Monkeys Caught by Electricity

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 3 February 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

Monkeys Caught by Electricity

'I went up the Amazon acd Orinoco rivers on an animal-capturing oxpedition/ said an old showman. 'Jgob quite a collection of snakes, birds and monkeys. I hit on a novel plan for tha capture of the last, and ib worked like h charm. A monkey is a greater imitator than a Chinaman. He will do anything ho sees done, and that) is what gets so many of his kind into the cage. I rigged up an electric battery, and attached it to an apparatus that would allow a score of the simians to get hold ot it. I then took a party of natives and went into the forest where there were troops of monkeys. We put fche apparatus down, attached the wire, and removed the battery to a considerable distance. The natives then took hold of the apparatus, danced and yelled, and then retired. The monkeys made a dash for ib. Half a dozen caught hold, and I burned on the current. They began bo shriek and squirm, bub the others thoughb their performance a part of the programme, and fairly fell over each other to get hold of the machine. I could have caught the whole troop if they could have got hold of the concern. We then made a descent on them with sacks, and soon had a soore of them safe. Bob ib would only work once. We tried ib.a month afterwards at a point fifty miles distant;, bat nob a monkey came off his perch in the trees. They viewed the proceedings without any apparent desire to imitate our war dance around the machine.'