Harper's Round Table, July 21, 1896

by Various

Away in the interior of the Esyra country I arrived at a town in which there lived a fine strong chimpanzee about five years old; he was playing with the children in the open space between the houses, and appeared to take as much interest in the game as any one of them. When they discovered a white man in the town they all came to take a look, and he showed as much concern as any one else. After a time he came to me and climbed upon my lap; he became a little too familiar, and I had him taken away. Then he and the children resumed their play for a while, and in the mean time I inquired into his history. He was captured in the forest near the town when he was a little babe, and had lived there ever since as one of the family. He ate and played with these children, slept in the same houses with them, and did not seem to realize that he was not a human being.

He belonged to one of the King's sons, who told me that the ape could talk, and that he could understand him. He entertained me with a number of feats that the animal had been taught to do. They were not mere tricks performed for amusement, but they were acts of usefulness. In fact, he was made to occupy somewhat the place of a servant.

One of the things that he required him to do, by way of entertaining me, was to go to the spring and bring a gourd of water. He was reluctant to do this, but he did it. As soon as he delivered the water to his master he ran away and joined the children in their play. I expressed a desire to see him fill the gourd with water, and his master called him again, gave him the vessel, and we went with him. He dipped the gourd in the water with the mouth downward, and having submerged it, turned it on its side, and lifted it up. There was only a little water in the gourd; he repeated this act a number of times until the gourd was almost filled; his master said that as long as the water continued to bubble at the mouth of the gourd the ape would continue to dip it in, showing that he was aware of the cause of the bubbling.

This ape knew all the people of the town by name, and knew his own name; he was required to aid the children in bringing firewood from the forest, and many other chores about the town.

CONSUL RIDING HIS WHEEL.

One of the most intelligent and quite the best educated chimpanzee that I have ever seen is Consul II. He is an inmate of the Bellevue Gardens at Manchester, England. He is the most humanlike in his manners of any of his kind that have ever been known in captivity. The many clever feats done by this ape would fill a small volume; he has not been trained to perform them as tricks, simply to amuse or entertain visitors, but many of them he has taken up of his own accord, having seen others do so. The feat that impressed me most was his skill in riding a tricycle, and his taste for that sport. He often takes his machine without being told, and rides all about the place; if he finds it lying on its side, he sets it upright, adjusts the handle-bar, mounts it, and takes a ride. He propels it with ease and guides it with dexterity. No boy of his own age can handle it with more skill. He rides all about the place, around the walks and drives, all over several acres of ground; he steers it around the posts and corners, around the curves of the paths, makes his way through crowds of people without colliding with them. He amuses himself by the hour at this pastime. When he tires of it he sometimes shoves the vehicle up in some corner and leaves it.

Consul also smokes cigar, cigarette, or pipe. He often finds a cigar stub about the place, picks it up, puts it in his mouth, and goes to his keeper for a light. One amusing habit he has is that of spitting; he is not very skilful in this, but is persistent. However, he has the politeness not to spit on the floor; he spreads a piece of paper on the floor, and uses it as a cuspidor.

Consul uses a handkerchief the same as a person does; he eats with a knife and fork, cuts up his food with ease, and never uses his fingers in eating; he can blow a horn, but does not attempt to carry any tune. He knows the first three letters of the alphabet, which he has painted on a set of blocks; when asked for any one of the three, he will select it and hold it up.

I regard the feats described above, except the last one, as being rational, and the result of the innate faculties of the actors. We are only beginning to understand the mental characteristics of animals, but our researches in that field are bearing abundant fruit, and we are now beginning to realize that all of these humbler creatures are component parts of the great scheme of life. When man becomes more fully impressed with the fact that all creatures think and feel in the same manner as himself, although not to the same degree, it will make the bonds of fellowship closer between him and nature.