Four days after the death of Moses I secured a passage on a trading-boat that came into the lake. It was a small affair, intended for towing canoes, and not in any way prepared to carry passengers or cargo; but I found room in one of the canoes to set the cage I had provided for Aaron, stowed the rest of my effects wherever space permitted, and embarked for the coast.

Our progress was slow and the journey tedious, as the only passage out of the lake at that season was through a long, narrow, winding creek, beset by sand-bars, rocks, logs, and snags, and in some places overhung by low, bending trees. But the wild, weird scenery was grand and beautiful. Long lines of bamboo, broken here and there by groups of pendanus or stately palms; islands of lilies and long sweeps of papyrus, spreading away from the banks on either side; the gorgeous foliage of aquatic plants drooping along the margin like a massive fringe, and relieved by clumps of tall, waving grass, formed a perfect Eden for the birds and monkeys that dwell among those scenes of an eternal summer. After a delay of eight days at Cape Lopez, we secured passage on a small French gunboat, called the Komo, by which we came to Gaboon, where I found another kulu-kamba in the hands of a generous friend, Mr. Adolph Strohm, who presented her to me; and I gave her to Aaron as a wife, and called her Elisheba, after the name of the wife of the great high-priest.

Elisheba was captured on the head-waters of the Mguni river, in about the same latitude that Aaron was found in, but more than a hundred miles to the east of that point and a few minutes north of it. I did not learn the history of her capture.

It would be difficult to find any two human beings more unlike in taste and temperament than these two apes were. Aaron was one of the most amiable of creatures; he was affectionate and faithful to those who treated him kindly; he was merry and playful by nature, and often evinced a marked sense of humour; he was fond of human society, and strongly averse to solitude or confinement.

Elisheba was a perfect shrew, and often reminded me of certain women that I have seen who had soured on the world. She was treacherous, ungrateful, and cruel in every thought and act; she was utterly devoid of affection; she was selfish, sullen, and morose at all times; she was often vicious and always obstinate; she was indifferent to caresses, and quite as well content when alone as in the best of company.

It is true that she was in poor health, and had been badly treated before she fell into my hands, but she was by nature endowed with a bad temper and depraved instincts.

It is not at all rare to see a vast difference of manners, intelligence, and temperament among specimens that belong to one species. In these respects they vary as much in proportion to their mental scope as human beings do; but I have never seen, in any two apes of the same species, the two extremes so widely removed from one another.

While waiting at Gaboon for a steamer I had my own cage erected for them to live in, as it was large and gave them ample room for play and exercise. In one corner of it was suspended a small, cosy house for them to sleep in. It was furnished with a good supply of clean straw and some pieces of canvas for bed-clothes. In the centre of the cage was a swing, or trapeze, for them to use at their pleasure.

Aaron found this a means of amusement, and often indulged in a series of gymnastics that would evoke the envy of the king of athletic sports. Elisheba had no taste for such pastime, but her depravity could never resist the impulse to interrupt him in his jolly exercise. She would climb up and contend for possession of the swing until she would drive him away, when she would perch herself on it and sit there for a time in stolid content, but would neither swing nor play.

Frequently, when Aaron would lie down quietly on the straw during the day, she would go into the snug little house and raise a row with him by pulling the straw from under him, handful at a time, and throwing it out of the box till there was not one left in it.

No matter what kind or quantity of food was given them, she always wanted the piece he had, and would fuss with him to get it; but when she got it, she would sit holding it in her hand without eating it, for there were some things that he liked which she would not eat at all.

When we went out for a walk, no matter which way we started she always contended to go some other way; and if I yielded, she would again change her mind, and start off in some other direction. If forced to submit, she would scream and struggle as if for life.

I cannot forego the belief that these freaks were due to a base and perverse nature, and I could find no higher motive in her stubborn conduct.

Aaron was very fond of her, and rarely ever opposed her inflexible will. He clung to her, and let her lead the way. I have often felt vexed at him because he complied so readily with her wishes.

The only case in which he took sides against her was in her conduct towards me.

