480 ALL ABOUT THE CHIMPANZEE. 



pouch. The hair of his head is parted on the summit, and falls down 

 on either side, surrounding the ear and jaws, and mingling with that 

 of the neck. His bare, wrinkled face is of a light copper colour ; so 

 are the palms of his hands, and his fingers, but his nails are generally 

 black. 



The highest stature to which the Chimpanzee can attain is about 

 four and a half feet ; but as he never stands absolutely erect, he appears 

 much shorter. His small eyes, deep sunken in their orbits, are of a 

 dark hazel colour. The cranium, even in young specimens, is depressed, 

 and presents, in advance of a low receding forehead, a projecting 

 superciliary ridge. As the animal advances in years, his muzzle 

 lengthens, his jaws develop, his skull grows more depressed : at the 

 same time his intelligence gradually disappears, his manners become 

 fiercer, and his disposition less tractable ; in a word, the instincts of 

 the brute regain their supremacy. Such, at least, is the statement of 

 the best accredited authorities ; as for the individuals imported into 

 Europe, they invariably die at too early an age for any one to study 

 their habits and character in maturity. 



The Chimpanzees live, it is said, in troops in the forests, or at 

 least they congregate for the purpose of repelling the attacks made upon 

 them by the carnaria, and to drive from their domains such other 

 animals as may attempt to install themselves therein to their disad- 

 vantage. Their weapons are ready to their, hand stones and the 

 branches of trees. Their diet is essentially a frugivorous one ; yet 

 they will occasionally indulge in a lizard or two, or any other reptile. 

 Like the orangs, they construct rude beds or couches, of interwoven 

 boughs stripped of their greenery. The negroes of Guinea, scarcely 

 much higher in the scale of intelligence than themselves, look upon 

 them as a nation, and believe that if these Men of the Woods do not 

 speak, it is because they fear to be condemned to work or carried off 

 into slavery, and not from incapacity. 



A recent traveller, whose adventures have been the subject of 

 much discussion, and who for a considerable period enjoyed the reputa- 

 tion of a Mendez Pinto or a Munchausen, asserts that he discovered 



