404 



ANIMALS OF 



tractable disposition. It is a native of the 

 East Indies, and particularly found along the 

 coasts of Coromandel. 



The last of the ape kind is the CYNOCEPHA- 

 LUS, or the MAGOT of Buffon. This animal 

 wants a tail, like the former, although there 

 is a small protuberance at that part, which 

 yet is rather formed by the skin than the bone. 

 It differs also in having a large callous red 

 rump. The face is prominent, and approaches 

 more to that of quadrupeds than of man. The 

 body is covered with a brownish hair, and 

 yellow on the belly. It is about three feet 

 and a half, or four feet high, and is a native 

 of most parts of Africa and the East. As it 

 recedes from man in its form, so also it ap- 

 pears different in its dispositions, being sul- 

 len, vicious, and untractable." 



THE BABOON. 



DESCENDING from the more perfect of the 

 monkey kinds, we come to the Baboon and 

 its varieties, a large, fierce, and formidable 

 race, that, mixing the figure of the man and 

 the quadruped in their conformation, seem 

 to possess only the defects of both ; the pe- 

 tulance of the one, and the ferocity of the 

 other. These animals have a short tail ; a 

 prominent face; with canine teeth, larger 

 than thoseofmen; and callosities on the rump. 1 " 

 In man the physiognomy may deceive, and 

 the figure of the body does not always lead to 

 the qualities of the mind ; but in animals we 

 may always judge of their dispositions by 

 their looks, and form a just conjecture of 

 their internal habits from their external form. 

 If we compare the nature of the ape and the 

 baboon by this easy rule, we shall at once be 

 led to pronounce that they greatly differ in 

 their dispositions, and that the latter are in- 

 finitely more fierce, savage, and malicious, 

 than the former. The ouran outang, that so 

 nearly resembles man in its figure, approaches 

 also nearest in the gentleness of its manners 

 and the pliancy of its temper. The cyno- 



a Omnes femellae hujusce et precedentium, ut et fere 

 sequentium specierum, menstrual! patiunter fluxu sicut in 

 ferninis. 



b Buffon, vol. xxxviii. p. 1 83. 



cephalus, that of all other apes is most unlike 

 man in form, and approaches nearer the dog 

 in face, resembles also the brute in nature, 

 being wild, restless, and impelled by a fretful 

 impetuosity. But the baboon, who is still 

 more remote, and resembles man only in ha- 

 ving hands, who, from having a tail, a promi- 

 nent face, and sharp claws, approaches more 

 nearly to the savage tribe, is every way fierce, 

 malicious, ignorant, and untractable. 



The BABOON, properly so called, is from 

 three to four feet high, very strong built, with 

 a thick body and limbs, and canine teeth, 

 much longer than those of men. It has large 

 callosities behind, which are quite naked and 

 red. Its tail is crooked and thick, and about 

 seven or eight inches long. Its snout, for it 

 can hardly be called a face, is long and thick, 

 and on each side of its cheeks it has a pouch, 

 into which, when satiated with eating, it puts 

 the remainder of its provisions. It is cover- 

 ed with long thick hair, of a reddish brown 

 colour, and pretty uniform over the whole 

 body. It walks more commonly upon all- 

 fours than upright, and its hands as well as 

 its feet are armed with long sharp claws, in- 

 stead of the broad round nails of the ape kind. 



An animal thus made for strength, and fur- 

 nished with dangerous weapons, is found, in 

 fact, to be one of the most formidable of the 

 savage race in those countries where it is 

 bred. It appears, in its native woods, to be 

 impelled by two opposite passions ; a hatred 

 for the males of the human species, and a de- 

 sire for women. Were we assured of these 

 strange oppositions in its dispositions from 

 one testimony alone, the account might ap- 

 pear doubtful ; but, as it comes from a va- 

 riety of the most credible witnesses, we can- 

 not refuse our assent. From them, therefore, 

 we learn, that these animals will often assail 

 women in a body, and force them into the 

 woods, where they keep them against their 

 will, and kill them when refractory. From 

 the Chevalier Forbin we learn, that in Siam 

 whole troops of these will often sally forth 

 from their forests, and attack a village, w hen 

 they know the men are engaged in their rice 

 harvest. They are on such occasions actu- 

 ated as well by desire as by hunger; and not 

 only plunder the houses of whatever provi- 

 sions they can find, but endeavour to force 



