Illustrative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom

This animal survived his transportation to England from August, 1817, when he arrived, to the 1st April, 1819; during which interval he was in the custody of Mr. Cross, at Exeter 'Change, as much caressed for the gentleness of his disposition as he was noticed for his great rarity. There was no need of personal confinement, and little of restraint or coercion; to his keepers, especially, and to those whom he knew by their frequent visits, he displayed a decided partiality. During his last illness, and at his death, his piteous appearance, which seemed to bespeak his entreaties to those about him for relief, did not fail to excite the feelings of all who witnessed them – an excitement evidently heightened by the recollection of human suffering under similar circumstances, which the sight of this animal so strongly brought to mind.

The Chimpansé; – a native of Guinea and Congo, in Africa. Its frame is more analogous to that of man than to that of any other tribe, and it is the only one that can walk erect with ease. It lives in troops, uses stones and clubs as weapons, and was mistaken for a species of wild man, by early voyagers along the African coast.

The Chimpansé on Board a Vessel.– M. De Grandpré, speaking of the Chimpansé, says that "his sagacity is extraordinary; he generally walks upon two legs, supporting himself with a stick. The negro fears him, and not without reason, as he sometimes treats him very roughly. He saw, on board a vessel, a female chimpansé, which exhibited wonderful proofs of intelligence. Among other arts, she had learnt to heat the oven; she took great care not to let any of the coals fall out, which might have done mischief in the ship; and she was very accurate in observing when the oven was heated to the proper degree, of which she immediately apprized the baker, who, relying with perfect confidence upon her information, carried his dough to the oven as soon as the chimpansé came to fetch him. This animal performed all the business of a sailor, spliced ropes, handled the sails, and assisted at unfurling them; and she was, in fact, considered by the sailors as one of themselves.

"The vessel was bound for America; but the poor animal did not live to see that country, having fallen a victim to the brutality of the first mate, who inflicted very cruel chastisement upon her, which she had not deserved. She endured it with the greatest patience, only holding out her hands in a suppliant attitude, in order to break the force of the blows she received. But from that moment she steadily refused to take any food, and died on the fifth day from grief and hunger. She was lamented by every person on board, not insensible to the feelings of humanity, who knew the circumstances of her fate."

The Gibbon; – a native of Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca. The arms are of immense length, and the hands and feet are formed for clinging to the limbs of trees, where it throws itself from branch to branch with surprising agility. The expression of the face is gentle, and rather melancholy. There are many species, all of which utter loud cries.

The nimble Gibbon, at the Zoological Gardens in London.– "This specimen," says the editor of the Penny Magazine, "was a female, and had been four years in captivity at Macao, previous to her arrival in this country. On entering the apartment in which she was to be kept, where a large space, and a tree full of branches, were allotted for her accommodation, she sprang upon the tree, and, using her hands in alternate succession, she launched herself from bough to bough with admirable grace and address, sometimes to the distance of twelve or eighteen feet. Her flight might be termed aërial, for she seemed scarcely to touch the branches in her progress. It was curious to witness how abruptly she would stop in her most rapid flight. Suddenly as thought, she would raise her body, and sit quietly gazing at the astonished spectators of her gymnastics.

"She possessed great quickness of eye; and apples, and other fruit, were often thrown at her with great rapidity, but she always caught them without an effort. On one occasion, a live bird was set at liberty in her apartment. She marked its flight, made a spring to a distant branch, caught the bird with one hand, on her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand. She instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked off its feathers, and threw it down, without attempting to eat it.

"While exerting herself in feats of agility, the gibbon ever and anon uttered her call-notes, consisting of the syllables oo-ah, oo-ah, in a succession of ascending and descending semitones, during the execution of which, the lips and frame vibrated. The tones were not unmusical, but deafening, from their loudness.

"In disposition, this creature was timid, being apparently afraid of men, but allowing women to come near her, and stroke her fur, and pat her hands and feet. Her eye was quick, and she seemed to be perpetually on the watch, scrutinizing every person who entered the room. After exercising in the morning from three to four hours, she would, if allowed, spend the rest of the day quietly on one of the branches."

THE BABOON

This is a large and ferocious species of ape, common in the south of Africa, and Asia.

