Gorillas & ChimpanzeesGarner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Science
Gorillas & Chimpanzees
Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Chimpanzees; Gabon -- Description and travel; Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch), 1848-1920 -- Travel; Gorilla
This queer drum is made by chimpanzees, who secure the clay along the
bank of some stream in the vicinity. They carry it by hand, and deposit
it while in a plastic state, spread it over the place selected, and let
it dry. I have, in my possession, a part of one that I brought home
with me from the Nkami forest. It shows the finger-prints of the apes,
which were impressed in it while the mud was yet soft.
After the drum is quite dry, the chimpanzees assemble by night in great
numbers, and the carnival begins. One or two will beat violently on
this dry clay, while others jump up and down in a wild and grotesque
manner. Some of them utter long, rolling sounds, as if trying to sing.
When one tires of beating the drum, another relieves him, and the
festivities continue in this fashion for hours.
I know of nothing like this in the social economy of any other animal,
but what it signifies, or what its origin was, is quite beyond my
knowledge. It appears probable that they do not indulge in this _kanjo_
in all parts of their domain, nor do they occur at regular intervals.
The chimpanzee is averse to solitude. He is fond of the society of
man, and is easily domesticated. If allowed to go at liberty, he is
well-disposed, and is strongly attached to man, but if confined, he
becomes vicious and ill-tempered. All animals, including man, have the
same tendency.
Mentally the chimpanzee occupies a high plane within his own sphere of
life, but within those limits the faculties of the mind are not called
into frequent exercise, and therefore they are not so active as they
are in man.
It is difficult to compare the mental status of the ape to that of
man, because there is no common basis upon which the two rest. Their
modes of life are so unlike, as to afford no common unit of measure.
Their faculties are developed along different lines. The two have but
few problems in common to solve. While the scope of the human mind
is vastly wider than that of the ape, it does not follow that it can
act with more precision in all things. There are, perhaps, instances
in which the mind of the ape excels that of man, by reason of its
adaptation to certain conditions. It is not a safe and infallible guide
to measure all things by the standard of man's opinion of himself. It
is quite true that, by such a unit of measure, the comparison is much
in favour of the man, but the conclusion is neither just nor adequate.
It is a problem of great interest, however, to compare them in this
manner, and the result would indicate that a fair specimen of the ape
is in about the same mental horizon as a child of one year old. But
if the operation were reversed, and man were placed under the natural
conditions of the ape, the comparison would be much less in his
favour. There is no common mental unit between them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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