BABOON. 



2G9 



<if an animal, whoso history it would ho desirable to 

 clear up in that point as well as in the others. 



As tne native region of this species is not known, 

 it is needless to add, that we are in total ignorance of 

 its habits in a state of nature. This is the more to 

 be regretted that, while it has all the essential cha- 

 racters of a true" macaco, it has also more of the exter- 

 nal appear.uices of the true baboons than any other 

 of the subdivision to which, from its essential charac- 

 ters it belongs. It would thus be highly desirable 

 to know something of its disposition and habits in a 

 state of nature; for though in confinement it, shows 

 more activity, and perhaps a greater love of mischief 

 than the other macaco*, these displays are not sufii- 

 cient for forming' such an estimate of its character as 

 to show whether that is in any way modified by its 

 baboon-like appearance. The most striking of these 

 is the fleshiness of the cheeks, which nearly obliterate 

 the ridge lor prominence of the nose, and also enables 

 it to snarl, or show the teeth laterally, by the furrow- 

 ing up of the sides of the lip as the baboons do. But 

 the nose docs not reach to the end of the muzzle, 

 as in the baboons ; and the nostrils are very flat and 

 oblique. The eyebrows are very projecting, and the 

 whole expression of the face is sinister and suspicious. 

 This is rather increased by the tuft of long hair on 

 the top of the head, which curves a little backwards. 

 The hair on the body is all over of a deep black, long 

 and shaggy, or rather woolly ; but it becomes slender 

 on the legs. The tail, like that in the Barbary ape, 

 is a mere tubercle. The legs are rather shorter in 

 proportion than those of the baboons, indicating 

 that the animal is more habitually a climber. 



Those that, have been enumerated are the leading 

 species of macrtcos, to which the name of baboon has, 

 I iy one or other, been applied. They are not baboons, 

 but rather monkeys, as in a proper natural arrange- 

 ment, after their characters and habits come to be a 

 little better known, they, with the other allied species 

 which we have not mentioned, as they have never 

 been called baboons, would make a well-marked 

 group, requiring perhaps division into several genera. 

 The most obvious external distinction between them 

 and the baboons, is the termination of the nose before 

 it reaches the point of the muzzle, and the consequent 

 rounding of that part of the profile, and absence of 

 the dog-headed, or ci/noccpJ/aloits expression, which 

 not only characterises the baboons, but is made use 

 of as one of their names. 



The second, and only remaining subdivision, com- 

 prehends the BABOONS, properly so called. They 

 are further divided by Cuvier, into Cijnnccphalis 

 (dog-heads) and Mandrills ; and nearly a similar divi- 

 sion is made by Brisson into CynoccpJutlus and 

 Pfijj'to ; but it does not appear that there are any very 

 essential Characters upon which to ground this divi- 

 sion, almost the only one in which there is a difference 

 being the tail, which, in the cynoccphala is as long as 

 the body, or longer; and in the mandrills very short, 

 find projecting nearly at right angles to the spine. 

 But that is not so great a difference even in the single 

 organ, and that not an essential one to any of the 

 known habits of the animals, as is found among the 

 mai-acoa ; and the other characters of the baboons 

 are certainly more uniform than those of that group. 



The true baboons arc all inhabitants of Africa, 

 chiefly of the parts of it to the south and east of the 

 (ircat Desert, or, if they arc found in any other part of 

 the world, it is in the south-west of Arabia, or that 



portion which lies most adjacent to Africa ; and it is 

 no great stretch of theory to suppose that the one 

 (for there appears to be only one) which is found 

 there, is a colonist, in the same manner as the magot 

 is on the rock of Gibraltar ; and that, in both cases, 

 the animals, finding the place congenial, have re- 

 mained and multiplied. It has indeed been said that 

 some of the race have been found in India ; but the 

 evidence is not very clear or satisfactory ; and, if 

 attention is not paid to the terminal situation of the 

 nostrils, which is wanting in all the other qnadrumana 

 of the eastern continent, there is danger of con- 

 founding the macacos, which also have the muzzle 

 produced, with the true baboons. 



Indeed, though when the animals are seen toge- 

 ther, the characteristic distinctions between them are 

 very apparent, yet when we come to define them in 

 words, there is hardly one, except this of the terminal 

 position of the nostrils, and the squareness or trun- 

 cation of the end of the muzzle to which it gives rise, 

 that can be made perfectly clear. Both groups have 

 the produced tubercle upon the last tooth in the 

 under-jaw, which distinguishes them, in their denti- 

 tion, from all the other qnadrumana of the eastern 

 continent ; and though in the full grown animals 

 there is a difference in the facial angle that of the 

 baboons being about one-fourth less than the other, 

 yet this is a character of the adult only, for in both, 

 but especially in the baboons, the young have the 

 muzzle less produced, and the facial angle conse- 

 quently greater ; so that if we were, in this instance 

 at least, to infer the degree of what is, perhaps, not 

 very properly called intelligence, from the size of the 

 facial angle, we should be led to conclude that the 

 immature animal is more intelligent than the adult, 

 which would be contrary to the analogy of the whole 

 animal kingdom. 



Taking them altogether, the baboons have a pecu- 

 liarity of structure. When they stad upon all-fours, 

 which is their usual position on the ground (for they 

 walk erect with more difficulty than the macacos, and 

 seldom attempt it for more than a pace or two), they 

 stand more in the position of common walking qua- 

 drupeds than any other of the handed animals. Their 

 anterior and posterior extremities are nearly of the 

 same length, so that the line of the back is about 

 horizontal. The fore-legs stand pretty straight and 

 firm, and though the knees in the hind legs are 

 rather awkward, from their tendency to bend and 

 lower the crupper, that is in part prevented by the 

 turning out of the toes, which throws the line of 

 bending in the knee about half way between the 

 front and the side. This oblique position of the 

 joint gives greater stiffness to the leg, and conse- 

 quently more firm support to the body, but it pro- 

 duces a shambling gait, from the tendency that the 

 hind legs have to widen at their upper part, and plait. 

 over each other at the feet ; and thus the walk of the 

 baboon is very slow, and though some of the species 

 are large and powerful animals, it is neither graceful 

 nor stately. Walking is not, indeed, their mode of 

 progressive motion along the ground. They proceed 

 at something between a trot and a gallop, and even 

 that is not swift in proportion to the trouble which it 

 appears to give them ; the old ones, especially, soon 

 tire, and if there is no foe in sight which they arc 

 afraid to face, they squat down upon their callosities 

 and rest themselves. 



When in the trees, where they are more at home, 



