34 APES AND MONKEYS. 



creature was of a fierce disposition, and was generally known by the name of 

 Mafuka. Although presenting many of the features of a chimpanzee, it had very 

 projecting jaws, the ears were relatively small and placed rather high on the head, 

 while the end of the nose was wide and expanded. The most remarkable feature 

 about this animal was, however, the presence of a great bony ridge overhanging 

 the eyes, very much as in the female gorilla. So like, indeed, was Mafuka to a 

 gorilla in this respect, that Dr. Hartmann tells us when he first saw her he felt 

 almost convinced that he had to do with a female gorilla which had not quite 

 attained maturity. This opinion was, however, vigorously confuted by other 

 zoologists ; and it was subsequently suggested that the creature might be a half- 

 breed between the chimpanzee and gorilla. Dr. Hartmann concludes by saying 

 that "for me and many other naturalists Mafuka remains up to this time an 

 enigma." Unless, which is very improbable, this animal indicates a third species 

 of chimpanzee, we confess that the half-breed theory appears to us the most 

 probable solution of the mystery. 



Extinct Chim- A word in regard to a fossil-ape found in the north-west of 



panzee. India in rocks, belonging to the Pliocene or later division of the 

 Tertiary period, and we have done with chimpanzees. It has always been a matter 

 of surprise that no large Man-like Ape now inhabits the dense tropical forests of 

 India or Burma, which would appear to be just as suitable for these creatures as 

 are those of Borneo or Equatorial Africa. The discovery in India of a jaw of a 

 large ape apparently belonging to the same genus as the chimpanzee shows us, 

 however, that large Man-like Apes must have once roamed over the plains of India, 

 Why chimpanzees, together with hippopotami and giraffes, which are likewise found 

 fossil in India but are now confined to Africa, should have totally disappeared from 

 the former country, is, however, one of those puzzling problems connected with the 

 distribution of animals which we have but little hope of answering satisfactorily. 



The fossil Indian chimpanzee was found in the arid districts of the Punjab, 

 and since we know that the living Man-like Apes dwell in the deepest gloom and 

 solitude of primeval forests, where vegetation grows luxuriously and offers a 

 constant supply of fruits throughout the year, we may probably infer that the 

 Indian chimpanzee inhabited a similar forest -clad country; and that, conse- 

 quently, the present area of the Punjab was in parts at all events clothed with 

 forests in which dwelt this ape, instead of being, as now, a sun-scorched and 

 somewhat desolate region. Evidence of the former existence of these forests is 

 afforded by the occurrence of numbers of fossil tree-stems in various parts of the 

 same series of rocks from which the remains of the fossil chimpanzee were 

 obtained. 



THE GORILLA. 

 Genus Gorilla. 



Under the heading of the Chimpanzee we have already seen how, as far back 

 as 1590, the English sailor Battel heard of the existence of a gigantic ape living 

 in the forests of Guinea, and known to the natives as the Pongo ; this ape being 



