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
Moses soon learned to adjust the curtain, and go to bed without my
aid. He would lie in bed in the morning until he heard me or the boy
stirring about the cage, when he would poke his little black head out,
and begin to jabber for his breakfast. Then he would climb out, and
come to the cage to see what was going on.
He was not confined at all, but quite at liberty to go about in the
forest, climb the trees and bushes, and have a good time of it. He was
jealous of the boy, and the boy was jealous of him, especially when it
came to a question of eating. Neither of them seemed to want the other
to eat anything that they mutually liked, and I had to act as umpire in
many of their disputes on that grave subject, which seemed to be the
central thought of both of them.
I frequently allowed Moses to dine with me, and I never knew him to
refuse, or to be late in coming on such occasions, but his table
etiquette was not of the best order. I gave him a tin plate and a
wooden spoon, but he did not like to use the latter, and seemed to
think that it was pure affectation for any one to eat with such an
awkward thing. He always held it in one hand, while he ate with the
other, or drank his soup out of the plate.
It was such a task to get washing done in that part of the world, that
I resorted to all means of economy in that matter, and for a tablecloth
I used a leaf of newspaper, when I had it. To tear that paper afforded
Moses an amount of pleasure that nothing else would, and in this act
his conduct was more like that of a naughty child than in anything he
did.
When he would first take his place at the table, he behaved in a nice
and becoming manner; but having eaten till he was quite satisfied, he
usually became rude and saucy. He would slily put his foot up over the
edge of the table, and catch hold of the corner of the paper, meanwhile
watching me closely, to see if I was going to scold him. If I remained
quiet he would tear it just a little and wait to see the result. If
no notice was taken of that, he would tear it a little more, but keep
watching my face to see when I observed it. If I raised my finger
to him, he quickly let go, drew his foot down, and began to eat. If
nothing more was done to stop him, the instant my finger and eyes were
dropped, that dexterous foot was back on the table and the mischief
resumed with more audacity than before.
When he carried his fun too far, I made him get down from the table
and sit on the floor. This humiliation he did not like at best, but
when the boy would grin at him for it, he would resent it with as much
temper as if he had been poked with a stick. He certainly was sensitive
on this point, and evinced an undoubted dislike to being laughed at.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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