178 Quadrupeds. 



THE BABOON. (Cynoceplmlus.) 



A GENUS of Quadrumana, which comprises a large, fierce, 

 and formidable race of animals, who, though they in a 

 slight degree partake of the human conformation, like 

 the Ourang Outan, &c., are in their dispositions and 

 habits the very reverse of gentleness and docility. 

 The Baboons are the ugliest of all the Quadrumana. 

 Their eyes are small, and sunk underneath their eye- 

 brows. Their forehead is low, and the development 

 of the snout and face is enormously disproportioned 

 to the size of the skull. Their great strength and fierce 

 disposition make them very much dreaded in the coun- 

 tries they inhabit. Baboons differ from the apes on the 

 one hand, and the monkeys on the other, by having short 

 tails. 



The Common Baboon is of a sandy colour, with a red- 

 dish shade on the shoulders, head, and back. It is 

 playful and good-tempered when young, but becomes 

 morose and savage with age. Buffon thus describes a 

 full-grown specimen he saw: "It was not altogether 

 hideous, and yet it excited horror. It seemed to be 

 always in a state of savage ferocity, grinding its teeth, 

 perpetually restless, and agitated by unprovoked fury. 

 It was a stout-built animal, whose nervous limbs and 

 compressed form indicated great force and agility ; and, 



