. It was conjectured that she was an Esquimaux, as she said that she had a vague recollection of twice crossing the sea. She became very devout in her last years, which were passed in a solemn convent. The contrast between the wild freedom of the forest in her youth, and her secluded life with the nuns, in her after years, was indeed very great.

About the close of the last century, while the finding of Peter the Wild Boy, and Maria C. Blanc, was yet in people's minds, there was seen in the woods near Aveyron, a wild boy, apparently about twelve years of age, running about on all fours, grubbing for nuts and roots. Some years afterwards he was captured by some hunters. He was taken to Paris, but he always was very savage in confinement. He was exhibited as the Savage of Aveyron.

He had one interesting quality which Peter also exhibited -- a love of the sublime and beautiful in nature. Peter used to sing like a bird on the coming of spring, and the especial delight of the savage of Aveyron was to watch the rising moon. Our own country furnishes but few notable instances of these children of the woods, though the Wild Man of St. Landry--Wild Sam--has recently attracted attention. He lived in the woods near Opelousas, La. The birds and beasts have been his chosen companions from childhood. In his early years he lived upon roots and berries. He was never known to sleep in a house or to enter a white man's dwelling. He was never known to be sick, and he is now very old, if living.


The Liberator (Boston, MA) September 15, 1843, no. 27, p. 147, col. F
A Wild Boy. --The following extraordinary advertisement appears in the Toronto Christian Guardian of the 12th ultimo: -- A reward of fifty dollars will be given to any person or persons who will find Thomas Spears, son of William Spears, who was lost in the township of Caledon, on the night of the 30th of September, 1841. The boy was seen on the 4th of June, 1843, by two sons of Daniel McLaughlin, on the town line between Caledon and Albion. He was sitting on a stone, looking at his feet, which were sore; he was quite naked, excepting the waistband of a pair of trousers, of a dark color, and about four inches of the one thigh in rugs, corresponding with the same he wore when lost. He was seen again on the 14th of June last, having on the part of clothing just described, by Mrs. Howard, on the base line between Mono and Caledon, less than three miles from where he was lost. Mrs. Howard came close up to him, and was not perceived until she came so near that she might have put her hand upon him; she was frightened, and stood to look at him, and he stood in the same manner gazing at her. On observing such a fearful sight, she started back, and then the boy started into the woods; she then went to the place, where her husband had some men logging and they all left work and went in search for him; but they only found his track in the swamp. Mrs. H. says, that when he turned to run away from her, he had a mane of hair, growing down his back.


The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) February 10, 1892, no. 26, col. B

The Wild Boy of Pindus.

Spectator.

In an Anthenian paper a tale comes from Thessaly of the wild boy on Mount Pindus: "Demetriader- Worthy-of-honor, the warden of the king's forest on Mount Pindus, was out shooting in the mountains. Being tired, he left the chase of the deer and turned up a path which led through a steep glen to some shepherds' huts, where be hoped to drink a cup of the milk of Pindus, milk which is famed to be the best of any. While he was walking quietly up the path he heard a rustling in the underwood and stayed to listen. Through the branches he saw an unknown animal moving very quickly in the same direction as himself and made ready to fire at it, but was stopped by shouts of the shepherd on the hillside above, who called to him not to shoot. He then followed this strange creature, which had the form indeed of a man and was wholly naked, but ran very fast, sometimes on its feet, but more often on all fours, and reached the sheep cote before him. There he found it eagerly drinking the buttermilk from a trough into which it had run while the cheeses from the morning milking were being pressed. When it saw him near it ran into the wood, and the chief of the shepherds told him its story. "He is a boy," he said, a Wallachian, the son of a Wallachian, who lived at Castania, on Mount Pindus. The man went back to Wallachian [] to seek work and there be married. He lived there some time, but afterward came back to Pindus. Six years he was absent, and he brought four or five children. Then he died and left his wife and children to the "five roads" (i. e., to fortune). The woman saw no way of keeping her children in Castania, so she distributed them among her neighbors and went back to her own country. But one of them ran away from the person with whom he was left and has lived in this part of the forest for four years.

"He lives, even as you saw him, without clothes. In summer he lives well, and drinks our buttermilk daily. In winter he lies in the caves and lives on roots and nuts. He has learned no form of speech, neither has he a name. The forest warden determined not to leave him to endure another winter on the mountain, so he bade the shepherds to catch and bind the boy, and he fastened a rope to him and took him back to Trikalæ where he clothed him, and has done what he can to civilize him. He always keeps him with himself, or under the care of some one who can talk, because he seems unable to learn to speak any word, though he imitates the voices of many wild creatures. Nor does he learn to understand the names of things. But animal sounds he mimics well, and he has learned to ride. As his real name is not known his guardian has called him Sciron.


Cornish, C.J. 1897. "The Wild Boy of Pindus" p. 315-323. In: Animals at Work and Play. Their Activities and Emotions. 2nd ed. London: Seeley and Co., Ltd.

The Wild Boy of Pindus.

When a Greek newspaper condescends to drop the eternal discussion of the Eastern Question and chronicle the gossip of the market-place, it is apt to become intensely interesting to perverse occidental readers. Now and then in the country news there appears a reprint, in the rough rustic dialect of a local news-sheet of some tale which gives a faint echo of the old, old Hellas, and may carry the reader back in a moment to the days of Hesiod or Herodotus. Let us give, as we find it recently quoted in an Athenian paper, a tale which comes from Thessaly, of the wild boy on Mount Pindus:--"Demetriades worthy-of-honour, the warden of the king's forest on Mount Pindus, was out shooting on the mountain. Being tired, he left the chase of the deer, and turned up a path which led through a steep glen to some shepherds' huts, where he hoped to drink a cup of the milk of Pindus, milk which is famed to be the best of any. While he was walking quietly up the path, he heard a rustling in the underwood, and stayed to listen. Through the branches he saw an unknown animal moving very quickly in the same direction as himself, and made ready to fire at it--να πυροβοληση--but was stopped by shouts of the shepherds on the hill-side above, who called to him not to shoot. He then followed this strange creature, which had the form, indeed, of a man, and was wholly naked; but ran very fast, sometimes on its feet, but more often on all-fours, and reached the sheep-cote before him. There he found it eagerly drinking the buttermilk from a trough into which it had run while the cheeses from the morning milking were being pressed. When it saw him near, it ran into the wood; and the chief of the shepherds told him its story. "He is a boy," he said, "a Wallachian, the son of a Wallachian, who lived at Castania, on Mount Pindus. The man went back to Wallachia to seek work, and there he married. He lived there some time, but afterwards came back to Pindus. Six years he was absent, and he brought back four or five children. Then he died, and left his wife and children to the 'five roads' (i.e., to fortune). The woman saw no way of keeping her children in Castania, so she distributed them among her neighbours, and went back to her own country.

But one of them ran away from the person with whom he was left, and has lived in this part of the forest for four years. He lives, even as you saw him, without clothes. In summer he lives well, and drinks our buttermilk daily. In winter he lies in the caves, and lives on roots and nuts. He has learnt no form of speech, neither has he a name." The forest warden determined not to leave him to endure another winter on the mountain; so he bade the shepherds to catch and bind the boy, and fastened a rope to him, and took him back to Trikalas, where he clothed him, and has done what he can to civilise him. He always keeps him with himself, or under the care of someone who can talk, because he seems unable to learn to speak any word, though he imitates the voices of many wild creatures. Nor does he learn to understand the names of things. But animal sounds he mimics well, and he has learnt to ride. As his real name is not known, his guardian has called him Sciron."

The reference in the name to the legend of Theseus is very characteristic of modern Greek sentiment, which preserves unbroken the traditions which cling to the mountains and glens of old Hellas. But apart from its old-world setting, the story affords additional and corroborative evidence of the habits of the very curious and rare animal which, for want of a better name, we may call Relapsed Man. The Relapsed Man --that is, the man who has run wild after civilisation --is a wholly different creature from Wild or Feral Man, who has never been tamed; and in his degeneration seems by a sudden fall to reach a point far lower, physically and mentally, than the Fuegians or the Digger Indians. As for the animals, there are very few of the more intelligent kinds, which, whether in work, play, or general well-being, could not 'give points' to Relapsed Man. Wherefore the writer introduces him by way of contrast, the more as Mr Rudyard Kipling's wolf boy 'Mowzli' [sic] is so charming a boy that if he is allowed to be taken as a type of all 'wild boys,' we shall soon have someone trying the experiment of producing them by leaving them in the woods as Mr Weller, senior, did Sam in the London streets. Unfortunately--or fortunately, as the reader chooses--Relapsed Man can seldom be studied with the care he deserves, because he is a scarce and accidental product of unpleasant conditions. War, famine, pestilence, and wolves are the most favourable means for producing him, and an overbearing civilisation has made these conditions scarce. But there exists a body of authoritative evidence on the subject with which we may compare the case we have quoted, more particularly with reference to the statement that he was a wild boy, not a wild man; that he went often on all-fours, and in that posture ran fast; that he ate nuts and roots; that he sucked up the buttermilk--να ροφα, the Greek word, is used of the manner in which a horse drinks water, and it will be found that it is a peculiarity of the Relapsed Man that he does not drink or lap, but sucks up milk or water in this eager, swallowing way--that he went naked; and that he had not, and has not, learnt to talk, but can mimic animal sounds.

