QUADRUPEDS. 297 



Its habits, of which an amusing though tragical account if 

 given by Le Vaillant. In one of his excursions he killed a 

 female monkey which carried a young one on her back. 

 The young one continued to cling to her dead parent till 

 they reached their evening quarters, and the assistance of 

 a negro was even then required to disengage it. No sooner, 

 however, did it feel itself alone than it darted towards a 

 wooden block, on which hung the peruke of Le Vaillant's 

 father. To this it clung most pertinaciously by its fore- 

 paws ; and such was the strength of this deceptive instinct, 

 that it remained in the same position for about three weeks, 

 all this time evidently mistaking the wig for its mother. It 

 was fed from time to time with goats' milk, and at length 

 emancipated itself voluntarily, by quitting the fostering care 

 of the peruke. The confidence which it ere long assumed, 

 and the amusing familiarity of its manners, soon rendered 

 it the favourite of the family. The unsuspecting naturalist 

 had however introduced a wolf in sheep's clothing into his 

 dwelling ; for one morning, on entering his chamber, the 

 door of which he had imprudently left open, he beheld his 

 young favourite making a hearty breakfast on a very noble 

 collection of insects. In the first transports of his anger 

 he resolved to strangle the monkey in his arms ; but his 

 rage immediately gave place to pity, when he perceived that 

 the crime of its voracity had carried the punishment along 

 with it. In eating the beetles, it had swallowed several of 

 the pins on which they were transfixed. Its agony conse 

 quently became great, and all his eiforts were unable to 

 preserve its life. 



Baboons are fiilly more characteristic of Africa, as a 

 generic group, than any other of the quadrumanous order. 

 With the exception of the dog-faced baboon ( Cynocephahis 

 hamadryas), a native of the environs of Mocha, and other 

 eastern shores of the Red Sea, we are not acquainted with 

 any species of the genus which is not of African origin. 

 They are, without doubt, notwithstanding their approxima- 

 tion in some respects to the human form, the most disgust- 

 ing of the brute creation. Perhaps it is this very resem- 

 blance which excites our dislike. In spite of their occa- 

 sionally brilliant colouring, and the length and beauty of 

 their fur, there is an expression of moral deformity in their 

 aspect which is exceedingly revolting, and they seem pos 



