The banks of the lake were covered along their entire extent by those very apes who had so pitilessly tormented, jeered at, and beaten me. They had all been kneeling just as I had knelt, had all risen at the same time as I had done, and there they were with their muzzles dripping with water. When I thought I had lost them, they had no doubt followed me in silence through the wood, by the aërial route of the tall branching trees, and on seeing me kneel down to drink had imitated all my actions. Although my limbs ached with fatigue, and I was sore from head to foot from the innumerable blows which I had received, and although I began to experience serious inquietude, on finding myself, since my shipwreck, in the midst of this constantly increasing crowd of apes, I could not restrain a burst of laughter on seeing with what burlesque fidelity they reproduced my most trifling gestures, my most accidental attitudes, and even my involuntary movements. A new stupefaction took possession of me at finding my burst of laughter immediately echoed by thousands of similar cachinnations. Unable to control myself, I laugh my loudest, they, in their turn, laugh louder still. This comedy threatened never to come to an end. Terrified at the unaccustomed noise, the birds, hidden in their nests of moss, dispersed among the ferns, swarming through the network of creepers, or asleep under the leaves, the great, the small, the invisible birds—birds whose names are known only to the Creator, and of whose fantastic shapes and plumage the most comprehensive human language could scarcely give an idea—birds clad in brocade, like the ancient doges; others with triple embroidered collars, like the princesses of the middle ages; others, the plumage of whose tails flashed forth as many rays as the sun himself, rose, flapped their wings, and took to flight, streaking the sky in frightened curves at the universal thunder of laughter which rent the air. The apes themselves, accustomed as they were to similar commotions on the part of the feathered tribe, were, nevertheless, astonished at the strangeness and novelty of the sight. They stood up on their hind legs in order to enjoy it the more thoroughly. It was then that I remarked something which had before escaped my notice: many of my hairy persecutors wore a kind of narrow red collar, the meaning of which I could not at first possibly understand. A brief reflection, however, made everything clear to me. Each of these red collars was a fragment of the cravat which I had resigned to my tormentors, and which, true to their imitative instincts, they had tied under their chins; I never saw anything more comical than this piece of finery with which several of the apes were strangling themselves, in tying it so tightly that it could not come undone, or be stolen from them by their jealous comrades. These apes in their scarlet cravats presented a spectacle which, under circumstances more propitious to one’s personal security than those in which I at present found myself, I should no doubt have enjoyed immensely.
I had managed to quench my thirst, but my hunger had not been appeased. Far from it in fact, since the satisfaction accorded to the one sense only rendered the other more imperious. My hunger had increased considerably during the last quarter of an hour, for I had noticed on the trees, by the brink of the lake, certain fruits of a bright golden colour, fruits delicious to behold, and no doubt more delicious still to the taste, but situated so high, that never man, even though he were a sailor of Java, could hope to reach and gather them. The trees were from 180 to 200 feet high, with no other branches shooting out from their tall stems except those which clustered together at the summit, with perfectly smooth barks, and offering not the slightest point of support for either hand or foot for three-fourths of their entire height. My eyes coveted this fruit, my stomach yearned for it; but how was I to obtain possession of it? After all manner of sterile calculations as to how this was to be accomplished, I decided to throw, with my utmost strength, a few sharp flints into one of the trees, in the hope of detaching some of the fruit from its stalk and bringing it to the ground. I knew that I was sufficiently adroit to hit the fruit at which I aimed, but for all that it did not break off as I anticipated. The flint, after striking it, bounded from branch to branch with a loud noise—the slightest thing, it must be remembered, produces a loud noise in these solitary isles, the silence of which has not yet been broken by the restless activity of man—encountering in its fall quantities of large leaves lightly joined to the branches of the tree by their juicy stalks. The apes, who had been intently watching all my movements, scarcely awaited the descent of the first stone, before they collected together all the flints they could, and flung them one after another at the topmast branches of the trees. The noise thus made sounded for all the world like the crackling of hail and grapeshot. Delighted with their occupation, they formed as it were a chain, and passed the stones rapidly from hand to hand, so that those who preferred to throw might not be kept waiting. One hears of entire fields of maize being consumed in a few hours by voracious locusts coming from Lybia; here, in a few minutes, fruit, leaves, and branches were detached from the group of trees into the midst of which my flint had taken its useless flight. The banks of the lake were covered with them to such a degree, that I had only to stretch out my hand to grasp any quantity of the fruit which I was dying as it were to taste. The very instant that the apes, to whom I was indebted for this abundant harvest, saw me carry one of these fruits to my mouth, they imitated my example all along the line. A thousand arms were carried to a thousand mouths. The manœuvre was executed as though in obedience to a military command, and with all the precision of Prussian discipline. I raised my elbow—the elbows of the apes were simultaneously raised. I spat out a pip—the air was riddled with pips. The echoes of the lake repeated naught but the ludicrous snapping and clattering of jaws. In a few moments its surface was half hidden by masses of rind stripped from the fruits which I and the apes had devoured with burlesque unanimity.
