BABOON. 



BABOON. 



In th dog and other carnivorous animals, and the callosities are leas 

 trongly marked than in imxrt other spocie* of thU genii*. In the 

 adult aninml the muzzle i extremely prolonged in comparison with 

 the skull, which in proportionately contracted ami flattened : the 

 young on the contrary hare the region of the brain much larger in 



The Cbacma (C. porcariut). 



proportion to the length of the face, the head considerably rounder, 

 and in form resembling that of the adult Monkeys (Cereopilheci). 



The Chacma, so called from the Hottentot word TChackamma, 

 the aboriginal name of this baboon in South Africa, is one of the 

 largest species of the present genus, and when full grown is equal in 

 size, and much superior in strength, to a common English mastiff. 

 This animal inhabits the mountains throughout the colony of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and associates in families more or less numerous. 

 They are still found on the Table Mountain above Cape Town, though 

 they do not exist in such numbers as they appear to have done 

 formerly. Still however they pay occasional visits to the gardens at 

 tile base of the mountains, and with such skill and caution, that even 

 the most watchful dogs, as we are assured by Professor Lichtt 

 cannot always prevent them. " Although," he remarks, " Kolbe 

 somewhat exaggerates the regular and concerted manner in which 

 their robberies are carried on, yet it is very true that they go in large 

 companies upon their marauding parties, to support each other recip- 

 rocally, and carry off their plunder in greater security." Their common 

 food consists of the bulbous roots of different plants, particularly of 

 the Babiana [BABIANA] ; these they dig up with their fingers, and 

 peel them with their teeth, and heaps of the parings are frequently 

 seen near the large stones upon which the baboons delight to sit and 

 look round them. In ascending the kloofs or passes in the mountains 

 of South Africa, which are frequently steep, narrow, and dangerous, 

 travellers often disturb troops of these animals which have been 

 sunning themselves on the rocks : if not attacked they scamper up 

 the rides of the mountains yelling and screaming ; but if fired at and 

 wounded, they no sooner get beyond the range of the gun than they 

 commence rolling and throwing down stones, and otherwise resenting 

 the injury. A full-grown Chacma is more than a match for two 

 good dogs, and though there is no animal which hounds pursue with 

 o much fury, yet the boers of the interior would rather set their 

 dogs upon a lion or panther than upon one of these baboons. 



2. C. ffamadryiu (Linmcus), the Derrias, the most celebrated of 

 all the Baboons, and probably the only species of this genus known 

 to the ancient*, inhabits the mountains of Arabia and Abyssinia, and 

 grows to the size of a large pointer, measuring upwards of 4 feet 

 when standing erect, and 2) feel in a sitting posture. The face of 

 this species is extremely elongated, naked, and of :i dirty flesh-colour, 

 with a lighter ring surrounding the eyes; the nostrils, as in the dog, 



are separated by a slight furrow ; the head, neck, shoulders, 1 ;ill 



the fore part of the body as far as the loins, are covered with long 

 shaggy hair ; that on the hips, thighs, and legs, is short, and contrasted 

 with the former has the appearance of having been clipped, so that 

 the whole animal bears no unapt resemblance to a Krench poodle. 

 The hair of the occiput :unl DM& i* upwards of a foot in length, and 

 forms a long mane which falls back over the shoulders, and at a 

 distance looks something like a full short cloak. The whiskers are 

 broad and directed backwards so as to conceal the oars ; their colour, 

 as well as that of the head, mane, and fore part of the body, is a 

 mixture of light gray and cinereous, each hair being marked with 

 nniii. -PHIS alternate nngs of these two colours ; the short hair of the 

 highs, and extremities is of a uniform cinereous brown colour, 

 rather lighter on the posterior surface of the thighs than on the other 



parts ; a dark-brown line passes down the middle of the back, the 

 hands are almost jet black, and the feet are rusty brown. The tail is 

 about half the length ..f tin. l>ody, and is carried drooping as in other 

 baboons ; it Is terminated by a brown tuft of long liair ; the 

 callosities are large and of a dark flesh-colour ; the palms of the 

 hands and soles of the feet dark-brown. The female when full grown 

 is equal to the male in point <>f size, but differs considerably in the 

 length and colour of the hnir. This sex wants the mane which 

 ornament* the neck of the nmlc, and is- covered over the whole body 

 with short hair of oqual length, and of a uniform deep olive-brown 

 colour, slightly mixed with green. The throat and breast are but 

 sparingly covered with hair, and thu skin on these parts, as well as on 

 the face, hands, and callosities, is of a deep tan-colour. II.Mpiich 

 and Ehrenberg in their ' Symbolic Physios' compare the female Derrias 

 to a bear, whilst the copious mane which adorns the fore quarters of 

 the male gives to that sex much of the external form and appearance 

 of a small lion. The young of both sexes resemble the female, and 

 the large whiskers and manes of the males only begin to maka 

 their appearance when the animals arrive at their full growth and 

 mature age, that is, when they have completed their second dentition. 

