Their language being
similar to that of the great apes Meriem could converse with them
though the poverty of their vocabulary rendered these exchanges
anything but feasts of reason. For familiar objects they had names,
as well as for those conditions which induced pain or pleasure,
joy, sorrow, or rage. These root words were so similar to those
in use among the great anthropoids as to suggest that the language
of the Manus was the mother tongue. Dreams, aspirations, hopes,
the past, the sordid exchange. Dreams, aspirations, hopes, the
past, the future held no place in the conversation of Manu, the
monkey. All was of the present--particularly of filling his belly
and catching lice.
Poor food was this to nourish the mental appetite of a girl just
upon the brink of womanhood. And so, finding Manu only amusing
as an occasional playfellow or pet, Meriem poured out her sweetest
soul thoughts into the deaf ears of Geeka's ivory head. To Geeka
she spoke in Arabic, knowing that Geeka, being but a doll, could
not understand the language of Korak and Akut, and that the language
of Korak and Akut being that of male apes contained nothing of
interest to an Arab doll.
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