Another specimen that may be regarded as an intermediate type was recently kept in Belle Vue Gardens at Manchester. He was playful and full of mischief. He had been taught to use a stick or broom to fight with, and with such a weapon in his hand would run all over the building, hunting some one to fight. He did not appear to be serious in his assault, but treated it as fun. It was a bad thing to teach an ape, because they grow pugnacious as they grow older, and all animals kept closely confined acquire a bad temper.
In an adjoining cage was kept a young orang, and the two ate at the same table. The chimpanzee appeared to entertain a species of contempt for the orang. The keeper had taught him to pass the bread to his neighbour, and he obeyed this with such reluctance that his manner betrayed more disgust than kindness. A few small pieces of bread were placed on a tin plate, and the kulu was required to lift the plate in his hand, and offer it to the orang before he himself was allowed to eat. He would lift the plate a few inches above the table, and hold it before the orang's face; when the latter had taken a piece of the bread, the chimpanzee withdrew the plate, held it for a moment, and dropped it. Meanwhile he kept his eyes fixed on the orang. The manner in which he dropped the plate looked as if he did so in contempt. When the meal was finished, the kulu would drink his milk from a cup, wipe his mouth with the serviette, and then get down from the table. The orang would slowly climb down, and go back to his cage. We shall not describe the details of their home-life, but they were two jolly young bachelors, one of which was as stupid as the other was bright.
The specimens that were kept in the Gardens in New York were very fine. One of them was mentally equal to any other specimen hitherto in captivity. There were two kept in the Cincinnati Gardens which were also very fine. There have never been but nine of these apes brought to America so far as I am aware, but six of these lived longer and four of them grew to be larger than any other specimens of this race have ever done in captivity. For some reason they never survive long in England, or other parts of Europe. This is probably due to some condition of the atmosphere. It cannot be from a difference of treatment.
I have seen a large number of chimpanzees, but most of them were in captivity, yet I have seen enough of them in a wild state to gain some idea of their habits and manner, but those described will be sufficient to show the mental character of the genus.
[CHAPTER XIII]
OTHER KULU-KAMBAS
Whether the kulu-kamba is a distinct species of ape, or only a well-marked variety of the chimpanzee, he is by far the finest representative of his genus. Among those that I have seen are some very good specimens, and the clever things that I have witnessed them do are sufficient to stamp them as the highest type of all apes.
On board a small river steamer that plies the Ogowe, was a young female kulu that belonged to the captain. Her face was not by any means handsome, and her complexion was the darkest of any kulu I have ever seen. It was almost a coffee-colour. There were two or three spots much darker in shade, but not well defined in outline. The dark spots looked as if they had been artificially put on the face. The colour was not solid, but looked as if dry burnt umber had been rubbed or sprinkled over a surface of lighter brown. Although she was young (perhaps not more than two years old), her face looked almost like that of a woman of forty. Her short, flat nose, big, flexible lips, protruding jaws and prominent arches over the eyes, with a low receding forehead, conspired to make her look like a certain type of human being one frequently sees. This gave her what is known as a dish-face, or a concave profile. She had a habit of compressing her nose by contracting the muscles of the face; curling her lips as if in scorn, and at the same time glancing at those around her as if to express the most profound contempt.
Whatever may have been the sentiment in her mind, her face was a picture of disdain, and the circumstances under which she made use of these grimaces, certainly pointed to the fact that she felt just like she looked. At other times her visage would be covered with a perfect smile. It was something more than a grin, and the fact that it was used only at a time when she was pleased or diverted, showed that the emotion which gave rise to it was perfectly in keeping with the face itself. In repose her face was neither pretty nor ugly. It did not strongly depict a high mental status, nor yet portray the instincts of a brute; but her countenance was as safe an index to the mind as that of the human being. This is true of the chimpanzee more perhaps than of any other ape. The gorilla doubtless feels the sense of pleasure, but his face does not yield to the emotion, while the opposite passions are expressed with great intensity, and with the common chimpanzee it is the same way, but not to the same extent.