Relapsed Man is found in three forms--one, the most marked and least human, is that which ensues when he has, as a child, been carried off and kept--often for several years--by a wild animal. This is the acute form of relapse, and exhibits all the symptoms of the Pindus boy, with several others, among them a wholly carnivorous appetite, the voice of a wild beast, extreme ferocity, and a temper quite impossible to humanise. The second and milder form occurs when a young child has run wild or been deserted, and manages to keep itself alive without human aid, to which form the case of the Greek boy belongs. The wild boy of Hanover, found in the last century, was a similar instance. He ran on all-fours, ate nothing but roots and nuts, and was without speech. The third form, now very rare in Europe, but not uncommon in the Ardennes, and other districts where the wolf still lives, is clearly the result of the mental malady of lycanthropy, sufferers from which are yearly brought to be touched by the Holy Stole of St. Hubert, who, if less potent than his votaries imagine to drive the latent poison of hydrophobia from the tainted blood, can still minister to a mind diseased, and with mystic and consoling rites cures sufferers who exhibit beyond a doubt all the worst traits by which Relapsed Man is marked in the completist form of retrogression. What these characteristics are, may be judged from the curious and complete instances of the capture of children living in wolves' dens in the Province of Oude, collected by Colonel Sleeman, the able officer who took a leading part in the suppression of the Thugs of India. In the first case, which occurred near the Goomtee River, in a district where wolves abound, and are never killed by the natives from fear of the ill-luck which their death will bring upon the village, a native trooper saw a large she-wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps and a little boy. The boy seemed on the best possible terms with the old dam and the three whelps, and the mother-wolf seemed to guard all four with equal care. They all went down to the river and drank, after which they were chased by the trooper; but they escaped over rough ground into the den, the boy running on all-fours quite as fast as the young wolves. The man then got assistance and dug the whole party out; the wolves and boy bolted together, and the boy was caught, fastened to a rope, and led to the village. He could not speak, but growled and snarled like a young wolf, and tried to bolt into every hole or shelter that was passed. After four days he was sent to an English officer, Captain Nicholetts. Though kindly treated, he never learnt to speak, ran away from grown-up people, flew at children and tried to bite them, and ran to eat his food on all-fours. But he was friendly with a pariah-dog, and would let it share his food. He would suck up a whole pitcher of buttermilk without drawing breath apparently. He never laughed or smiled, and destroyed all clothes given him. Two and a half years after his capture he died, and just before his death spoke once or twice, saying his head ached, and pronouncing the word for water. Another child caught in a wolf's den in the same neighbourhood was even more savage. He would only eat raw flesh, on which he put his hands as a dog puts its fore-feet. He drank in the manner mentioned before, and habitually ran on all-fours, from which his knees and knuckles were quite hard. Though reclaimed by his mother, he was quite untameable, and at last lived in the village streets like a pariah-dog, going every night into the jungle. A third boy, caught near Hasanpur, could walk upright, but preferred to go on all-fours, and ran so fast in that position that no one could catch him. He could not talk, but was induced to wear clothes. But he still remained so inhuman, that few people would keep him for any time; and for three nights in succession wolves were seen to come up and awake him. In each case the boy played with the wolves who capered round him and licked him.

We will not attempt to frame a theory from the cases we have quoted. No doubt it will be open to those who hold with the late Professor Garratt, that man was the first of the animals to stand upright, and that he has not yet learned to do this properly, or he would not be subject to spontaneous internal injuries such as rupture from which quadrupeds are generally exempt, to see in these accounts instances of a return to a primitive state. Others will fairly argue that the degradation of Relapsed Man so far transcends all known instances of man in his lowest natural state, as merely to be an example of corruptio optimi fessima. But, in any case, we may infer from the instances which we have quoted, that Relapsed Man walks and runs well and by preference on all-fours--cannot speak lives on raw food, fears his own species, drinks by suction, and, what is perhaps best of all, never lives to maturity; for all the captures recorded have been those of boys, not of men.


