256 ANTHROPOID APES. 



formity with their nature. In addition to the 

 injuries to the hide and skeleton which may often 

 be observed, and which have been caused by the 

 weapons of man, or by the teeth and claws of their 

 own kind, there are often traces, especially on the 

 skulls of chimpanzees, of the decay of teeth and 

 maxillary necrosis, as well as of curvatures, ex- 

 crescences, and united fractures of other parts of the 

 bony structure. 



This brief description is enough to show that 

 anthropoids in their free life develop an intelligence 

 which sets them high above the other mammals. 

 They do not, however, display the keenness of scent 

 and quickness of sight which distinguish some 

 animals of a lower order, such as canine beasts 

 of prey and ruminants manifest in many different 

 ways. The structure of their nests is rude in com- 

 parison with that of some other mammals — as, for 

 example, of rodents. But we must not forget that 

 several of the lower races of men, such as the 

 degraded Bedja, the Obongo, the Fuegians, many 

 aborigines of the Brazilian forests, and the Australian 

 blacks, scarcely rise above the inartificial structure 

 of an anthropoid's nest in the construction of their 

 huts. 



