Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/156

146 In such matters, our manners and customs are very different from those which prevail in the tribe of Cercopithecus in Borneo.

After a time, under protest, he let one young woman lead him about by his chain, and refrained from open enmity; but he never gave her either trust or affection. Children he held in utter abhorrence, for it was their delight to ridicule him and to vex his dignity with sticks and clods of earth. When any of them came near him, he would jump at them, hissing and scolding, and often only the strength of his chain saved them from injury.

When Bob came from Kearny Street his hair was infested with the small, louselike parasite (Hæmatopina quadrumanus) which always abounds where those of his race are gathered together. Bob did not try to conceal this fact; he made it the joy of his leisure. A large part of his time was spent in searching his arms and legs in quest of the insect. When he found or pretended to find one, he would eat it with much appearance of satisfaction, keeping up all the while a vigorous smacking of the lips. A young entomologist became interested in this, and sought to make for himself a collection of these insects from Bob's hair. But while he made his explorations, putting his captures in a small vial, Bob conducted a similar search among the hairs on his friend's hand. The bystanders laughed heartily, but Bob saw nothing funny about the affair. If one could judge by his movements and the smacking of his lips, he was more successful than the naturalist himself. But all this with Bob was simply an excess of politeness. In his tribe of Cercopithecus it is the height of courtesy for one individual to go over the head and