United States Telegraph (Washington, DC) October 24, 1834, no. 254, p. 1156, col. A

WILD BILL

OR THE MISSISSIPPI ORSON

. It was the lot of that wonderful person, Caspar Hauser, to be emancipated and tamed among a people every way disposed to note all the peculiarities of a mind permitted almost to reach maturity, before it had received the impress of a single effort at training it. This training was then undertaken by instructors, excited by an enthusiasm of curiosity to trace the first manifestations of his mind under its new series of impulses. Of coarse, we have in his case most impressive chapters upon the influence of the magnificent universe--the green earth, the sun and moon in the blue heavens, and the grandeur of the starry hosts, when first shown to him. We have a novel and most striking history of mind under the first impressions of external nature, and the first lights of instruction.

The annexed brief and unpretending narrative lays no claim to virtues of this sort. Wild Bill, it is true, was thrown among a people humane and civilized; but they were pressed by numberless and imperious necessities, incident to a new settlement in the wilderness. Their condition was too full of labor, care, and danger to admit of the exercise of curiosity. Thus they were less disposed to mark the first movements of his mind, after he had been caught, and the process of the training of society was commenced upon him.--In a forest full of Indians and wild animals, Wild Bill was an object of very little higher interest than a tamed bear or panther. Of course no documents remain to show how he was impressed by the new views which society presented to his mind. I have even been unable to ascertain whether any efforts were made to place him in school, or under the influence of any other instruction or training than that of the new circumstances in which he was placed.

Although the story may not claim parallel interest with the eloquent history of mind in the case of Caspar Hauser, it may, nevertheless, fearlessly present one claim to attraction -- it is literally a matter of fact, without the slightest admixture of coloring of any sort -- and within the knowledge of citizens of the highest standing in Mississippi and Louisiana. Judge Butler, of the latter State, is capable of furnishing many more details than I have been enabled to obtain. Although I have heard the oral statements of many persons who have seen the subject of the narrative, I am indebted mainly for the facts it contains -- with which the statements referred to uniformly agree -- to one of the first planters in the parish of Rapides, in Louisiana. He became a temporary resident at Woodvale, a considerable village in the interior of Mississippi, in 1814. Here he first saw the boy called Wild Bill, who then resided with a Mr. Benjamin Rollins. He had at that time made so much progress in learning to converse, that he was quite intelligible. It is believed that he had then been taken about eighteen months or two years.

He was secured in the Mississippi swamp, not far from the present site of Pinckneyville. --The circumstances that led to his being taken, were these: Some settlers, who had recently settled in that vicinity, saw on the margin of the swamps the prints of the naked foot of a boy.-- This led them to closer observation; which soon discovered to them a naked boy, walking with the gait and in the manner of a hunting animal, on the shore of one of the lakes that abound in that region. His object was to catch frogs,-- a species of hunting at which he seemed very expert. When he had caught them, he devoured them raw. The discoverer attempted to approach him: but so soon as the wild lad saw him, he fled with the usual terror of an untamed creature at the sight of a man, towards a lake, into which he plunged, --diving and swimming with the ease of an amphibious animal. These occurrences naturally created much interest among the settlers; and they collected in a body to make an united effort to take him. After hunting for him for some time, they at length discovered him under a Persimon tree, eating the fruit. As soon as he observed his pursuers, he fled as before, doubling the bush like a fox, and making again for the water. Excusing themselves by their motive, the hunters adopted their usual expedient for catching animals. They put their dogs on the trail of the strange game. They soon tired him down, and brought him to bay. --Though no metaphysicians to form mental theorems out of the case of their new conquest, they discovered that the two-legged unfeathered creature, had the natural animal instinct of fight--for he made battle upon dogs and men with the full amount of courage and ferocity that might be expected to result from his age and physical strength. But although he fought like any other animal, he was compelled to yield to numbers, and, was fairly caught and bound. He was then, it is supposed, not far from nine years old--naked, and perfectly speechless. His form was slender, but well proportioned, and capable of extreme agility. His eyes were brilliant; his hair sandy and his complexion florid; a circumstance which may be accounted for from his having lived almost entirely in the deep shades of the forest. Woodville was the nearest considerable settlement, and thither he was carried, for the experiment of domestication.

