“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.
[Illustration: WEEPER CAPUCHIN, OR CAI.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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