When I first secured her she had the temper of a demon, and with the smallest pretext she would assault me and try to bite me or tear my clothes. In these attacks Aaron was always with me, and the loyal little champion would fly at her in the greatest fury. He would strike her over the head and back with his hands, bite her, and flog her till she desisted. If she returned the blow he would grasp her hand and bite it, or strike her in the face. He would continue to fight till she submitted, when he would celebrate his victory by jumping up and down in a most grotesque fashion, stamping his feet, slapping his hands on the ground, and grinning like a mask. He seemed as conscious of what he had done and as proud of it as any human could have been; but no matter what she did to others, he was always on her side of the question. If any one else annoyed her, he would always resent it with violence.

About the premises there were natives all the time passing to and fro, and these two little captives were objects of special interest to them. They would stand by the cage hour after hour and watch them. The ruling impulse of nearly every native appears to be cruelty, and they cannot resist the temptation to tease and torture anything that is not able to retaliate. They were so persistent in poking my chimpanzees with sticks, that I had to keep a boy on watch all the time to prevent it; but the boy could not be trusted, so I had to watch him.

In the rear of the room that I occupied was a window through which I watched the boy and the natives both from time to time, and when anything went wrong I would call out from there to the boy. Aaron soon observed this, and found that he could get my attention himself by calling out when any one annoyed him, and he also knew that the boy was put there as a protector. Whenever any of the natives came about the cage he would call for me in his peculiar manner, which I well understood and promptly responded to. The boy also knew what it meant, and would rush to the rescue. If I were away from the house and the boy was aware of the fact, he was apt to be tardy in coming to the relief of the ape, and sometimes did not come at all, in which event the two would crawl into their house and pull down the curtain so that they could not be seen. Here they would remain until the natives would leave or some one came to their aid. Neither of them ever resented anything the natives did to them unless they could see me about, but whenever I came in sight they would make battle with their tormentors, and if liberated from the big cage, they would chase the last one of them out of the yard.

Aaron knew perfectly well that they were not allowed to molest him or his companion, and when he knew that he had my support he was ready to carry on the war to a finish. But it was really funny to see how meek and patient he was when left alone to defend himself against the natives with a stick, and then to note the change in him when he knew that he was backed up by a friend upon whom he could rely.

Mr. Strohm, the trader with whom I found hospitality at this place, kept a cow in the lot where the cage was. She was a small black animal, and the first that Aaron had ever seen. He never ceased to contemplate her with wonder and with fear. If she came near the cage when no one was about he hurried into his box, and from there peeped out in silence until she went away. The cow was equally amazed at the cage and its strange occupants, though less afraid, and frequently came near to inspect them. She would stand a few yards away with her head lifted high, her eyes arched and ears thrown forward, waiting for them to come out of that mysterious box; but they would not venture out of their asylum while she remained, until tired of waiting she would switch her tail, shake her head, and turn away.

When taken out of the cage, Aaron had special delight in driving the cow away, and if she was around he would grasp me by the hand and start towards her. He would stamp the ground with his foot, strike with all force with his long arm, slap the ground with his hand, and scream at her at the top of his voice. If she moved away, he would let go my hand and rush towards her as though he intended to tear her up; but if the cow turned suddenly towards him, the little fraud would run to me, grasp my leg, and scream with fright.

The cow was afraid of a man, and as long as she was followed by one she would continue to go; but when she would discover the ape to be alone in the pursuit, she would turn and look as if trying to determine what manner of thing it was. Elisheba never seemed to take any special notice of the cow except when she approached too near the cage, and then it was due to the conduct of Aaron that she made any fuss about it. On board the steamer that we sailed in for home, there was a young elephant that was sent by a trader for sale. He was kept in a strong stall, built on deck for his quarters. There were wide cracks between the boards, and the elephant had the habit of reaching his trunk through them in search of anything he might find. With his long, flexible proboscis extended from the side of the stall, he would twist and coil it in all manner of writhing forms. This was the crowning terror of the lives of those two apes: it was the bogie-man of their existence, and nothing could induce either of them to go near it. If they saw me go about it, they would scream and yell until I came away. If Aaron could get hold of me without getting too near it, he would cling to me until he would almost tear my clothes to keep me away from it. It was the one thing that Elisheba was afraid of, and the only one against which she ever gave me warning.