Eighteen months, or two years after his capture--the period, as I have said, when my informant first saw him,--he had still a look perfectly indicative of his name. He was yet wild, although he could now make himself understood. It was more difficult to overcome his appetite for raw flesh, than to learn [sic] him to speak. The love of the excitement of alcohol, seems to be another common appetite of the man of nature, for he soon manifested an unconquerable longing for spirits in any form, especially when rendered very sweet,--upon which he became intoxicated whenever he had an opportunity. Whether he discovered the usual development of the other animal propensities, my informant does not know; but he always remained a wild animal in the fierceness of his temper. When playing with lads of his age, the moment his passions were roused in any way, his first movement was to strike them with whatever instrument was nearest at hand. After his partial domestication, they attempted to put him at work; but he showed a truly savage disrelish for labor. He was sure immediately to run away; generally making for the town, where his amusement was to mount on horseback whenever he was allowed the opportunity. Riding was his passion; and be would mount every horse in a livery stable in succession, merely for the pleasure of riding them to water. In other respects he was quick and intelligent. His appearance was rather agreeable, and in his favor.

The training which he received was either unfavorable to good moral development, or it had been originally denied him by nature; for he became quarrelsome, addicted to drunkenness, and not at all a lover of the truth. Consequently, a great deal of doubt and uncertainty must rest upon his history of his early recollections; though they were to often repeated, and so nearly in the same form, as to have gained credence with the people among whom he lived. He stated that he had a dim remembrance of coming down the Mississippi with his father's family in a flat boat, --that the boat landed,--that his father killed his mother and that he fled in terror, into the swamps, expecting that his father would kill him also; and from that time he had subsisted on frogs, animals, and berries--living, in warm weather, among the cane, and in cold weather in a hollow tree.

It is extremely unfortunate that so few details remain of the domestication and character of Wild Bill; though it is hoped that this imperfect account may call forth from the persons with whom he lived and died, ampler and more satisfactory information respecting him. It is believed that he died when at the age of eighteen or nineteen, that is in the year 1818; after a domestication of about nine years. Alas! the uneducated and untrained Man of the Woods is but a kind of forked, straddling animal, very little superior to what we call the lower animals, and in many respects, far below them. And, viewing the mass, even in the highest state of freedom and civilization,--seeing them so readily and wilfully the victims of their ignorance, their prejudices, and, more than all, their own supposed knowledge and illumination,--seeing, too, how easily and universally they become the stupid instruments of unprincipled and ambitious demagogues, one is almost driven to adopt the painful and humiliating axiom of Dean Swift, that man is not a reasonable animal, but only capable, under certain circumstances, of becoming such.


Wisconsin State Register (Portage, WI) March 12, 1892, no. 5, col. G

A CASE OF NATURAL SELECTION.

Wild Boy Reportcd in the Woods in Arkansas, Running with Wolves.

BENTON, Ark., March 7.--It has been reported among the farmers about seven miles north of this city for some time that a wild boy was living in the woods on the hills and that he had been seen by several people. Last Saturday David Williams was coming to this city and as he passed through a dense woods in the river bottom he saw three wolves running through the brush, and with them was a strange animal which he could not see very well. He thought it was very queer and he tied his team and made a still hunt through the woods to see if he could get another glimpse of it.
Nothing But an Animal
.

He was successful and says it was undoubtedly a boy of about 15 or 16 years. It was perfectly wild, and, while it occasionally got up on its feet, it ran on its hands and feet. From what he could see it could get over the ground as fast as the wolves which it accompanied. It seemed to be familiar with the animals and was evidently part of the band. The boy, of course, was perfectly naked and showed from its actions that it was nothing but an animal. Williams said that he watched the boy and wolves for some time and then hastened from his hiding place and tried to get close to the group.

Back to Civilization, in Arkansas!

The wolves and boy went through the bush with marvelous celerity and he could not get near to them. The story has caused much interest here and a concerted effort will be made to capture the boy and bring him back to civilization. It is believed that the boy must have been stolen when a baby by the wolves and that by some chance was nursed by a she wolf instead of becoming a dinner for the savage animals.


Arbuthnot, John. 1751. "The most wonderful wonder that ever appeared to the wonder of the British nation, being an account of the travels of Mynheer Veteranus, through the woods of Germany; and an account of his taking a most monstrous she-bear, who had nursed up the wild boy: Their Landing at the Tower, their reception at court; the daily visits they receive from multitudes of all ranks and orders of both sexes, with a dialogue between the old she bear and her foster son, to which is added Viri Humani, Salsi, & Faceti Gulielmi Sutherlandi, Multarum Artium & Scientiarum, Doctoris Doctissimi, DIPLOMA -- Written by the Copper-Farthing DEAN." p. 192-200, 231*. In: The Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot. Vol. I. Glasgow: James Carlile.

