36 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



monkeys undoubtedly come nearer to humanity in their mental faculties 

 than any other creatures but the great man-like apes. Their usual note 

 is a kind of bark, and they have a curious habit of gibbering silently 

 with the lips when they mean to be pleasant. 



There are about a dozen species of the typical Baboons, of which 

 the best-known are the Sacred Baboon (Cynocephalus hamadryas) of 

 Arabia and Abyssinia and the Chacma (C. porcarius] of South Africa. 

 The former is a grizzly-grey animal with a tufted tail ; the male is 

 adorned with a cloak of long hair, and is a statuesque and majestic 

 animal when seen seated ; the ancient Egyptians worshipped it as the 

 incarnation of the god Thoth, and trained it to work for them. 



The Chacma (Cynocephalus porcarius), which is as big, though not 

 as heavily built, as the Mandrill, is an olive-coloured animal, with a 

 black face. It is a great deal too well known at the Cape, committing 

 depredations not only on crops, but on sheep, for it tears open young 

 lambs, drinking the milk in their stomachs, and eating the flesh. 



It is a terrible antagonist to dogs, very hard to shoot, and will take 

 doses of poison which will kill anything else is, in fact, a serious all- 

 round pest. Yet it can be trained to be most useful ; the most remark- 

 able case of this is one which was authentically reported and became 

 widely known, some years back ; a signalman at the Cape, who had lost 

 his legs, taught one of these Baboons to work the points for him, and 

 it also propelled his trolley, and indeed was an indispensable assistant 

 in his employment. 



The Gelada Baboons (Tkeropithecus), of which there are two species, 

 both large, maned, and dark-coloured, connect the Baboons with the 

 Macaques to some extent, having the nostrils not at the end of the 

 snout, as in Baboons generally, but some distance back. A further 

 link is found in the Black Baboon of Celebes (Cynopithecus niger). 

 This animal, found at the extreme limit of the range of monkeys in 

 the East Indies, is, like the Macaques, of moderate size, about equalling 

 a spaniel, and has a face intermediate in length, and the position of 

 the nostrils, between Baboons and ordinary monkeys. It is black all 

 over, both in hair and skin, and is practically tailless, the tail being 

 only a rudiment about an inch long. Although not a common monkey, 

 it has often been exhibited at the Zoological Gardens. 



