"What a delightful companion Kees must have been, Uncle Thomas!"

"He must at least have been an amusing one, Frank, and not an unuseful
one either. There are, however, great variations in this respect among
the monkeys; some of them are most lively creatures, seldom sitting
still for a couple of minutes, while others are retired and gloomy in
their dispositions, and some are most fickle and uncertain. The fair
monkey, though one of the most beautiful of the tribe, is of the latter
description, as the following story will testify:--

"An animal of this class, which from its extreme beauty and gentleness
was allowed to ramble at liberty about a ship, soon became a great
favourite among the crew, and in order to make him perfectly happy, as
they imagined, they procured him a wife. For some weeks he was a devoted
husband, and showed her every attention and respect. He then grew cool,
and became jealous of any kind of civility shown her by the master of
the vessel, and began to use her with much cruelty. His treatment made
her wretched and dull; and she bore the spleen of her husband with that
fortitude which is characteristic of the female sex of the human
species. And pug, like the lords of the creation, was up to deceit, and
practised pretended kindness to his spouse, to effect a diabolical
scheme, which he seemed to premeditate. One morning, when the sea ran
very high, he seduced her aloft, and drew her attention to an object at
some distance from the yard-arm; her attention being fixed, he all of a
sudden applied his paw to her rear, and canted her into the sea, where
she fell a victim to his cruelty. This seemed to afford him high
gratification, for he descended in great spirits."

"Oh, what a wretched creature, Uncle Thomas. I wonder the sailors did
not throw him into the sea also."