Le Vaillant's Baboon.– This celebrated traveller, while in Africa, had a dog-faced baboon, whom he called Kees. He accompanied his master in his wanderings, and of his way of life we have the following sketches: "I made him," says Le Vaillant, "my taster. Whenever we found fruits, or roots, with which my Hottentots were unacquainted, we did not touch them till Kees had tasted them. If he threw them away, we concluded that they were either of a disagreeable flavor, or of a pernicious quality, and left them untasted. The ape possesses a peculiar property, wherein he differs greatly from other animals, and resembles man – namely, that he is by nature equally gluttonous and inquisitive. Without necessity, and without appetite, he tastes every thing that falls in his way, or that is given to him.

"But Kees had a still more valuable quality: he was an excellent sentinel; for, whether by day or night, he immediately sprang up on the slightest appearance of danger. By his cry, and the symptoms of fear which he exhibited, we were always apprized of the approach of an enemy, even though the dogs perceived nothing of it. The latter at length learned to rely upon him with such confidence, that they slept on in perfect tranquillity. I often took Kees with me when I went a-hunting; and when he saw me preparing for sport, he exhibited the most lively demonstrations of joy. On the way, he would climb into the trees, to look for gum, of which he was very fond. Sometimes he discovered to me honey, deposited in the clefts of rocks, or hollow trees. But if he happened to have met with neither honey nor gum, and his appetite had become sharp by his running about, I always witnessed a very ludicrous scene. In those cases, he looked for roots, which he ate with great greediness, especially a particular kind, which, to his cost, I also found to be very well tasted and refreshing, and therefore insisted upon sharing with him. But Kees was no fool. As soon as he found such a root, and I was not near enough to seize upon my share of it, he devoured it in the greatest haste, keeping his eyes all the while riveted on me. He accurately measured the distance I had to pass before I could get to him, and I was sure of coming too late. Sometimes, however, when he had made a mistake in his calculation, and I came upon him sooner than he expected, he endeavored to hide the root – in which case, I compelled him, by a box on the ear, to give me up my share.

"When Kees happened to tire on the road, he mounted upon the back of one of my dogs, who was so obliging as to carry him whole hours. One of them, that was larger and stronger than the rest, hit upon a very ingenious artifice, to avoid being pressed into this piece of service. As soon as Kees leaped upon his back, he stood still, and let the train pass, without moving from the spot. Kees still persisted in his intention, till we were almost out of his sight, when he found himself at length compelled to dismount, upon which both the baboon and dog exerted all their speed to overtake us. The latter, however, gave him the start, and kept a good look-out after him, that he might not serve him in the same manner again. In fact, Kees enjoyed a certain authority with all my dogs, for which he perhaps was indebted to the superiority of his instinct. He could not endure a competitor if any of the dogs came too near him when he was eating, he gave him a box on the ear, which compelled him immediately to retire to a respectful distance.

"Like most other domestic animals, Kees was addicted to stealing. He understood admirably well how to loose the strings of a basket, in order to take victuals out of it, especially milk, of which he was very fond. My people chastised him for these thefts; but that did not make him amend his conduct. I myself sometimes whipped him; but then he ran away, and did not return again to the tent until it grew dark. Once, as I was about to dine, and had put the beans, which I had boiled for myself, upon a plate, I heard the voice of a bird with which I was not acquainted. I left my dinner standing, seized my gun, and ran out of the tent. After the space of about a quarter of an hour, I returned, with the bird in my hand; but, to my astonishment, found not a single bean upon the plate. Kees had stolen them all, and taken himself out of the way.

"When he had committed any trespass of this kind, he used always, about the time when I drank tea, to return quietly, and seat himself in his usual place, with every appearance of innocence, as if nothing had happened; but this evening he did not let himself be seen. And on the following day also he was not seen by any of us; and, in consequence, I began to grow seriously uneasy about him, and apprehensive that he might be lost forever. But, on the third day, one of my people, who had been to fetch water, informed me that he had seen Kees in the neighborhood; but that, as soon as the animal espied him, he had concealed himself again. I immediately went out and beat the whole neighborhood with my dogs. All at once, I heard a cry like that which Kees used to make when I returned from my shooting, and had not taken him with me. I looked about, and at length espied him, endeavoring to hide himself behind the large branches of a tree. I now called to him in a friendly tone of voice, and made motions to him to come down to me. But he could not trust me, and I was obliged to climb up the tree to fetch him. He did not attempt to fly, and we returned together to my quarters: here he expected to receive his punishment; but I did nothing, as it would have been of no use.