 At this period they undergo as great a change in their mental 

 propensities as in their physical appearance. While yonng they are 

 gentle, docile, and playful, but as soon as they have acquired their full 

 development, they become sulky, malicious, and morose. 



This species inhabits Arabia and Abyssinia, but. is not found either 

 in Egypt or Nubia, though its figure is often sculptured on the ancient 

 monuments of both these countries. Hemprich and Ehrenberg f. mnd 

 large troops of them in Wadi Kaiiun and in the mountains near the 

 city of Gumfud in the country of the Wahabees, as well as in the 

 mountains above Arkeeko on the Red Sea ; and we learn from Salt 

 and Pearce that they are extremely common upon all the high land* in 

 Tigre". The travellers above-mentioned found troops of 100 and upwards 

 in the neighbourhood of Eilet, in the chain of the Taranta. These 

 were usually composed of ten or twelve adult males, and about 

 twenty adult females ; the remainder f the troop was made up of the 

 young of the four or five preceding years. When seen at a distance 

 approaching a small stream for the purpose of quenching their thirst, 

 they bore a close resemblance to a flock of wild hogs ; and it was 

 observed that the young ones always led the van, and that the old 

 males brought up the rear, probably for the purpose of having the 

 whole family continually under their immediate observation. The 

 Arabic name of this animal is Kohah or Robba ; the Aliyssinians call it 

 Derrias, according to Pearce's orthography, or Kurrai, according to the 

 spelling of Hemprich. 



The name of this species in the ancient Ethiopic or Gee*, the 

 learned language of the Aliyssinians, is Tot or Tota. The figure of this 

 animal in a sitting posture is common upon the ancient monuments of 

 Egypt and Nubia ; small metal images of it have been dug up among 

 the ruins of Memphis and HenuopoliB, and mummies containing the 

 embalmed body of the animal are still found among the catacombs. 

 Strabo indeed ( p. 812 ), in mentioning Hermopolis as the centre of 

 the adoration paid to the Cynocephalut, says that the Babylonians in 

 the vicinity of Memphis paid divine honours to the Ctjiut: yet 

 though the geographer makes use of very different names, and tliiiL'h 

 these in reality apply to very different animals, there is good reason 

 to believe that they both refer in the present instance to the same 

 species ; no quodrumanous animal is ever found represented upon the 

 sacred monuments of ancient Egypt except the Baboon nor hove the 

 images of any other species ever been dug up in searching for 

 antiquities. One or two instances, indeed, occur in the rcpt 

 of profane subjects, such as the procession of a returning conqueror. 

 in which Monkeys ( Cercopitheci ) are introduced, as for instance the 

 painting discovered at Thebes by the late Mr. Salt and represented 

 by Mimitola ( tab. xii., fig. 9 ), in which a monkey is represented riding 

 on the neck of a cameleopard ; but this was manifestly intcndc. 1 

 merely to fix the locality of tho country or people whoM lubjefltim] 

 the triumph was meant to commemorate, and by nom.-m- indicates a 

 participation in the divine honours which were paid to the baboon. 

 Neither does the female ever appear to be represented as nn object of 

 worship ; all the figures and images seem to be those of males, as is 

 proved by the mane which covers the neck and shoulders, and which 

 gives a fullness to the fore part of the body in this sex which is 

 wanting in the other. 



8. C.papio (Desmarest), the Common Baboon, in of a uniform 

 yellowish-brown colour, slightly shaded with sandy or light red upon 

 the head, shoulders, body, aud extremities ; the whiskers alone 

 a light fawn-colour ; the face, ears, and hands are naked and entirely 

 black, the upper eyelids white and also naked, and the tail 

 half the length of the body, but not terminated by the tuft which 

 distinguishes it in the last two species. The hair of the occiput and 

 neck is rather longer than that on the neck and shoulders, l 



so long nor so thick as to give it any resemblance to the mane 

 of the Chacma or Derrias ; neither is the face of the present species 

 so much prolonged as in these two animals; the nose however is 

 advanced rather beyond the extremity of the lips, and has the nostrils 

 opening as in the other 1 I" 1 cheeks are considerably swollen 



immediately IM-IOW the ey<">, after which the breadth of the feoe 

 contracts suddenly, giving the. mu/zle or nose the appearance of 



