`They became so unbearable, that at last we fired a few shots right and
left among them; several bit the dust, the rest fled, and we continued
our way in peace to Prospect Hill, but only to discover the havoc the
wretches had made there.
`Would you believe it, father? The pleasant cottage had been overrun
and ruined by apes just as Woodlands last summer! The most dreadful
dirt and disorder met our eyes wherever we turned, and we had hard work
to make the place fit for human habitation; and even then we preferred
the tent. I felt quite at a loss how to guard the farm for the future;
but seeing a bottle of the poisonous gum of the euphorbia in the tool
chest, I devised a plan for the destruction of the apes which succeeded
beyond my expectations.
`I mixed poison with milk, bruised millet and anything I thought the
monkeys would eat, and put it in cocoanut shells, which I hung about in
the trees, high enough to be out of reach of our own animals. The
evening was calm and lovely; the sea murmured in the distance, and the
rising moon shed a beauty over the landscape which we seemed never
before to have so admired and enjoyed. The summer night closed around
us in all its solemn stillness, and our deepest feelings were touched;
when suddenly the spell was broken by an outburst of the most hideous
and discordant noises.
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