Of ketw4 



The sacs* 

 inasianss h 



AFRICA. 



there are a na mj d 



UM Hann or rtalU oxen of Abyssinia, with 

 fstliiUngth,aii<l a kindred race in llomou, 

 two 



and heavy that, according to Shaw's report, they an frequently 

 ohlurad to he supported on little wheel-carriages, as Herodotus say s 

 of the Arabian sheep. This variety is common in Barbary, at the 

 Capo of Good Hops, and in other "parts of Africa. The edimain, a 

 wry tall variety, with long legs, small tail, and drooping ears, U 

 ^Jmn in Egypt, Sennaar, and Nubia. Both then breeds an 

 eov*nd with abort coarse hair instead of wool, and their flesh is very 

 inferior in qualrty to our European mutton. Goats an in many parts 

 of Africa more common than sheep, as they subsist better on the dry 



herbs of the desert, yield a more abundant supply of milk, 

 aad an generally preferred for the table. Of theM also there an 

 many different varieties; among others, a dwarf species, with short 

 smooth hair and very small horns, which has been introduced into 

 Booth America, where it has multiplied prodigiously. 



'The domestic cat is very rare in Africa, but dogs are numerous, 

 aad of many different varieties. Among the Mohammedans, it u well 

 known that these animals an considered unclean ; but though they 

 refrain from keeping them in their houses, all the large towns of 

 Egypt and Barbery maintain public troops of dogs, which perform 

 the offices of common scatengeis, establish themselves in particular 

 quarters of the city, maintain a kind of government among themselves, 

 and an extremely watchful to prevent strangers from intruding into 

 their particular district*. It is no uncommon thing for the wealthy 

 Mussulmans to leave considerable legacies for the support of these 

 animals ; and it is very remarkable, that notwithstanding the great 

 heat of the rlir**--. and the constant scarcity of water, an instance 

 of canine ""*"'- is never known to occur in Africa, 



Domestic poultry an common enough in every part of Africa, 

 though they also an of foreign introduction. Every one has heard 

 of the artificial mode of hatching chickens which has been so long 

 practised by the Egyptian*, and of which an exhibition was in 1852 

 sjbrded to the inhabitants and visitors of London. Turkeys have of 

 UU years been introduced about the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, 

 but they have not yet become numerous, and perhaps the country is 

 not well adapted to their habits. It does not appear that the Guinea 

 hen, though indigenous to Africa, is at present domesticated among 

 the inhabitants Tin Dar-Fur the Guinea fowl in indigenous. Geese 

 and ducks an not extensively distributed, and even where they 

 an found, an reared in small numbers, and held in very slight 



Among the wild animals of Africa, the first and most remarkable 

 is the chimpanzee, or pongo, the .Simia Iruylotlyta of naturalists. 

 This extraordinary "Tin* 1 , of which then is good reason to believe 

 that more than one variety exist* in Africa, approaches much nearer 

 to the human form than the orang outang, or wild man of Borneo, 

 Sumatra, and the other Urge islands of the Indian Archipelago. 

 IU arms an not an disproportionately long as in that animal ; its 

 neck is not so short and deformed, nor an it* shoulders so high ; and 

 H has altogether a much greater facility of standing and walking 

 ht, and of using the anterior extremities as hands, properly 

 g. IU organisation, however, determines its general habit of 

 j on all-fourn ; and the hinder extremities ore, as in all the 

 order, marked by a thumb. Of the inferior tribes of quadrumonous 

 animals, the greater number of the Cynocrphali, or baboons, an 

 found only among the rocks and mountains of Africa. Many of these, 

 each as the mandril (tynompAoiM suustoii) and the tartarin (C'yno. 

 ktmidrftrt, attain a vary considerable stature, and, from their gnat 

 strength and malicious disposition, an much dreaded by the negroes. 

 The monkeys, properly so called (Ctrtoptlluci), an likewise an African 

 genus. These playful and harmless little animals, of which then 

 an a gnat many different varieties, many of them marked with the 

 moat brilliant and varied colours, swarm over the whole continent, 

 i and enlivening the woods with their gambols 

 the various and beautiful species of lemurs also, 

 lemon (jVjwtiestW) alone exoeptod, belong either 

 to the continent of Africa or to the neighbouring island of Mada- 

 gascar. In the latter country, so completely insulated from the rest 

 of the world, and of which the natural productions are, for the most 

 part, singular and anomalous, the different species and varieties of 

 lemurs an extremely numerous, and even entirely replace the apes, 

 baboons, and monkeys of the adjacent continent 



The Osinalsi a, bats, or winged mammals of Africa, an not so 

 writ known ae some of the other tribes, though it is probable, from 

 tbe physical naton of the country and climate, that they are quite as 

 various and abundant hen as in Asia and America. Of those which 

 we do know, the moat remarkable U the common rouasetto (Pleroput 

 ***), which iahabiU Madagascar and Mauritius, grows to the size 

 of a email fowl, feeds on fruiu, and is eaten by the inhabitants, who 

 compart Ha fbsh to that of the pheasant and partridge. 



The nwn ferocious carnivorous animals an extremely numerous in 

 all parts of Africa, Tbe lion, the panther, and the leopard, lurk in 

 tbe vicinity of tbe river, and fountains to surprise the 



nmaw Druiiani aiiu vanea colour* 



..... ..... ;..:;,.), 



sod chattering. All the various ! 

