BABOON. 



267 



hemisphere, or even within several degrees of the 

 equator. 



In their general characters they are intermediate 

 between the apes and the baboons : the muzzle is 

 much more produced than in the apes, but the cranial 

 part, of the head is greater in proportion to the bones 

 of the face than in the baboons. The nostrils, too, 

 are not so terminal on the snout, but leave a sort of 

 projecting upper lip ; the canine teeth are not quite 

 so formidable, and the whole mouth has a less snarl- 

 ing and cur-like expression. The muzzle is elongated 

 and blunt, the facial angle from forty-five to forty 

 degrees, the eyebrows prominent, the lower part of the 

 forehead arched, the upper part sloping very much 

 backwards, the tail in all the species rather short, and 

 in some a mere tubercle. We shall now, very briefly, 

 notice the leading species in this subdivision. 



1. The MAGOT, or BARBARY APE (Macacus Syha- 

 nus}. This species, as having been in all ages the 

 most accessible to Europeans, has been the largest 

 and the most familiarly known of all the four-handed 

 race. The second of its popular names indicates its 

 principal locality northern Africa, the forests on the 

 slopes of the mountains of Atlas, and their lateral 

 spurs, though it is also found in considerable num- 

 bers on the rock of Gibraltar, the most elevated point 

 of which rises to the height of 1439 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and has the slopes in many places 

 covered with a profusion of plants both of the south 

 of Europe and of northern Africa. The magot ap- 

 pears to thrive as well and attain as large a size there 

 as on the south side of the Strait. Besides this Eu- 

 ropean colony, it does not appear that the species is 

 found any where out of Africa," or in Africa to the 

 south or east of the desert. 



A general idea of the appearance of the animal 

 when in a state of indolent and apparently sulky 

 repose may be formed from Landseer's characteristic 

 sketch, at the bottom of the plate " Baboons." The 

 colour of the upper part, including that of the out- 

 sides of the limbs, is clear yellowish brown, rather 

 deeper on the upper part of the head and on the 

 borders of the cheeks. The colour on the under 

 part is dull yellowish-white ; and the naked skin, the 

 face, cars, paws, and callosities on the hinder extremi- 

 ties are dull flesh-colour. The fingers are of mode- 

 rate length, and strongly made ; the muzzle, which is 

 broad and flat, elongates as the animal gets old. The 

 tail is a mere tubercular rudiment, altogether uncon- 

 nected with the bones. 



It is not a very large animal, the male not exceed- 

 ing two feet and a half in length, and the female being 

 smaller. The adult male has the canine teeth large, 

 and is a vicious and rather dangerous animal. But 

 the formidable canine teeth are no indication of a 

 carnivorous habit, as they are very little larger than 

 the other teeth in the female ; and in the male, as in 

 the wild boar and some other feeders upon vegetables, 

 they appear to be for mere defence, rather than for 

 predatory purposes. 



This species has, from time immemorial ,been the 

 showman's " ape" in Europe, and while young it may 

 be educated (by blows) into some obedience, and the 

 performance of a few tricks. But as it gets towards 

 maturity, it becomes morose and sullen, and (the male 

 especially) mischievous and refractory, till his strength 

 and spirit both fail under the hateful restraint of con- 

 tinernent, which is obviously very repugnant to the 

 nature of the animal. So contrary, indeed, is con- 



finement to their nature, that their health soon gives 

 way under it, and they perish, not of the effects of 

 climate, as is the case with the species which naturally 

 inhabit more toward the equator, but from the con- 

 stant irritation of constraint and confinement. 



In the freedom of their native wilds and forests 

 they are represented as being very different. Social, 

 active, and energetic ; bold and courageous in the 

 defence of each other and of their young ; and so 

 strong is the latter propensity, that confined ones, if 

 in tolerable health, whether males or females, are said 

 to adopt, and fondle with paternal attention, any 

 small animals that may be put into the same cages 

 with them. Several fables of the ancients are founded 

 upon the attachment of this species to their young ; 

 and, among the rest, the very instructive one of the 

 favourite which was carried in the arms being killed 

 by the fall of the mother, while the neglected one, 

 which rode on the back, escaped without injury. 



When in their native forests, they carry on their 

 defensive operations, in part at least, as all the race 

 do, by the noise of their war cry ; and it is a curious 

 fact in the history of predatory animals, that many, 

 even of the formidable ones, are sooner driven off by 

 noise than by any other means. 



The magot is not a very handsome or a very in- 

 teresting animal ; but it acquires a sort of interest 

 from the length of time that it has been known, and 

 the consequent mention of it which is made in 

 history, both authentic and fabulous. Its general 

 association, in the systems, has been with the apes ; its 

 proper natural association seems to be with the Asiatic 

 monkeys (for where tails are not prehensile, the pre- 

 sence or absence of a tail is a secondary considera- 

 tion) ; and its being included among the baboons by 

 Cuvier, entitles it to a place in this article. 



2. The WANDEROO (Macacus Silt-mis). This 

 species, which has not been so long or so familiarly 

 known in the western world as the former, has been 



Wandcroo. 



allowed to retain its proper vulgar appellation of a 

 monkey, though it is just as much entitled to be called 

 a baboon as the magot. It is a native of India, of 

 Ceylon, and probably of some others of the eastern 

 islands ; and in some of its localities it has, by the 

 gravity of its deportment, procured for itself a name 

 for wisdom far above that of the smaller and more 

 useless and noisy monkeys. 



The external characters of this species arc so 

 marked and peculiar, that they cannot easily be mis- 

 taken. The face has not much in the way of beauty 



