With overseas affairs dominating the information for the primary half of the 12 months, now interrupted by incessant protection of the self-inflicted native difficulties going through the UK authorities, the doctrine of ‘Converse softly and carry an enormous stick’ had many an airing. That has at all times been my motto when strolling previous teams of habituated or feral monkeys which have the popularity of typically attacking passers by or stealing meals from their luggage or arms. I’ve puzzled up to now if the dictum arose in part of the world that needed to cope with monkeys in addition to with evil people of one other primate species.
After I regarded it up, I discovered that its famous adopter and promoter, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the USA from 1901 till 1909 as nicely a eager and really well-read newbie zoologist and pure historian, had certainly recognized the proverb as having originated in West Africa:
I’ve at all times been keen on the West African proverb: “Converse softly and carry an enormous stick; you’ll go far.”
The final time I had the chance of Roosevelt’s dictum was strolling within the New Territories of Hong Kong the place giant bands of macaques (the origins of which I’ve mentioned beforehand right here) collect to await picnickers, walkers and joggers. At first and finish of a well-liked stroll alongside a water catchment the place monkeys have a tendency to assemble near and on the trail, there are piles of sticks gathered from the timber and shrubs, picked up after which discarded by walkers and joggers.
The next brief video is of a giant troupe of monkeys—round 50 people—on a well-liked path alongside a water catchment close to the Jubilee Reservoir within the New Territories of Hong Kong in December 2017. After we first noticed them they had been descending a steep hill, coated in concrete at decrease ranges, to succeed in the trail. They needed to paddle by means of the trickle of water within the catchment and fairly clearly didn’t like getting their ft moist. Later, they lined the trail for about 100 yards. I had the best implement for the day—a strolling pole was my huge stick.