To compare the mental faculties of the wild ape to the domesticated dog is not a fair standard by which to measure their respective abilities. The dog has acquired much by his long and intimate association with man. If the ape were placed under domestication, and kept there as long as the dog has been, he would be as far superior to the dog in point of sagacity as he is by nature above the wild progenitors of the canine race.
CHAPTER XIII
Moses—His Capture—His Character—His Affections—His Food—His Daily Life—Anecdotes of Him
During my sojourn in the forest I had a fine young chimpanzee, which was of ordinary intelligence, and he was of more than ordinary interest, because of his history. I gave him the name Moses,—not in derision of the historic Israelite of that name, but owing to the circumstances of his capture and his life. He was found all alone in a wild papyrus swamp of the Ogowé River. No one knew who his parents were. The low bush in which he was crouched when discovered was surrounded by water, and thus the poor little waif was cut off from the adjacent dry land. As the native approached to capture him, the timid little ape tried to climb up among the vines above him and escape; but the agile hunter seized him. At first the chimpanzee screamed and struggled to get away, because he had perhaps never before seen a man; but when he found that he was not going to be hurt, he put his frail arms around his captor and clung to him as a friend. Indeed, he seemed glad to be rescued from such a dreary place, even by such a strange creature as a man. For a moment the man feared that the cries of his young prisoner might call its mother to the rescue, and possibly a band of others; but if she heard, she did not respond; so he tied the baby captive with a thong of bark, put him into a canoe, and brought him away to the village. There he supplied him with food and made him quite cosy. The next day he was sold to a trader. About this time I passed up the river on my way to the jungle in search of the gorilla and other apes. Stopping at the station of the trader, I bought the young chimpanzee and took him along with me. We soon became the best of friends and constant companions.
It was supposed that the mother chimpanzee had left her babe in the tree while she went off in search of food, and had wandered so far away that she lost her bearings and could not again find him. He appeared to have been for a long time without food, and may have been crouching there in the forks of that tree for a day or two; but this was only inferred from his hunger, as there was no way to determine how long he had remained, or even how he got there.
I designed to bring Moses up in the way that good chimpanzees ought to be brought up; so I began to teach him good manners, in the hope that some day he would be a shining light to his race, and aid me in my work among them. To that end I took great care of him, and devoted much time to the study of his natural manners, and to improving them as much as his nature would allow.
I built him a neat little house within a few feet of my cage. It was enclosed with a thin cloth, and at the door I hung a curtain to keep out mosquitoes and other insects. It was supplied with plenty of soft, clean leaves, and some canvas bed-clothing. It was covered over with a bamboo roof, and was suspended a few feet from the ground, so as to keep out the ants.
Moses soon learned to adjust the curtain and go to bed without my aid. He would lie in bed in the morning until he heard me or the boy stirring about the cage, when he would poke his little black head out and begin to jabber for his breakfast. Then he would climb out and come to the cage to see what was going on. He was not confined at all, but quite at liberty to go about in the forest, climb the trees and bushes, and have a good time of it. He was jealous of the boy, and the boy was jealous of him, especially when it came to a question of eating. Neither of them seemed to want the other to eat anything that they mutually liked, and I had to act as umpire in many of their disputes on that grave subject, which seemed to be the central thought of both of them. I frequently allowed Moses to dine with me, and I never knew him to refuse, or to be late in coming, on such occasions; but his table etiquette was not of the best order. I gave him a tin plate and a wooden spoon. He did not like to use the latter, but seemed to think that it was pure affectation for any one to eat with such an awkward thing. He always held it in one hand while he ate with the other or drank his soup out of the plate. It was such a task to get washing done in that part of the world, that I resorted to all means of economy in that matter, and for a tablecloth I used a leaf of newspaper, when I had one. To tear that paper afforded Moses an amount of pleasure that nothing else would, and in this act his conduct was more like that of a naughty child than in anything else he did, When he would first take his place at the table, he would behave in a nice and becoming manner; but having eaten till he was quite satisfied, he usually became rude and saucy. He would slyly put his foot up over the edge of the table, and catch hold of the corner of the paper, meanwhile watching me closely, to see if I was going to scold him. If I remained quiet, he would tear the paper just a little and wait to see the result. If no notice was taken of that, he would tear it a little more, but keep watching my face to see when I observed him. If I raised my finger to him, he quickly let go, drew his foot down, and began to eat. If nothing more was done to stop him, the instant my finger and eyes were dropped, that dexterous foot was back on the table and the mischief was resumed with more audacity than before. When he carried his fun too far, I made him get down from the table and sit on the floor. This humiliation he did not like, at best; but when the boy grinned at him for it, he would resent it with as much temper as if he had been poked with a stick. He certainly was sensitive on this point, and evinced an undoubted dislike to being laughed at.
NATIVE CARRIER BOY (From a Photograph.)