"When any eatables had been pilfered at my quarters, the fault was always laid first upon Kees; and rarely was the accusation unfounded. For a time, the eggs, which a hen laid me, were constantly stolen away, and I wished to ascertain whether I had to attribute this loss also to him. For this purpose I went one morning to watch him, and waited till the hen announced, by her cackling, that she had laid an egg. Kees was sitting upon my vehicle; but, the moment he heard the hen's voice, he leaped down, and was running to fetch the egg. When he saw me, he suddenly stopped, and affected a careless posture, swaying himself backwards upon his hind legs, and assuming a very innocent look; in short, he employed all his art to deceive me with respect to his design. His hypocritical manœuvres only confirmed my suspicions; and, in order, in my turn, to deceive him, I pretended not to attend to him, and turned my back to the bush where the hen was cackling, upon which he immediately sprang to the place. I ran after him, and came up to him at the moment when he had broken the egg, and was swallowing it. Having caught the thief in the fact, I gave him a good beating upon the spot; but this severe chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing fresh-laid eggs again.

"As I was convinced that I should never be able to break Kees off his natural vices, and that, unless I chained him up every morning, I should never get an egg, I endeavored to accomplish my purpose in another manner: I trained one of my dogs, as soon as the hen cackled, to run to the nest, and bring me the egg, without breaking it. In a few days, the dog had learned his lesson; but Kees, as soon as he heard the hen cackle, ran with him to the nest. A contest now took place between them, who should have the egg: often the dog was foiled, although he was the stronger of the two. If he gained the victory, he ran joyfully to me with the egg, and put it into my hand. Kees, nevertheless, followed him, and did not cease to grumble and make threatening grimaces at him, till he saw me take the egg, – as if he was comforted for the loss of his booty by his adversary's not retaining it for himself. If Kees got hold of the egg, he endeavored to run with it to a tree, where, having devoured it, he threw down the shells upon his adversary, as if to make game of him. In that case, the dog returned, looking ashamed, from which I could conjecture the unlucky adventure he had met with.

"Kees was always the first awake in the morning, and, when it was the proper time, he aroused the dogs, who were accustomed to his voice, and, in general, obeyed, without hesitation, the slightest motions by which he communicated his orders to them, immediately taking their posts about the tent and carriage, as he directed them."

A droll Mimic.– A clergyman of some distinction, in England, had a tame baboon, which became so fond of him, that, wherever he went, it was always desirous of accompanying him. Whenever, therefore, he had to perform the service of his church, he was under the necessity of shutting it up in his room.

Once, however, the animal escaped, and followed his master to the church; and, silently mounting the sounding-board above the pulpit, he lay perfectly still till the sermon commenced. He then crept to the edge, and, overlooking the preacher, imitated his gestures in so grotesque a manner, that the whole congregation was unavoidably made to laugh.

The minister, surprised and confounded at this levity, severely rebuked his audience for their conduct. The reproof failed of its intended effect. The congregation still laughed, and the preacher, in the warmth of his zeal, redoubled his vociferation and action. This last the ape imitated so exactly, that the congregation could no longer restrain themselves, but burst into a long and loud roar of laughter.

A friend of the preacher at length stepped up to him, and pointed out the cause of this apparently improper conduct; and such was the arch demeanor of the animal, that it was with the utmost difficulty that the parson himself could maintain his gravity, while he ordered the sexton to take the creature away.

Miscellaneous Anecdotes. – Immense troops of baboons inhabit the mountains in the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, whence they descend to the plains, to devastate the gardens and orchards. In their plundering excursions they are very cunning, always placing sentinels, to prevent the main body from being surprised. They break the fruit to pieces, cram it into their cheek-pouches, and keep it until hungry. Whenever the sentinel discovers a man approaching, he sets up a loud yell, which makes the whole troop retreat with the utmost precipitation. They have been known to steal behind an unwary traveller resting near their retreats, and carry off his food, which they would eat at a little distance from him; and with absurd grimaces and gestures, in ridicule, offer it back; at the same time greedily devouring it.