*book is mispaginated, page numbered 231 follows p. 200

No People on Earth are so inquisitive, and so fond of Rarities as the English, except the Leigois, who by the Conformance of Humour and Manners, seem to be descended from us; whoever knows their History, and is acquainted with that of England, will readily give into my Opinion. This I have thought necessary to say by way of Introduction; for to fall de but en blanc, as the French say, or as we English, slap dash, upon the Subject, without preparing our Reader by some little introductory Discourse to raise his Curiosity, gain his Attention, and bespeak his Favour; would shew an Author ignorant of the modern Way of Writing. I, who am now pretending to that Title, shall endeavour to observe all Decorums, and prove, by the little Treatise I have undertaken, that I aim at nothing more than giving the Town a polite Entertainment, wherein I shall never deviate one single Step from the Paths of Truth, which is so strictly followed by all Writers, since the Example set us by G---- B------, B---- of S------, that neither Party, Passion, nor private Pique, can make an English Author guilty of, even an Equivocation. I would be understood, however, to except Jesuits and Jacobites, for they are known to be incorrigible in their Hatred to that exemplary pious Man; and so great is their Rage, that I verily believe, had he ever given into Flattery and Falshood, two Vices which filled his righteous Soul with Horror, they would have embraced Truth and Plain Dealing. But it is not my Business here to examine the Principles of any Party or Faction; nor does it become an Author of a refined Taste and polite Education, to expose the Faults, Slips, Mistakes, Errors, or Inhumanity of our Neighbours, or to criticise their Morals.

I fhall therefore come to the Subject Matter, without detaining my Reader any longer, since I suppose him of himself able to make all necefiary Reflections, and it would be arrogating to myself a Superiority of Judgment, should I pretend to make them for him. Be it known then, That Mynheer Veteranus, a Dutch Gentleman, who keeps a Gin-shop in Amsterdam hearing the kind Reception the wild Boy met with here in England, and of the great Care taken for his Instruction in the Principles of the Christian Faith; thought he could not do a more acceptable Piece of Service to this generous Nation, than that of enquiring out, and bringing over the Bear to whom the Care of his Infant State was committed. And knowing that the generous English would not suffer him to lose either his Pains or Expences, if he succeeded in his Search and Endeavours to serve them, he left Amsterdam, resolving to hunt all the Woods of Germany but he would find her out. To this End, he took a young Child with him, and having prepared his Toils, towards the Evening, in a certain Forest he made the Child cry, thinking, that the Nurse being accustomed to these Infant Ejaculations, would be allured by them. The Success answered his Intentions; for a She Bear made up to the Place whence the Child's Cries proceeded, and was taken in the Toils. No sooner had he, with the Men who accompanied him, muzzled her, so that she could do no Mischief, but he offered the Child to her Dugs, who she, without Reluctance, nay, with a visible Tenderness, sufferwd to draw her Milk, and endeavoured, though too straitly muzzled, to caress it with her Velvet Tongue. Mynheer, to try her farther, took the Child away; whereat she began to grumble in a frightful Manner; roar she could not, for the above-mentioned Reason. Mynheer therefore being fully satisfied, was hoisting her into a Cart brought to carry her off, when he was surprized by an uncommon Sight, a Child of about two Years old, with his Nose to the Ground, and followed by some Bears Cubs, came galloping upon all four in Search of the Dam and Nurse, whom they followed by the Scent. This Sight made the Dutch Gentleman fear he had not the real Nurse of the English Wild Boy; but one of his Huntsmen told him it was a Confirmation that she had nursed the English Gentleman; for, says he, when a Bear has once brought up an Infant, they grow so fond of Children, that they never rest contented without one for the Entertainment and Diversion of their Cubs; and they'll venture their Lives to steal one from the neighbouring Villages. Satisfied with what he heard, Mynheer Veteranus ordered the Child and Cubs to be taken, which was no hard Matter, for they would not quit the Dam. He then made the best of his Way Home, overjoyed, that he could be so serviceable to the British Nation, (for which the Dutch in general have an inviolable Affection, as is demonstrable in all their Actions) he took Shipping afterwards with his Prize, and safely landed at Tower-Wharf the first of this Month; though, some have falsely reported that he was here four Months before. However, he was no sooner arrived, than he received the Thanks and Compliments of all the Nobility, who had the Honour of waiting on him, to whom he shew'd this Rarity gratis. A certain Person of Distinction purchased his whole Cargo, the Bear with her Cubs and their Foster-Brother; and sending for the Wild Gentleman, he shewed him the old Bear. The Lad no sooner saw her, but, with Tears of Joy, he embraced his dear Nurse; who on her Part gave as great Demonstration of Fondness, hugging him, throwing herself on her Back, and opening her legs offered him the Tet, which he sucked as heartily as if he had never been wean'd: He unmuzzled her, and it's impossible to express the Joy which appeared in the Eyes of both. The Cubs and new-found Infant were brought in, but the English Gentleman would not suffer them to approach; and indeed the Fondness the Bear shew'd for the Recovery of her former Care, made her neglect her Cubs and new Nursling. The Purchafer of her is a Man of a great Estate, and a Scotch Gentleman (whose Father is a Merchant of Sloes, Blackberries, Cyder, and Arsenick, in the City) being by, he desired him to take Care of these Cubs, which the Bear had neglected, and he would pay him handsomely for their Board. Since which Time, the Bear has been shewn to all the Court; and we hear that a Den, in which formerly was kept one of the most monstrous She Bears that ever the Woods of Germany produced, is now preparing for her Reception. The Bear's first Fit of Tenderness for her recovered Darling being over, she seemed by her Looks to enquire for her Young. The English Gentleman, who is her Interpreter, asked for them by her Orders. They were brought, and the young Gentleman told his Foster Mother in her own Language, that great Care should be taken both of her Cubs and Nursling; and that a Gentleman who was to have an Apartment joining to hers, had the Care of civilizing and bringing them up; which, as he was a Scotsman by Birth, none could perform with more Care, Skill, and Tenderness. As the English Wild Gentleman did me the Honour to interpret to me the dialogue between him and his Nurse, partly by Words, partly by Signs, I shall here give it the Reader verbatim without Addition or Diminution.

