Captain Brown, the writer of a book on the habits of animals, tells us this interesting story of a trained chimpanzee:
"Madame Grandpré saw on board a vessel a female chimpanzee which showed wonderful proofs of intelligence. She had learned 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 apprised the baker. With perfect confidence in her information, he carried his dough to the oven as soon as the chimpanzee came to fetch him.
"The animal performed all the duties of a sailor, spliced ropes, handled the sails, and assisted at unfurling them, and she was, in fact, looked upon by the sailors as one of themselves."
In the end of her life this animal showed what seemed a human feeling and sense of injustice. The first mate beat her cruelly for something in which she was not in fault and the ill-treatment seemed to break her tender heart. She bore the blows with patience, merely holding up her hands as if praying for mercy, but from that moment she refused to take any food and on the fifth day she died from grief and hunger. The sailors would have liked, if they dared, to treat the mate in the same way he had treated the monkey.
It may be said that much of what has been told is the result of training and only shows that the monkey is easily taught. It does things, it is true, which no dog could be taught to do, but it has the advantage of having fingers and thumbs in place of the dog's paws, and also of having learned how to use these in its forest life in much the same way as we use them. A monkey, for instance, can use a stone as a hammer and some of them can throw stones with a very good aim. They can use other tools, as we shall show.
But there is one great difference between the monkeys and the other animals we have spoken of. Many of these can be taught to do things we would not expect of them, but they do not often teach themselves. Now the monkey does not wait to be taught but is constantly trying new tricks and working them out for itself. It is the most curious of animals, always wanting to know how things should be done, and thinking out for itself the right way to do them. We look with wonder on a dog when it does something that it has been taught. Should we not look with more wonder on the monkey when it does things which it has taught itself? I am sure you will enjoy reading some stories in this line.