The following account is given by Lade: "We traversed a great mountain in the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, and amused ourselves with hunting large baboons, which are very numerous in that place. I can neither describe all the arts practised by these animals, nor the nimbleness and impudence with which they returned, after being pursued by us. Sometimes they allowed us to approach so near that I was almost certain of seizing them. But, when I made the attempt, they sprang, at a single leap, ten paces from me, and mounted trees with equal agility, from whence they looked at us with great indifference, and seemed to derive pleasure from our astonishment. Some of them were so large that, if our interpreter had not assured us they were neither ferocious nor dangerous, our number would not have appeared sufficient to protect us from their attacks.

"As it could serve no purpose to kill them, we did not use our guns. But the captain levelled his piece at a very large one, that had rested on the top of a tree, after having fatigued us a long time in pursuing him; this kind of menace, of which the animal, perhaps, recollected his having sometimes seen the consequences, terrified him to such a degree, that he fell down motionless at our feet, and we had no difficulty in seizing him; but when he recovered from his stupor, it required all our dexterity and efforts to keep him. We tied his paws together; but he bit so furiously, that we were under the necessity of binding our handkerchiefs over his head."

The common baboon is very numerous in Siam, where they frequently sally forth in astonishing multitudes to attack the villages, during the time the peasants are occupied in the rice harvest, and plunder their habitations of whatever provisions they can lay their paws on. Fruits, corn, and roots, are their usual food, although they will also eat flesh. When hunted, baboons often make very formidable resistance to dogs – their great strength and long claws enabling them to make a stout defence; and it is with difficulty a single dog can overcome them, except when they are gorged with excessive eating, in which they always indulge when they can.

Some years ago, Mr. Rutter, doing duty at the castle of Cape Town, kept a tame baboon for his amusement. One evening it broke its chain unknown to him. In the night, climbing up into the belfry, it began to play with, and ring the bell. Immediately the whole place was in an uproar, some great danger being apprehended. Many thought that the castle was on fire; others, that an enemy had entered the bay; and the soldiers began actually to turn out, when it was discovered that the baboon had occasioned the disturbance. On the following morning, a court-martial was summoned, when Cape justice dictated, that, "Whereas Master Rutter's baboon had unnecessarily put the castle into alarm, the master should receive fifty lashes;" Mr. Rutter, however, found means to evade the punishment.

The following circumstance is characteristic of the imitative disposition of the baboon: The army of Alexander the Great marched, in complete battle array, into a country inhabited by great numbers of these apes, and encamped there for the night. The next morning, when the army was about to proceed on its march, the soldiers saw, at some distance, an enormous number of baboons, drawn up in rank and file, like a small army, with such regularity that the Macedonians, who could have no idea of such a manœuvre, imagined at first that it was the enemy, prepared to receive them.

The ape-catchers of Africa, it is said, take a vessel filled with water, and wash their hands and face in a situation where they are sure to be observed by the apes. After having done so, the water is poured out, and its place supplied by a solution of glue; they leave the spot, and the apes then seldom fail to come down from their trees, and wash themselves in the same manner as they have seen the men do before them. The consequence is, that they glue their eyelashes so fast together, that they cannot open their eyes, or see to escape from their enemy.

The ape is fond of spirituous liquors, and these are also used for the purpose of entrapping them. A person places, in their sight, a number of vessels filled with ardent spirits, pretends to drink, and retires. The apes, ever attentive to the proceedings of man, descend, and imitate what they have seen, become intoxicated, fall asleep, and are thus rendered an easy conquest to their cunning adversaries.

The people of India make the proneness of apes to imitation useful; for, when they wish to collect cocoa-nuts, and other fruits, they go to the woods where these grow, which are generally frequented by apes and monkeys, gather a few heaps, and withdraw. As soon as they are gone, the apes fall to work, imitate every thing they have seen done; and when they have gathered together a considerable number of heaps, the people approach, the apes fly to the trees, and the harvest is conveyed home.

Apes and monkeys, in many parts of India, are made objects of religious veneration, and magnificent temples are erected to their honor. In these countries, they propagate to an alarming extent; they enter cities in immense troops, and even venture into the houses. In some places, as in the kingdom of Calicut, the natives find it necessary to have their windows latticed, to prevent the ingress of these intruders, who lay hands without scruple upon every eatable within their reach. There are three hospitals for monkeys in Amadabad, the capital of Guzerat, where the sick and lame are fed and relieved by medical attendants.