Although I was now completely at the mercy of chance, and destined perhaps to escape one danger only to fall into another still greater, I nevertheless desired to free myself from the odious restraint in which I was held by this accursed assemblage. It was not without fear, moreover, that I saw the day draw in and the night approach. I had no desire to find myself, during the hours of darkness, beset by this legion of demons, whose capricious surprises are not restrained within the same limits which bound the human imagination. I had every hope that the next day might bring me in contact with some of the native population, since the island was evidently not a desert. If I could only penetrate some distance inland, I should no doubt come across human habitations; but, meanwhile, it was necessary to pass through this dreaded night. In my feverish anxiety, increased by the intimate knowledge which I possessed of the cruel ways of these detestable animals, the idea occurred to me that, since they were so obstinately bent on exactly copying all my movements, the best thing to be done was for me to pretend to go to sleep. If I were clever enough to get them off to sleep by the mere force of imitation, I might so far profit by their lethargy as to escape from their surveillance and penetrate to the interior of the island. I was ignorant, it is true, of its extent and shape; but in a whole night’s journey I could certainly make sufficient way to put ten or twelve leagues between them and me. The idea appeared a good one, and I immediately proceeded to put it into execution.
I commenced by collecting several armsful of dry leaves, which I made a point of putting down with all the noise possible, so as to provoke the imitative attention of my guards. And, precisely as I thought, the entire troop immediately rushed forward, and with the most comical precipitation, proceeded to collect armsful of dry leaves, and spread them, as they had seen me do, like straw upon the ground. Delighted with this commencement, I afterwards heaped up a certain quantity of leaves at the foot of a tree where I had chosen a spot for my couch; they immediately did the same. Preparations for slumber being completed on both sides, I extended myself leisurely on my bed. This time my imitators did not move, which was of course a bad sign. There was evidently an unpleasant hitch in the development of the plan by means of which I had hoped that my tormentors would fall into my trap. With their feet buried in the leaves, with outstretched necks and muzzles turned towards me, and with eyes fixed steadily upon me, they followed eagerly the slightest movements of my body, but not one of them laid down as I had done. I began to think that they distrusted me; nevertheless, I pursued my project so as to know for certain what I had to expect. I therefore stretched out my arms as a man does who is about to fall asleep; I gaped once or twice as wide as I possibly could, and at length closed my eyes. Of these three movements, they imitated only one; they gaped enough to dislocate their jaws, but that was all.
I had taken particular care to keep my eyelids lowered, whereas they kept their eyes completely open. I had even carried the pretence of sleep so far as to snore; nothing, however, came of it. Not a single ape, big or little, yellow, black, brown, or grey, fell into the snare.
At length something like a truce was arranged between us. It was at this moment that the idea, which had occurred to me during the thrashing which I had received, came into my mind again. I fancied I could distinguish among this crowd of apes, so attentive in watching my slightest movements, certain faces which were not entirely unknown to me. The first time this strange idea occurred to me I passed it by as the offspring of a troubled brain, but now I felt impressed by its reality.
For a quarter of an hour, and such quarters of hours are centuries, I acted this farce of sleep, and to my disgust discovered that I did not succeed in making a single dupe. All at once, when my eyes were scarcely half open, I perceived two of the biggest apes of the troop coming towards me. They did not approach me walking on all fours along the sand, but after the fashion in which they invariably move about in the wandering and vagabondising kind of life they lead in the woods, that is, by swinging from tree to tree, from branch to branch, and scarcely making more noise than a bird. Having arrived above my head, and God knows if I had them a single instant out of my sight, they slipped down without the slightest noise to the ground, and immediately moved with the same silent precautions, one to my right hand and the other to my left.
Having taken up their positions they remained perfectly immovable for several minutes.
I had to do with two hideous ourang-outangs whose prodigious strength and agility were shown by their short and compact bodies and sinewy limbs. I judged, from these characteristic signs, that they were capable of easily overcoming ten unarmed men. After having carefully observed me, in fact studied me, and one may say, surveyed me all over with a gravity at once droll and magisterial, as though to assure themselves that I was really asleep, one of the two ourang-outangs placed himself at my feet.