74 



THE MANDRILL. 



front of the main body, and run from side to side, for the purpose of reconnoitering the 

 ground over which they will have to pass. The females and their young occupy the 

 centre, while the rear is brought up by the old and experienced males. 



Thus, the more active and vigilant animals lead the way, the weakest are kept under 

 protection, and the powerful elders have the whole of their charge constantly in view. 

 In order to ensure the utmost precision in the line of march, several trusty animals are 

 selected as " whippers in," whose business it is to keep order, to drive stragglers back 

 to their proper position, to moderate the exuberant playfulness of the advanced guard, 

 to keep a watchful eye upon the weaker members of the community, and to maintain a 

 correspondence with the venerable chiefs in the rear. 



The number of individuals composing a troop is sometimes above one hundred, ten 

 or twelve being adult males, twenty or so adult females, and the rest of the band com- 

 posed of the young of both sexes. 



The specimens of baboons that have been captured and domesticated, are generally 

 taken by a crafty stratagem. Jars of well-sweetened beer are placed near their haunts, 

 and drugged with some of those somniferous herbs which are so well known to the 

 Orientals. 



The baboons, seeing the jars left apparently unwatched, come cautiously from their 

 homes, and assemble round the novel articles with much grin and chatter. They first 

 dip in a cautious finger, and taste suspiciously. Misgiving gives place to confidence, 

 and they partake freely of the sweet treachery. The soporific liquid soon manifests its 

 power, and the baboons fall easy victims to their captors. 



The two animals with which this history of baboons is closed, are removed from the 

 preceding species, on account of various points in their conformation, and are placed 

 in a separate genus, under the name of Papio. 



FEW ANIMALS present a more grotesque mixture of fantastic embellishment 

 and repulsive ferocity than the baboon which is known under the name of MAN- 

 DRILL. 



The colors of the rainbow are emblazoned on the creature's form, but always in the 

 very spots where one would least expect to see them. A bright azure glows, not in its 

 " eyes of heavenly blue," but on each side of its nose, where the snout is widely 

 expanded, and swollen into two enormous masses. The surfaces of these curious and 

 very unprepossessing projections are deeply grooved, and the ridges are bedizened with 

 the cerulean tint above mentioned. Lines of brilliant scarlet and deep purple alternate 

 with the blue, and the extremity of the muzzle blazes with a fiery red like Bardolph's 

 nose. 



That all things should be equally balanced, the opposite end of the body is also ra- 

 diant with chromatic effect being plenteously charged with a ruddy violet, that is per- 

 mitted to give its full effect by the pert, upright carriage of the tail. 



The general color of the fur is of an olive brown tint, fading into gray on the under 

 side of the limbs, and the chin is decorated with a small yellow pointed beard. The 

 muzzle is remarkable for a kind of rim or border, which is not unlike the corresponding 

 part in a hog, and is well shown in the engraving. The ears are small, devoid of fur, 

 and of a black color with a tinge of blue. 



As in the Diana, the colors of this animal are more of a character that we look for 

 in the plumage of birds, than in one of the mammals. These bright tints do not, how- 

 ever, belong to the hair, but only are developed in the skin, fading away after death, 

 and turning into a dingy black. The same circumstance is found to take place in 

 many other animals, the skin colors being very fugitive. 



So dependent are these tints upon the life of the animal, that unless it be in perfect 

 health and strength, the bright colors dim their beauty, and form, by their brilliancy 

 or faintness, a tolerable test of the state of the creature's health. 



The curious cheek expansions are due, not to the muscles of the face, but to the very 

 bones themselves, which are heavy, protuberant, and ridged in the bone skull as in the 

 living head. This addition to the usual form of the skull, adds greatly to the brutish 

 appearance of the animal and gives it a less intelligent aspect than that which is seen in 

 most of the monkey tribe. 



