“The intelligence of the Cai is worthy of notice. He learns in the first few days of his captivity to know his master and his keepers, and looks to them for food, warmth, protection, and help; trusts them fully, is pleased when his keeper plays with him, lets himself be teased by him, and after not having seen him for some time shows the greatest pleasure on his reappearance. He also soon forgets his freedom, and becomes almost wholly a domestic animal. An old male which Rengger had got loose once from his cord, and ran away into the wood, but returned again in two or three days, sought out his keeper, and allowed himself to be tied up. Those who are not badly treated show great fidelity, especially to the blacks, whom they like always better than the whites. The Cai is not only fond of men, but also of animals, and it is no uncommon thing in Paraguay to bring him up with a young Dog, who serves as a horse for him.
“The animal is very sensible, and does not give in to the will of man. One can keep him from doing anything, but cannot force him to do it. On the contrary, he tries to make others bend to his will, and also men, sometimes by caresses, sometimes by threats. Weaker animals must follow his will. This does great harm to his learning. He will only learn those things which he can make use of, such as opening boxes, looking through his master’s pockets, &c. As he grows older he gains experience, and knows how to use it. If one gives him an egg for the first time, he breaks it so clumsily that he loses half the contents, but the second time he only breaks the top, and lets no more be lost. He is not often taken in twice by anybody. He soon learns to know the expression of the face, and the tone of the voice.
“The Cai is also very prone to stealing eatables. If caught in the act he cries out with fear before he is touched, but if he is not caught then he pretends to be perfectly innocent, and looks as if nothing had happened. Small articles he hides, when disturbed, in his mouth, and eats them at his leisure. His covetousness is great. What he once gets is not so easily taken away, at the most, by his master, when he likes him very much. His covetousness is made use of to capture him. The niggers clean out a pumpkin through a small hole, and then slip pieces of sugar, &c., inside. They see this, and thrust their arm in, and while so engaged will rather be caught than relinquish their spoil. Besides these qualities, they show curiosity and destructiveness to a great extent.
“They are fond of teasing, and pull the tails of Dogs and Cats, snatch the feathers out of Hens and Ducks, and even tease Horses which are tied up close to them; they also pull their bridles, and are all the more pleased the more worried or frightened the animal becomes.
“Only the Indians make use of the skin, and therefore hunt the Cai down with bow and arrow. The whites prize him most highly in captivity.”
Some of these little Monkeys really appear to reason, and are very clever. Rengger states that when he first gave eggs to his Monkeys they smashed them, and thus lost much of their contents; afterwards they gently hit one end against some hard body, and picked off the bits of shell with their fingers. After cutting themselves only once with a sharp tool they would not touch it again, or would handle it with the greatest care. Lumps of sugar were often given them wrapped up in paper, and Rengger sometimes put a live wasp in the paper, so that in hastily unfolding it they got stung. After this had happened once they always first held the packet to their ears, to detect any movement within.
WEEPER CAPUCHIN, OR CAI.
This breaking of the egg in a proper manner is as interesting as two well-known facts, one of which may be observed by anybody in the habits of American and other Monkeys. Sometimes a little Monkey has a nut given him, and he is not strong enough to crack it. He will look up into your face with a meaning glimmer of his eyes, and hand you the nut again. Crack it for him, and he receives it as a matter of course. Formerly one of the large Monkeys in the Zoological Gardens had weak teeth, and he used to break open the nuts with a stone, and Mr. Darwin was assured by the keepers that this animal, after using the stone, hid it in the straw, and would not let any other Monkey touch it.