and tried to surprise her into saying "Ah," but with no result. It
seems almost impossible to stamp the vocal-sound idea upon the
mind of an orang-utan or chimpanzee. Polly uttered two distinct
and clearly cut syllables, and it really seemed as if her vocal
organs could have done more if called upon.

The cries of the monkeys, baboons and lemurs are practically
nothing more than squeals, shrieks or roars. The baboons (several
species, at least) bark or roar most explosively, using the
syllable "Wah!" It is only by the most liberal interpretation of
terms that such cries can be called language. The majority express
only two emotions--dissatisfaction and expectation. Every primate
calls for help in the same way that human beings do, by shrill
screaming; but none of them ever cry "Oh" or "Ah."

The only members of the monkey tribe who ever spoke to me in their
native forests were the big black langurs of the Animallai Hills
in Southern India. They used to glare down at us, and curse us
horribly whenever we met. Had we been big pythons instead of men
they could not have said "Confound you!" any more plainly or more
vehemently than they did.

In those museum-making days our motto was "All's fish that cometh
to net"; and we killed monkeys for their skins and skeletons the
same as other animals. My brown-skinned Mulcer hunters said that
the bandarlog hated me because of my white skin. At all events, as
we stalked silently through those forests, half a dozen times a
day we would hear an awful explosion overhead, startling to men
who were still-hunting big game, and from the middle zone of the
tree-tops black and angry faces would peer down at us. They said: