MUSICAL MONKEYS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 1, 2 January 1915, Page 11

MUSICAL MONKEYS

A SERIOUS THEORY SOUTH AMERICAN "HOWLERS." It is commonly supposed that man is the only mammal capable of rivalling the birds by so modulating the sounds of bis voice as to produce that harmonised series of notes which we call music (says the American Review of Reviews). But this is declared to be a mistake on trustworthy evidence presented by travellers and musicians and passed in review by an eminent anthropologist Mr. P. G. Mahoudeau, a professor in the School of Anthropology in Paris recently contributed an article entitled "The Origin of Vocal Music, in the Primates" to the Revue Anthropologique. According to this many travellers hay« observed that certain monkeys and certain _ anthropoid apes give utterance at sunrise to a series of shrill cries, which, though disagreeable to human ears, seem to possess the definite rhythm. Observations of this sort concern two families of Quadrumana: the Howlers or Stentors and the Gibbons. The first are found in the tropical regions of South America, the second in Indo-China and islands in the Sonde. A FORMAL ENTERTAINMENT. The manners of the Howlers were described in the seventeenth century by a German physician, Margraff, in his "Natural History of Brazil." 4 According to him they assemble every day, morning and evening, in the woods. "One of them takes an elevated position and motions to the others to seat themselves and listen. Then he commences a discourse in a voice so high and rapid that at a distance one would think they were all screaming together. However, it is One alone, and "while he speaks the others preserve a profound silence. When he ceases he makes a sign with his hand to the others, and they respond by crying out all together until he makes another signal for them to stop. Then the first takes up again his Bpeech or song, and they do not disperse till they have listened to him attentively." Musical Monkeys — TWO — CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE. Modern travellers confirm this observation. One named Schomburgk says he had been told the leader was always taller and with a shriller voice than the rest of the band, but this he could not confirm, though he witnessed the concert and observed that there was a leader, and aUo that there waa a species of harmony in their cries. Ho says: "At times the whole band was silent; the next moment one of the chanters raised his disagreeable voice anew and tho howling recommenced. One »aw the bony drum of the hyoid bone, which gives' their voices the characteristic strength, rise, and fall when they cried. The sounds resembled now the grunt of a pig, now the cry of a j&guar leaping on its prey, now the low, terrible growl of the same animal when it perceives danger threatening it." HOW IT IS DONE. Another observer <ttotes a highly interesting peculiarity in that the Howler is capable of uttering at tho same moment shrill sounds and deep onea, having the effect of a duet ! He explains this curious phenomenon as follows: "In this animal tho air, in issuing from the lungs by means of the trachea, can follow two different directions at the 6ame time. It may issue directly by the glottis, or patsa by an enormous cavity hollowed out in the hyoid bone, which form 3 a regular resonator. The air which issues directly gives the shrill sounds, while that which passes into tho box of the hyoid bone produces the deep and sonorous sounds. In frequent examinations of bands of Howlers, we noted that when one of these animals is singing he walks up and down alone while all the others remain perfectly motionless. It is to be observed that it is always the largest male who utters these veritable-, dueis." WAR WHOOPS. The Gibbons or Hylobates have similar vocal exercises. Mr. D. Veth, a member of the Geographical Society of Amsterdam writes thus of tho "siamang" (Hylobates syndactylus) in the Island of Sumatra. Wnen one of these animals comes near you she utters incontinently a furious and deafening music. From the highest, shrillest notes, they pass suddenly to the lowest. Now they bark like dogs or cry like babies; again, they seem to be Ventriloquists or to be calling a friend at a distance. Sometimes their cries change abruptly from gay and cheerful notes to lugubrious groans. When you first' hear them you would swear there were at least twenty, but you find it takes only three or four to make a]J this hurly-burly." THE SONG Of THE GIBBO.NS. Mr. Mahoudeau quotes the naturalist Waterhouao, who was also an excellent musician, to prove the rythmic character of the Gibbon's cries,, which he observed in a captive animal. Waterhouso declared that his ear was able to detect a true chromatic scale, uttered with precision, and he was able to write down the musical notation, i "The song which tho Gibbon Wouwou utters every morning begins with the mi of the middle octave, then ascends gradually, semitone by semitone, to the upper octave. During the whole time of the ascent, as well as during the descent, the fundamental tone of the mi of the middle scale persists; it serves as a point of departure, a sort of base, to all the other tones. "Tho sounds of the ascending gamut ate emitted at first allegretto, then continue accelerando ; afterwards they become crescendo, but then they are slower. In descending, the sounds become stronger and also more rapid, prestifißimo, and then terminate very rapidly. " T n finishing, its series of eries — or, better said, its song— 'the Hylobatic virtuoso utters twice with all its strength a resounding cry formed by the two mis of the octave. Waterhouge estimates that the duration of the mi of the middle scale corresponds to a minim, and that of the mi of the upper octave to a quaver^ "While the singing Gibbon devotes himself to this vocal exercise, he appears in the highest degree excited, for all his muscles are tense and his entire body commences to tremble, a state which evidently indicates a powerful effort. From the musical point of view tho result obtained by the Gibbon Wouwou is remarkable— 'the regularity, the rapidity, and the precision of this song are marvellous.' Thtis it is incontestable that these frightful, deafening cries may be considered true songs of perfect musical execution '