They did not manifest the same concern for others, but sat watching them without offering any protest. Even the stowaway who fed them and attended to their cage was permitted to approach it, but their solicitude for me was remarked by every man on board.

I was never able to tell what their opinion was of the thing. They were much less afraid of the elephant when they could see all of him, than they were of the trunk when they saw that alone. They may have thought the latter to be a big snake, but such is only conjecture. At the beginning of the voyage I took six panels of my own cage and made a small cage for them. I taught them to drink water from a beer-bottle with a long neck that could be put through a mesh of the wires. They preferred this mode of drinking, and appeared to look upon it as an advanced idea. Elisheba always insisted on being served first, and being a female her wish was complied with. When she had finished, Aaron would climb up by the wires and take his turn. There is a certain sound or word which the chimpanzee always uses to express "good" or "satisfaction," and he made frequent use of it. He would drink a few swallows of the water and then utter the sound, whereupon Elisheba would climb up again and taste it. She seemed to think it was something better than she was drinking, but finding it the same as she had had, she would again give way for him. Every time he would use the sound she would take another taste and turn away, but she never failed to try it if he uttered the sound.

The boy who cared for them on the voyage was disposed to play tricks on them, and one of these ugly pranks was to turn the bottle up so that when they had finished drinking and took their lips away, the water would spill out and run down over them. For a time or two they declined to drink from the bottle while he was holding it, but when he let it go it would hang in such a position that they could not get the water out of it at all. At length Aaron solved the problem by climbing up one side of the cage, and getting on a level with the bottle, reached across the angle formed by the two sides of the cage and drank. In this position it was no matter to him how much the water ran out, it couldn't touch him. Elisheba watched him until she quite grasped the idea, when she climbed up in the same manner and slaked her thirst.

I scolded the boy for serving them with such cruel tricks, but it taught me another lesson of value concerning the mental resources of the chimpanzee, for no philosopher could have found a much better scheme to obviate the trouble than did this cunning little sage in the hour of necessity.

I have never regarded the training of animals as the true measure of their mental powers, but the real test is to reduce the animal to his own resources, and see how he will render himself under conditions that present new problems. Animals may be taught to do many things in a mechanical way, and without any motive that relates to the action; but when they can work out the solution without the aid of man, it is only the faculty of reason that can guide them.

One thing that Aaron could never figure out was what became of the chimpanzee that he saw in a mirror. I have seen him hunt for that mysterious ape for an hour at a time, and he broke a piece off a mirror I had in trying to find it, but he never succeeded.

I have held the glass firmly before him, and he would put his face up close to it, sometimes almost in contact. He would quietly gaze at the image, and then reach his hand around the glass to feel for it. Not finding it, he would peep around the side of it and then look into it again. He would take hold of it and turn it around; lay it on the ground, look at the image again, and put his hand under the edge of it. The look of inquiry in that quaint face was so striking as to make one pity him. But he was hard to discourage, and continued the search whenever he had the mirror.

Elisheba never worried herself much about it. When she saw the image in the glass she seemed to recognise it as one of her kind, but when it would vanish she let it go without trying to find it. In fact, she often turned away from it as though she did not admire it. She rarely ever took hold of the glass, and never felt behind it for the other ape.

Altogether she was an odd specimen of her tribe, eccentric and whimsical beyond anything I have ever known among animals, yet with all her freaks Aaron was fond of her, and she afforded him company; but he was extremely jealous of her, and permitted no stranger to take any liberties with her with impunity. He did not object to them doing so with him, and rarely took offence at any degree of familiarity, for he would make friends with any one who was gentle with him, but he could not tolerate their doing so with her.

She betrayed no sign of affection for him except when some one annoyed or vexed him, but in that event she never failed to take his part against all odds. At such times she would become frantic with rage, and if the cause was prolonged, she would often refuse to eat for hours afterwards.

On the voyage homeward, there was another chimpanzee on board, belonging to a sailor who was bringing him home for sale. He was about two years older than Aaron and fully twice as large. He was tame and gentle, but was kept in a close cage to himself. He saw the others roaming about the deck and tried to make up with them, but they evinced no desire to become intimate with one who was confined in such a manner.