Bindrabund, a town of Agra, in India, is in high estimation with the pious Hindoos, who resort to it from the most remote parts of the empire, on account of its being the favorite residence of the god Krishna. The town is embosomed in groves of trees, which, according to the account of Major Thorn, are the residence of innumerable apes, whose propensity to mischief is increased by the religious respect paid to them, in honor of Hunaman, a divinity of the Hindoo mythology, wherein he is characterized under the form of an ape. In consequence of this degrading superstition, such numbers of these animals are supported by the voluntary contributions of pilgrims, that no one dares to resist or molest them. Hence, access to the town is often difficult; for, should one of the apes take an antipathy against any unhappy traveller, he is sure to be assailed by the whole community, who follow him with all the missile weapons they can collect, such as pieces of bamboo, stones, and dirt, making at the same time a most hideous howling.

A striking instance of the audacity of the ape, in attacking the human species, is related by M. Mollien, in his Travels in Africa. A woman, going with millet and milk to a vessel, from St. Louis, which had been stopped before a village in the country of Golam, was attacked by a troop of apes, from three to four feet high; they first threw stones at her, on which she began to run away; they then ran after her, and, having caught her, they commenced beating her with sticks, until she let go what she was carrying. On returning to the village, she related her adventure to the principal inhabitants, who mounted their horses, and, followed by their dogs, went to the place which served as a retreat to this troop of marauders. They fired at them, killed ten, and wounded others, which were brought to them by the dogs; but several negroes were severely wounded in this encounter, either by the stones hurled at them by the apes, or by their bites; the females, especially, were most furious in revenging the death of their young ones, which they carried in their arms.

D'Obsonville, speaking of the sacred haunts of apes in different parts of India, says that, in the course of his travels through that country, he occasionally went into the ancient temples, in order to rest himself. He noticed always that several of the apes, which abounded there, first observed him attentively, then looked inquisitively at the food which he was about to take, betraying, by their features and gestures, the great desire which they felt to partake of it with him. In order to amuse himself upon such occasions, he was generally provided with a quantity of dried peas; of these he first scattered some on the side where the leader stood, – for, according to his account, the apes always obey some particular one as their leader, – upon which the animal gradually approached nearer, and gathered them eagerly up. He then held out a handful to the animal; and, as they seldom meet a person who harbors any hostile intentions against them, the creature ventured slowly to approach, cautiously watching, as it seemed, lest any trick might be played upon him. At length, becoming bolder, he laid hold, with one of his paws, of the thumb of the hand in which the peas were held out to him, while, with the other, he carried them to his mouth, keeping his eyes all the while fixed upon those of M. d'Obsonville.

"If I happened to laugh," he observes, "or to move myself, the ape immediately gave over eating, worked his lips, and made a kind of growling noise, the meaning of which was rendered very intelligible to me by his long, canine teeth, which he occasionally exhibited. If I threw some of the peas to a distance from him, he sometimes seemed pleased to see other apes pick them up; though, at other times, he grumbled at it, and attacked those who approached too near to me. The noise which he made, and the apprehensions he showed, though they might, perhaps, proceed in some measure from his own greediness, evidently proved, however, that he feared I might take advantage of their weakness, and so make them prisoners. I also observed, that those whom he suffered to approach the nearest to me were always the largest and strongest of the males; the young and the females he obliged to keep at a considerable distance from me."

MONKEYS

Of this numerous and frolicsome family, there is a great variety in the hot regions of both continents. In some portions of South America, they enliven the landscape by their gambols, and make the forests resound with their cries. They are the smallest and most lively of the four-handed family, and in all caravans, they are the favorites of young observers.

The Fair Monkey.– This is one of the most beautiful of the tribe. Its head is small and round: its face and hands are of scarlet, so defined and vivid that it has more the appearance of art than nature. Its body and limbs are covered with long hairs of the purest white, and of a shining and silvery brightness: the tail is of a deep chestnut color, very glistening, and considerably longer than the body. This animal is somewhat larger than the striated monkey. It is an inhabitant of South America, and is frequently to be met with on the banks of the Amazon.

