at our
disposal, rent free. My object has been to discover whether the Human
Species, though belonging to a rather low form of animal life, can be said
to have anything corresponding to the language which is the recognised
means of communicating between Apes.

I have been much assisted in my investigations by the kind help afforded me
by the great Anubis Baboon, who has frequently abandoned the consumption of
nuts to come and make experiments on our human visitors; the elder members
of the Chimpanzee Family have also been most useful, and have often
restrained the young of their household from interrupting my inquiries by
ill-timed pleasantries. Only once in the whole course of these scientific
labours have I had seriously to complain of my tail being made use of as a
swing.

It was not long before I came to the conclusion that men do really mean
something by the extraordinary gibberings and chatterings in which they
indulge. My first experiment was on a female of the species, with a blue
feather in her bonnet. At a sign from me, a young Chimpanzee suddenly and
adroitly snatched the bonnet from her head. The sound she uttered was, as
nearly as I can put it, _wh-oo-w!_ ending in a shrill scream. I therefore
take the _oo_ sound to indicate alarm, or dissatisfaction. Exactly the same
vowels were used by the Male.

The mischievous young of the Human Species, we have discovered, also have
this _oo_ sound, and use it when they wish to frighten us.

The three conclusions which I have drawn from my inquiries are:--

1. That Human Beings understand the sounds they utter to each other, and
therefore possess a language, as we do.

2. That Human Beings have, in a very imperfect and rudimentary shape, the
faculty of reason.

3. _That Apes have descended from Men!_ In other words, that a Monkey is
only a highly-developed and more agile Man.

[Illustration]

These, no doubt, are startling conclusions, and I expect them to excite
controversy. In fact, an Ourang-Outang friend of mine, to whom I mentioned
them, was so shocked, that he has declined all nourishment ever since. But
I rely on the scientific spirit of this great society to do me justice; and
I venture to add a request that it will see fit to endow research by voting
an extra supply of apples and nuts to the Chimpanzees, the Anubis Baboon,
and myself, while we are at work on this very fatiguing field of inquiry.

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