Borneo. Once a bottle of carbonated mineral water ("Napa soda") was given him. He drew the cork, much surprised at the explosion, and the character of the water caused him equal surprise; still he drained the bottle and was apparently pleased with it. A bottle of claret being offered him, he drank eagerly and became much exhilarated, but at the same time much confused. After this he always refused claret, putting the bottle away with a gesture of disapproval. Of water colored by fruit juices he was very fond.
Being left alone in a student's room, he experimented on the bottles there. He drew the cork from bottles of ink and of bay rum; not relishing the contents of either, he poured both into the wash basin.
When he was offered an empty egg shell, he raised it up and looked into the crack from which the contents had been taken. Then he would use his fingers to pull the shell apart, licking the inside of the shell, but apparently disgusted with the small amount of food it contained.
Being shown his reflection in the mirror, he advanced toward it scowling, but soon detecting the sham, he lost all interest in it. A hand glass was given him, but he paid very little attention to his reflection in it, laying it down and turning to other things.
The life of Bob was not without its tender passages. He was loved in turn by the vivacious Mimi and the gentle Nanette. The two stood in much the same relation as the
". . . ladies twain
Who loved so well the tough old dean."
In Borneo, among the tribes of Cercopithecus, the male is easily the lord of creation. The female expects to be crowded aside and frequently punished, and takes rude treatment as a matter of course. A kind expression now and then, an occasional hour devoted to hunting Hæmatopinæ in her hair, or even a cessation of blows and bites, and she is thankful and satisfied.
Mimi was of the tribe of Macacus, gentle in manner, excessively quick of foot, impatient of restraint or even touch from any hand except that of her chosen lord and master. She had large, projecting gray eyes—"pop-eyes" her rivals might have called them—and a wrinkled face suggestive of an age she did not possess. Her face readily assumed an expression of most impatient contempt if any one not of her race attempted to caress her or to take any liberty with her. Mimi had been brought as a child from the south sea islands, and had grown up in a Mayfield beer hall, where she had learned to drink beer with the rest of them, and in general "knew the world," as most of us who live outside the jungles of Borneo are compelled to know it.
