Gorillas & Chimpanzees

by R. L. Garner

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, but he did not like to use the latter, and 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 it. 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 he did.

When he would first take his place at the table, he behaved in a nice and becoming manner; but having eaten till he was quite satisfied, he usually became rude and saucy. He would slily 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 it 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 it. 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 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 would grin 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.

Another habit that Moses had was putting his fingers in the dish to help himself. He had to be watched all the time to prevent this, and seemed unable to grasp any reason why he should not be allowed to do so. He always appeared to think my spoon, knife and fork were better than his own spoon. On one occasion he persisted in begging for my fork until I gave it to him. He dipped it into his soup, held it up, and looked at it as if disappointed. He again stuck it into his soup, and then examined it, as if to see how I lifted my food with it. He did not seem to notice that I used it in lifting meat instead of soup. After repeating this three or four times, he licked the fork, smelt it, and then deliberately threw it on the floor, as if to say, "That's a failure." He leaned over and drank his soup from the plate.

The only thing that he cared much to play with was a tin can that I kept some nails in. For this he had a kind of mania, and never tired of trying to remove the lid. When given the hammer and a nail, he knew what they were for, and would set to work to drive the nail into the floor of the cage or the table; but he hurt his fingers a few times, and after that he stood the nail on its flat head, removed his fingers and struck it with the hammer, but, of course, never succeeded in driving it into anything.

A bunch of sugar-cane was kept for Moses to eat when he wanted it, and to aid him in tearing the hard shell away from it, I kept a club to bruise it. Sometimes he would go and select a stalk of the cane, carry it to the block, take the club in both hands, and try to mash the cane himself; but as the jar of the stroke often hurt his hands, he learned to avoid this, by letting go as the club descended. He never succeeded in crushing the cane, but would continue his efforts until some one came to his aid. At other times he would drag a stalk of the cane to the cage, poke it through the wires, then bring the club, and poke it through, to get me to mash it for him.

From time to time I received newspapers sent me from home. Moses could not understand what induced me to sit holding that thing before me, but he wished to try it, and see. He would take a leaf of it, and hold it up before him with both hands, just as he saw me do; but instead of looking at the paper, he kept his eyes, most of the time, on me. When I would turn mine over, he did the same thing, but half the time had it upside down. He did not appear to care for the pictures, or notice them, except a few times he tried to pick them off the paper; and one large cut of a dog's head, when held at a short distance from him, he appeared to regard with a little interest, as if he recognised it as that of an animal of some kind, but I cannot say just what his ideas concerning it really were.

Chimpanzees are not usually so playful or funny as monkeys, but they have a certain degree of mirth in their nature, and at times display a marked sense of humour.

One thing that Moses liked was to play peek-a-boo with me or the boy. He did not try to conceal his body from view, but would hide his eyes, and then peep. A favourite time for this was in the early part of the afternoon. He would often go and put his head behind a large tin box in the cage, while his whole body was visible. In this attitude he would utter a series of peculiar sounds, then draw his head out, and look at me, to see if I was watching him. If not, he would repeat the act a few times, and then hunt something else to amuse himself with. But if he could gain attention, the romp began, and he found great pleasure in this simple pastime. He would roll over, kick up his heels, and grin, with evident delight.