 Ike tardier and slow lemon (AVi 



'': 



AFRICA. 1 



species of gazelles and antelopes, but, unless pressed by hunger, 

 rarely attack the inhabitant* ; though it is said that the lion will often 

 pursue the Hottentot in preference to all other prey. In some parts, 

 however, these animals an so numerous that the natives will not 

 venture to travel through the woods, unless in Urge parties, and u ell 

 armed. Major Laing informs us, in his journey to the Soolima 

 countries, that he passed through a country which had formerly been 

 well inhabited, but in which, at the period of his visit, there was not 

 a single village to be met with for >i space of 26 miles along his path, 

 the former populousneas of the country being alone indicated by the 

 sites and ruins of several Urge towns : the inhabitants of these had 

 been forced to remove to other provinces on account of the great 

 number* and constant attacks of the leopards and panthers. The 

 whole genus of hytcnas are, property speaking, African animals. 

 The common hya>na indeed (Hytrna rulgarit) is likewise found in 

 India ; but the other two known species (/fytrna crocuto and Hyaena, 

 rillota) are found only in the peninsuU of Africa. Besides these, there 

 is another animal described by Mr. Burchell, in his 'Travels in 

 Southern Africa,' which is intermediate in its habits and organisation 

 between the hynna and the dog, and which has been associated with 

 both these genera under the names of Jlytrna renal ica and Cant* picta. 

 All these different species of hyenas live entirely upon offal and 

 carrion, and an of singular importance in the economy of nature, by 

 preventing the accumulation of putrescent matter, and devouring 

 dead csnaaea and other garbage, which, under the influence of a 

 tropical sun, would soon corrupt and produce the most noxious and 

 unwholesome vapours. Like feline animals, the hyaenas are nocturnal ; 

 and nightly visit the towns and villages, where they prowl through 

 the streets till morning, eating garbage and offcostings of the 

 shambles, and devouring any tame animal which the inhabitants may 

 have neglected to secure. The true civet ( 1'imra ciriitn) is found in 

 a state of nature in most parts of Africa. Great numbers of these 

 animals are kept by the natives for the sake of their perfume. Nearly 

 allied to the civet* are the animals which naturalist* call ichneumons 

 (llrrpettet), of which Africa contains four or five distinct species, and 

 whieh wage incessant war against the numerous serpents and other 

 reptiles which infest every part of the country. As far OH our | 

 information extends then an no bean in Africa. The older African 

 travellers, indeed, often mention having had their dromedaries and 

 mules bitten by bears during their night encampment*, but their 

 relations an always to be understood of the hyaena, which is usually 

 called a bear in the north of Africa, as he is colled o wolf in the south. 



Of the Rodent m animals (Kodentia) of Africa, it has been already 

 observed that we have no very extensive knowledge. Two or three 

 varieties of bores, differing little from our common European species, 

 ore found throughout every part of the conturfcnt ; and the common 

 rabbit, which is now so abundant in all the temperate countries of 

 Europe, is said to have been originally introduced from Barbary. 

 Eight or ten distinct species of jerboas (Diptu) inhabit tin 

 where they burrow among the loose sand, and feed upon different 

 bulbous roots, which in certain situations are very abundant. 

 Beautifully-variegated squirrels inhabit the woods, and rat* and mice, 

 of many different species, ore as numerous as in other countries. 

 Among the Utter, one species in particular, the Barbary mou.- 

 Barbanu), is remarkable for the beauty of its colours, being marked 

 on the back with ten longitudinal white lines ; and another (A rricvla 

 pumilio) having four black stripes along the bock, is thought to bo 

 the smallest of all quadrupeds, weighing, according to Professor 

 Spamnon, not more than four scruples. 



Though South America U the chief residence of the Edentata, two 

 species ore nevertheless found in Africa. These are the oard-vark 

 (Orycltropiu Capauu) and the long-tailed manis (Manit Africana). 

 Both feed upon ante and burrow beneath the surface of the earth ; 

 the latter is totally deprived of teeth, but it* body is defended in 

 every port by a thick covering of hard trenchant scales, which pro- 

 tects it, like a coat of mail, from the assaults of its enemies. It ha* 

 likewise the faculty of rolling itself up into a round ball like a hedge- 

 hog ; and in this position it is safe even from the teeth and claws of 

 the lion and panther. 



The elephant necessarily occupies the first rank among the wild 

 hoofed quadrupeds of Africa. The African elephant, though long 

 confounded with the Asiatic, is now well known to be a <l: 

 species ; its forehead is more convex, its ears larger, the markings of 

 its molar teeth ore of a different fonn, and it hoa only four hoofs on 

 the fore-feet and three on the hind, whilst the Indian species has five 

 before and four lieuind. In magnitude, intelligence, and docility, 

 however, it does not yield to it* Asiatic congener ; and if wo were to 

 credit the exaggerated statement* of travellers, it would even appear 

 that the African elephant occasionally attains the height of 17 or 18 

 feet. However this may be, it is at least certain that the tusks of 

 ivory imported from the coast of Guinea ore considerably larger than 

 those which an obtained from India, often weighing from 150 

 to 180 )x>unds, whilst the Utter rarely exceed 100 or 120 pounds. 

 These animals inhal.it all the woody parts of Africa south of the 

 Sahara, and an found in Dar-Kar: they live in largo herds of 

 from 150 to 200 individuals, and are said to be so numerous through- 

 out the whole extent of middle and southern Africa, that we could 

 scarcely credit the reports of travellers, were they not confirmed by 



