THE CHIMPANZEE. 



19 



Yet that in mere animal form the Bushman is infinitely higher than the ape, is evident from 

 the contrast displayed by the two figures ; while, if the comparison be extended to the mental 

 endowments, the impassable barrier that exists between the two beings, exhibits itself in the 

 most unmistakeable manner. 



Modern zoologists have done rightly in refusing to admit mankind into the same order 

 with beings so infinitely below them, as are even the very highest of the apes. The unprogres- 

 sive animal is restricted to a narrow circle of thought and 

 reason, and is totally devoid of that great privilege of 

 iiuman nature which we call by the name of aspiration. 

 Man ever proceeds onwards and upwards, anticipating 

 something beyond that which he possesses, while the brute 

 creation remain in the same course of life in which they 

 were originally placed. The records of geological experi- 

 ence, show that Simiadee of gigantic stature existed on 

 earth ages before the creation of human beings. Relics 

 of these creatures have been found in various parts of the 

 globe, and even in the tertiary formations of our own 

 island. Apes were, therefore, at least contemporary with 

 mankind ; but while men have progressed, the apes have 

 stood still, and always will stand still as long as they 

 remain upon earth. The ape which saw the light in the 

 year B. c. 4,000, was not a whit behind its descendant of 

 the year A. D. 1859 in intellect or civilization ; and if the 

 order were to be continued for twenty thousand years 

 longer, the last ape would be not a step nearer civilization 

 than the primeval pair. Within its own little circle of 

 life, many of its bodily senses are far more acute than 

 those of man, and its bodily powers greater ; but there 

 ends the advantage. The animals are only partial and 



individual in their existence, restricted to a small sphere of life, and often confined within a 

 very limited portion of the earth. These very limits place the animals at an immeasurable 

 distance from man, who spreads himself over the entire earth, enduring with equal ease the 

 fierce rays of the tropical sun, or the icy blasts of the arctic gales, and accommodating 

 himself, through the agencies which his intellect projects, to these totally dissimilar modes 

 of life. 



CLOSELY connected with the preceding animal is the large black ape, which is now well 

 known by the name of CHIMPANZEE. 



This creature is found in the same parts of Western Africa as the gorilla, being very com- 

 mon near the Gaboon. It ranges over a considerable space of country, inhabiting a belt of 

 land some ten or more degrees north and south of the torrid zone. For some little time it was 

 supposed that the gorilla was simply an adult Chimpanzee, but zoologists now agree in sep- 

 arating it from that animal, and giving it a specific name of its own. 



The title niger, or black, sufficiently indicates the color of the hair which envelops the 

 body and limbs of the Chimpanzee. The tint of the hair is almost precisely the same as that 

 of the gorilla, being nearly entirely black ; the exception being a few whiter hairs scattered 

 thinly over the muzzle. Age seems to give the hair of the animal a grayish tint in many places. 

 As in the gorilla, the hair of the fore-arm is turned towards the elbow, where it meets the hair 

 from the upper arm, and forms a pointed tuft. On the chest and abdomen it is rather thinner 

 than on the remainder of the body, and permits the skin to be seen between the hairs, but on 

 the arms and other parts it is sufficiently thick and long to hide the skin altogether. There is 

 a small beard on the chin and face, which has a Chinese kind of aspect about it. 



With very few exceptions, the nostrils of the Quadrumana are placed almost flat upon the 

 face, and are devoid of that projecting character which gives such expression to the human 



BUSHMAN. 



