36 THE PAPION. 



aot to be imagined that the quadrumanous animals are put forward as the most rational of the 

 lower creations. 



In recording the known instances of the mental powers displayed by the monkey tribe, 

 we only give to the creature its due meed of praise, and act honestly by treating of every 

 being with equal justice. It is so sad that many writers should set about such a task, having 

 a purpose to serve, and that, in order to give to their own theory the greatest weight, they lay 

 the greatest stress upon those records which tell in their favor, while they suppress those 

 facts which might tend to overthrow or modify their own peculiar views. 



To resume the account of the baboons : 



Like all animals which assemble in flocks, they never rest or move without the protection 

 of certain sentries, which are chosen out of their number, and which keep the most careful 

 watch over the troop to which they belong. The duty is anything but an agreeable one, and 

 its labors are equally divided among the community, each competent member taking that task 

 upon himself in his own turn. 



When they make an attack upon a field or a plantation, they always guard against sur- 

 prise by posting sentries on elevated spots, and, knowing that due notice will be given if any 

 suspicious object be seen or heard, they devote all their energies to the congenial business of 

 theft, while the sentries remain at their posts, never daring to withdraw their attention from 

 the important charge which is committed to them. However, the sentinels do not entirely 

 lose the benefit of all the good things, but take their proper share of the spoil after the 

 thievish band has returned to a place of safety ; so that their greatest trial is an exercise of 

 patience of rather a prolonged character. 



In their rocky fastnesses, their chief foe is the leopard, and so terrified are they at the 

 very sound of their enemy's voice, that even a very poor imitation of a growl is sufficient to 

 set them flying off as fast as their legs can carry them, while a breath of air that bears upon 

 its wings the least taint of that rank odor which exhales so powerfully from the large Felidse, 

 scatters dire consternation among the assemblage. There is a story of a life saved by means 

 af the ingenuity of a native servant, who, seeing his master beset by a party of angry baboons, 

 quietly stepped behind a rock, and imitated the growl of a leopard with that startling fidelity 

 that is so general an accomplishment among savage tribes. 



The leopard seldom attacks an adult baboon, not caring to risk its claws and fangs against 

 the hands and teeth of so powerful an opponent. Much less does it openly venture to assault 

 a band of baboons in hopes of securing one of their number. Its mode of procedure is by slily 

 creeping round their rocky domains, and whipping off one of the young baboons before an 

 alarm is given. 



Bold as are these animals, they will not dare to follow a leopard into its den ; so that, if 

 their dreaded foe succeeds in once getting clear of their outposts, it may carry off its prey 

 vrith impunity. The constant dread which the leopard seems to excite in a baboon's mind 

 appears to be occasioned more by the stealthy craft and persevering aggression of the animal, 

 rather than by its physical powers alone. 



One of these animals, the Thoth Baboon, bore a conspicuous part in the sculptured mythol- 

 ogy of the Egyptians, and may be seen in almost every stony document that is impressed 

 with the hieroglyphical wisdom of that wondrous nation. Only the male seems to have been 

 considered worthy of forming one of the symbols of that representative language, as is shown 

 by the fact that, whenever the Thoth Baboon is engraved, the large mass of hair over the 

 shoulders proves it to be of the male sex, and adult. The attitude is generally a sitting 

 position. 



Among the Egyptians, the god Thoth held the same place among the minor deities as 

 Hermes of the Greeks, and Mercury of the Komans, being probably the prototype of them both. 



Another well-known species of the Dog-headed Baboons is the PAPION, an animal of 

 rather a more refined aspect than the Chacma, or, more properly speaking, not quite so brutal. 



The face, although unattractive enough, is yet not so repulsive as that of the Chacma, and 

 the colors are rather more bright than those of that animal. 



Great reverence was paid to these creatures, and specially to certain selected individuals 



