52 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Pabt I. 



making a great uproar, rush furiously against each 

 other. Brehm, when accompanying the Duke of Coburg- 

 Gotha, aided in an attack with fire-arms on a troop of 

 baboons in the pass of Mensa in Abyssinia. The baboons 

 in return rolled so many stones down the mountain, 

 some as large as a man's head, that the attackers had 

 to beat a hasty retreat ; and the pass was actually for 

 a time closed against tlie caravan. It deserves notice 

 that these baboons thus acted in concert. Mr. Wal- 

 lace 26 on three occasions saw female orangs, accom- 

 panied by their young, " breaking off branches and 

 " the great spiny fruit of the Durian tree, with every 

 " appearance of rage ; causing such a shower of missiles 

 " as effectually kept us from approaching too near the 

 " tree." 



In the Zoological Gardens a monkev which had weak 

 teeth used to break open nuts with a stone ; and I was 

 assured by the keepers that this animal, after using the 

 stone, hid it in the straw, and would not let any other 

 monkey touch it. Here, then, we have the idea of 

 property ; but this idea is common to every dog with a 

 bone, and to most or all birds with their nests. 



The Duke of Argyll 27 remarks, that the fashioning of 

 an implement for a special purpose is absolutely peculiar 

 to man ; and he considers that this forms an immeasur- 

 able gulf between him and the brutes. It is no doubt 

 a very important distinction, but there appears to me 

 much truth in Sir J. Lubbock's suggestion, 28 that when 

 primeval man first used flint-stones for any purpose, he 

 would have accidentally splintered them, and would 

 then have used the sharp fragments. From this step 

 it would be a small one to intentionally break the 



26 ' The Malay Archipelago,' vol. i. 1869, p. 87. 



27 ' Primeval Man,' 1869, pp. 145, 147. 



28 ' Prehistoric Times,' 1865, p. 473, &c. 



