Читать книгу From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age онлайн

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The eloquence of Shamboo gained the assembly to his proposition. Every rib got a scratch, and the solemnity of the hour was felt in every breast. An aged priest of the Mountain Apes bowed low his head, breathing a blessing on the undertaking; and from that hour the savage beasts of Cocoanut Hill were doomed.

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The plan of attack on the beasts was two-fold. One method was to associate together and make a combined assault by two’s or more, according to the strength of their antagonists. The other was to get on trees and spring upon the enemy when asleep or at other disadvantage. In this way they hoped to so worry the larger beasts that they would quit the region of their own accord.

This coöperation was important as being the beginning of association among Apes. By uniting in two’s and three’s for attack or defense they learned to confederate, and so laid the foundations of society. Till that time they had roamed the forests and jungles solitary, each one hunting alone his food, like the tigers, and forming no lasting or frequent attachments. They met the opposite sex casually at a spring or in the fruit regions. They did not recognize their own children, or care for them except for a few years after birth, until they could roam for themselves. Only occasionally did they meet for a common purpose, and then only for a little while. They were not gregarious, though they sometimes met in large numbers where food was abundant, and became slightly acquainted. They chattered or fought while together, and then parted to see one another perhaps no more.