DO MONKEYS TALK.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1921, Page 5

DO MONKEYS TALK.

INTERESTING EXPERIENCES. The old controversy whether monkeys possess the faculty of speech was recently answered in a guarded affirmative by Dr. Richard L. Garner, an American investigator, who formed the opin- . ion that monkeys do employ at least syllabic utterances, which imply a Jefinite and forma) mode of expreesibn. ; A resident in the Central Provinces j (India)r has described an incident from his own experience, which throws on simian habits and speech. It relates jto the capture of a young monkey, of ! the jef-faced variety called languors, i the mother being shot. The following I day the camp was visited by 50 or 60 ■ langoors. .sing it “like a small I host of Philistines,” with harsh ecreechI ings and angry grimaces. The deputa* i tion retired after a couple of hours, ! made another visit on the following day, and when it returned on the third day, shots were fixed into the £l. At each report the monkeys scattered, but immediately returned. Then, “after what appeared to us a sort of conference among a small group of females,” an old mala approched the captive. He was driven back by a revolver shot, hut returned, this happening four times. Then th© femals monkeys “swore at the old fellow and gesticulated wildly at hurt* while he began to grin and wave his arms about as though to compos? their j anger and beseech their consideration. ! A few seconds afterwards, seeing he did [ not return to the charge, ho was suddenly taken hold of by th© stout old j ladies and beaten mercilessly. The ! belaboring seemed to give him fresh courage, as he returned for a fifth tun© to finish hi,- work. We fired again, and he retired, this time never mor© to return, for the enraged dames eaught him once mor*, and after beating him «oundly chased him out of the colony altogether.” It was decided to surrender the captive. 'My friend having unloosed him, took him in his arms and went up to the group of domes. Th© [chattering ceased immeri ately, and the ■ group allowed him to approach. One of I them promptly accepted tho captive irom the arms of my friend, and, handing over her own little one Ho another dame close by, proceeded to give suck to it. Within tea minutes after this restoration the group silently dispersed.” The contributor of the story contends i-hat his narrative proves that monkeys have not only a strong clannish feeling, but also some faculties of reasoning and. some sort of speech uhich exceed what is ordinarily described as “instinct.”