The following circumstance, exhibiting the fickleness of the fair monkey, was communicated to Mr. Bewick by Sir John Trevelyan. "Pug was a gentleman of excellent humor, and adored by the crew; and, to make him perfectly happy, as they imagined, they procured him a wife. For some weeks he was a devoted husband, and showed her every attention and respect. He then grew cool, and became jealous of any kind of civility shown her by the master of the vessel, and began to use her with much cruelty. His treatment made her wretched and dull; though she bore the spleen of her husband with that fortitude which is characteristic of the female sex of the human species. Pug, however, like the lords of creation, was up to deceit, and practised pretended kindness to his spouse, to effect a diabolical scheme, which he seemed to premeditate. One morning, when the sea ran very high, he seduced her aloft, and drew her observation to an object at some distance from the yard-arm; her attention being fixed, he all of a sudden applied his paw to her rear, and canted her into the sea, where she fell a victim to his cruelty. This seemed to afford him high gratification, for he descended in great spirits."

A Trick.– In 1818, a vessel that sailed between Whitehaven, in England, and Jamaica, embarked on her homeward voyage, and, among other passengers, carried Mrs. B., and an infant five weeks old. One beautiful afternoon, the captain perceived a distant sail; and, after he had gratified his curiosity, he politely offered the glass to the lady, that she might obtain a clear view of the object. She had the baby in her arms, but now she wrapped her shawl about it, and placed it on a sofa, upon which she had been sitting.

Scarcely had she applied her eye to the glass, when the helmsman exclaimed, "See what the mischievous monkey has done!" The reader may judge of the mother's feelings, when, on turning round, she beheld the animal in the act of transporting her child apparently up to the top of the mast. The monkey was a very large one, and so strong and active, that, while it grasped the infant firmly with one arm, it climbed the shrouds nimbly by the other, totally unembarrassed by the weight of its burden.

One look was enough for the terrified mother; and had it not been for the assistance of those around her, she would have fallen prostrate on the deck, where she was soon afterwards stretched, apparently a lifeless corpse. The sailors could climb as well as the monkey, but the latter watched their motions narrowly; and, as it ascended higher up the mast the moment they attempted to put a foot on the shroud, the captain became afraid that it would drop the child, and endeavor to escape by leaping from one mast to another.

In the mean time, the little innocent was heard to cry; and though many thought it was suffering pain, their fears on this point were speedily dissipated, when they observed the monkey imitating exactly the motions of a nurse, by dandling, soothing, and caressing, its charge, and even endeavoring to hush it to sleep.

From the deck, the lady was conveyed to the cabin, and gradually restored to her senses. In the mean time, the captain ordered the men to conceal themselves carefully below, and quietly took his own station on the cabin stairs, where he could see all that passed, without being seen. The plan happily succeeded. The monkey, on perceiving that the coast was clear, cautiously descended from his lofty perch, and replaced the infant on the sofa, cold, fretful, and perhaps frightened, but, in every other respect, as free from harm as when he took it up. The captain had now a most grateful office to perform; the babe was restored to its mother's arms, amidst tears, and thanks, and blessings.

A Tragedy in the Woods.– An Englishman travelling in India tells the following interesting, though painful, story: —

"I was strolling through a wood, with my gun on my shoulders, my thoughts all centred in Europe, when I heard a curious noise in a tree above me. I looked up, and found that the sounds proceeded from a white monkey, who skipped from branch to branch, chattering with delight at beholding a 'fellow-creature,' for so he decidedly seemed to consider me. For a few moments I took no notice of his antics, and walked quietly along, till suddenly a large branch fell at my feet, narrowly escaping my head. I again paused, and found that the missile had been dropped by my talkative friend. Without consideration, I instantly turned round and fired at him.

"The report had scarcely sounded, when I heard the most piercing, the most distressing cry, that ever reached my ears. An agonized shriek, like that of a young infant, burst from the little creature that I had wounded. It was within thirty paces of me. I could see the wretched animal, already stained with blood, point to its wound, and again hear its dreadful moan.

"The agony of a hare is harrowing, and I have seen a young sportsman turn pale on hearing it. The present cry was, however, more distressing. I turned round, and endeavored to hurry away. This, however, I found no easy task; for, as I moved forward, the unhappy creature followed me, springing as well as he could from bough to bough, uttering a low, wailing moan, and pointing at the same time to the spot whence the blood trickled. Then, regarding me steadily and mournfully in the face, it seemed to reproach me with my wanton cruelty. Again I hastened on, but still it pursued me. Never, in my life, did I feel so much for a dumb animal: never did I so keenly repent an act of uncalled-for barbarity.