This coöperation was important as being the beginning of association among Apes. By uniting in two’s and three’s for attack or defense they learned to confederate, and so laid the foundations of society. Till that time they had roamed the forests and jungles solitary, each one hunting alone his food, like the tigers, and forming no lasting or frequent attachments. They met the opposite sex casually at a spring or in the fruit regions. They did not recognize their own children, or care for them except for a few years after birth, until they could roam for themselves. Only occasionally did they meet for a common purpose, and then only for a little while. They were not gregarious, though they sometimes met in large numbers where food was abundant, and became slightly acquainted. They chattered or fought while together, and then parted to see one another perhaps no more. Having now, however, formed a League of the Apes, offensive and defensive, these animals, who disputed with the tigers the right to be called the lords of the land, soon became acquainted with one another, and therefore learned to like each other better. They found that they had many common interests, and there sprang up warm attachments between them. Their mutual disagreements disappeared before their disagreements with the tigers. They learned to help one another that they might destroy a common enemy, founding their unity on their common hatred. Many sentiments were, accordingly, developed, to which ape-hood had before been a stranger. Hearts were touched where before there were thought to be only stomachs, and a new sentiment—love—was awakened in the race; and when they parted after a night’s watch, or fight, they often presented one another with a cocoanut or bull-frog. Unselfishness gradually took the place of unrestrained competition, and a monkey etiquette grew up and became recognized. Some of the apes became noticeably polite, especially to the opposite sex, and there was soon quite a little social intercourse between them. They would go out by two’s and three’s for food or water, as well as for a fight, and thus they learned to labor together, as well as fight together. Nor was this all. Having got together in a league, it was not easy to separate them. They came together to stay, and they stayed to co-operate in many measures besides their own defense. After their wars certain industries sprang up, among which was the damming of part of the Swamp (where it was entered by a stream), so as to form a lake, in which they could with more convenience drink and wash. Having tasted the sweets of association, they wished, in short, to remain in society; and when subsequently the younger ones became restive, and tried to regain the liberty of independent or single life, the older heads compelled them to adhere to the social compact.