Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
Formed like man, and practicing similar gestures, but with thumbs
instead of great toes upon their feet, and with so narrow a heel-bone,
that even those who constantly walk upright have not the firm and
dignified step of human beings; the Quadrumana yet approximate so
closely to us, that they demand the first place in a book devoted
principally to the intellectual (whether it be reason or instinct)
history of animals. This approximation is a matter of amusement to some;
but to the larger portion of mankind, I should say, it is a source of
disgust. "Rapoynda," I exclaimed, one day, to a troublesome,
inquisitive, restless negro, pointing to a black monkey, which much
resembled him in character, "that is your brother." Never shall I forget
the malignant scowl which passed over the man's features at my heedless
comparison. No apology, no kindness, not even the gift of a smart
waistcoat, which he greatly coveted, ever restored me to his good
graces; and I was not sorry when his Chief summoned him from my
vicinity, for I dreaded his revenge.
A few years after, I stood lost in admiration before Sir Edwin
Landseer's inimitable picture of "the monkey who had seen the world," in
which nature and truth lend their tone and force to the highest efforts
of art; when a voice exclaimed, "How can you waste your time looking at
that thing; such creatures ought never to have been painted;" and
although the speaker was a religious man, he muttered to himself, "I am
not sure they ought ever to have been made." The voice proceeded from
one of the finest instances of manly beauty; one famed also for talent
and acquirement. Rapoynda started into my recollection; and as I slowly
left the talented picture, I could not help smiling at the common
feeling between the savage and the gentleman, thereby proving its
universality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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