92 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



nature.* I have seen a young orang, when she thought 

 she was going to be whipped, cover and protect herself 

 with a blanket or straw. In these several cases stones and 

 sticks were employed as implements; but they are likewise 

 used as weapons. Brehmf states, on the authority of the 

 well-known traveler Schimper, that in Abyssinia when the 

 baboons belonging to one species ( C. gelada) descend in troops 

 from the mountains to plunder the fields they sometimes 

 encounter troops of another species {C. hamadryas), and 

 then a fight ensues. The Geladas roll down great stones, 

 which the Hamadryas try to avoid, and then both species, 

 making a great uproar, rush furiously against each other. 

 Brehm, when accompanying the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, 

 aided in an attack with firearms 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 closed for a time against the 

 caravan. It deserves notice that these baboons thus acted 

 in concert. Mr. Wallace^; on three occasions saw female 

 orangs, accompanied 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." 

 As I have repeatedly seen, a chimpanzee will throw any 

 object at hand at a person who offends him; and the before- 

 mentioned baboon at the Cape of Good Hope prepared mud 

 for the purpose. 



In the Zoological Gardens a monkey, which had weak 

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

 assured by the keepers that after using the stone he 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 remarks that the fashioning of an 

 implement for a special purpose is absolutely peculiar to 

 man; and he considers that this forms an immeasurable 

 gulf between him and the brutes. This is no doubt a very 



* The " Indian Field," March 4, 1871. 



f "Thierleben,"B. i, s. 79, 82. 



X " The Malay Archipelago," vol. i, 1869, p. 87. 



" Primeval Man," 1869, pp. 145, 147. 