One bright Sunday morning, as we rode the calm waters near the Canary Islands, I induced the sailor to release his prisoner on the main deck with my own, and see how they would act towards each other. He did so, and in a moment the big ape came ambling along the deck towards Aaron and Elisheba, who were sitting on the top of a hatch and absorbed in gnawing some turkey bones.

As the stranger came near he slackened his pace and gazed earnestly at the others. Aaron ceased eating and stared at the visitor with a look of surprise, but Elisheba barely noticed him. He scanned Aaron from head to foot, and Aaron did the same with him. He advanced until his nose almost touched that of Aaron, and in this position the two remained for some seconds, when the big one proceeded to salute Elisheba in the same manner, but she gave him little attention. She continued to gnaw the bone in her hand, and he had no reason to feel flattered at the impression he appeared to have made on her. Aaron watched him with deep concern, but without uttering a sound.

Turning again to Aaron, he reached out for his turkey bone; but the hospitality of the little host was not equal to the demand, and he drew back with a shrug of his shoulder, holding the bone closer to himself and then resumed eating.

A bone was then given to the visitor by a steward, and he climbed upon the hatch and took a seat on the right of Elisheba, while Aaron was seated to her left. As soon as the big one had taken his seat, Aaron resigned his place and crowded himself in between them. The three sat for a few moments in this order, when the big one got up and deliberately walked around to the other side of Elisheba and sat down again beside her. Again Aaron forced himself in between them.

This act was repeated six or eight times, when Elisheba left the hatch and took a seat on a spar that lay on deck. The big ape immediately moved over and sat down near her; but by the time he was seated Aaron again got in between them, and as he did so he struck his rival a smart blow on the back. They sat in this manner for a minute or so, when Aaron drew back his hand and struck him again. He continued his blows all the while, increasing them in force and frequency, but the other did not resent them. His manner was one of dignified contempt, as if he regarded the inferior strength of his assailant unworthy of his own prowess.

It would be absurd to suppose that he was constrained by any principle of honour, but his demeanour was patronising and forbearing, like that of a considerate man towards a small boy.

One amusing feature of the affair was the half-serious and half-jocular manner of Aaron. He did not turn his face to look at his rival as he struck, and the instant the blow was delivered he withdrew his hand as if to avoid being detected. He gave no sign of anger, but made no effort to conceal his jealousy, and the other seemed to be aware of the cause of his disquietude. The smirk of indifference on the little lover's face belied the state of mind that impelled his action, and it was patent to all who witnessed the tilt that Aaron was jealous of his guest.

From time to time Elisheba would change her seat, when the same scene would ensue.

The whole affair was comical and yet so real, that one could not repress the laughter it evoked. It was the drama of "love's young dream" in real life, in which every man, at some period of his young career, has played each part the same as these two rivals. Every detail of plot and line was the duplicate of a like incident in the experience of boyhood.

Elisheba did not appear to encourage the suit of this simian beau, but she did not rebuff him as a true and faithful spouse should do, and I never blamed Aaron for not liking it. She had no right to tolerate the attentions of a total stranger; but she was feminine, and perhaps endowed with all the vanity of her sex and fond of adulation. However, my sympathies for the devoted little Aaron were too strong for me to permit him to be imposed upon by a rival, who was twice as big and three times as strong as he was, so I took him and Elisheba away on the after deck, where they had a good time alone.

Elisheba was never very much devoted to me, but in the early part of her career she began to realise the fact that I was her master and her friend. She had no gratitude in her nature, but she had sense enough to see that all her food and comfort were due to me, and as a matter of policy she became submissive, but never tractable. She was doubtless a plebeian among her own race, and was not capable of being brought up to a high standard of culture. She could not be controlled by kindness alone, for she was by nature sordid and perverse. I was never cruel or severe in dealing with her, but it was necessary to be strict and firm. Her poor health, however, often caused me to indulge her in whims that otherwise would have brought her under a more rigid discipline; and the patient conduct of Aaron appeared to be tempered by the same consideration.