. Apes and monkeys; their life and language . Toignore such dangers would be folly ; but there was no wayto see these apes in their freedom, except to go and liveamong them. To lessen in a degree the dangers incurredby such an adventure, I devised a cage of steel wire woveninto a lattice with a mesh one inch and a half wide. Thiswas made in twenty-four panels, each three feet and threeinches square, set in frames of narrow iron strips. Eachside of the panels was provided with lugs or half hinges,so arranged as to fit any side of any other panel. Thesecould be quickly bolted together with small
. Apes and monkeys; their life and language . Toignore such dangers would be folly ; but there was no wayto see these apes in their freedom, except to go and liveamong them. To lessen in a degree the dangers incurredby such an adventure, I devised a cage of steel wire woveninto a lattice with a mesh one inch and a half wide. Thiswas made in twenty-four panels, each three feet and threeinches square, set in frames of narrow iron strips. Eachside of the panels was provided with lugs or half hinges,so arranged as to fit any side of any other panel. Thesecould be quickly bolted together with small iron rods, andwhen so joined they formed a cage of cubical shape, sixfeet and six inches square. Any one or more of the panels could be used as a whole structure was painted a dingy green, so thatwhen erected in the forest it was almost invisible in thefoliage. While this cage was not strong enough to withstand aprolonged attack, it afforded a certain degree of immunityfrom being surprised by the fierce and stealthy beasts of - O. 64 APES AND MONKEYS the jungle, and would allow its occupant time to kill anassailant before the wires would yield to an assault fromanything except elephants. It was not, indeed, designedas a protection against them ; but, as they rarely attack aman unless provoked to it, there was little danger fromthat source. Besides, there are not many of those hugebrutes in the part where this strange domicile was set up. Through this open fabric one could see on all sides with-out obstruction, and yet feel a certain sense of safety frombeing devoured by leopards or panthers. Over this frail fortress was spread a roof of bambooleaves. It was provided with curtains of canvas, to be hungup in case of rain. The floor was of thin boards, steepedin tar. The structure was elevated about two feet fromthe ground and supported by nine small posts or stakes,firmly driven into the earth. It was furnished with a bedmade of heavy canvas. This was supported by two p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectspeech, bookyear1900