Bear. My dear human Cub, how have I regretted your Loss, how could you leave so tender a Mother?

Boy. I was ravished from you, my dear Mother, by the barbarous Creatures of my own Kind; who have enclosed me, as you see, in these Hides stript off some innocent Beasts; and deprived me of the natural Use of my Fore Legs.

Bear. What Title has this Beast which goes erect on two Legs, contrary to the Order of Nature, to deprive us of our native Liberty?

Boy. The same they have to tyrannize over one another, the Power to do it. The Beast call'd Man has the Vanity to imagine himself the Head of the Creation; that every other Creature is subservient to him, and made by the Sun for his Use; and that he alone has the Benefit of Reason and Expression.

Bear. I find he is but a very silly Animal. Let him consult Experience (for Reason I suppose he has none) and see which has most Claim to Superiority, the Two-leg'd, or the Four-leg'd Beast. Turn a Man loose to me, to a Tiger, or a Lion, and let him shew his Excellence. He seems to me the most imperfect Piece of the Creation; for the Sun has given him neither Hair to cover him, nor Teeth nor Claws to defend him. Has he a Scent to find out his necessary Food.

Boy. They feed upon Animals weaker than themselves, as Lambs, Fowls; and, by their Treachery, they kill and eat the Bull and Cow. They carry it fairly with them, and there is a Sort of Compact between these Beasts: The Beast Man, in the Summer, cuts the Grass, and lays up Provision for the Beast Bull against the Winter; and the Beast Bull helps him, by working, to lay up a Store for himself. But when Man is hungry, he takes an Opportunity, and kills and eats the undefigning innocent Bull.

Bear. Monstrous! I see the Horse in Friendship with them; are they as treacherous to him?

Boy. I can't tell; but they tyrannize over him because of their Numbers; for otherwife, the Horse is much the braver Beast. But they have an Invention of killing Creatures with Fire; which makes those Beasts who know them stand in Awe of them.

Bear. Since you have been some time among the Beasts of your own Species, you are certainly able to give me their Character.

