He Is Having A
Business Conversation Just Now With Some Rajahs, Whose Numerous
Followers Are Standing And Lying About, And
Eblis is sitting on his
shoulder with one arm round his neck, while Mahmoud sits on the table
opening letters,
And the siamang, sitting on the rafter, is looking
down with an unpleasant look. Eblis condescends to notice me to-day,
and occasionally sits on my shoulder murmuring "Ouf! ouf!" the sweet
sound which means all varieties of affection and happiness. They say
wah-wah distinctly, and scream with rage like children, but have none
of the meaningless chatter of monkeys. It is partly their silence which
makes them such very pleasant companions. At sunrise, however, like
their forest brethren, they hail the sun for some minutes with a noise
which I have never heard them make again during the day, loud and
musical, as if uttered by human vocal organs, very clear and pleasant.
Doubtless the Malays like Mr. Low all the better for his love of pets.
At lunch they were both, as usual, sitting at the table. I am still
much afraid of Mahmoud, but Captain Walker is infatuated with him, and
likes his rough, jolly manners, and his love of fun and rough play. As
Assam was bringing me a cup of coffee this creature put out his long
arm, and with his face brimming over with frolic, threw the coffee over
the mat. Then he took up a long glass of beer and began to drink it
eagerly, but as Mr. Low disapproved of his being allowed to get tipsy a
second time, it was taken from him, upon which he took up the breast of
a fricasseed chicken and threw it at the offender. The miscreant did
every kind of ludicrous thing, finishing by pulling everyone to go out
with him, as he always does at that hour; and when he had succeeded in
getting us all out was in a moment at the top of a high tree, leaping
from branch to branch, throwing himself on coffee shrubs below,
swinging himself up again in a flash, leaping, bounding! a picture of
agility, strength, and happiness. The usual morning gathering of Rajahs
and their followers, with Klings and Sikhs, was there, and I suspect
that they thought adult Europeans very foolish for being amused with
these harum-scarum antics.
A follower had brought a "baboon," an ape or monkey trained to gather
cocoa-nuts, a hideous beast on very long legs when on all fours, but
capable of walking erect. They called him a "dog-faced baboon," but I
think they were wrong. He has a short, curved tail, sable-colored fur
darkening down his back, and a most repulsive, treacherous, and
ferocious countenance. He is fierce, but likes or at all events obeys
his owner, who held him with a rope fifty feet long. At present he is
only half tame, and would go back to the jungle if he were liberated.
He was sent up a cocoa-nut tree which was heavily loaded with nuts in
various stages of ripeness and unripeness, going up in surly fashion,
looking round at intervals and shaking his chain angrily. When he got
to the top he shook the fronds and stalks, but no nuts fell, and he
chose a ripe one, and twisted it round and round till its tenacious
fibers gave way, and then threw it down and began to descend, thinking
he had done enough, but on being spoken to he went to work again with
great vigor, picked out all the ripe nuts on the tree, twisted them all
off, and then came down in a thoroughly bad, sulky, temper. He was
walking erect, and it seemed discourteous not to go and thank him for
all his hard toil.
As I write I see a fascinating sight: three black apes sitting under
the roof in such a position that I can only see their faces, and they
are all leaning their chins on a beam, and with their wrinkled faces
and gray beards are looking exactly like - - -. It is most interesting
to be among wild beasts, which, though tame, or partly so, are not in
captivity, and to see their great sagacity and their singular likeness
and unlikeness to us. I could dispense with the reptiles, though. Last
night there were seventeen lizards in my room and two in my slippers.
During the profound stillness of about 3 A.M., a crowd, hooting,
yelling, and beating clappers, passed not far off in the darkness, and
there was a sound of ravaging and rending caused by a herd of elephants
which had broken into the banana grounds.
Besides apes, elephants, dogs, and other pets, there are some fine
jungle-fowls, a pheasant, a "fire-back," I think, and an argus pheasant
of glorious beauty; but glorious is not quite the word either, for the
hundred-eyed feathers of its tail are painted rather in browns than
colors. These birds are under the charge of a poor Chinaman, who once
had money, but has gone to complete ruin from opium-smoking. His frame
is reduced to a skeleton covered with skin. I never saw such emaciation
even in an advanced stage of illness.
Just now I saw Mahmoud and Eblis walk into my room, and shortly
following them, I found that Mahmoud had drawn a pillow to the foot of
the bed, and was lying comfortably with his head upon it, and that
Eblis was lying at the other end. I do hope that you will not be tired
of the apes. To me they are so intensely interesting that I cannot help
writing about them. Eblis has been feverish for some days. I think he
has never recovered from the thrashing he got the day I came. He is
pining and growing very weak; he eats nothing but little bits of
banana, and Mr. Low thinks he is sure to die. It is a curious fact that
these apes, which are tamed by living with Europeans, acquire a great
aversion to Malays.
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