20 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



come into use in the first half of the eighteenth century, 

 but the only important addition made, in that period, to 

 our acquaintance with the man-like apes of Africa is con- 

 tained in " A New Voyage to Guinea," by William Smith, 

 which bears the date 1744. 



In describing the animals of Sierra Leone, p. 51, this 

 writer says : — 



" I shall next describe a strange sort of animal, called 

 by the white men in this country Mandrill,* but why it is 



Fia. 5.— Facsimile of William Smith's figure of the " MandriU," 1Y44. 



* "Mandrill" seems to signify a "man-like ape," the word "Drill" or 

 "Dril" having been anciently employed in England to denote an Ape or 

 Baboon. Thus in the fifth edition of " Blount's " Glossographia, or a Dic- 

 tionary interpreting the hard words of whatsoever language now used in our 

 refined English tongue . . . very useful for all such as desire to understand 

 what they read," published in 1681, I find, " Dril — a stone-cutter's tool where- 

 with he bores little holes in marble, &c. Also a large overgrown Ape and 

 Baboon, so called." "Drill" is used in the same sense in Charleton's 

 "Onomasticon Zoicon," 1668, The singular etymology of the word given by 

 Buffon seems hardly a probable one. 