Boy. That's a difficult Matter; for hardly one of them knows his own; and I have heard Men themselves say, that it is the greatest Wisdom for a Man to know himself. Man is a very Contradiction; he prides himself as superior to the other Beasts, and yet when he would exaggerate in his own Praise, it is by shewing that he is equal to some or other of them in the Gifts of Nature. Their Companions are with Beasts of different Species from their own, and when they boast of their Strength, Subtilty, or Innocence, they immediately allude to the Lion, Serpent and Dove, and so on in all other Perfections. Man stripped is the most Defenceless and most Sheepish of all Animals; but when he is decked with Birds' Feathers and Sheep's Wool, and laid over with a shining Earth, which they adore, as we do the Sun, and has perfumed himfelf with the Excrements of a Civet Cat, his Pride makes him look with Contempt on every other Animal; as if the Pillage of different Beasts had the Power to change his Nature. Their Judgments are so weak, that they'll put one Man to Death, and extol another to the Skies, for one and the same Action, The glittering Earth I mention'd is their God; it is almost of the Colour of the Fox, and so zealous are they in their Adorations of this their Deity, that they offer one another up in Sacrifice, in which by mutual Wounds both Priest and Victim fall. They are so fickle in their Temper, that they resolve one thing this Minute, and the contrary the next; and their Hatred is so violent when provoked, that they will wish the moft cruel Mischiefs even to themselves; nay, they go farther, and put themselves to Death.

Bear. Ridiculous Animal which pursues Annihilation; but I observe there is a Subordination among them: For one Man I see is followed and attended by a Number of others who obey his Orders. Is that Man stronger or wiser than his Fellow Beasts, that he has so many Jackals about him?

Boy. Not at all. 'Tis very probable he is the weakest of the Pack.

Bear. Whence then this Observance?

Boy. He is bless'd with the Favour of their God: You must know their Deity is divided into innumerable small Particles, and he who possesses the greatest Number of these, is the most honoured by the rest of his Species, and followed and waited on by them, to gather up such Parcels as he is obliged from time to time to scatter: For such is the Nature of their God, that it cannot rest long contented in one Place; tho' a Man whom the Sun killed not long since, had chained and fettered their great God of all, which they call by the Name of Million; this God of theirs I never saw. I can give you no farther Account, having been so small a Time among them, and not as yet well enough acquainted with their manner of Expression; for they use many Words to which they join no Idea. These are I fancy imaginary Deities; as Justice, Honour, Religion, Truth, Friendship, Loyalty, Piety, Charity, Mercy, Publick Good, and many others which commonly fill their Discourse; but what is meant by 'em I cannot yet discovcr, tho' I have a strong Notion they have no Meaning at all; and are only employed to give a Grace to their Conversation, because they found pleasant to the Ear, and run glibly off the Tongue.

Bear. But what do these Human Beasts keep me here for?

Boy. I believe it is to admire you; for you may observe a great Number come to look at you. They take me to be Something above their own Species, for the finest of the Men will caress me; but it's not strange, I have had the Advantage of your Tongue to lick me into form, and your Milk to rear me. There is one Thing which will make you Wonder; The she Man carries about her the Skin of the Virile Instrument, but to what End I can't find out.

Bear. If it is to admire me, well and good; for they can't do it without abating very much of the Opinion they conceive of themselves: But I shall not long be easy under this Confinement; for tho' I am treated with no harsh Usage, and even as the more Noble Beast, for they attend and provide for me without any Care on my Side.

Boy. It is this I believe makes the Horse and Dogs suffer the Insults they meet from Man; for all things rightly consider'd, Man who provides for the Horse's Sustenance, who keeps him clean, carries away his Dung, and waits upon him when he has any Ailment, is no more than Slave to the generous Beast. As to the Dog, I have seen the She Men treat him with so much Care, Tenderness and Deference, that I am apt to think they worship him; they take him into their Bosoms, kiss, fondle and caress him, provide the best Entertainment for him; serve him before themselves; and never suffer him to set his Foot to the Ground, but carry him in their Arms, and are diligent Attendants on him. They pay the same Respect to the Monkey. I was one Day in Conversation with one, who told me he thought himself happy that he had such a Number of careful Slaves, who even prevented his Wishes, and provided so well for him not only all the Conveniencies of Life, but also what might gratify the Senses; that he was satisfy'd, the rest of his Species, had they a true Notion of Men, wou'd condescend to converse with and take upon 'em the Government of that passive Animal. This is the Monkey's Way of thinking; tho' Man thinks quite differently, and boasts that the Monkey is his Slave.

Bear. Why? does the Monkey do any thing for Man?

Boy. Nothing but when the Monkey laughs at the ridiculous Actions of that Beast, he laughs again' at his Gestures: The Monkey I just now mention'd found but one Fault with his Condition, which is (said he,) my Slaves are so incorrigibly stupid, that when they do anything to displease me, and I shew my Resentment by Gesticulation, for I don't know their Language, they immediately fall a laughing.

Their Discourse was here interrupted by some Company; for the Bear wou'd not seem too free with the Boy lest Man might have a mean Opinion of her for the Condescension.



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